koabich

Dolt? Yeah, that's pretty funny.

If you keep ripping or tearing the wire out of the base of the AMB transponder, you must also have the same problem with tearing the wires out of your servo's and ESC's since they too do not have anything to protect against strain relief. Or maybe, just maybe you should take up another hobby such as knitting.
Again, me and everyone I know are constant removing them from our cars and moving them around. My 2 are almost 3 years old and not a single sign of tearing or anything. Yep, looks like I just bought them yesterday.

Soviet

iTrader: (2)

OOOOOH YEEEAH!!! Man...this is why I LOVE RCtech...sometimes it's just like a WildWest gunfight in here...so much sheer anger and tension.

None the less most of use would probably get along just fine over a beer / mixed drink while shooting the shit.


Blech...screw it... this hoby will never be "cheap" so I suppose I'll just have to accept that.

gotpez

I bougt two transponders about 3-4 years ago. As soon as our local track was able to support them, I had them. At the time, they were $55. We were told then that the price would definitely be going up. Within three months, they were already $65.

Mine have been in and out of MANY cars. I've switched cars, classes, even loaned them out. Never a problem with them. Absolutely the best investment in the RC hobby, period!

As for all the budget racer concerns, sorry. We all want to race, but this is a hobby, a luxury, not a necessity. I would love it if everybody could afford to do it, but that just isn't the way it is. No matter how you look at it, it costs money to race, and more money to run faster. If you really want to be competetive, you need to spend.

At this point, I think there are very few tracks that require PT's for club racing. Most still have the house transponders that you can use, and few are charging rent on those. Most of the big races such as Cleveland and the Snow Birds are requiring them, but those aren't races geared toward the budget racer.

With the Spektrum and other DSM radios coming, there could be options. But, that is probably a few years off. And when that comes along, people will complain that they need to upgrade all of their regular 75mhz radios to DSM before they can race because their track requires it for lap counting.

XMSRacing

iTrader: (11)

lol... I'd imagine it would get rather deep.

T. Thomas

I just find it hard to believe that if you purchase 4 personal transonders(which would be a total of approx $400) that would be the same kind of technology that is in a home computer which will cost the same and is more modern as well. AMB has had this PT design now for how long, 4 or 5 years with no change or new design. I could see the cost being high if they continued to make it smaller and better, but they have all but payed for the initial cost of designing it(because they did not have to do much because they only reduced the size from the full size race car design portion of the business). Sooner or later they are makeing nothing but profit from it, with only manufacturing costs. Trying to say they have advertizing costs and R&D costs is not realistic, I have never seen an AMB add in any magazine and do not see anything new being talked about in the lap counting system. With them having the ONLY SYTEM on the MARKET, if they wanted to they could jack the prices up to $200 for each PT. Guess until another company makes a compaticle PT, we all will have to pay the C note to get a PT from AMB. OK I am done ranting.

kerry

iTrader: (1)

profit is not an ugly word guys. yes they have a monopoly on the market, if i were them i would capitalize aswell. if your boss came to you and said you have been with the company for 10 years and you get the job done good and quick we want you to take a pay cut because the others are complaining, what would be your comment?? rc for AMB is a small division, checkout there website, money is being spend elsewhere. why would you spend advertising dollars in a market that you are the only player. they spend there money trying to land big customers like redneck racing and formula 1. if you dont like the price now wait until the new year i hear they could be going up again. get 10 guys together and purchase them in bulk. or do what i did purchase 10 by yourself and then next season when the price is higher sell and make some money.

XMSRacing

iTrader: (11)

So if you by 45 ford escorts it should be the same technology as a Ferrari, right?

What kind of logic is that?

imprsme

iTrader: (91)

You my friend are doing something VERY WRONG then! I too have had a PT since the VERY FIRST BATCH! I raced off-road then and moved the SAME ONE PT from Truck to buggy to 4WD for about 2yrs, most of the time it got moved 8-12 times in one race day. I then started racing Touring cars also. Guess what, I move the same PT from off-road to on-raod cars. No problem!


I have had mine for almost 5yrs! It works every time and never has given one minute of problems!

So since the price is now in the $100 range that is $20 a year for those five years its lasted..... And you complain!

But I don't see you complaining about batteries that need to be replaced every few months, Tires that need to be replaced every few runs. Lets see tires $26 (and that is cheap, buy some wraps) a set, get them true them down to 58mm right out of the box and race on them what 2-3 weeks or maybe one run if you chunk them and then go spend another $26....LOL and you guys are crying over $100 that last 5,6, 7 or more years! LOL

Any form of RACING is not cheap, if you think it is or want it to be, SORRY, never going to happen!

The way I see it is if you can't afford it or don't want to spend the money....DON'T!

Well that is enough on this.......

Lokanas

If you want to transfer his logic to car world it would sound more like "why four pistons from one car should cost like whole another car"

Don't think that PT is a "ferrari" by it's quality comparing to "fordish" PC.

