Excaliber Deluxe Talking Chess

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Date: 21 Feb 2007 04:19:34
From: Frippertronics
Subject: Excaliber Deluxe Talking Chess

Anyone own one of these LCD units and have opinions on it? Found it on
Amazon for about $60.00.

http://www.excaliburelectronics.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?

Date: 22 Feb 2007 05:09:10
From: rookhouse
Subject: Re: Excaliber Deluxe Talking Chess

> Can the voice be turned off while the unit is on?<

Yes, you have the option of turning the sound on or off.

> Does it shows a display of all the moves?<

No, it does not show all of the previous moves (not enough room on the
screen), but there is an ONDO button to click back through moves one
at a time in your current game.

> And how are the graphics of the pieces?<

The graphics are better than any I have seen on a handheld LCD chess
game. There are obviously not going to be as good as the graphics on
a PDA running actual chess software, but I am more than happy with the
graphics.

Date: 23 Feb 2007 01:17:21
From: Frippertronics
Subject: Re: Excaliber Deluxe Talking Chess

>
>> And how are the graphics of the pieces?<
>
> The graphics are better than any I have seen on a handheld LCD chess
> game. There are obviously not going to be as good as the graphics on
> a PDA running actual chess software, but I am more than happy with the
> graphics.
>

That's been my experience also, and I looked at a LOT of handhelds. The 404D
Excalibur looks the best of the lot by far. There've been complaints about
the graphics on almost every other handheld unit that I researched,
especially problematic was distinguishing pawns from rooks...not so with the
404D. And I like the fact that the 404D board is actually colored and not
the usual dull gray and green of most other LCD units.

Date: 22 Feb 2007 05:30:25
From: SR
Subject: Re: Excaliber Deluxe Talking Chess

Hi: I have 3 questions:

Can the voice be turned off while the unit is on?

Does it shows a display of all the moves?

And how are the graphics of the pieces?

Thanks,

SR

Frippertronics wrote:
> Anyone own one of these LCD units and have opinions on it? Found it on
> Amazon for about $60.00.
>
> http://www.excaliburelectronics.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?
>
>

Date: 23 Feb 2007 11:27:51
From: Guy Macon
Subject: Re: Excaliber Deluxe Talking Chess

SR wrote:

>Can the voice be turned off while the unit is on?

I have never seen any Excaliber handheld that can be totally
silenced. The no sound option gets rid of most of the sound,
but there is still the occasional error beep.

I just open the case snip the wires to the speaker.

Date: 21 Feb 2007 19:00:30
From: SAT W-7
Subject: Re: Excalibur Deluxe Talking Chess

Hey if you want to ever play my Ivan you can , two moves per day ,
morning and night ...When you wake up and before you go to bed or we can
find a chat room and just play a game in real time ...If we have the
time ...
Or if we are on line at the same time we can just e mail each other back
and forth ..

I just thought id throw that out there for you or anyone one who mite
want to play it ...

I like playing Ivan vs other computers ..I hate when ivan loses ..ha ha
ha.....

Date: 21 Feb 2007 05:19:46
From: rookhouse
Subject: Re: Excalibur Deluxe Talking Chess

I have Excalibur's Talking Chess (Model # 404D) and I use it often.
It has several different levels of difficulty and is very compact and
portable. I use it at my chess table and mimic the moves on my
board. I think it is an excellent product, especially for the money.

You opinion of the product may also depend on your playing level. I
am only an intermediate player, so I have not used it on the highest
levels yet.

My only complaint is that the there is no LCD backlight, so you need
to have a decent amount of light to see the board.

Date: 22 Feb 2007 03:14:07
From: Frippertronics
Subject: Re: Excalibur Deluxe Talking Chess

"rookhouse" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have Excalibur's Talking Chess (Model # 404D) and I use it often.
> It has several different levels of difficulty and is very compact and
> portable. I use it at my chess table and mimic the moves on my
> board. I think it is an excellent product, especially for the money.
>
> You opinion of the product may also depend on your playing level. I
> am only an intermediate player, so I have not used it on the highest
> levels yet.

I'm also an intermediate player, a top rated playing strength would be a
waste on me anyway. :) Somewhere in the 1600 neighborhood would be plenty of
competition for myself.

> My only complaint is that the there is no LCD backlight, so you need
> to have a decent amount of light to see the board.

A review I read said that backlighting wasn't necessary as the unit self
adjusts it's contrast according to available nearby light. Does that seem to
be true?

Anyway I read a lot of reviews about a lot of LCD handhelds. For 60 bucks
the Excaliber Deluxe looks like it's well worth that kind of money.

Date: 04 Mar 2007 15:57:27
From: Rocco Giobraldi
Subject: Re: Excalibur Deluxe Talking Chess

The unit does not automatically adjust contrast, but you can adjust it
manually.
That doesn't provide the same level of functionality as a backlight though.

If you are really hip on getting an LCD chess computer and are on a fixed
budget I would recommend buying a nice second hand Palm device off of eBay
($20 or less) and loading any number of good chess programs on it. That'll
get you backlighting, better graphics, and the touchscreen for moving pieces
(which is really a nice advantage).

"Frippertronics" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "rookhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> A review I read said that backlighting wasn't necessary as the unit self
> adjusts it's contrast according to available nearby light. Does that seem
> to be true?

Date: 21 Feb 2007 00:04:45
From: SAT W-7
Subject: Re: Excalibur Deluxe Talking Chess

I have Ivan the Conqueror and i like it..

On the strongest level i have only beaten it one time and lost about
400 times ..It can do other stuff too but i have never really used it
other features , not sure why ?????
I guess i just like playing it..
I have played it a hand full of times vs Fritz 9 and that wins every
time as white or black and i can see the weakness in Ivans end games but
i am not good enough to exploit it myself..
Then we started to try and find out the ELO of Ivan so he started
lowering his Fritz ELO and it started playing Fritz tough at I700 ELO
..The box say's Ivans ELO is est I800 ....

If i were you id try and save a extra I00 $ and get the newer GRAND
MASTER Excalibur game ..It is stronger + newer ..

Date: 22 Feb 2007 03:06:17
From: Frippertronics
Subject: Re: Excalibur Deluxe Talking Chess

> If i were you id try and save a extra I00 $ and get the newer GRAND
> MASTER Excalibur game ..It is stronger + newer ..

Thanks, but I'm only interested in a handheld LCD set right now.