Travel Champion Kasparov

[Fernando]

What a beautiful little box of plastic is this computer! And with a powerful Morsch engine which pretend to be, so says the box, 2080 USCF Elo.
It is, in fact, tactically very strong and the machine comes with lot of features of all kind.
I bought it in the 90's and still works as a charm.
I consider it one of my best purchases, ever.....
I am sure monsieur Plastique will understand me and perhaps someone else more...
I just took it out of my special closet for computer and it is at my side waiting for me...

Fern

[Larry]

What a beautiful little box of plastic is this computer! And with a powerful Morsch engine which pretend to be, so says the box, 2080 USCF Elo.
It is, in fact, tactically very strong and the machine comes with lot of features of all kind.
I bought it in the 90's and still works as a charm.
I consider it one of my best purchases, ever.....
I am sure monsieur Plastique will understand me and perhaps someone else more...
I just took it out of my special closet for computer and it is at my side waiting for me...

Fern

Yep, it's a nifty little critter. Actually they are borderline rare. I've had one
for some years too, and given it little use. I find the pieces are a bit too
small for comfort, I have to use my reading glasses to play against it.
I think it was brought out to replace the ill fated Fidelity Travel Master which
was plagued by a problem associated with the folding playing surface. It's
got the same GK2000 program, and was, of course, produced by the Saitek
company after a series of company takeovers.
Have fun with it. Thinking of giving mine a challenge...
L

[Fernando]

certainly it was a replacement for the fidelity travel master.
I solved the problem of the microscopic pieces just using a wooden board and pushing the squares with one piece alone, normally a king.
Like I do with software stuff....

Fern

[SirDave]

The Saitek Travel Champion 2080 (to distinguish it from the Saitek Travel Champion 2100 which is a completely different form-factor) is one of my favorite portables.

It is beautifully designed (as Fernando says) and the design is/was not like any other portable computer made before it or since. It's surprising that it turned out to be a one-off.

A particular distinguishing feature is that (I believe) the TC 2080, along with the Novag Jade I&II, are the only small portables made that included both an LCD readout and 16 LEDs. (I'm not including the Saitek Travel Champion 2100 & Expert Travel that used a form-factor that was more of a large portable design). Speaking of the LCD, it is large, right up front and very clear. It's just a great portable design!

Some time ago, I did a comparison of the Saitek portables, small laptops and their manuals. The Travel Champion 2080 appears to have the same firmware as the Saitek Executive, Barracuda and Advanced Travel. The manuals, key functions and options right down to number of takebacks (30 ply) are virtually exactly the same.

[Larry]

We can add to the list of approximate GK2000 clones:
Saitek Bravo
Mephisto Miami
Mephisto Montana
There would be others if we look for them.
The first with this program, the Fidelity Travel Master was a hit until
they started failing due to a fatal design flaw. It also had a slightly
annoying software problem... it was inclined to announce a mate-in-one
for several moves.
L

[SirDave]

We can add to the list of approximate GK2000 clones:
Saitek Bravo
Mephisto Miami
Mephisto Montana
There would be others if we look for them.
L

Hi Larry,
Yes, I know that all the GK2000 clones share a lot of similarities, but what struck me about the the units I mentioned is that they were exactly the same. The other GK2000 clones that I checked: Master Chess, Chess Challenger, Expert Travel had some differences in Level (eg. Adaptive Levels in the Expert Travel) or other options or things like a different number of takeback moves.

[Monsieur Plastique]

I am sure monsieur Plastique will understand me and perhaps someone else more...
I just took it out of my special closet for computer and it is at my side waiting for me...

Fern

Yes, yes I do. The 2080 certainly earned it's Top Ten Emeritus Plasticus award status with aplomb at my recent Chess Computer Golden Globe Gala event held in the ballroom of my stately mansion in February. And of course the current Expert Travel won the same award in the contemporary category.

Mind you, the Champion 2100 is a different kettle of fish. Horrible, thin, glossy, scratchy cheap plastic. The plastic quality control engineers were obviously having a sabbatical when that one went out the door (with apologies to SirDave).

[Monsieur Plastique]

It is beautifully designed (as Fernando says) and the design is/was not like any other portable computer made before it or since. It's surprising that it turned out to be a one-off.

I'd probably attempt to argue that the excellent, robust and attractive form factor actually first saw light of day in the very early 80s. My very first chess computer was the Scisys Travel Sensor and the housing - along with that of the later Scisys Explorer (or otherwise marketed as the Tandy 1650 here in Australia) is essentially identical bar the lack of display and the orientation of the board.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SciSys-Travel-S ... 1579979132

I actually contemplated bidding on the above in the interest of nostalgia but then recalled when I had mine confiscated during divinity class I wasn't terribly keen to get it back...

[Fernando]

There is a later thing, Mephisto Expert Travel also with a Morsh program, I do not know if the same of the 2080 or perhaps slightly stronger, which have a more ambitious but, I believe, less adequate plastic frame.
What do you think?
I prefer 2080. Travel looks and feel more....hum.....cheap. And the size is less portable.

