It seems like everyone is having a rant here.
It's my turn...


There is a bit of a catch-22 situation going on here.

Different people get upset that companies do the following:

a) Create brand new cars that are a lot better than others they previously produced, yet use new parts that are incompatible with the earlier cars. (People get upset that the company introduces a new version that has lots of changes, so all their spares for earlier versions are useless.)

b) Make small changes to a car which improve on performance, and use a lot of the same parts that are compatible with the earlier cars. (People get upset that the company introduces a new version that has little changes.)

c) Make no changes to a car and just keep it status quo. (People get upset that the company is not trying to improve their products, while other companies keep developing.)

The moral? Depending on who you are, you will either be happy or sad to see a brand new car.

Most of the features on the 710 we can probably agree are the next logical steps in design... not radical new ideas that are untested or unheard of.

I can sympathize that many people have older cars (Impulse Pro, 705) and lots of spares. But no-one is forcing you to get a new 710. If you want to get a new 710, then sell your older car and spares to a new racer, and get them into the hobby!

And I don't think there is any worry about older parts being discontinued... Serpent has a very good history of maintaining production on old parts. If your hobby shop doesn't want to stock older parts, that is an issue for your hobby shop to address... not Serpent.

Let's not bash Serpent for designing a new car. If we start doing that, then at some point the company is going to say "forget it, we won't introduce any new products... people are just going to get upset and complain."

At least they don't just rest on their laurels...

Glenn Cauley
Ottawa, Canada