Firefly Fencing

[seven6ty]

Originally Posted by dekko

Ok, for the undereducated....

How about a picture with the lights on or the remote is there a remote, does the box keep score, does it only have a clock?

Undereducated? I teach college, and I know what action means.

[TooLoftheDeviL]

Originally Posted by scared white person

Why were they so stupid to put them under bridges? How would you like to drive over a steel girder bridge which had an unknown, lights blinking medium sized package up near joints similar to the ones that failed when the bridge fell down in Minnesota?

Laugh now if you want to, I was in the suburbs when it was going on and I think the response was appropriate.

The entire country was laughing at you.

[sionnach]

As chance would have it I was in Boston city centre when it happened and I thought it most amusing (:

[Todd Brown]

Howdy, Everyone,

I'm the owner of Firefly Fencing, and I knew something was up when I got a stack of inquiries from the website, which has not been advertised yet (for obvious reasons). I'm going to try to answer some of your questions, but mostly I'll be asking you to be patient: we are finishing up the website, and hope to have it live by late tonight (PST). Hopefully most of your questions will be answered there.

I will have units for sale at tomorrow's Portland NAC, so if you're in town for the event, please stop by and I will be happy to give you a demo and tell you all about it (and sell you one, hopefully!). I regret to say that this is not the fabled one hundred dollar scoring apparatus: there's a reason that's a fable. It may interest some of you to know that that was my original dream, but the reality of the cost putting something like this together was sobering, to say the least. The retail price is $239, which is still significantly less expensive than our nearest competition.

I've had a lot of inquires from folks overseas, and believe me, I will be making Firefly available outside of the US, but you'll have to wait for a little while. There are some RoHS that are being ironed out, and I don't even want to think about tariffs and export laws right now. But have faith: we'll get there.

Once the website is live, I'll post back to this thread, and hopefully all your questions will be answered.

Best,
Todd Brown
Owner, Firefly Fencing LLC

[Gav]

I've had a lot of inquires from folks overseas, and believe me, I will be making Firefly available outside of the US, but you'll have to wait for a little while. There are some RoHS that are being ironed out, and I don't even want to think about tariffs and export laws right now. But have faith: we'll get there.

Hazardous materials!!!!!????

What have you got in the box?

I am intrigued by your device.

If I were to donate £150 to your company you could send it to me as a present. And theoretically avoid the import tax. Always risky as HMRC are getting worse and worse for charging duty. So much for Globalisation being good for the consumer...

[Allen Evans]

Well, it doesn't seem to have hurt Chinese consumers...

AE

[jfarmer]

Originally Posted by Gav

Hazardous materials!!!!!????

Probably due to the requirement to provide documentation that there was no lead used in any solder joints, or any other "bad metal" used for components. RoHS rules are a pain in the $ss for most electronic manufacturers....

[whtouche]

I don't understand, especially now given the fact that the half of the cat is out of the bag, the utility of continuing to attempt to shroud this in secrecy.
Why not just tell us what the features are here, other than the price tag? Are you afraid that somebody will pre-empt you, and build something similar, now on basically the eve of the competition? And even if the machine is the cheapest box out there and you're an impressive salesman, wouldn't you want your target audience to be traveling to the competition at least thinking about buying a new box rather than expecting them to impulse-buy a bunch on the spot?


And what about those of us who won't be in portland? I guess we can wait for reports of this mythical evolving device, and for you to pull the veil off your website.

I just don't see the point..

[wahrman]

If you want one, I'll hand deliver it at the next Edinburgh Open.

Originally Posted by Gav

Hazardous materials!!!!!????

What have you got in the box?

I am intrigued by your device.

If I were to donate £150 to your company you could send it to me as a present. And theoretically avoid the import tax. Always risky as HMRC are getting worse and worse for charging duty. So much for Globalisation being good for the consumer...

[Todd Brown]

The reasons for my coyness have more to do with pride than fear that someone will steal my ideas. I have a sense of showmanship, and I wanted to hit the NAC and the internet at the same time, and with style -- not that I'm not pleased that there was a little pre-launch buzz. Sadly, my web guy let me down, so the site didn't launch Thursday night as planned; it looks like it'll be up sometime this weekend, hopefully tonight.

Re: hazardous materials: some of the components are not lead-free, and we are in the process of finding lead-free parts to comply with RoHS regulations. We do use lead-free solder; that part is a no-brainer.

