You might be able to find a deal on RF8 now that it's not the latest version,and from what I understand, RF9 isn't leaps & bounds better (I can't personally say, as I don't have both versions). Then later you can "upgrade" to RF9 - I believe they offer a discount price for the newest version if you already own the previous one. Bear in mind, all of this is from memory - and so could be wrong. I'm wrong ALL the tine, just ask my exes!