MRT to launch their own Decoder for PT's ?
 

and it only records MRT pt's and proves better than AMB and excludes their pt's

discuss

As most clubs have a mix of amb and mrt I can't see this catching on.

Don't see how this will help the sport?!

A system that counts all available transponders, has full tech support and is preferably cheaper to buy/upgrade for clubs would be of benefit,

Or simply just an upgrade to MRT bugs so they work on RC4 will be fine.

Is there anything backing this up or is it rumour and Chinese whispers since the RC4 test at weekend showed that Around 1 in 5 MRT's counted on new system.

if true then the future looks sad indeed

I will try to get an official comment from mrt.
maybe it works in conjuntion with the mylaps? i dont see it as a bad thing, it=f its cheaper than mylaps and racers need a simple mrt bug with uk back up and repair service, both club and racer win

lets wait untill i get a reply

This will pull the our sport apart.
The older established clubs have AMB/Mylaps Decoders and will see no benefit from buying the MRT decoder.
New or young clubs will see the cheaper decoder as a good option to get auto lap counting for their club.
There is gonna be a divide and the Racer will suffer, potentially now you will have to buy two types of PT.
Anyone with sense will see this is not good for us all.

Perhaps we should think ourselves lucky.
A major U.K kart club is changing to Tag-Heuer Timing for next year.
This will cost all its members about £200 each for a new PT.
And before anyone tells me the difference in race budget between RC and Karting, all I am doing is making people aware that there is always somenoe worse off. In this case about 300 odd members.

It will cost you £42 to get a new Harry transponder on trade in for mrt from bbksoftware I really don't see what the big fuss is.

Having different lap counting systems is just adding to the arguement and going away from one lap counting system counts all....

We've had alternative lapcounting systems in the past (KO's system comes to mind).

It didn't "tear the sport apart".

If MRT want to develop and sell their own system, that is a commercial decision on their part. No onus on the clubs/sections to actually buy it.

you have just described what rc4 is doing.....

AMB/Mylaps are continuing to develop their product, a product which they have invested time and money into R&D, MRT have made a clone on the back of that R&D, why should AMB care about MRT transponders working on RC4?.

the obvious answer is not to do anything in a rush (this has been mentioned quite a lot already !!)

everything works at the moment yes there has been PT/AMb clashes in cases (not personally involved luckily)

only drawback is that if harrys become unavailble and purcys are the only option

MRT decoder must however be capable of counting AMB/MYlaps else there will be problems i have 4 ambs and no pts (no reason apart from i got mine before MRT were readily available)

Fid

I've been meaning to ask this question for while. If bbksoftware can afford to offer a Harry PT for £42 if you trade in your MRT - why are they charging £76 if not.... They still must be making some money out of the deal, and I'm guessing it's not from reselling or re-using the components of the MRT (I presume they chuck these).... Could they not reduce their prices a bit without trade in?

They should care about the racers and offer as good a customer service as mrt do.

To make a system that excludes AMB transponders seems a bit daft, as a large percentage of transponders are AMB, exclude them and exclude half your market?

why not make a system cheeper than AMB,that can receive signal from AMB or MRT transponders, then sell it to clubs who can't afford £3000+ for timing gear...or even have a tray of handout transponders, now there's a thought:lol:

Good point

Why ?
As stated so many times before
Mylaps RC4 Decoders are backward compatible with AMB/Mylaps transponders

MRT are the only issue here, they rip off a genuine product, undercut that product to sell it to racers.

Think of this as going down the market and buying a knock off Rolex
It's never going to work as a genuine item and Rolex won't support cheap imitations and the Customs stop them at the border.

I think it good the Mylaps as a company doesn't hold MRT accountable for cloning their products and coding.

if copys are so bad are all associated drivers using asociated tyres how many rpm ball ends have been sold x factory conversions the mrt is not a clone it is compatable with if it was a clone they would have been screw-d by now it happened with futaba fasst they got figured and a compatable reciever was made so they brought out a new system at half the price amb are doing the same trying to force competiters out of the market so they can charge what they like one manufacturer is a monopoly if it wasnt for mrt keeping the price down you could be paying whatever amb feel like charging with no alternative

MRT did not rip off a genuine product, they made their own product compatible with another product. That's like saying the universal remotes for TVs, DVDs, etc. are rip-offs of the original - they're not. They are original products in their own right made to work with another product. If MRTs were rip-offs, AMB would have sued MRT long since under design copyright Laws inside the UK and EU and had their sales stopped. If you knew Peter Boerverts you would know that leaving someone alone in those circumstances isn't his most likely move!

