iaclmac

OK .... I know there has been a lot of speculation about the illusive Futaba telemetry. When will it be available? What radios will it affect? Well any radios be able to be retro-fitted? The list of questions goes on and on. The most I have seen has been on the German forum site "robbe" where it clearly shows the "FASST" as being "FASSTEST" ... with the "est" portion standing for Extended System Telemetry. If this be the case, why is Futabe being so deliberetly closed mouthed in the USA about what is going on.

I suspect that there are many modlers like me out there, who have had Futaba equipment now and in the past that would like to upgrade to something else that has telemetry and stay in the Futaba line. With so much competition from the likes of Spektrum and Aurora that already has telemetry available (at a reasonable price), why is Futuba being so deliberetly quiet in acknowledging this area? Is Futaba's market share so great that they can just disreguard what is happening around them? Or maybe they believe that this (somewhat more expensive) "S-bus" system is enough to keep them on top?

Additionally there seems to be another system just on the brink of development. Maybe everyone has heard of the Xtreme Product Systems 16 channel, feature rich transmitter that will have voice telemetry alerts. They intend to release this transmitter for $249.00. How is Futaba going to answer the challenge? It seems that Xtreme Product Systems has figured out that the real money isn't in the single transmitter sale but rather the multiple receivers we modelers keep on buying!

Now don't get me wrong ... I do like Futaba equipment and with everything remaining equal, I am all to happy to stay in that line of equipment. However, if things don't seem to improve, I can see myself moving to a more feature rich, telemetry enhanced and price conservative piece of equipment.

I just wonder how many othere out there, like myself would like to get some straight answers.