Can anyone recommend a particular 2x4 lockout buzzer system?

[rob]

Can anyone recommend a particular lockout buzzer system for a High School quiz team?

This at $565 looks interesting.
http://www.zeecraft.com/challenger2.html
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This at $230 is an option.

http://quizsystems.com/products.shtml

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Any help appreciated.

[Matt Weiner]

Choose something with common, modular parts. A Zeecraft, for example, is built from off-the-rack electronic components, phone jacks, et cetera. All buzzer systems on the market are built poorly and will be abused by teams, so think of repair as an inevitable cost, not an avoidable one. If you can repair it yourself with $2 worth of items from Radio Shack, that's a lot better than something you need to ship back to the manufacturer.

[ASimPerson]

The Judge. Those suckers are built like tanks.

Unfortunately, you can't really order them online, but I believe this is their web site and thus who you'd need to contact: http://www.electramaticinc.com/

[Matt Weiner]

The Judge. Those suckers are built like tanks.

They really aren't, and it costs half as much to repair one as to buy one. And sometimes they send the bill to the wrong person...

[ezubaric]

They really aren't, and it costs half as much to repair one as to buy one. And sometimes they send the bill to the wrong person...

How is that? They repaired ours for the cost of postage (and they're not that heavy).

[dtaylor4]

Don't go for wireless. The wireless set that I played on had one major flaw: Whenever two people rang in at the same time, it would take 15-30 seconds for the system to figure out who rang in first.

[NoahMinkCHS]

Don't go for wireless. The wireless set that I played on had one major flaw: Whenever two people rang in at the same time, it would take 15-30 seconds for the system to figure out who rang in first.

Surely somebody on this board could figure out how to build an efficient, dependable wireless system?
C'mon, it can't be that hard, half you guys are engineers.
No, really, it can be done...You'd make a lot of money...It'd be ideal...No more tripping...

[quizbowlmike]

Get the Judge. I have a Zeecraft, a Judge, and a Quizmachine, and out of those, the most reliable and easiest to set up and put away is the Judge. I've gone through all three of them being broken and fixing the Judge was the easiest; with a set of small screwdrivers it's usually quite easy to fix on your own.

[pblessman]

I'd recommend Novel Electronic Designs: http://www.buzzersystems.com/. Their systems are a great value, sturdy, and their customer service is excellent.

[Tegan]

We have used Novel, and I for one will second Coach Blessman's assessment. Customer service is easy.....I have been very pleased with ease of repair, and expansion (as my team got bigger, I needed to add some modules, and loved that I could do so for reatively little cost).