I finally got a chance to see an Athearn Genesis F3AB with factory installed sound and DCC the other day. Really disappointing. I’m wondering if the lighting was defective, since I could hardly see any light coming from the headlights. Can anyone confirm for me if this is normal for a sound-equipped F3, or does it seem like a defect? I know the micro-bulbs are small, but they produced so little light, it’d be a waste of time to turn them on!
The lights are not too bright on the new units since they had so many problems with the DC version burning out quickly. They must have added a resistor too large in value in series with the bulb.
You can always install LED’s. Their Genesis Challenger uses an orange color LED that is even worse than a dim bulb. I would hope there is an opening soon in their personnel staff to choose a new sound supplier and lighting products. The Challenger number boards are bright orange also, instead of a nice almost dim light.
Is it possible they were on dim? I believe there is a fucntion for dimming the headlight.
I would prefer they omit lighting if they cannot get it close.
I replaced the headlights in my friends Genesis Fs. I agree the factorys are dim, but a couple LEDs will fix that right up. There is a dimming function (rule 17) which may have been on. Was the loco moving? if not its quite likely the light was dimmed. Still I like bright headlights and those just arent quite there.
They are nicely detailed. I was very disappointed with the sound as well though. I plan on getting a pair of “non-sound” Genesis Fs and install sound from either Sountraxx or Lok Sound.
I was disappointed with the sound, too, but then I wasn’t expecting much from the MRC equipment. It’s sad to have the best F-series shells in the world with the worst sound decoders. Shows me that Horizon Hobby is only interested in the “bottom line”.
Thanks to all who replied! I have a BLI F7, and do not have to change the lights to be satisfied. So, my money will be going to someone other than Horizon Hobby in the foreseeable future.
roundhouse,
If enough people complain to Horizon and don’t buy Athearn/MRC sound locos, they may just get rid of MRC and go with a real sound/DCC supplier. Horizon went with MRC for one reason…they are the cheapest sound boards available.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Actually, I think consumer selection is probably already affecting sales of the sound-equipped Genesis F-units. I considered whether to make the jump to sound when they announced their first run of sound-equipped Rio Grande Fs. After doing some research, I decided that the MRC sound just wasn’t ready for prime-time and ordered my latest four-unit lashup WITHOUT sound. I’ll bet that I’m not the only one who made this choice to forego factory-installed sound.
Only Athearn/Horizon knows the exact figures on what they produced, sound vs. non-sound. But one clue might be which version sells out faster. If the sound units hang around for awhile after the non-sound are sold out, then I wasn’t the only one who’s thinking along these lines.
Most of us purchased our fleet of F units when the Athearn Genesis units first came out, so their sales for the sound models are probably slow for both that reason and the fact they have the MRC sound installed. The sound is very poor but the MRC DCC drive matches the sound with equally poor performance.
Maybe we should all start emailing Athearn about our concerns. It never hurts to communicate our concerns.
You can e-mail Athearn, but I think one can assume that they know the score. What needs doing is e-mailing Horizon as THEY are the ones that made the choice to go with MRC, not Athearn.
So if you do e-mail Athearn about MRC, make sure you CC the e-mail to Horizon, as only they can make the decision to go with another supplier.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Paul,
I did a web search of Horizon Hobbies and come up with several companies with that name, including one in Australia.
Do you know which one it is or the correct web link? I definetly want to write them as well.
IMHO, pairing beautifully detailed Athearn Genesis locomotives with MRC sound systems is like installing Panasonic car stereos into Ferrari Testarossas! You just don’t do that to a work of art!
Thanks
Antonio,
All I did was go to Athearn.com and look at the bottom of the page were it says “A division of Horizon”, etc. That’s www.horizonhobby.com
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
The owner of the LHS I frequent told me that Horizon and Athearn like to send you back and forth between the two with problems, and sometimes likes to play the whole “good cop, bad cop” thing. It sounds like they figure if they send you back and forth enough times you will eventually give up.
BTW, his problems were when he got some of the first Genesis F unit chassis with the sound and DCC, they didn’t work correctly right out of the box. I needed some of them, but that really bothered me so I am reconsidering installing my own sound and DCC in my Genesis Fs.
That’s why I’m boycotting all Athearn and MDC products until they dump MRC in the garbage and start using a good sound decoder.
If enough people don’t purchase Athearn products, maybe they’ll wise up.
This is why my two Athearn Genesis AB Frisco unit sets that I bought recently not being DCC ready are not an issue with me. Pretty easy to pull the circuit board and insert decoder (per enclosed instructions and also illustrated/discussed in an article in the June 2006 MRR). But if it had had a DCC plug, I would definitally not buy it with the provided MRC decoder given discussion on this and other threads.
Jim
Antonio,
For those trying to sort out Horizon Hobbies by location, it’s the one that lists a brick-and-mortar address in Champaign, Illinois, USA – the twin city to Urbana.
They have something in California as well. I ordered something directly form them, and depending on your geographic location is where your “stuff” is shipped from. I am in CO, so I fell in the Cali side.
Why is none considering the Broadway Limited F units? They run well, pull a pound or more in a ABBA and feature QSI sound.
What you could also think is buying a Genesis F unit without DCC and Sound and install your own.
Ultimately I believe the customer in sufficient numbers will decide if a item is successful or not.
I recommend buying the Genesis F units without sound and install either a Loksound decoder or a combination of a Soundtraxx DSX decoder with the TCS A6X. The A6X decoder has voltage regulation for the 1.5 volt bulbs; The lighting works well. The DSX decoder has higher sound output than the DSD100LC variety. Also the DSX decoder supports the add-on holdup capacitor that maintains sound output over dirty track. I have used this combination in several F-Units from Athearn/Genesis. I recommend the Intervox 16mm x 35mm speaker; it is louder and thinner than the Soundtraxx or the popular American Hobby Distributors offerings.
For Loksound, use the decoder with the largest round speaker you can fit over the rear truck; I believe using the 1.1 inch speaker requires slight frame cutting.
BTW, does anyone have the Intermountain FP-7s? I know how to add the functional reverse light using the onboard QSI decoder and an LED. I will start a mini-clinic thread if there is interest.
I won’t buy the BLI F units because I model the Santa Fe. Their Warbonnets just dont cut it (bad paint). They didn’t even make sure they were right before they released them (lack of dynamic brake fan). Their other stuff seems good though. I think I am going to follow your second suggestion, especially since the Genesis Fs can be had so cheap now.
BLIs just dont look as good as genesis or atlas or P2k IMO. Dont get me wrong, they are nice, but the others are a little nicer. Plus Loksound is a better decoder than QSI so the way I see it:
Genesis + Loksound = [:D]
Of course there is a little more work involved in installing the sound yourself, but that is actually something I enjoy doing instead of a chore or inconvenience. The last factory sound equipped loco I bought was a BLI AC6000 but since then I have tried out Loksound and I’m very impressed. I have installed Loksound in a couple diesels now, they have the prototypical sounds , they sound and run better, but best of all I paid less for them than I did for my BLI.
Also you cant forget PCM if you have the money. They are pricey but look great, I have never actually run one though so they may have problems I am not aware of.