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unikon or tauras ets ?????????


ron123
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I placed the following post on another forum a few weeks back in the hope it may have been useful to those wishing to purchase an ETS system. It goes off this thread a little because it only involved my opinions on Unikon and Bricon - not Taurus. The post generated various responses but ended up in a slanging match between a couple of members which resulted in the thread being locked. I post it here for your information.

 

I have often seen threads on here from those asking which ETS is best. Many of the answers simply say, in so many words, ‘Bricon every time’ or ‘Nothing to compare with Unikon’. This is not helpful. The following observations I have made since operating both systems in my club may be useful to those still wishing to choose between the two makes. (I have no knowledge of the other systems on the market and my own belief is that those will always be in the minority – Bricon and Unikon without doubt are the market leaders).

 

I would base my thoughts on a basic system with two 2-field pads and a pocket clock enabling the fancier to continue timing in when he has gone to the club – the Bricon Plus and the Unikon Champ PC series.

 

Price: Bricon is slightly cheaper but it should be noted that if the fancier wants the complete system enabling him to received texts of bird arrivals and the ability to link his clock to his own computer for printing purposes, the Unikon option is considerably cheaper than Bricon.

I personally believe that the prices of all ETS systems are extortionate.

 

Build Quality: The Unikon equipment appears more robust and of a higher build quality than Bricon.

 

Design: The Bricon clock is of a small design and can easily be fitted to any wall of the loft. The Unikon however is larger and must be placed on a flat surface to accommodate the Pocket Clock.

 

The contact-free Unikon Pocket clock has got to be better than the Bricon Speedy but there is one big drawback – in order to be linked to a Bricon Club System, if the Club has not got a Unikon Club System, the fancier must take his loft clock to the Club, thus defeating the object of being able to clock birds whilst away from the loft. The Bricon Speedy can easily be linked to a Unikon Club System by use of the Unives cable leaving the Bricon Plus in the loft to clock birds.

 

Basketting: IMO the Unikon is superior – the marker and the clock used for read-outs are separate making it easier for officials to check entries. The Bricon functions are all in the same ‘box’ making it awkward for the marker and basket official to both mark the bird and read the details.

 

Clocking-in: In the loft, both systems do ‘what it says on the tin’ when it comes to clocking birds.

 

Menus & Read-outs: The menus and read outs of the Unikon product appear superior to Bricon as do the Unikon kepypad on the Loft Clock and Club System

 

ETS Rings: Up to 2009 Bricon offer a better option in that their small clip-on rings are more convenient and much less cumbersome than Unikon. However, as from 2010 Unikon will supply small clip-on rings for use in the new combi rings being supplied by the RPRA. I understand these are already in use in Scotland. I cannot comment on the reliability of any ring design.

 

Ring Assignment: My own experiences of using both sytems show that (to me) Unikon is far superior to Bricon. The computer software looks and feels more modern and easier to understand.

 

Pads: I would make little comment about the pads. The Bricon may have a slight advantage if you are in need of a system where many birds can be on the pad at the same time to be clocked but that doesn’t interest me at all.

 

After Sales/Advice: I have found both Mark Palmer of Bricon and Ray Knight of Unikon to be most helpful when speaking on the telephone, doing their best to ensure queries are answered. I have found both organisations to be somewhat slow when replying to emails.

 

All in all, for the fancier who does not want to get involved in all of the technicalities of ring assignment, race marking and results, and who wants the smallest available clock to fix in his loft, Bricon could be the answer but for me I have gone for Unikon. To me the build quality is superior, the keypad and read outs are superior and, for administrative purposes and ring assignment the Club System software is far superior.

 

I hope this may be useful to those still deciding on which system to buy. I am not an agent for any ETS company and have tried to give an honest opinion. If you see any inaccuracies in what I have stated please correct me.

 

Both products appear to give excellent results and in the end it is down to personal preference.

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Guest Gareth Rankin

Only for those that like to keep documented records of all pigeons arrival from races.-

 

A plus point with Tauris with regards to the print outs at clock checking is that it prints out will include all pigeons entered at basketting with a time beside the pigeons that are home which enables you when returning to reconnect your clock and hand write the remaining pigeons coming from the race, dont know about Bricon but with Unikon you don't get this option and for your documented records you would have to revert to using your copy of the entry sheet which could be quite time consuming depending on the number of birds you have entered.

 

I do appreciate that a lot of fanciers don't bother the *expletive removed* about records of there pigeons time on the wing but for years we use to sit and record all pigeons times by hand and this has made things so much easier.

 

cheers

Gareth

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I will be getting an ets for next year and unikon is the one I'm swaying too however I have one big issue with it. Our club hq is under the stand of our local rugby club (very basic). I have heard about the problems about picking up the time signal with unikon, is this very probale stuck under a 'stand'? Advice on this particular issue would be gratefully recieved

Thanks

Alan

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I will be getting an ets for next year and unikon is the one I'm swaying too however I have one big issue with it. Our club hq is under the stand of our local rugby club (very basic). I have heard about the problems about picking up the time signal with unikon, is this very probale stuck under a 'stand'? Advice on this particular issue would be gratefully recieved

Thanks

Alan

I understand there is an issue with some clubs regarding the time signal with Unikon - our club is in a converted container (all metal) - we have never had a problem.

