As mentioned, I purchased a "new" (broken) Saitek Kasparov Chess Academy Talking Chess Computer Stock Model K05V for $75 (U.S.) on ebay.
My question is: do you smart folks think it's worth keeping?
Short version: It can't currently be powered by batteries (can be by "mains" adapter) and the entire teaching / voice part seems to be missing. If you attempt anything other than chess it reverts to a new game of chess. All chess functions seem to work as promised (and there are a LOT of options for openings and things.)
The reason I ask if I should keep it is that I love the board "form factor" and I absolutely adore the 64 LEDS on the board.
So, is a pretty capable (for me, a beginner) board with tons of options and 64 LEDS worth 75 in your opinion?
I really thank you all for your opinions and time to share.
Jeff
Sorry! One more question regarding "broken" chess
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Bryan Whitby
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:57 pm
- Location: England
Hi Jeff
My Mephisto CA is in my loft somewhere. I have so many things up there that's it's a real pain to go and look for anything.
But my Xmas tree is up there along with all the other festive decorations so I will go up tomorrow and get them out along with the Mephisto CA and fire it up to see if I can help you.
Yes you are correct commenting on the nice board with 64 led's
Regards
Bryan
My Mephisto CA is in my loft somewhere. I have so many things up there that's it's a real pain to go and look for anything.
But my Xmas tree is up there along with all the other festive decorations so I will go up tomorrow and get them out along with the Mephisto CA and fire it up to see if I can help you.
Yes you are correct commenting on the nice board with 64 led's
Regards
Bryan
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Bryan Whitby
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:57 pm
- Location: England
Jeff
Had a spare hour this morning so went and got the Mephisto CA out of the lost.
Sorry I could not replicate your problems!
Have you checked that the sound option hasn't been turned off. You can read about this on page 9 of the user guide.
I know it's a silly question but have you tried sliding the volume control switch back and too a few times and it's not on mute?
Also when you switch the computer what happens as you should hear the computer say, "welcome to the Kasparov chess academy"
I have gone into Tutorial and and the voice and tutorial works ok.
Sorry can't be more helpful but ask as many questions as you like.
Bryan
Had a spare hour this morning so went and got the Mephisto CA out of the lost.
Sorry I could not replicate your problems!
Have you checked that the sound option hasn't been turned off. You can read about this on page 9 of the user guide.
I know it's a silly question but have you tried sliding the volume control switch back and too a few times and it's not on mute?
Also when you switch the computer what happens as you should hear the computer say, "welcome to the Kasparov chess academy"
I have gone into Tutorial and and the voice and tutorial works ok.
Sorry can't be more helpful but ask as many questions as you like.
Bryan
Yeah, that's the thing: this one is broken.
As it's powered on, you can hear the speakers "pop" a bit, and the volume is up..
But it can't be powered by batteries and .. .well.. the only way to describe it is the chip that isn't chess is not functioning.
Power on? Nothing.. no voice. but it's ready to play chess.
Go into a tutorial? NOPE! But it's ready to play chess.
The chess "chip" seems fine, but the tutorial / voice chip is not working.
I'm very tempted to keep it, open it up and try and fix the "batteries not powering on the system" problem.. who knows, it may fix the "only chess" problem as well.
Do you think it's worth 75 for just the board and the chess part? Seems pretty full featured and I'm a beginner so I doubt I'll ever outplay it.
As it's powered on, you can hear the speakers "pop" a bit, and the volume is up..
But it can't be powered by batteries and .. .well.. the only way to describe it is the chip that isn't chess is not functioning.
Power on? Nothing.. no voice. but it's ready to play chess.
Go into a tutorial? NOPE! But it's ready to play chess.
The chess "chip" seems fine, but the tutorial / voice chip is not working.
I'm very tempted to keep it, open it up and try and fix the "batteries not powering on the system" problem.. who knows, it may fix the "only chess" problem as well.
Do you think it's worth 75 for just the board and the chess part? Seems pretty full featured and I'm a beginner so I doubt I'll ever outplay it.
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Bryan Whitby
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:57 pm
- Location: England
If the chess computer still works ok as an opponent then I would definitely keep it as it contains quite a strong chess engine that obviously can be configured to your playing strength.
As you previously stated, it has 64 board led's which is quite rare for such a cheap chess computer so I would definitely keep it.
Would I pay $75 which I think is around £60 for this faulty chess computer then personally no but that is just my opinion.
Regards
Bryan
As you previously stated, it has 64 board led's which is quite rare for such a cheap chess computer so I would definitely keep it.
Would I pay $75 which I think is around £60 for this faulty chess computer then personally no but that is just my opinion.
Regards
Bryan
Crazy thing:
I decided to keep it.
I opened it up to fix the battery issue, didn't really have a hope to magically fix the voice / teaching / etc.
The battery issue is a complete mystery: all the wires are perfect, everything ohms out like you'd expect, but it will not be powered by battery!
I put it all back together.. played a few games.. and in the middle of one of the games it magically started talking to me. Crazy!
So, now everything works, except for the fact that it can't be powered by battery.
Love the board though, Learned a ton. Walked through some games by the masters, etc, etc. Great stuff.
I decided to keep it.
I opened it up to fix the battery issue, didn't really have a hope to magically fix the voice / teaching / etc.
The battery issue is a complete mystery: all the wires are perfect, everything ohms out like you'd expect, but it will not be powered by battery!
I put it all back together.. played a few games.. and in the middle of one of the games it magically started talking to me. Crazy!
So, now everything works, except for the fact that it can't be powered by battery.
Love the board though, Learned a ton. Walked through some games by the masters, etc, etc. Great stuff.