Software Feature: AUTOMATIC MEASUREMENT DIVISION

Feature Requests & Ideas
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While thinking about real-world uses for the T-1, I asked myself: “What can this Tape do that even a skilled tradesman with a regular tape can’t?”. Almost every answer centers on potential software features.

Before I continue I’d like to warn developers: too many openly accessible features can get very complicated for the average user. Any advanced features should be somewhat hidden as to not overwhelm or frustrate a user who was not looking for it.

AUTO SPACING MODE.

Potential Applications: Furniture making, cabinetry, timber construction or finish work. Anywhere a row of fasteners is being used in a visible location or for decorative purposes. Anywhere that an educated guess is not good enough when dividing a space, or perhaps the apprentice is not experienced enough to eyeball spacing- hand him a T-1!

Example: We all hate dividing measurements. The tape says 67& 7/16" and we need to put fasteners in a maximum of 18 inches apart. Ok, yeah we know 4*18 = 72 so we’re going to use at least 4 fasteners, but how far apart ? Divide- crap what’s the decimal value of 7/16" again ? Ok! 16.859375" ummm. 16 55/64th? Wait, no! I think 5 fasteners would look better and stronger too. I wish there was an easier way…

How it works: Basic arithmetic (for a computer). Strike the tape. (12") Push the secret combination of buttons to enter Auto Spacing Mode. Bada bing Bada boom. We see 2 numbers on the ink display. (0", 6") press the up button. Now we are dividing by 3: the display reads (0", 4", 8") and up button again (0", 3", 6" , 9"). Silly me. The tape wasn’t fully extended! Main display now reads: (16") and the side display automatically updates: (0", 4", 8", 12").

That’s cool, but what if I want to offset the first and last screw to land a certain distance from the edges? Good thing this tape measure comes with a lot of buttons. Click, Click and the computer calculates (2", 6", 10", 14") Beautiful!

The formula is something like: (Measurement-(Offset*2))/NumberOfSections

This is great, but we’re not done yet. Guess what? We have a list of measurements now to check off. We can leave our tape laying where it is and with a second hand mark our holes. OR -OR. Lock in that list, and with one hand and a clip on pencil, work our way down the list marking as we go.

What do y’all think? Did I miss anything? How much would you use this feature? Will we see many similar Software upgrades & features after the tape measure is released?

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One detail I neglected to mention In regards to the spacing offset: because this feature will be used often for esthetic reasons, the user may want to calculate the offset as a fraction of the total measurement. In my example: a 2" offset is 1/8 of 16".

If you are installing a large string of Christmas light hangers for example, the user may want to denote the offset as a fraction of a 20’ run, instead of an arbitrary value in inches/cm.

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Great suggestion! While this would be difficult to do cleanly on the T1 itself, this is a utility we are considering to add to the app itself as it should be pretty straightforward to implement.

The T1 itself will be updated regularly and can be done using the mobile app as well as we develop new features.

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Hmm, that sound interesting, on the rail I would use the offsets to measure where the chairs/housings has to go/sit/installed as often we remove the old ones with the new ones so if I could just press the preset button with an already pre installed measurement then that would do.

Basically I see your T1 more for the pre programmed works or on where repetitive measurement’s come into action

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I understand the difficult of clean integration of features like this. It is my opinion that the more integrated, the more “out of the box” features, the more valuable the product feels in my hand. Psychologically apps are a dime-a-dozen. Although it may be just as useful, and much easier to program a feature into an app, that doesn’t feel as valuable - I’m sure I can find a web tool right now that does the same thing.

That being said: a clever approach would be to go ahead and build these useful tools into the app; a whole lot of them! Tools useful whether or not you own a Reekcon product. You have now provided value, and distributed a whole box of tools for for free. That app becomes a funnel for new hardware customers. Marketing 101.

I’m not incredibly familiar with your products at the moment. Perhaps this is the direction you are already heading. It just seems the most obvious to me, so I thought I’d share.

  • Malachi
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Hey Malachi, thanks again for the feedback. All of these are great suggestions and certainly one of the focuses of the app we are building (having utilities that are useful regardless if you are using/own a REEKON hardware product with it).

When we determine what to put on the T1 itself, something we always evaluate is the functionality and simplicity of use. While we certainly agree the more that can go on the T1 the better, there is a limit before it starts to become clunky.

In any case, we will be upgrading the T1 firmware with new features over time and are certainly exploring all possibilities for how to increase its functionality!

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2 posts were split to a new topic: Automatic T1 Measurement Indication

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I don’t know if this is possible at all, given the complexity of app programming, but this thread made me think about a plugin feature for the app that would allow users to write a plugin to allow the app to do specific things like the ones mentioned in this thread . That way, if you had an idea and the know-how, you could add your own feature to the app without having to wait on Reekon to do it. And have a plugin marketplace to share plugins with other users. Just a thought…

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Hello, thanks for the suggestion - we do have a feature like this for making custom " calculators" where you can write your own input fields and formulas based on what you want output.

What specifically did you have in mind?