Novag - Sold

james uselton · Post by **james uselton** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:16 am

I had my heart set on a Novag Ruby. I always wanted one but I didnt think they were available now days. I saw our sponsors add---saw a picture of a beautiful Novag Ruby. I did the online buy. I filled out the information, paid with my credit card and waited two weeks. Finally I called and talked to someone who said he was customer service. He said they dont make Rubys anymore and they do not carry them. I ask him why the picture in the advertisement? He ask me if I was a Grandmaster---I said no and he said some of his other hand help computers would be just right for me. A guy working in a chess store should know a little more about chess. One does not have to be a GM to buy a Ruby. Actually, I dont even know the elo of a Ruby but off the top of my head I would say around 2200. I dont want a hand held computer I can beat! Which reminds me of an old Groucho Marx quip---If a club will accept somebody like me as a member---I dont want to join it!!!

sje · Post by **sje** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:54 am

Consider getting an iPhone or iPod Touch and then downland the free and very strong open source program Glaurung. The display, interface, and level of play are all better than any of the dedicated units.

Steve B · Post by **Steve B** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:53 am

sje wrote:Our Sponsor still has four different Novag models in stock including the Citrine. I've had one of these for a while and to me the 2000 Elo program, the serial interface, and the auto sensory board is worth the US$350. The Citrine does NOT have a wooden board; it does have a very nice decal of a wooden board.

The Citrines board IS wooden and so are the pieces
Steve

Steve B · Post by **Steve B** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:03 am

james uselton wrote:I had my heart set on a Novag Ruby. I always wanted one but I didnt think they were available now days. I saw our sponsors add---saw a picture of a beautiful Novag Ruby. I did the online buy. I filled out the information, paid with my credit card and waited two weeks. Finally I called and talked to someone who said he was customer service. He said they dont make Rubys anymore and they do not carry them. I ask him why the picture in the advertisement? He ask me if I was a Grandmaster---I said no and he said some of his other hand help computers would be just right for me. A guy working in a chess store should know a little more about chess. One does not have to be a GM to buy a Ruby. Actually, I dont even know the elo of a Ruby but off the top of my head I would say around 2200. I dont want a hand held computer I can beat! Which reminds me of an old Groucho Marx quip---If a club will accept somebody like me as a member---I dont want to join it!!!

I guess you are referring to the Star Ruby which has a Selective Search rating of 1954 ELO which is about 2100 USCF
Novag did release a computer called the Ruby which was rated about 80 points lower

i guess the reason ICD no longer has them is because they must have run out of stock and since we now know that Novag is kaput they cant get any more of them
but your right..they should have updated their web page
they do not show it for sale now
even stronger then the Star Ruby is the Star Sapphire which clocks in at 2300+ USCF and is the strongest hand held dedicated computer ever released for sale

both Star's can be found on Ebay from time to time however they will probably not be brand new

Regards
Steve

sje · Post by **sje** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:36 am

Steve B wrote:
sje wrote:Our Sponsor still has four different Novag models in stock including the Citrine. I've had one of these for a while and to me the 2000 Elo program, the serial interface, and the auto sensory board is worth the US$350. The Citrine does NOT have a wooden board; it does have a very nice decal of a wooden board.

The Citrines board IS wooden and so are the pieces
Steve

The pieces are wooden (and a bit on the small side), by for my unit at least, the board is a decal.

Steve B · Post by **Steve B** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:41 am

sje wrote:
Steve B wrote:
sje wrote:Our Sponsor still has four different Novag models in stock including the Citrine. I've had one of these for a while and to me the 2000 Elo program, the serial interface, and the auto sensory board is worth the US$350. The Citrine does NOT have a wooden board; it does have a very nice decal of a wooden board.

The Citrines board IS wooden and so are the pieces
Steve
The pieces are wooden (and a bit on the small side), by for my unit at least, the board is a decal.

Steve i am not sure what you mean by a decal

are you saying that the material your board is made up of(this includes the sides of the board surrounding the playing surface )is made of something other then wood?
my board is wooden
if i scratched the surface with a knife there would be wood underneath it
there would be plastic(or some other material ) underneath yours?

Steve

sje · Post by **sje** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:22 pm

It appears to be plastic under the decal (or "applique").

Remember, I have a fairly recent unit and it could be different from yours.

Steve B · Post by **Steve B** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:27 pm

sje wrote:It appears to be plastic under the decal (or "applique").

Remember, I have a fairly recent unit and it could be different from yours.

well its true .. i did buy the Citirine when it was first released here in the US(Dec. 2006)
still..i did not know they released Citrines in another housing other then wood
i do know that Hammacher Schlemmer also sold the Citrines renaming them "The Best Electronic Chess Computer" (of all names)

Stunned Regards
Steve

Steve B · Post by **Steve B** » Mon May 25, 2009 2:38 pm

Just to confirm my earlier conclusion i tried another game with the Granite and the Jaspers ...this time against Chess Master 9000

the dedicated's had white and a TC of 60 Sec Avg per move
CM9K had pondering disabled and only 15 sec per move avg

[Date "2009.5.25"]
[White "Novag Granite-Jaspers"]
[Black "Chessmaster #2"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.c4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.exd5 Nf6 5.Bb5+ Bd7 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 a5 8.d4
a4 9.Qe2+ Be7 10.Bc2 Na6 11.Be4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 O-O 13.Bf4 Bb4+ 14.Nc3 Re8
15.Be5 f6 16.f4 a3 17.O-O-O axb2+ 18.Kxb2 Bxc3+ 19.Kxc3 Nb4 20.Kxb4 Rxa2
21.Kb3 Qa8 22.Qxh7+ Kxh7 23.Bd6 Qa4+ 24.Kc3 Qc4# 0-1

this game all of the moves were identical with no variances between the three dedicated's

Granite=Jasper=Jasper Special Regards
Steve

CRoberson · Post by **CRoberson** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:42 pm

sje wrote:
Steve B wrote:
sje wrote:Our Sponsor still has four different Novag models in stock including the Citrine. I've had one of these for a while and to me the 2000 Elo program, the serial interface, and the auto sensory board is worth the US$350. The Citrine does NOT have a wooden board; it does have a very nice decal of a wooden board.

The Citrines board IS wooden and so are the pieces
Steve
The pieces are wooden (and a bit on the small side), by for my unit at least, the board is a decal.

My board is press board (wood) underneath the "decal", but the
decal is more than a decal. It seems to be wood itself with an imprint
on it. It is about a 1/8 inch thick. One of the sides caught something
as was pulled off (not all of it). I glued it back on. Still it is
worth the money for all the functionality. I really like playing
against PC engines through it. Also, I've been able to get it
to play itself against the engines. There seems to be a timing
trick in doing so. It takes a few efforts to get that to work.

Novag - Sold

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