After browsing this thread and with a few full sided centers coming up in the next couple weeks I ordered a sonik blast that arrived today - holy cow that thing is every bit as loud as advertised. I think I'll be using it on windy days only, or as something to switch to if a match heats up. According to this article: http://www.dutchreferee.com/the-decibels-of-popular-referee-whistles/ the valkeen is even louder by a hair, at least measured 2 meters away: Valkeen – 127.6 dB Fox Blast – 127.3 dB Acme T2000 – 126.8 dB Fox Classic – 124.3 dB Fox Mini – 123.5 dB Fox Sharx – 123.2 dB Fox Eclipse – 118.7 dB Acme 888 – 116.9 dB Fox 40 Caul – 113.4 dB To my ear the 3db difference between the classic and the blast is very noticeable. I'm curious where the pearl would fall on this chart.
During today's FA Cup Final at Wenbley, Lee Probert has his whistle on a lanyard around his right wrist. I doubt anyone has told him it looks bad. PH
Watching the TFC-NYRB game right now and former FIFA refeeree Silviu Petrescu has a lanyard. I doubt he has only started using it in the six months or so since he retired from FIFA.
If you are willing to use the FOX40 company's own numbers, the dB levels are: Sonic Blast - 120 Sharx - 120 Classic - 115 Eclipse - 115 Caul - 110 Micro - 110 Mini - 109 Pearl - 90 So even if their absolute numbers are less accurate than the dutchreferee article, the Pearl is still much quieter than the others.
For some reason the Fox 40 Sonik Blast sounds significantly louder than the Fox 40 Classic, not just 3 decibels louder (not that I could differentiate 3 decibels. anyway). I think this is due where the air comes out -- the Classic projects almost straight forward whereas the Sonik Blast directs some of the whistle-air up toward your ears.
Just to contribute in the sake of science, I tested the three whistles I have with a sound meter app on my phone. I borrowed my daughter's phone as well- Both iphone 5s. The app was SPLnFFT sound meter. I figured I wouldn't have much absolute accuracy, but comparative measurements should be valid. The whistles tested were sonik blast, hammerhead classic, and valkeen. After testing the two phones side by side, I held one by my ear and held one out at arm's length to see if there is any directionality to the whistles. My results were that the valkeen and sonik blast were the same decibels with maximum effort (110) The hammerhead was louder at 114. Note that both the sonik and the hammerhead both have claims of 120db. My other finding was that there was no difference in any of the whistles in terms of ear exposure- I always got the same measurement at my ear as I did with the one at arm's length with all of the whistles. I tried to get some comparative "typical" measurements, but decided that such a thing was not really reproducible.
I see 90 on the fox40 website for the mini (but 109 for the mini with CMG . . . ) http://www.fox40shop.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.15962/.f
Typo? The site I went to had the same dB level for both. http://www.fox40world.com/index.cfm?pagePath=PRODUCTS/WHISTLES&id=55962
Well, that certainly makes a lot more sense . . . but one of the reasons I recently orderd a mini (haven't used it yet) was that it was lower dB . . . oh, well . . .
Caution: be prepared if you leave it soaking overnight (my advice) for floatsam and jetsam in the morning that will make you gag. OP question: 2 whistles tied to same keyring: Happy whistle: Fox-40 Mini I'm-not-happy -or- Stadium whistle: Fox Sonic Blast Skip the Valkeen. Over priced, sounds like a Fox, and the Blast is much much louder according to my ears (and player complaints when I 'm not happy). Had one, puppy destroyed it, can't bring myself to spend the cash for another one. YMMV
Great discussion! As for the stress part, one of my weaknesses as a ref is that I tend to heat up as the match heats up and I need to have a way to reduce my stress level, which can get quite high when you do 3rd division games and B16 and B19 elite games like me. One assessor recommended that I got someting soft to attach to my whistle and I got a great little ping-pong ball sized stress ball that has actually helped me a lot. I also referee team handball, for those of you who have no clue what it is (should I say Americans? , it is an olympic sport and the most popular team sport in Europe apart from soccer. It is played indoors on a court not too different from a basketball court, and the players try to shoot into the goal from outside the 6-m goal line. The game is EXTREMELY physical and there is a fine line between what's allowed and what's not - just over the line and you get a 2 minute suspension, and there are lots of them, 10 per match is not uncommon. If you think soccer refereeing is easy, you have no idea about handball.. Players, coaches and spectators shout a lot more at you than in soccer, and you have to make a lot more decisions.
Handball in the summer games is my curling in the winter games. Two sports I love to watch every four years and forget about a week later.
I've been using 2 whistles connected since last fall. One pink fox 40 classic(I started using it in October and stuck with it, one of my referee friends is a breast cancer survivor), the other is dolfin pro. When recording, usually drop it in the front right pocket, unless I anticipate the team restarting wants to go quick, then I will hold it in my mouth, ready to blow as soon as I'm done writing.
This is my lineup, and I absolutely love it. Used to have a Fox classic attached to the Sonik Blast, but one day I figured out I'd rather use a cheap keyring with a piece of leather on. This is just WAY better than using 2 whistles. It is so much easier to get a grip on and blow my whistle this way..