The situation is what it is. As the people and clubs who own the lap-counting systems decide what they want to do, we will all know what we have to do. This is the market at work and you have two options, don't use a PT or suck it up.

It is tempting to take up the exchange offer at £42 and then know that everything will work whatever people do about the RC4, but it is also tempting to wait and see how MRT intend to deal with this situation.

I am lucky, I can afford to change my MRT for a Purcy, and if I didn't buy one new motor or pack of cells next season, that's the cost covered. I appreciate that is not the case for everyone. Nonetheless, behaving as if we are all victims of some clever or dastardly marketing trick isn't very clever - we just have to decide what we are going to do because we cannot change this situation however hard we try.

Ho hum, on with the racing... :thumbsup:

I might be wrong, but MRT PT's us AMB/mylaps numbers, they cannot generate their own numbers, this is why they have a selection of numbers to choose from on each PT.

If they bring out a system and it is a big IF I am sure they will make compatible with mylaps/amb transponders, otherwise the arguement will go the other way and all those who have AMB/mylaps transponders will be complaing about the cost of changing to MRT PT's:D

Let's get one thing clear RC racing at a competitive level is not cheap - the cost of a transponder is just part of that cost.
As has been posted a new transponder is less than a new motor, tot up how much you spend on motors, tyres, bodies, batteries, chargers, cars, etc in a year and then look at the percentage a transponder is.

Now we can all spend lots to get our cars quicker, but the point is if your laps aren't counted it means nothing.

Techonolgy moves on and the decoders/PT's are just part of this, when I started racing it was a clock face moving the hands round as a car went past the counters, yes you needed marshalls and people counting. It moved on to pressing buttons on an "automated" system, then to pc systems, still pressing numbers, then onto the transponder based systems.

Whatever happens I am sure either MRT will develop their PT's to work with the mylaps decoders or produce their own decoder which will be able to count mylaps PT's as well.

simple

mrt are not a rip off, there a compatable item, or they would call em amb cheaper
your rolax example would be classed as a fake/replica hence why customs get involved

the "new system" effects many racers, this new decoder is not good for the sport of model car racing and in your words will tear it apart..

This is part of the reply from mrt,

" It looks like inaccurate speculation based on the fact that as has been stated we are continuing our research into possible future system designs that would benefit all users of transponders for cars, bikes, boats etc"

not all that compatable, if they wont work with the new decoder :yawn:

Ironically, this "issue" proves that MRT didn't copy" AMB, as if they had, they would work with the RC4 decoder :eh?:

hence why many clubs are not going to rc4, folk that are new can buy mrt or harry and no change needed!

Well this already happens. As a cheap option there are a few clubs that run the I-Laps infra red system for lap counting. My own club uses our own built lap counting system. Yes, the small minority of us who race elsewhere have an AMB or MRT transponder as well, but the majority of club members quite happily race each week on our own handouts or transponders they have bought for a fraction of the price of an AMB.

They don't look like AMBs and aren't advertised as AMBs, we all know we are buying MRTs so the racers aren't being ripped off at all. Claiming the MRTs are ripping off a genuine product is the same as claiming the Ultima RB5 is ripping off the B4, or every touring car is ripping off the TRF415 because they do the same job..

MRTs do cost AMB in lost sales, but then I don't consider the decoders good value for money either. £2500 for the decoder, with the only option if it breaks down outside of warranty is to buy a new one at full price. Transponders that used to cost £95 when MRT could sell you one that could do the same for half the price, even though they don't have the production scale that AMB has. The amount of price gouging due to their monopoly position is fairly obvious when you look at the 45% discount for trading in an MRT. If AMB had priced their transponders more reasonably in the first place there would not have been a gap in the market for MRT to fill.

:thumbsup:

MRT's "gap" in the market was cloning - i.e being able to have multiple transponders of the same number. In reality this is all they do.

They either clone a racers own transponder and provide them with multiple transponders of the same number (this isn't just a UK thing, many of the worlds top drivers use the PTX for this reason) - or - they clone the AMB transponders that they own, and sell them to people that don't have one already.

MRT new's :thumbsup:

http://oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129702

Any you sat next to one at cars shootout