It depends on what you want. If your interest is in helping to further the ongoing development and enhancement of TB!, then now is an excellent time. Ver 9 has had many enhancements since its release a year ago and works very well. If you have an old version, there are likely a number of new features. If history repeats, there may be a version 10 before end of 2021. In mid 2019, the upgrade fee to ver 8 included the unreleased ver 9. If that repeats, there may be an opportunity to get ver 9 in midyear that include ver 10. And maybe ver 10 is further out. There's a bit of risk in all decisions that are based on cost. But updating now to have the best version ever is its own reward. Choices, choices.

I reverted to 9.2.5 from 9.3 ...

9..3.1 had all kinds of different fonts and colors. IT seemed as if the entire layout changed and i could not get it back anywhere near what i had. IT was hard on my eyes and my wife had the same concerns. I tried changing all kinds of settings to get it to look like the earlier versions and failed. I believe that the themes screwed it up since not one of them were any better - indeed most were worse.  Also 9.3.1 eliminated the split that earlier versions had. It also added an extra reply window to the open email - which took up space and made no sense since we just click reply and use that - simple and easy, We also had problems with the top menus' i forget what did not show up .. All in all 9.3.1 was truly a disaster in this household.



In the forums, I learned how to totally delete the program and the registry entries then make a new mail folder - install the older version and restore. That helped a lot. I just wish i had an even earlier version that 9.2.5 but alas i do not .

The Bat was the gold standard for us for the last 15 plus years but now it has changed to something that hurts the eyes. I have no problem with functionality.  If you could truly make an Theme that eliminates all the colors and put the fonts back to what they were in version 8 then We would be really happy. For now that is what i am aiming at.  I just have to keep trying with the fonts and sizes until i get the right combination and then leave it alone.

John, prior versions are available at https://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/archive-versions.php  Although I don't understand your issue, I do agree that TB! seems to be in perpetual beta mode, with each release a patch to prior release. We are the true beta testers. The product is improving, but you are correct in stating that the earlier focus on stability and quality began slipping in the move to version 9. The new management is moving forward and I applaud that, but the road is steep. My understanding is that there is underlying technology that is now being updated, but that's over my head. I remain supportive that TB! will emerge a better product. But you may wish to revert to a prior version if 9.3 is troubling you.

https://content.screencast.com/users/george2534/folders/Snagit/media/ae8646cb-53b4-4f60-bf52-018f629be8b5/01.06.2021-10.53.png - here the view of mine TB! 9-3-2 Christmas Edition with Classic Theme. Is it look not good for you?