The "mystery feature" is called AutoClock, and I'm definitely not worried about someone stealing it because the patent is pending. The idea is simple: there's a built-in clock, and you can start it yourself. In foil and épée, simply depress the tip. There will be a beep to acknowledge that the the clock will start soon followed by a random delay (between one and two seconds), and a trilling beep to indicate that the clock has started and you should begin fencing. This emulates a good referee varying the timing of his or her "ready...fence" commands. The clock automatically stops when a touch is scored. In saber, since there is no button to press, you simply ground the weapon against your lamé.

The clock also supports a remote-control (which is not ready for market yet, and will require a firmware upgrade at any rate) so it can be used in the traditional manner with a referee or timekeeper.

Other features:

• User-upgradeable firmware
• Support for extension lights (will require firmware upgrade)
• "Flip Coin" button allows you to randomly select priority in case of a sudden death bout
• Volume control

I'm happy to report that the reaction to AutoClock at the NAC has been very positive, and some notable people have expressed their approval, including Dan DeChaine, Michael Marx, and Buckie Leach. Please note that I am not claiming the endorsement of these individuals: I am only relaying that they have seen the device and given me positive feedback.

For those folks outside US, I will say that I have been approached by a international retailer who may be interested in carrying my apparatus. There's no agreement, only a statement of interest, so I'm not going to name names, but I will say I would be happy to be on board with this particular company.

Again, I appreciate everyone's patience, and I'm sorry that the website didn't launch on Thursday as planned.

Best,
Todd Brown
Firefly Fencing LLC

[counterattack]

Hooray for innovation! It is funny. I an electrical engineer and I have thought many times how could I make a better scoring box. But I never thought about non-tourney situations. In retrospect that is MOST situations. You have made a great idea, I hope it is as excellent in practice as it is in my mind =)

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by fencerbill

Why were they so stupid to put them under bridges? How would you like to drive over a steel girder bridge which had an unknown, lights blinking medium sized package up near joints similar to the ones that failed when the bridge fell down in Minnesota?

Laugh now if you want to, I was in the suburbs when it was going on and I think the response was appropriate.

I was in Boston at the time, and it was totally over the top.


Anyway, price range on this dohicky?

[CrazyLittle]

Originally Posted by telkanuru

Anyway, price range on this dohicky?

Look a few posts up

Originally Posted by Todd Brown

The retail price is $239, which is still significantly less expensive than our nearest competition.

[InFerrumVeritas]

Ah, well it seems you still can't get it to determine who had right of way. I thought it was going to be "evolutionary".

In all seriousness, it looks very interesting. I would definately consider purchasing it depending on more specifics. Will it, when the remote is available, have a "tournament" setting that will allow it to be used in situations where the automatic time would not be appropriate?

[CrazyLittle]

I'm pretty sure that the autoclock is not always enabled by default, and rather you have to turn it on by hand before starting fencing. That way it wouldn't be enabled by default in the middle of a tournament.

Sounds like a wonderful idea for club practices and self-directed bouts. I do have to ask though whether the machine fits FIE rules and could possibly be certified. Does it fit FIE muster or could it via updates? How does it handle stuff like sabre whipovers? What kind of interface does it have for repeater lights?

[KD5MDK]

Why would you be interested in FIE certification?

[Nolano]

Doh. I was in Portland today and yesterday and looked at every vendor but you guys. I told myself I would do it after I got my weapon and stuff.

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by CrazyLittle

Look a few posts up

TL;DR duh!



Ty

[Mo]

Not being a fencer but being an admirer of AMAZING Gadgets I would buy a firefly just to say I had one.
It is so amazing.
I watched kids messing around with it and Todd the Genius Inventor showed me how it would work with Saber.
A young Epeeist was checking it out while I was talking to Todd. There is a way to reset the box by just touching the floor. After a little while a buzzer goes off that means "Fence." It doesn't go off at regular intervals though, so fencers can't jump the gun so to speak.
They would be great for Divisions to purchase for budding clubs and for use when they only have a few saber fencers, or a few foil fencers because they work for all three weapons.
It was quite the impressive machine.
The Momster

[mfp]

Originally Posted by Todd Brown

Other features:

• User-upgradeable firmware
• Support for extension lights (will require firmware upgrade)
• "Flip Coin" button allows you to randomly select priority in case of a sudden death bout
• Volume control

A couple of questions not answered above or on the FAQ on the website:

Does the unit support an input from a strip ground wire?

Does the AutoClock system and method include a way for the Firefly box to distinguish between a valid request to Start/AutoClock fencing versus extraneous and bogus inputs as fencers test their weapons?

Does (or can) an input hit between the beep to acknowledge that the clock will start soon and the trilling start beep cancel the AutoClock start?