racerjo wrote:
I am thinking of buying the metrel gamma pat (need a handheld tester) - there are two types available with/without the "pro" software so that it can download. Wondering if anyone knew if I had to buy the "pro" software because I will be using simply pats?
regards
Hi Racerjo
I have moved this post from the Feedback and Comments section into the Metrel Section, sorry for any confusion.
At the time of writing I can confirm that you only need purchase the standard GammaPat MI3311 package and not the GammaPat MI3311 Pro package, the GammaPat will quite happily download to SimplyPats once you have plugged in a standard A to B USB Cable (Standard USB Printer Cable) and installed the USB Drivers (normally supplied on the included Metrel CD).
The GammaPat is a great PAT Tester for the money, but as mentioned by another forum member the lack of a keyboard may put some people off, however saying that I believe that Appliance Description field on the PAT Tester will allow you to select Appliance Descriptions from a list accessible by pressing the TAB button, this certainly goes some way to speeding up the entry of Appliance Descriptions.
Also, don’t forget that SimplyPats has an option to convert Appliance Abbreviations which may be worth looking at. Enter KE into the PAT Tester and after choosing the Replace Abbreviations option in SimplyPats, KE becomes KETTLE.
You can add your own Abbreviations or Edit the existing ones, you can even enter more than one Abbreviation into the PAT tester by separating them with a space, this is especially useful if you want to record the Manufacturer name as well as the Appliance Description. Entries that would normally take a lot of typing or entering using non QWERTY keyboards such as Morphy Richards Panini Press can be entered into the PAT as MOR PP for instance, you just need to make sure that you have the abbreviations set up in the Maintain Abbreviations list before choosing to Replace Abbreviations.
In this case I have used three letters for the manufacturer and two for the appliance description MOR = Morphy Richards and PP = Panini Press, you can use up to four letters for any abbreviations if needed.
Slighly off topic, but i hope that all makes sense.
Regards Carl