P.S. Ferrari isn't The quality standard in automotive world.

Bob-Stormer

iTrader: (8)

I think I've decided to be more outraged by the fact that 'somewhere along the line', I've found it acceptable to pay $50-$100 a body for a paintjob.

Clegg

iTrader: (9)

I dunno about you, but my servos all have a rubber grommet/strain relief. maybe your's don’t... weird. And yes I have had a handful of servos in the couple dozen or more R/C models I have run in the last 12 years have wires go out on them, same for ESC's, and same for receivers (antennas). But on an ESC, Servo, Rec, etc... you can replace these wires by just resoldering new ones on... no such deal with PT's.

You should look around at others, I see numbers of AMB transponders all hacked to pieces because a wire lead broke and they had to remove the outer casing to get to the solder points (or the nubs of wire that were left). Also you do know that when you flex wire it does wear right? Not really considered by the masses to be "ripping or tearing" more like "movement".

Moving a transponder from a 1/12th, to a 1/10th nitro, to a 1/8th buggy, to a 1/10th truck, to a 1/10th buggy puts some wear on that wire since not every mounting in those cars let the wire go out straight.

Hey if I am the odd one, that’s cool, I just see people quite often going to some lengths to get their transponders working once again. Because the few vocal here maintain that transponders are impervious to damage from normal use... I guess I must me imagining things. Once again, if you never remount it, or never have to run the wires differently... the transponder doesn’t have much issues... moving it from many model types causes problems after a while.

Just to point out I never said anything bout not spending money, I said that I don’t like AMB's response to people who have them where wires fail. At least the few that I know have followed up with them were told to buy new ones. I spend a good chunk of money on R/C, I’ve had cars that had $1500 in them, I've had 10 cars at one time before, so don’t lecture me on cost. I realize the cost of business here, but I also don’t preach to others that they should spend more than they need to.

People should spend what they are comfortable with, and if they don’t like the price of something, I say bring it up because there is lots of misguided pricing in this stupid hobby. Foam tires for $20.00 a pair? (when the total cost of materials per wheel and tire is about .25$) There’s lots of places people are completely happy being ass raped over, doesn’t make it right though.

BlackKat

You have just put across the point I've tried to convey sevral times in the past in one simple sentance. Good job

"AMB is in it to make money, not friends" <- This I find a respectable answer. I find it annoying when people drag the "consumable" aspect into the game. What if some of us don't consume goods within our time in the hobby? What if I used everyone else's old tires, batteries, motors and bodies (which I pretty much do... )

...and the "R&D you pay for" argument is lame as well. Its a freaking circuit board that puts out a signal! I honestly don't care how much knoledge or research is put into it. Its a piece of cake for AMB to produce and it costs $90 for me to get one, thats all I know! I personally don't mind because its smart buisness practice and I got one when they were like $70

imprsme

iTrader: (91)

Well I hate to be the one to break it to you...... But that staement is true in just about everything YOU/I/WE buy in todays world! So you think that Subway has $7 in every sub they sell? Do you Bithch when you walk in? Or that Goodyear has $200 in everytire they produce? Well I have A LOT OF FAMILY that work at the local Goodyear plant here..... ONE TIRE cost Goodyear about $4 to produce! But the last time I checked YOU AIN'T BUYING IT FOR THAT!

How much do you really think it cost to MASS produce that computer you are looking at right now? I bet it cost the company no more than $20 to produce it, did you BITCH to them about the price when you bought it......NO! Oh and BTW your computer was "out of date" the very next day! MY/OUR AMB PT isn't! LOL

OH and for the BIGGIE...... I bet you called up Exxon/ Amoco/BP/Texaco a few months ago and gave them HELL, huh?

imprsme

iTrader: (91)

If its so easy why isn't there a TON of other companies jumping on the lap counting system/pt bandwagon? If the cost to return was SO GREAT I am sure that the other electronics Companies have the knowledge to make and produce a workable system......

You guys have missed the biggest cost factor in the whole price jump....OUR US DOLLAR isn't worth what it was worth 5yrs. ago...... Thanks you Mr. Clinton for free trade........Now all of you go Bitch at him and get your $50 back and while you are at it see if he will get the hundreds of thousands US jobs that are being sent Overseas back for us?

But oh thats right if Coampany XYZ send the work to India/China and any 3rd world comapny they can find it cuts thier over head so they can make MORE MONEY! So why pay US $10/hr. when they can pay them $10/week for the work...... Did you see teh prices fall when the work went that way....HELL NO!

You guys really need to look at the BIG picture and stop crying over the price of a HOBBY! That is what it is, a HOBBY. If you don't like the prices move on to something you feel is better suited for your spending. Try paint ball I here its OVER priced as well........$1000 for a gun that want kill anything is a waste? Right!

XMSRacing

iTrader: (11)

You, my friend, are a moron.