I am in the planning stages of my layout and probably will not start building until after summer. In the meantime I have been collecting locos, about 20 so far, all of them being Athearn RTR/Genesis and P2K. I have been purposely avoiding Atlas/Kato for a number of reasons. They are as follows, bear in mind all my engines are still in the box since I have nothing to run them on as yet.
First-Prototype models: Most of the prototypes I am interested in are available from Athearn/P2K. I model the Southern Pacific circa late 80’s.
Second-Price: Most Atlas/Kato locomotives seem to cost more.
Third-Smooth running: Now here’s the kicker. I have read that Atlas/Kato are the best runners. Do I want one or two engines that run better than my whole fleet? Will I suffer from Atlas/Kato envy? Will I hate all my other locos because they don’t run as well?
A few years ago that may have been correct, but today Atlas/Kato & Athearn/Proto are very similar in running charachteristics. Some modelers don’t like Athearn/MDC sound, but that’s a very subjective matter. MDC does have some quality control problems, but that is supposed to be changing too. Bottom line - go with what YOU like!![:)]
Both Atlas and Walthers/P2K use QSI sound. As said, sound is very subjective. I’ve only started moving towards sound recently, but I’m very happy with my P2K F-units and my Atlas C420s in that regard.
While Atlas does command a bit higher price in some cases, it depends on whether you’re talking Classic, Silver or Gold. When you throw Genesis into the mix, there’s little or no difference in price, so I’m not quiote sure what where you’re going with that.
As for overall performance, the marketplace is now demanding excellent performance no matter what. I’ve been very happy with nearly all my recent motive power purchases. Extra cost is now more clearly than ever about extra features. Good preformance is usually there, no matter at what price point between these three brands. If you do get a bad apple, return it. That can happen to anyone’s brand. I sure wouldn’t be losing any sleep over this question.
well… i had about 6 or 7 Athearns that I thought ran FINE until I got two of the original Atlas/Kato HO RS-1’s. and I’ve been kicking myself for spending money on Athearns ever since.
NOTHING. NOTHING runs better than an Atlas/Kato. Nothing. Unless you upgrade it yoruself, haha.
Kato drives are SO worth the investment. They are absolutely SILENT. and you’ll be able to run them at 2 scale mph while using some crappy train-set transformer thats got the handle on the throttle that you fold up. its scary how good Kato’s stuff is.
It’s been my experience that is many cases performance goes with price. Athearn’s cost less than most Proto 2000’s and have their own quirks. Atlas/Kato’s are usually quite expensive and run very well. Proto 2000’s are right in the middle. I have one Kato, twenty Athearn’s and thirteen Proto 2000’s. That’s not counting the other ten locos from other manufacturers. Overall I find the Proto 2000’s to be best for me.
Not all of the Life-Like ‘Proto’ series locos have Athearn-type motors in them. I have a couple dozen Life-Like GM switchers that all have a Kato-type drive in them and they are my best running locos.
And not all Atlas locos have a Kato-type mechanism in them. The Alco switchers have open frame motors in them and gearing that is a little rougher running than the Life-Like GM switchers. On the other hand, the Atlas Alco switchers have a heavy metal frame/walkway and pull a little better than the Life-Like GM switchers.
Atlas and Kato make very fine locomotives, no doubt about it. However I have found Athearn and P2K run plenty good enough for my needs. If money were unlimited, I’d splurge on Atlas & Kato. But money ain’t unlimited, and so my locomotive fleet is Athearn, P2K, Mantua and Bachmann. They run quite well and I enjoy operating them.
EVERY manufacturer agonizes over performance vs.price. SOME put emphasis on running, others on detail or features. Most aim their products for a certain market.
LATER releases often have improvements/additions - LED lighting, 'see-thrue shells, detail - to increase $ale$ (or meet competition). One such was Kato drives in Atlas and Stewart engines.
No matter what you select, someone will come up short and someone will exceed it - Proto 2000 had detail that fell off, Athearn had horrendous Q.C. problems, and Bachmann and Life-Like had to come out with separate ‘quality’ lines in order to sell to the ‘modelers’ market.
Kato - with a long-lasting drive had cheap lighting (now improved) so whatever is newer is often better (and costs more). So, Where is your emphasis?
My ‘best’ running engines are the Stewart 'Baldwin’s and A-Line Athearns, at any price.
I quess it’s not as cut and dry as I thought. I really like the detail of the P2Ks, but I also like the road specific details on some of the Athearn units I have. But, as I said, I have yet to run any of them.
Just a late update, because the marketplace is demanding constant improvement…
I’ve now had a chance to run my new P2K Rio Grande F-units with sound. They really aren’t broken in yet – the owner’s manual recommends at least an hour of randomly running at different speeds and in different direction. Yet, virtually right out of the box these locos CRAWL at very minimal speed. I set them going, went upstairs to freshen my beer, and leisurely returned downstairs. About four feet of progress in five minutes.
I’m happy. They sound great. The lights look great, even on DC. They’ll likely only get better. There’s a handgrab or two that needs some tweaking, but otherwise these are some awesome machines, right outta the box.
I’ve been very happy with my non-sound Genesis F-units, but Walthers/P2K have raised the bar again.