FIRST Choice Items
 

Now that FIRST Choice items are available for 'window-shopping', what stands out to you?

Just quickly scanning, it looks like the 'bigger' items, like Talons and Classmates have appropriately large point values.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

So far, I can only fill in about 300 credits of things we need. Looks like 3D printers are being pushed heavily. cRIO seems like a bad buy.

Also, it appears the website was just updated in the past few minutes, removing some items (extension cord is no longer there?).

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I don't think the cRio is a bad buy, depending on how your team utilized spare parts/components/setups.

The 55 credits for a lot of stuff is bugging me. It seems like it was implemented especially so I can't do something like get a pair of Talons and a battery. That seems like a legit FIRST Choice order, right?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Phil, I'm inclined to think that the credits may have been allotted to do just that. It seems to me that it's fairly obvious that there are fewer useful items currently in FC than 'less useful' items. Looking through some of the theoretical order configurations it becomes pretty obvious that most teams should be able to get at least one or two things that are 'really useful' from FC, but very, very few are going to make out like bandits. In the grand scheme of things, we may all end up being better off if everyone gets 'something' from FC, rather than the extreme cases last year where some teams got everything while others got nothing.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

It would be if more Talons and batteries were available. As it is, there are only 250 teams that can get 2 Talons, and only 500 that can get a battery. Since there are 3000+ teams, these items need to be highly priced even with the quantity limits to allow everyone a shot at these high-importance items.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

It has a decent selection for teams who are going to use Pneumatic systems, but I agree that there isn't much else besides batteries, connectors, C-RIOs, and $100 3-D Printing vouchers.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I don't know if this is true, but the Talon page says there won't be any included in the KOP, whereas multiple other things CIMs, Classmates, Batteries, and cRIOs say that they are included. Am I missing something, or is there something else going on?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Talons were not in the KOP last year, so it's not surprising. I'd expect IFI to throw in a few Jaguars and/or a voucher like last year.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Some of those items (Classmate, cRIO) will get included in Rookie Kits (green+black totes), but not in the veteran kits (black tote).

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Could someone please link the new FIRST Choice website? I can't seem to find it on the FRC blog...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Go to the AndyMark website: http://www.andymark.com/
Click on the prominent FIRST Choice logo: https://www.firstchoicebyandymark.com/
Click on Preview: https://www.firstchoicebyandymark.com/en/newproducts

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

<Facepalm/>

To my defense, that big FIRST Choice logo wasn't there a little while a go for me. I saw the FTC button and a deal of the day button, no FIRST Choice.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The more mundane path is to go to the AndyMark site and on the left menu under FIRST you will find FIRST Choice and other FIRST specific item links.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I'm not sure why you think the cRIO is a bad buy.

For a lot of teams who use LabVIEW, there's is going to be very little change between the new 2015 system and the current system. So while the wiring may be a little different, the cRIO will still be an excellent developement platform.

In addition, they're quite handy for running old robots. At 100 credits, they are fairly cost effective.

I've started going through and doing some evaluation based on dollars and points, and it looks like all the highly sought items are right around $1 = 1 point. Cims, Talons, and Batteries all fall under this catagory. So it looks like FIRST did exactly what they should have when they valued these.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

For me it seems slightly lopsided. Maybe my prices aren't on-point, but there is certainly some differences between items. Obviously, there are different subsidies for different parts.

Probably not a terrible option, but any team with more than one cRIO already hasn't got much of a reason, considering it'll be obsolete in a year. (and likely won't get much use) I guess testing is possible reason, but why not wait a year and get discounted ones from other teams or surplus on Andymark?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How else will we slip on regolith, kick soccerballs, hang tubes, shoot baskets, launch frisbees, and have a 2014 robot at the same time (in the next 2 months)?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Most of your prices are very close to the ones I have on my spreadsheet.

I noticed the higher bang-for-the-buck on the pneumatic components as well. I will venture a guess that those may be priced that way because a lot of teams don't use them every year. That makes them intrisically worth less than a Talon, a Battery, or a pre-made battery lead.

Even with the item limits, I see that a lot of components that will be sold out fairly quickly.

That said, I went through and made a buy-list and I don't have any trouble filling all my points and then some with components that I know will be useful in the next year or two. That makes me happy :D

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Has it been mentioned if new items will be stocked after kickoff, for the second distribution of (450) points? Will the stock of any of the currently posted items be replenished for the second round, of they go out of stock on the first round?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

In the past years, once the items were gone from FC that was it. I have not seen anything saying that it will be different this year for this year

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Once an item is gone, it's gone.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Couple of interesting things.

I was really surprised at the number of 3D printing vouchers. Those seem like a reasonable deal if you want to explore 3D printing and not take a chance on the lottery. And most of these places offering the vouchers will have much higher end commercial grade printers.

