I never had to buy any tape switches, my old ones from the 70's still works. I still occasionally use them. In the early 90's John Gilmour brought me a whole set of new tape switches and those are the ones I primarily use nowadays.Christopher Bara, in another thread, wrote:The Trakmate itself is inexpensive, but the lines/switches can get costly, so it's good to shop around.
Personally I'll try to avoid using tapeswitches in major races as the I now own enough light beams, but they're still the most convenient up on the starting ramp.
For practise there's no alternative to tapeswitches. In the places I skate I couldn't imagine leaving ligth beams "down the road" for people to kick down or run over. Same would go for leaving a lap top up at the start. A Trakmate timer is easier as it's small and most people wouldn't appreciate its value. Skaters also tend to hang out around the start of the course, so there's less of a problem up there.
I think it would be good if we would all know exactly where to get these switches and exactly what they cost. If anyone one bought any in the last couple of years, can you post a reply here with cost, quantity and supplier.
My idea is that it might be worth for somebody to open up a channel to one of these suppliers and make sure we can supply the people who need equipment in an uncomplicated way. As I'm now venturing into timing country again, I feel this might be a mission of mine.
/Jani