Whilst the manual entry procedure on the pre REV7 models is at best ‘painful,’ and I’m sure that it was coded by Muppets on acid, in defence of the Stoneridge I have always thought that the default display screen was much more helpful than the VDO one. I liked the way that it displayed the time in current activity and this reset to zero when the mode was changed. The only time this was different was when ‘driving’ time was displayed, in which case it started at the previous driving time unless 45 minutes of break, availability or unknown had been recorded, in which case previous driving time was zeroed. Don’t blame the tachos for doing this, it is the law.
REV7 also has a simplified ‘ferry rest interruption’ entry procedure. There is also a sort of ‘automatic’ daily rest entry in that when you insert a card it will ask if the time between the last card withdrawal and the current card insertion is to be counted as ‘rest.’ If it was, you just answer the question as ‘yes’ and the tacho will put a manual entry on the card to that effect.
The default recording mode on ‘ignition off’ may be set using a Company Card, unlike the VDO which requires a Workshop Card.