 

 

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gareth can you write down the procedure for continuous clocking for the tauris,, all the systems on the 2nd day just plug into the pads.. does the tauris just plug into the pad and clock.. as A member did this last week and no arrivals were recorded..

 

another tauris question,, what happens if no time signal is recieved.. on tauris the birds are basketted before the signal is got..

 

tauris is very good it does what it says on the tin,, but the clock is big compared to the others.. and my mate just plugged his in for the 2nd days clocking and nothing clocked,, a rep has told me he has to initiate the clocking procedure,,

 

they all do the same thing ...but they do not all mark each others clocks,, they are all guilty and I hope the rpra crack down on them in 2010..

 

best of luck to all ,, lets hope they all reduce their prices..

 

ant

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Guest Gareth Rankin

With continous clocking you have to use the memory module, to use this while at clock station you

Plug first pad into the top of memory module

Connect the cable that comes from the Module to the Tauris clock

Connect the power cable

Then press "6" to pause

Disconect tauris clock from the cable that comes from the memory module, at this point the pigeons will clock in while your at clock station.

 

Do not release clock at club and press "4" to register then on return to loft reconnect and press "6" this will then take pause off and then pigeons will then upload from Memory module to Tauris clock.

 

The above only has to be done if racing from more than one race or if like me you want to keep records of your pigeons time on the wing.

 

 

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With continous clocking you have to use the memory module, to use this while at clock station you

Plug first pad into the top of memory module

Connect the cable that comes from the Module to the Tauris clock

Connect the power cable

Then press "6" to pause

Disconect tauris clock from the cable that comes from the memory module, at this point the pigeons will clock in while your at clock station.

 

Do not release clock at club and press "4" to register then on return to loft reconnect and press "6" this will then take pause off and then pigeons will then upload from Memory module to Tauris clock.

 

The above only has to be done if racing from more than one race or if like me you want to keep records of your pigeons time on the wing.

 

gareth sorry ,, I didn't mean continuous,, what I meant was if he clocked on day 1 then had to clock more on day 2.. we read the clock but left the race open but it didn't clock any of the birds that arrived on the 2nd day.. the rep said he should have pressed a few buttons to re-activate the race to put the clock in clocking mode for day 2..

 

thanks for the help

 

ant

 

 

 

 

 

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Guest spin cycle

one advantage of the tauris is surely price. sms, clock, pad for £400 is it ???.......but do you need a univers cable in case you come upon another system and is the 'memory' module an extra ? personally i don't see why the bigger size of tauris is an issue...something to get hold of (evil) (evil)

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one advantage of the tauris is surely price. sms, clock, pad for £400 is it ???.......but do you need a univers cable in case you come upon another system and is the 'memory' module an extra ? personally i don't see why the bigger size of tauris is an issue...something to get hold of (evil) (evil)

 

I believe a complete Bricon set up is about £250,agree you dont get the sms facility but it wouldnt cost a extra £150 if you needed it.

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Guest spin cycle

 

I believe a complete Bricon set up is about £250,agree you dont get the sms facility but it wouldnt cost a extra £150 if you needed it.

 

thanks...so a bricon might be cheaper...to be honest looking at the adverts i find the unikon and bricon pricing a bit 'vague'. my club is still very split on ets...so i don't know when i'll get it. be nice to know what a comparable price for clock,sms,pad ( i've no need for continuous clocking....but would need sms)

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thanks...so a bricon might be cheaper...to be honest looking at the adverts i find the unikon and bricon pricing a bit 'vague'. my club is still very split on ets...so i don't know when i'll get it. be nice to know what a comparable price for clock,sms,pad ( i've no need for continuous clocking....but would need sms)

 

Could I ask why you would need sms,I send in national races and the sms would be good only problem is you still have to verify the bird by phone in some cases within 30 minutes so I would still need to ba at home so cant see how sms is of any use.

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Guest spin cycle

 

Could I ask why you would need sms,I send in national races and the sms would be good only problem is you still have to verify the bird by phone in some cases within 30 minutes so I would still need to ba at home so cant see how sms is of any use.

 

quite alot of race days i'm away working and have to arrange 'cover' for clocking. i thought the sms would text me the time/ring no. wherever i was...so that i could then verify from my mobile. if thats not the case then ets isn't any use to me

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Could I ask why you would need sms,I send in national races and the sms would be good only problem is you still have to verify the bird by phone in some cases within 30 minutes so I would still need to ba at home so cant see how sms is of any use.

 

For me a great help, my loft is in a field a couple of miles from my home, if I needed to go home I could safe in the knowledge that if a bird arrived I would know.

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