Regional?
 

My team has gone to the UC Davis Regional the last three years and have had a blast. This year we are going to add another regional. Should we go to the Portland regional or the San Jose regional????? I wanted to go to the Las Vegas one but it’s the same week as Davis... so it’s between those two. Any thoughts?

Re: Regional?
 

Never been to Portland but I liked San Jose in 2005.

Re: Regional?
 

971's always gone to San Jose and has a blast. I can't speak for Portland from personal experince, but I've heard it's quite good also.

Re: Regional?
 

Is there really a bad regional? I suppose it depends on what you're looking for. If you want a mini-Championships, go to Ypsi ("Great Lakes Regional"), if you're looking for an eaiser competition, go to one of the smaller regionals. I have trouble believing that there's really a regional that isn't fun...

Re: Regional?
 

1318 has attended Portland the last three years and UC Davis last year as well. Portland is a very exciting and comparatively large regional, and the machines there were at least as competitive as those at UC Davis, especially considering it was a first-week regional. However, it has less of a "small town" feel, as there are 10-15 more teams at Portland than Davis and the venue is much much larger, so things are more spread out. The plus side to all the space is that the aisles between the rows of pits are very large, making transporting the robot much easier and the pits themselves may even be a foot or two longer on a side.

Re: Regional?
 

Portland was a more competitive regional last year.

We had a good time at Portland last year, and I'd definitely reccoment it. It was a very nice venue as well.

Re: Regional?
 

So sounds like Portland's a lot of fun.... i dunno man i still cant decide which one my team should go to... thanks for the replies..

Re: Regional?
 

As far as previous years, 114 has gone to both. In that recent season, Portland was an excellent regional. I would reccomend it over SVR, just because of the happy spirit and fun atmosphere of the whole competition. SVR is still great, but it's a little tiny bit less friendly and more competitive.

Re: Regional?
 

We've been to Portland the past two years and plan to return again. It's not just the venue that is nice... Memorial Colliseum has lots of space in the pit area... but the people are friendly and helpful as well. (Not that this is uncommon at FIRST events, naturally.)

One of the really nice things, though is that there are a variety of hotels in the $100/night range in easy walking distance to the venue, and it is within the "Fare Less Square" area, where you can take public transit for free. With excellent train service between Lloyd Centre Mall, Memorial Colliseum, and Downtown Portland (a very friendly, safe place to visit in the evening) and reasonable hotel and restaurant services... and no sales tax... there are lots of good things to say for the Pacific Northwest Regional other than just that it is a good competition.

I will, however, encourage experienced teams to consider making a trip up to Toronto for the GTR when they can make it. Yes, the PNW is an excellent and very competitive regional... but GTR, with two playing fields and on the last weekend of competition is truly amazing.

We'll see people at both PNW and GTR again this year, I expect.

Jason

Re: Regional?
 

Well what about the LA regional????