[Robby]

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

Originally Posted by skiv

I agree, if there were no mrt pt's there would be so much of a discussion, but...

If there were no mrt pt's would there still be a cheap decoder upgrade price to the clubs, would there still be a good deal on AMB pt upgrades to harry and/or purcy.??

and would people still be upset when the harry stopped production and only the purcy was available that didn't work at the clubs that couldnt afford or chose not to upgrade...?

Just something to think about, as i think a problem would still have occured in another form if there were no mrt pt's

Exactly!

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.

"Encouraging".... like AMB/MyLaps did when encouraging clubs to ditch their handout transponders while encouraging all racers to PURCHASE personal transponders - and new models of decoders to replace previous models?

And exactly what "essential" - really essential - are they offering with the RC4 that couldn't be done with any of the previous versions currently in the hands of clubs?
Those "non-authentic transponders" have been sold for a number of years now, and they haven't been limited to sales just in the UK, their in the hands of racer friends of mine all over the world including all of Europe, the Far East, Canada, and the U.S. to name but a few.
If they were truly interested in devoiding the market of so-called "non-authentic transponders (MRT)," then they would be offering the RC4 upgrade to clubs for free (along with the replacement of any offending transponders) and corner the market - and instead they've turned it into a profit-making endeavor. All of us are paying so MyLaps can get rid of the competition. That ain't right!

Personally, as someone that's been in the hobby from before the introduction of the original AMB system 25 (what?) years ago, I don't see that it does anything now that it didn't do way back then -- other than encourage clubs and racers to keep buying products, via a planned obsolescence of their previous products, to keep additional monies rolling into their coffers. And now, with their latest actions, this sort of monopolistic attitude gets under my skin - especially since AMB/MyLaps product and business was originally developed from the RC market, and now that we're the smallest (logically) segment of their market they're just putting the hammer to us again instead of supporting us.
As I said - all of us, clubs and racers alike, are paying so MyLaps can get rid of the competition.