Quote:
Originally Posted by steveuk
I've been reading this thread for a while now and have resisted commenting as I'm sure I'm going to get abuse from someone.
I look at this issue from both sides of the argument, I am a racer, but also I run a club.
I don't understand how a company can get away with the behaviour of AMb, if it wasn't for the fact they have a monopoly I'm sure they wouldn't.
From a club point of view, we can't afford to replace our equipment every couple of years as AMB feel like updating their firmware and preventing certain transponders from working. For us you are talking of an investment of over £2500, it has taken the club many years to raise that much cash. What happens when the next decoder comes out and casually dropped in to the mix is that it will only work with purcy and the new fred transponder? We have about 15 'handouts' which could be rendered useless. We are doing quite well from the point of view of having younger members, I'm pretty sure when I tell a parent yes you can race, but you need to spend another £80 on a transponder we won't get that many young racers turn up.
From a racing point of view I have one of the very original PT's and in the 10 plus years I've had it I don't think it's ever missed a lap. It's been in everything from 1/8th circuit, 1/8th offroad, bikes, micros and 1/10th 2 and 4wd. Telling me there's less chance of a new one missing something that has never been a problem isn't selling me on the idea.
Steve
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sosidge
AMB/Mylaps have maintained backwards compatibility with their own transponders. The racers with earlier authentic transponders should have no concerns about the decoder upgrade.
Granted, AMB/Mylaps are "encouraging" clubs to upgrade their decoders at a not-inconsiderable cost. And when you take into account that the newest transponder - the Pure RC4 with its additional features - is NOT compatible with older decoders, then you might interpret this as "pressure".
But as you have seen as a racer, AMB/Mylaps have given you a good product for a number of years - sometimes a good product costs money.
I don't think any other country in the world is in such a tizzy over the RC4 update. I'm sure most clubs elsewhere see it as an undesirable cost, but ultimately an essential one. It's only the widespread use of non-authentic transponders in the UK that has made this such a big issue.
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and those new features are?
temp and battery voltage....... my god how have we coped with out that info??
you need to look further afield, mrt are used all over europe, if not the world, not just in the uk.