Yeah I have been off doing even more researching and reading myself today.

If you play out some of this information, it possibly makes more sense as to what is happening here, MyLaps are saying the new RC4 firmware/protocol can read like double the hit rates, line that up with what you found, and yeah, older RC2 signal/packets look like they have been dumped from the newest RC4 transponder.

Actually you could speculate, that maybe the clones default, or pump out more RC2 data packets, then say whatever you want to call the new data packets, if they do, the decoder can then maybe drop hits/passings from a transponder not sending enough of the new data packets. (Pure guessing on my part there)


What all this means, if all true, is clones are about to become near worthless, and clubs are being put in a slightly awkward position in terms of what they do.

Right now I want to get my hands on one of the latest RC4s, so I think I'll sell one of my three hybrids, and get a sub numbered new RC4 based on one of my other RC4 hybrids.

You could say this in itself explains the "RC4 Hybrid", as in the why they bothered, and why they will probably continue to sell it for awhile.

But the whole structure of pricing also reflects a lot, Hybrid is going to be at least 10% more expensive, you only get a 25% discount trade in on a Hybrid, compared to 60% on the newer RC4, I'm guessing the discount on the newer RC4 won't stay as good as that for long, but likely may retain at better than a Hybrid.

Tried to ring MyLaps today but they're on holiday. Not unreasonable given it's Christmas Eve I guess ;)

Unfortunately they haven't listed Christmas closing times on their phone, email or website so will have to wait for them to contact me when they get back :(

We've also shot an email to MRT - they are better organised with an out of office saying they're back on 2 January.

Why would you get rid of RC4 hybrid models if they will still work with the newer system?
From my understanding of what is written on the AMB site, the only difference is the temp and voltage thing. By everyone going to the other RC4, they limit themselves to only being able to run at clubs the have the latest decoder.

But from the clubs side of things if they upgrade, the older AMB units will still work, but inturn force MRT owners to upgrade.

Talk about a rock and a hard place situation.

Does this sound right?

All of which would contravene the drivers' aids regulations.

I went to the trouble of asking MyLaps if the extra info could be turned off in case they added such features. They told me that yes, it could.

Actually, the voltage information could be useful if you are having your laps missed intermittently. It could help diagnose the problem. I'm not sure how sensitive transponders are to temperature though.

But you have to go to the amb site to check it though.

Actually the Hybrid model is likely to become the ideal (most desirable?) version in many ways, as it will continue to work with any system, and I believe it will do temp and voltage if you like that sort of thing, only reason I'm going to sell off one of mine is I want to buy one of the new ones to test.


In terms of a clubs perspective, I find a couple of things interesting, one being as yet I don't know of anyone who actually cares about the temp and voltage features, as long as they count laps, 99.9% of people seem happy.

Other thing is surely the new decoders are going to be a super hard sell once the trade in deal expires, because there is nothing wrong with the current system at all, as a club you could simply tell racers to just make sure they buy a hybrid or mrt if they need a transponder, only MyLaps seems to benefit from pushing the newer model.

Agreed, if it ain't broken.....

Yeah it's pretty annoying with the MRT thing if it can't be solved.
But then if you have the older system you'll have people coming along who have just bought a new transponder and won't be able to use it. Can't expect everyone to know that if they buy a mylaps transponder it won't work with all tracks running a mylaps decoder.

Now you need two decoders and software capable of running them both to keep everyone happy!

So I am a bit confused.....do the new rc4 transponders not work with rc3 decoders?

It's up to the software whether the data is passed on or not, would be fine for club meetings.

If you connected the transponder to the main battery instead of the receiver you could use the voltage data for enduros to get your car off the track before it hits the lipo cut. Not that i'd like to see it used that way..

Only hybrid ones do.
RC4 only ones are cheaper, so guess what people who haven't done their research are gonna buy..

Funny thing is It says nothing about rc4 transponders only being compatible with rc 4 decoders on the website.

http://www.mylaps.com/index.php/aust...c4_transponder

Yeah they don't mention what an RC4 can't do, then on the hybrid RC4 page they say that it works with any decoder.

Quotes from the "How it works" for each model...

RC4 Hybrid...
New RC4...
Subtle, but it's kind of there, when MyLaps started sending out the upgrade offers in October, I sort of looked at the deal being offered, and being basically a cynic and highly suspicious by nature (:lol:), felt it was little too good, so at that point I wanted to wait and see what played out.