I am being tempted to put that shiny "print label" button on the registration screen to use. Just wondering if anyone is using a label printer, what brand/model, and how the labels deal with inclement weather?????

I know the VCMC club in Vancouver uses that system. When you register, they print off a label with barcode and stick it to your helmet. As you line up to do your run, they scan your barcode and AXti.me knows your next.

I'm sure a lot of larger club's do this. Hopefully someone can chime in.

I'm pretty sure that barcodes are an AXware thing, although I suspect that Pronto uses it as well since the SCCA scans barcodes on helmets at all national-level events. The car queuer role (and app) replace using barcodes. (I worked as the barcode scanner at an SCCA National Tour event, and their wireless barcode reader was far from reliable especially with F-Mod running with their leaky ignition systems and loud exhausts masking the reader's wimpy "beep" sound.)

What we have done in the past is laser print up paper event labels on florescent mailing label sheets. Registration hand-writes the car number/class on the sticker, and hands it to the driver to put on their windshield before tech. Two driver cars have two stickers, so grid can route them to the appropriate lane to keep things moving.

AXti.me has the ability to print registration labels that are pretty close to what we produced by hand, and I'm trying to get feedback on what special-purpose label printer others clubs are having good luck with.....

@vreihen of course, I'm just regurgitating what I've heard from a few members that travel for events. At work we have waterproof paper that is used in the field and it works great in the rain.. I'm sure you could find labels made from the same if you want to cover all bases.

Once upon a time in the dark days of AxWare we were looking into it, but we found a major problem with labels and barcodes or whatnot. Since we run a little more relaxed events than nationals, theres a couple of instances where it would not be beneficial, and it would potentially be worse. People will share cars, so placing the barcode or label on the car would not work. Also people do share helmets, so it can't be on the helmet. Wristbands was the only non-shareable way of doing it, but getting a good quality wristband that would be able to hold a sticker is expensive, and good stickers that won't wash away are too.
We are super happy now with the car queuer being able to move through grid with their iPad, verifying that double driver cars have indeed the correct number.

There's no doubt that barcodes are AXware-think, and a non-workable solution from my own personal experience working the scanner in a noisy grid. AXti.me's label is more like a registration receipt:

When we used these types of labels in the dark past with AXware, the driver(s) were handed the label to put on their windshield/rollbar at registration. Tech would initial them when the car passed. The grid workers would see two labels on a car and immediately know it was a two-driver setup. The last grid worker would put a hashmark on each label as they pulled up to staging for each run, so it was also a run counter to make sure that nobody took more runs than they were supposed to. All legitimate uses for a simple label that don't involve bar codes to queue cars in the computer.

Back to the label printer topic, it appears that both Dymo and Brother make sub-$100 home-grade thermal label printers that will probably work for this role. Zebra makes industrial-grade printers for $200+. Do I need to spend up for the Zebra or can I get away with Brother or Dymo?????

@vreihen When I formatted the label printing I was testing with a Dymo LabelWriter (I think it was the 450 model).

I do have a backlog item to implement QR code label printing and scanning via the iOS app, but that is in the future and would be subject to demand.

Ultimately, I'd like to implement RFId's (or similar) or image recognition and automate the Car Queuing alogether :-)

@Chris said:

Ultimately, I'd like to implement RFId's (or similar) or image recognition and automate the Car Queuing alogether :-)

Here in the northeast, many cars have EZ-Pass transponders on their windshields for electronic toll collection. If there was a way to integrate with one of those readers, it could be used as a transponder...and a payment method for the event entry fees! :-)

Seriously though, I'm a fan of KISS (keep it simple) when it comes to staging cars. One event running Topeka's bar code scanner during the F-Mod heat was enough to convince me that barcode readers and staging do not mix. The car queuer app/page/role is actually the best solution for the problem, IMO. The decal is more of a human-readable backup and payment receipt for us, but it did help with keeping 2/3/4 driver cars moving in grid when we were using them.....