Fern

[SirDave]

...And of course the current Expert Travel won the same award in the contemporary category.

Mind you, the Champion 2100 is a different kettle of fish. Horrible, thin, glossy, scratchy cheap plastic. The plastic quality control engineers were obviously having a sabbatical when that one went out the door (with apologies to SirDave).

Hi Jon,
I'm confused. Are you distinguishing between the Expert Travel & the Travel Champion 2100 above? I'm looking at both of them side-by-side and they look and feel like exactly the same formfactor, plastic and quality of build.

In any event, I particularly like both of them and find them to be quite sturdy. If I have any qualms, it would be that the Expert has a less 'professional' look because of the use of (what some may call 'cheezy') silver paint around the board with blue buttons/keys. The 2100 uses black around the board with gray buttons which just looks better- at least to me.

Some time ago, I wrote down some comparisons between these travel units. The Expert & 2100 have some interesting distinctions:

The Expert is said to have 6000 openings while the 2100 has 30,000 (wiki) which I'm not sure is accurate (as you know, this business of marked differences in number of openings has been questioned with other units and I think you've come up with some good explanations).

The Expert uses H1-H8 for Self-Adaptive Levels while the earlier-introduced 2100 uses that file to extend the number of ply options. The Expert has the Fun-Level/H8 bugs while the 2100 doesn't (And again, I think it was you who gave a really good explantion for that- I believe it was something to the effect that when they fooled with H1-H8 to provide the self-adaptive levels, the bugs were introduced.)

Fwiw (related to Fernando's post above): The Travel Expert has an elo of 2000 while the Travel Champion 2080 has an elo of 1870 (the '2080' notwihstanding ).


On Shaky Ground Talking About Plastic To Monsieur Plastique Regards,
Dave

[pr1uk]

certainly it was a replacement for the fidelity travel master.
I solved the problem of the microscopic pieces just using a wooden board and pushing the squares with one piece alone, normally a king.
Like I do with software stuff....

Fern

You know i never bought any of these because of the fiddly pieces but what a great idea using one piece and transferring. IF i play an engine i always transfer onto a nice wooden board with nice sized wooden pieces.

Peter

[Monsieur Plastique]

Hi Jon,
I'm confused. Are you distinguishing between the Expert Travel & the Travel Champion 2100 above? I'm looking at both of them side-by-side and they look and feel like exactly the same formfactor, plastic and quality of build.

I'm not The Travel Champion has a black and glossy board and if you look carefully under a strong white LED light at the correct angle you will see micro-abrasions in the finish. End of story. A big fat zero on the Le Mérite en Plastique scale.

[Fernando]

Hi Jon,
I'm confused. Are you distinguishing between the Expert Travel & the Travel Champion 2100 above? I'm looking at both of them side-by-side and they look and feel like exactly the same formfactor, plastic and quality of build.

I'm not The Travel Champion has a black and glossy board and if you look carefully under a strong white LED light at the correct angle you will see micro-abrasions in the finish. End of story. A big fat zero on the Le Mérite en Plastique scale.

IF plastic and design is the thing. I would say that the Fidelity line of comps designed by an Italian guy, a fashion scumbag, stylists or what not, is gorgeous.
And gorgeous too were the Constellations, all of them.

Plastic is the thing regards
Fern

[Monsieur Plastique]

Mephisto Expert Travel also with a Morsh program, I do not know if the same of the 2080 or perhaps slightly stronger, which have a more ambitious but, I believe, less adequate plastic frame.

Well firstly, that old 2080 (and the Explorer from the early 80s) is extremely strong and chunky. No doubt about that. But their weak points were the plastic lids. Easy to damage unless you take care of them. How many Explorers have we seen on eBay over the years with cracked lids?

The Expert Travel (32K Morsch) is actually very nicely built. The silver coating over the plastic is textured so it wears better and unlike the reflective and glossy board on the 2100, the Expert board also has a more rugged textured finish. It is a very nicely built machine the little Mephisto Expert Travel. I really like the silver and blue colour scheme and it is very solid and chunky (in my humble opinion).

I think at the prices they are selling for these days (for whatever is left in the world), they are a bargain. Strong genuine 2000 ELO and rugged enough to last many years. The only real weak point are the rare and obscure bugs that seemed to creep into it (and which I've only ever seen happen once in actual play over many hundreds of games) and the fact that it just isn't as humanlike as something like the similarly rated Nintendo Fritz (which isn't a dedicated but still a Morsch program).

Although buyers these days are very price sensitive and seem to like the Advanced Travel, the extra cost of the Expert is well worthwhile as it is a more substantial machine and the extra ROM does help it noticeably.

[Fernando]

Perhaps I am forgetting to put in the list of well done plastic things the modules for Munchen, specially the MMIV that I have with its own board and all. Great product and strong as hell.
Schroeder always delivered good merchandise...

Rebel regards
Fern