shevek Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Doesn't belong in this forum but where else? Dutch bridgemates have been around for a while and work okay. I've been hoping for new hardware (like a 4-line display) but no sign so far.American bridgepads are newer, I read some good things about them though mostly by vested interests. Maybe a bit cheaper .... We'd want about 20 & have scoring software that will run on both. The club is in Sydney. Which should we get? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant590 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 See http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=27021&st=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnasher Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I think that any difference in ease of use is both trivial and subjective. The questions I would ask are: - What scoring software is available for each? - Are the details of the interface used by scoring software freely available to software developers? - How long do the batteries last? - What's the transmission range? - What happens if the thing that receives the results is temporarily switched off or disconnected from the scoring computer? - For Bridgepad, how hard is it to change the security code for a pair? (At the Boston NABC, someone had entered a code for me before I got to the table, and then, I assume, wandered off to the table they were supposed to be at. I spent half the session unable to validate the scores without the TD's help.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 The only thing I don't like about bridgemate is that ♠ and ♣ symbols are hard to differentiate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanM Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 I have it on pretty good authority (not a rumor but no guarantees) that ACBL will be doing a side-by-side test of Bridgemates and Bridgepads at the Summer NABC in Washington this July. So hopefully we will have more comparison information after that. I also know that Bridgemate is making some changes to the software to make it easier to do some things. I'm not trying to be vague, I don't know exactly what changes are being made. I know that one change is to allow the person who controls the computer that is receiving the results to "push a button" and have all of the Bridgemates in use for that event move on to the next round. That will be a very useful function for team games where sometimes the players forget to enter or OK the last board of a set before going to the next table. Another change will allow higher board numbers (I believe the current maximum is 63 - some computer genius can explain why it's 63 not 64, I think it's because despite the fact that we never have a board 0 the computer thinks we might). Another will allow the pairing for each round either to be specified in advance at the "main" computer or at the table by the players. I know there are more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whereagles Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 I have bridgemates working at the local club and find it rather primitive. It's like Bridgemates --> receiver --> log program --> interface program to scorer --> scorer program I know there's software that bypasses some of these steps, but it's rather expensive. As it is, any break up of the link = no work. Also, if power goes down, you might be in trouble. An APU will keep it up for 15 mins or so, but not longer. So I would advise trying out bridgepads and see if you get along with them. If so, and if the $$$ situation favors it, buy those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgr Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 If you use bridgemates then you could consider using Messerbridge and post a question on http://users.telenet.be/josdemes/messerbridge/MBgastenb.htm Or mail the developper at: Jos<dot>De<dot>Messemaeker<at>pandora<dot>be(He will be able to answer your question in English. I'm not sure if he wants to distribute for free out of Belgium).Below is a tranlsated description of what it is (I don't know if this description is complete). For me it is not 100% complete what this software does, but it delivers you more possibilities to play different bridge formats with the bridgemates. Messerbridge is a free alternative for Bridge-it. It gives the same possibilities to play with bridgemates (that you still have to purchase seperatly).Since the introduction the program is extended with:- score Individual tournements for 8 to 9 participants- Barometers for big tournements- team Competitions (with bridgemates)- Swiss teams- Swiss pairsThe programme also allows to publish the results on internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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