I concur with the comments about the Talons and batteries.

While the CRIO will be obsolete next year if you need one for this year that is a good deal (assuming you have the modules).

The toggle switches and buttons seem overpriced to me.

Motors and Pneumatics seem like the best deals.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I noticed the pneumatic valves are on 24V. Anyone know if the new control system next year will support 24V pneumatic valves?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

If i remember corerctly, 12/24v is selectable via jumper on the pneumatics module.

It's also listed as being supported in the picture linked in this post:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=20

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

anybody else notice the old van door motors???

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The 2014 control system will stay the same as the 2013 control system. It only changes for 2015.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I read the FC rules (http://www.firstchoicebyandymark.com...RSTChoiceRules)

What I did not see were details on the Max Qty Per Team restriction that some items have (Talons, Battery, etc). Does that Max Qty Per Team apply to FIRST Choice as a whole or each of the two sessions (i.e. can I get one battery in the first round and another in the second round)?

My guess is the Max applies to the whole FIRST choice for the season.

Thanks!

-matto-

Looks like it applies to both rounds together. They don't have enough talons and batteries to support twice as much.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Isnt there typically a placeholder for "20XX Game Piece"?
I dont see one for "2014 game piece"

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Clearly, there is no game piece. See theories in other threads about it being a virtual game this year.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

There were not any placeholders last year before kickoff.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

There won't be any Talons and batteries left at the end of the first day, let alone by the time everyone gets their additional kickoff credits.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The thing that stood out the most to me was the FC14-004 IR Transmitter. It looks a lot like the one from 2008(?) but with a new part number. It says it won't be in the kits, but that could be a misdirection.

Why would they have it there if we didn't need it this year? It's not like we could use it if it's not required for the game...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I'm presuming it's for the same reason they had it up there last year even though it wasn't in the game. Now what that reason actually is, I have no clue. Presumably they have them and they don't know what else to do with them.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

It's a great device for teams who lost their old remotes to shop TVs, clearly.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Does anyone know if you can use 24V and 12V solenoids on the same system, or the 24V solenoids in FIRST choice with the FRC electronics at all?

Also, is it possible to replace the 1/8" port in the black tanks with a 1/4" port to more easily interface with the robot's standard pneumatics system?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

You can buy 1/4 to 1/8" NPT adaptors. I believe they were included in the kit for a few years. Veteren teams should have some.


They look like this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Ahh, so these are threaded NPT connectors rather than push to connect?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Yep. Male 1/8" NPT and female 1/4" NPT.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Anither good option for this http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2011.htm

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The best item in FIRST Choice, only 5 fc points that worth 65$

https://www.firstchoicebyandymark.com/en/fc14-026

Wait. A cable tie worth $65???

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

FIRST provides wiring instructions for 24v solenoids. If you want to use both 24v and 12v, you must use 2 solenoid modules in the cRIO or put the 24v solenoids on a solenoid module and run the 12v solenoids from spikes.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

48" cable tie (1.21 meter)

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

You get fifty of them.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I think the extension cord for 0 credits is a better dealhttps://www.firstchoicebyandymark.com/en/fc14-110

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Note that it's for a generator, not a standard outlet.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I haven't see anything like this posted yet, so here is a list of the FIRST Choice items along with commercial prices I was able to find for the items.

The list isn't complete for a few reasons: Some items I couldn't find a price for, anywhere. Other items I could only find prices off ebay, which can be wildly variable, so I did not include those. I selected prices from "typical" FRC vendors if possible (others may have varying opinions on which vendors qualify as typical). Preference for listing was given to the part manufacturer's site, if price was listed. If multiple vendors had it listed at different prices, I tended toward the cheaper option.

If you have information on missing items, or a large price difference, I certainly would appreciate hearing about that. No consideration was given to shipping costs.

As always, decisions should be made with your team in mind. No one "best choice" list will exist.

Spreadsheet here

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I don't want to mess up our teams' chances with this item, but I thought it would be worth pointing out that the slewing rings run around $200+.

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/mo...FclaMgodzEkAvg

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

What good is a CRIO with no modules in it? Buying the modules from NI individually is no bargain.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Using the FIRST discount makes them reasonable. We also tend to have spare modules sitting around not being used.

For us, it's definitely a good deal because we'll get to keep all our old robots running and still have one to play with off a robot.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Anyone know if there is a difference between the two classmates?

Also, will the web site allow for adding different items to the cart through different browser tabs? Can anyone who did the beta test chime in on that?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Per the document on the beta test:

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Thank you so much for posting your spreadsheet. I was just about to make one for our team, but you saved us a bunch of time by posting yours! :D

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

With 7 minutes to go, I am surprised to find that I am actually nervous. Possibly not as bad as the guy managing the servers, but nevertheless...

