thank you Lord ....... last year, i almost order 6 clones of my personal AMB.

( instead, ..... i end up buying two AMB rc4 hybrid )

This might be a dumb question, but whats the difference between rc4 hybrid and rc4 non hybrid? All of my transponders are still AMB DP so maybe its time to trade them in.

RC4 Hybrid and all earlier AMB/MyLaps PT's are forward and backward compatible (RC2, RC3 and RC4 decoders).
....Rc4 forward compatible only (RC4 decoder). Unless you need a new transponder keep what ya got! Only thing you will get with the RC4 PT is telemetry and only if the tracks software will support that feature.

If you need a PT or just want to upgrade order the RC4 Hybrid at this point! Will work at all tracks!

Did they?, from my point of view, I got a lot of hard sell on the decoder upgrades, with zero information about about MRT's being locked out, and nothing about RC4 Pure's not being backwards compatible, I even asked my local rep about just that, and he had no information to give.

It was not till information started appearing here on this forum did I then hear of MyLaps in the US coughing up some info, pre that there was nothing, this is part of what I found distasteful about it all, as in the way they went about it.


On the later, yes right now all AMB product still works, but MyLaps have been actively trying to buy back rechargeable club transponders for some time, and offering trade in deals on the AMB personals for some time, this shows in a small part they actively want to remove AMB product from the market.

That on it's own means little I know, but then we have now been shown with a firmware update they can stop anything they want from working, and in my mind the little white wire on the new Pure is key, cause you need to now ask, what does it do?, or actually more importantly, what does it's inclusion mean?

The answer to that, is it means that another firmware update will be required to make use of that white wire (for whatever reason), the sub meaning of that, is bye bye anything AMB branded, hello more transponder sales.

Am I mad?, probably, I'd bet on it though, 1-3 years and no more AMB product support, though I'd happily be wrong about it all.


But I also see all of what has happened as a reason to create more transponder sales in a limited market, based off what has happened, I don't think MyLaps looses a cent on the Decoder upgrades being done, also I'd go out on a limb and say they are still make money on most of these transponder trade ins, meaning everything that has happened so far, new features etc no one asked for, is just them creating a new market.

Why would MyLaps even consider publishing any info concerning the MRT's and liable themselves?

NO - the new rc4 transponders are not compatible with rc3 and earlier decoders.
So rc4 transponders will not work at all tracks, only those with the new rc4 decoders (which most tracks do not have).

honestly you guys are beating a dead horse.


all AMB and my laps work with the new software, only MRT are affected. So anybody with MRT trade them in now to Mylaps and get the stuff that works it is that simple. As for the tracks that have the old technology, it may be time to upgrade..


is it real simple. this is a way to weed out the clones. that's all.

you get what you pay for. saving that 20.00 is now costing you. that's it.

I know tracks are converting as we speak, they have too people want cheap transponders and are buying the rc4 instead of the hybrid.

So i give it 6 month before everyone switches over.

Sorry, bit your logic isn't working for me.
Applying your rationale to the personal computer industry, the 1995-era $2500 desktop I have packed away on the garage collecting dust (that had a quarter of the disk space and computing power of the $400 laptop most of us are now using) would be considered cheap. BUT it was the clones that enabled all of us to afford te a PC at home, when if IBM had had their way nobody could afford the luxury of having a PC at home or be online any more than people were 18 years ago.

But my question and part of my concern is "How long is that going to be the case? How long is it going to be until everyone that's not using one of the new RC4 transponders going to find out that all their older AMB/mylaps transponders don't work either?"

I called mylaps a few months ago and asked that, and they couldn't or wouldn't give me a straight answer.

I must say that I agree with you.

And I suppose my two biggest issues and concerns with all of this is that we as individual racers and clubs is that we're being hornswaggled into paying so mylaps can get ride of (albeit minor) competition.
Rest assured, mylaps isn't losing money on the endeavor - and instead it's all of us that are losing money by being forced to pay for an update of their hardware they chose to update with things we didn't ask for and don't need.
We're all part of an era where technology is constantly changing - and whether it be our laptops, or our cellphones, or even our ESCs, when we do get the new one it's a vast
improvement (windows expo aside) over the previous model.
And herein lies the rest of my problem, if the new rc4 transponders and decoders offered more to us as consumers - I don't know, like sending realtome updates of my finishing position and laptimes, via (god forbid) an app to my iphone, I might find my way to buying into the whole deall and be able to justify the expense. But when I try to justify my need to replace all my transponders to my wife, the first thing she asked was, "what's wrong with your old ones" and without some semblance of a rational explanation momma ain't gonna be happy.
I have a hard enough of a time justifying my "toys," but I'm going to be fighting a losing battle if I HAVE to buy stuff that doesn't work any better than the old stuff.









ompovement over the previous model.

You don't appear to have read and understand what I, or for that matter, what anyone else posts.

Please read the posts carefully and re-read what you post for mistakes. There'll be less confusion here and life will go on despite this horrible situation!

Go racing at you local track have a great weekend!

I wasn't the one that made the claim that the new RC4 transponders were "forward and backwards compatible" with all MyLaps/AMB transponders. I was just trying to clear up the confusion that has been related therein.



((I do apologize for any typos or resultant errors that have come as a result of iphone autocorrect, but was just trying to clear up any mispeak as a result of some things some of us have experienced at tracks using the new decoders))

Again.... if you re-read my post I said "RC4 Hybrid and all earlier AMB/MyLaps PT's are forward and backward compatible (RC2, RC3 and RC4 decoders).

He probably didnt know there was two or was reading to fast just to prove you wrong..

RC4 Hybrid released almost 2 years ago.

RC4 Purcy released in November 2012

do you guys think MyLaps will kill off the older AMB transponders eventually?