Early in our product development as well as product upgrades we received and continue to receive questions about what athletic field marker is the best solution. To answer this question we need to ask several additional questions to help match the right field striping solution for a particular operation.

Tru Mark Athletic Field Marker developed a short tutorial that may be helpful for organizations and individuals that are considering an equipment purchase/U/420/Userfiles/Blog/How-to-Select-a-Field-Marker.pdf">"How to Select an Athletic Field Marker" is a first step in analyzing your situation and the options available.

For example, here are a series of questions that will help in your field marker selection:
- is this a volunteer organization,
- are there dedicated volunteers or staff striping your fields,
- how many people are involved with the field striping operations,
- what type of maintenance staff do you have access to,
- what experience level does the field marking staff have relative to the types of equipment being considered,
- do you need specific equipment maintenance experience such as small engine operations,
- will this equipment be used for multiple sports field striping operations,
- how many fields are being striped at any given time,
- do you have access to water at your field locations and other support services such as electricity or CO2 compressed gas,
- where is your equipment and supplies being stored,
- is transportation to multiple locations an issue,
- are parts easily accessible either from vendor or local supplier,
- how many common replacement parts are proprietary or can only be purchased from the vendor
- what type of warranty is provided with the equipment,
- is a operational manual available and does it have trouble shooting steps
- what level of service should be expected on a yearly basis or even weekly, and
- what does the yearly maintenance expense for the equipment generally run?

Tru Mark has created a table that compares the athletic field marker Model E-100 with the Model EZ-70 where you can better understand some of the differences between two units that are using the same sprayer technology.

We would encourage you to list those those appropriate questions you believe are important to your field marking operations. Then ask these questions of prospective vendors.

Do you have an interesting story to share about a field marking experience?

I can remember the first time I helped volunteer to stripe a local practice football field. The spray wand and hose is attached through a separate quick disconnect. After using the spray wand and rolling it up on the hose holder I continued on with other line striping operations. Later in the day as we were cleaning up we needed to drain the spray wand and hose. You probably already know how this ends. After turning off the pump motor I failed to relieve the pressure at the spray wand and hose before disconnecting the hose from the quick disconnect. As I knelled down to preform the disconnect the pressure from the hose was quickly released through my hand and subsequently paint was deposited on my face. This volunteer received a free face painting and just a little bit of harassment. Oh well, thank goodness for acrylic latex paint and the easy cleanup. The other good thing was we were using a low volume low pressure 12-volt diaphragm pump unit so there was low risk safety issue with my eyes. However, using eye protection is always a good preventative measure when operating equipment.