Need to score a bunch of triple taps for all our Generators.:p

Edit: T - 4 minutes and the server has stopped responding... :-(
...and T+ 1 minute, server not responding. sigh.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The site is already really laggy (over a minute to load a page) with over 5 minutes before it starts

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I see I have some competition! I'm going to have to get those in the cart fast! Before they all run out!

Edit: Also, did the site just get really slow for anyone else?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I'm honestly worried now that the load time will exceed the time on the shopping cart timer...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

server seems down to me....anyone else?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

dang it... tried to log in 10 minutes early... still waiting!

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I can't even get the site to load

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Glad to hear it's not my internet connection that is lagging....


But I think everyone knows this will be a pretty slow process to get the items we want...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Yeah, not sure if they're down or just on their knees. Either way, this doesn't bode well for 12:01.

- Sunny G.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I hope the lag is temporary, otherwise, a lot of people are going to time out on their carts...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Interesting... can't seem to log in
Just get a loading page...
worked Thursday... must be a lot of traffic
Hope its not another one of those days

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The silly thing is that there are less than 5000 people logging in. I wish this would be outsourced to a retailer that can handle millions of simultaneous transactions (like Amazon).

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

The server appears to be down.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

It's going to be one of those days, especially for the webadmins.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

blastoff... blank screen...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

http://isitup.org/www.firstchoicebyandymark.com

- Sunny G.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Has anyone successfully loaded the site & seen their updated credit amount? It does seem like the server is down.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Yea I have been logged on for about 30 min now and the site is not loading at all for me anymore so watch for the site to come back online

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

still responds to ping, but no page loads

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Bummer.....

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Lag for me too. Actually, I reloaded a page at 9:57 and still have nothing...

Darn.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Less even, still shy of 3000 teams.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

.......this is never good

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Nope. I think that we crashed the server from the traffic.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Got logged in, but then the server went down. Still down.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Was working when I logged in around 11:40, nothing responding now...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I was logged on earlier (about an hour ago) got to all the items we are wanting, opened them in new tabs so that once logged on all I had to do was add to cart for each one. Still have those tabs, but no luck in refreshing a single one or getting to the order page.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

For me, pages stopped loading 5 minute BEFORE 12:01

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Dam this is almost as bad as the obama care site...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

same here

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I was just about to post this.

#toosoon

- Sunny G.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

me too

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I can ping the https://www.firstchoicebyandymark.com/ IP address though... :(

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Do they still off CSC 109 with Staley teaching it at SLO? This would be a better project than the Chess program from days of old.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Can't log in...

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

:mad:
Have to leave. Oh well, I guess we get the scraps again.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I believe the beta test results page suggested that people not have multiple tabs open for best performance, but I can't really get to the site to verify that right now. :)

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Maybe AndyMark could hire Brandon to handle the traffic that should be relatively commensurate to the complaining that will commence on this thread.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Northern Ontario FIRST team member here.... Been down for me ever since 11:50

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I did a whois and got the ip: 173.236.24.187

I can ping the ip, but not the domain (firstchoicebyandymark.com). Ugh.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

How soon before everyone that is trying FIRST Choice, then goes to Chief Delphi to find the status of FIRST Choice, then crashes their servers? :)

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

AndyMark's FIRST Choice "tips" warns against operating in more than one window. Confuses the session timer. You could be timed out and not know it because the timer is not synced in a different window.

Logged in and working fine prior to 11:50, then froze.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I wonder if the WA service provider AndyMark uses provides DDOS protection or not....or maybe our service requests are exceeding their allotted bandwidth.
Because the server they use is still up...or appears to be.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

No page loades but something is out there....


Pinging www.firstchoicebyandymark.com [173.236.24.187] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=119
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=119
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=119
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=119

Ping statistics for 173.236.24.187:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 14ms, Maximum = 15ms, Average = 14ms

C:\BAT-UTIL>ping www.firstchoicebyandymark.com

Pinging www.firstchoicebyandymark.com [173.236.24.187] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=119
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=119
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=119
Reply from 173.236.24.187: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=119

Ping statistics for 173.236.24.187:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 14ms, Maximum = 15ms, Average = 14ms

C:\BAT-UTIL>

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

tracert is timing out at Bright House Networks, which is an Indianapolis ISP. I clicked Login about 13 minutes ago, and it did load that page about 60 seconds ago.

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

Has anyone been able to get in and purchase anything yet?

Re: FIRST Choice Items
 

I'm on a sprit telecom fiber connection and it's not showing as timing out, but I can't get the website to load either.