|
DNUK
Hardware Review: EHT-E5 Digital Tally Counter
By Scott Taylor
www.door-network.com
If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to
start an argument between stewards it’s whose turn it is to hold the
damned tally counters. Two big lumps of metal that are just that
awkward a shape to make it impractical to hold them both in one
hand, which invariably fail within a couple of weeks of use or start
clicking thousands in when you only mean to click in tens. I’ve lost
count of the amount of metal counters I’ve launched either into the
pavement or across the street over the years due to them breaking
down or simply falling apart, and now as soon as someone tries to
hand them to me, I try and avoid the damned things like the plague.
So when FD Security Supplies sent me a new EHT-E5 Electronic Tally
Counter to try out it was with a heavy heart I stuck the digital
monstrosity in my pocket and took it in to work on a weekend night
to give it a trial. I wasn’t expecting much, but I certainly was
impressed with what I got!
Firstly the main problem I have with Stewards using the big metal
tally counters is that it invariably ties up both of your hands, and
when the proverbial hits the fan you don’t want anything in your
hands stopping you from grabbing and restraining. The EHT-E5 comes
as a single unit which can be held around the neck on a breakaway
lanyard, so when not in use it’s out of your hand and most
importantly out of the way.
The large LCD screen works well too, and unlike most other digital
systems the screen shows not only the total in and out clicks
separately, but also the total number in your venue at one time.
This saves a lot of time for those of us who are not mathematically
minded when there’s a manager screaming in your earpiece asking how
many people are in the venue! However one small gripe is that
without a backlighting system it can be hard to make out the screen
in low light conditions, and you find yourself tilting the screen
back and forth under the street lights to get a reading.
|
|
The unit fits nicely into your hand, and
the buttons are clearly laid out so that both clicking in and
out are simple to avoid mixing up due to the layout of the pad.
Also, the reset button is recessed into the unit so that
accidental wiping of your numbers is easier to avoid. However,
the unit remains permanently on which makes you wonder how much
battery life could have been saved if there had simply been an
‘off’ switch. However, the manufacturer assures us that there’s
over 500 days of operation per easily replaceable battery, which
isn’t bad considering how much use the unit will potentially
undertake over the weeks and months of its operation.
One issue however is that under heavy use the unit tended to
miss clicks now and again. When you are quickly trying to click
a number of people out so that you can click the group that just
came in at the same time can put the unit under a bit of duress,
and if you’re a little too quick with that finger then the unit
can miss the odd click either way. This only happens
infrequently though, and the unit seems to present a far better
count overall than its metal counterparts ever did. You can if
you chose turn on a bleep which sounds every time you make a
click, but I found it annoying after a while and got tired of
customers asking what the hell was beeping in my hand. My answer
that it was, “a hand detonator for the bomb I’ve placed under
the main bar” didn’t go down as well as expected, so the bleep
was turned off to save confusion and possible arrest.
Overall the EHT-E5 performed very well under a weekend of
testing, and everyone who tried it out in the two separate
venues we tested it in seemed very impressed with it’s operation
and ease of use.
For a digital unit that costs much the same as two of it’s metal
counterparts we at DNUK highly recommend the EHT-E5 Digital
Tally Counter to anyone looking for a more reliable, and safe,
solution to the dreaded metal counter problem that plagues our
doors..
Scott Taylor
(For more
information on the EHT-E5 Digital Tally Counter, check out
www.fdss.co.uk)
|
