I have been looking at getting an Athearn SD70ACe at the end of the year. (birthday or Xmas) However, I have heard so many complaints about warped trucks and that 6 axle Athearn’s are crud in general. Can anyone tell me otherwise? Or has the warped truck issue worked through the system? Is there another run scheduled for later this year? Any links you can provide would be great!
Thanks,
Acela
My Suggestion is to go with the MTH. I have 2 and am very satisfied with them.
I have to second the MTH suggestion. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. MTH also has them in their O Gauge Volume 1 & 2 catalog this year if you want to check it out.
Lately I’ve had nothing but bad luck with the Athearn RTR line, especially the 6 axle locos. I’ve had about a half dozen of the 6 axle units ranging from the SD40 to the AC4400 and they were all exceptionally good looking junk. Problems ranged from bad trucks to dud motors and bad wiring. One even caught fire on me. The problems with the 4 axle RTR locos was mostly bad motors and loose wiring.
We have 3 of the Athearn’s. One had a broken number board, an easy fix. One blew out its ditch lights and I replaced them with LED’s. Otherwise they have been great runners so far. No issues with warped trucks. If you happen to get a warped truck Athearn has been repairing them. Athearn offered to fix the ditch lights as well, but I decided to go with an LED replacement myself. 2 of ours were non DCC that I retrofitted a decoder the other was a sound/dcc version. My son purchased them with graduation/confirmation/birthday money (yep he hit the jackpot in one month!) I just asked his opinion and he said “Totally worth it Dad” he loves them in other words and has been giving them plenty of running time.
So far I have resisted purchasing anything MTH and don’t have a particularly strong desire to do so as a matter of personal principle. I am a DCC operator and am not overly enamoured with the MTH stance on DCC, ranging from the litigious nature of their entrance into the HO market and their subsequent half hearted attempt at conforming to DCC standards, I have no doubt that they make excellent product so don’t let my opinion impact your decision.
I have one sound MTH sd70m2 and it is ok,have two no sound sd70m2’s and they are ok,have four sd70ace’s and they had bad motors,so the one Athearn ace runs great,if Athearn does a run in CSX and NS will be getting all of the different numbers in them.
Acela…
Both the Athearn and MTh SD70ACe models are well done overall but each has its own shortcomings - unfortunately, the Athearn version of this locomotive, has suffered from multiple manufacturing/QC* issues(*I use the QC-quality control term loosely, as there isn’t any), and overall the model, in my opinion- does not live up to the standard of the Genesis name it carries. I have RTR Athearn locomotives that are superior in assembly and quality.
I have both MTH and Athearn versions of the SD70ACe and both look very good. If you want a super-detailed model and don’t mind so-so assembly quality and sloppy fit and finish on some parts, then the Athearn is a good choice, and can probably be found at a lower cost , as Athearn recently ‘dumped’ these on the wholesale market to get rid of existing inventories of the first run.
If you are more interested in a engine that looks good, has far better sound quality(protosound 3.0 version), and will provide you with superior pulling power, then the MTH has an edge.
Athearn will be releasing the 2nd run of the SD70ACe later this summer(estimated June) but it will be of specific roadnames and #'s not previously offered. At the rate Athearn is annonucing the releases, it could take a long time(years?) to get just the version you want.
MTH released theirs a few years ago and have had several consecutive releases so you may find more variety.
If you can get past the ‘quality’ aspect of the Athearn, its
Well,
From what I have heard, getting a good Athearn ACe is about as slim as winning the lottery. I think the MTH units look good too, and I am sure that a few more [2c][2c][2c] would be worth smooth and quieter running for years to come. Best of all, they do offer the UP Flag and MoPac Herritage schemes I like. Now, which one to choose…[swg]
Thanks for your thoughts,
Acela
Funny you posted this answer Simon, you talked out of getting one. Saw how poorly the one pulled at K-10 Model Trains Open House I think Andrew (his son) pulled it off the line. Then you spent $70.00 to fix the ditch lights?
Far as Athearn RTR (ready to repair) I have 4. Dash 9, 2 SD 50’s and 1 SD 40-2. Guess who many are still running? 1, the Dash 9, the other 3 are waiting for new motors and will get them soon as I can get the darn flywheels off!
I love the way the Mac’s look, but I am staying away fr now.
Cuda Ken
Acela,
I own both brands of SD70Aces/M-2s and the MTH is my workaholics on my railroad hands down.
Just my [2c]
John
Ken, indeed they don’t pull a huge train, but more than enough for our home layout. There is no doubt that the first one had some irritating teething issues, the running issues at K-10 it was entirely down to coupler problems, I had not put Kadees in his loco at that point. As for the LED’s well they were a whopping $3.25 each from Ulrich. Not sure where the $70 came from, more like $7.00. Perhaps you are thinking of the Ulrich complete lighting kit, which I did not purchase or need? http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/the-615/Athearn-SD70ACe-LED-Lighting/Detail The lamps are one thing I do not like in Athearn R to R I wish that they would use LEDs and not bulbs. Sooner or later the bulbs are going to fail!
Since then he has taken them back to K-10 and has had a good time running them at the Sunday running sessions. I have to say that aside from the teething problem with the first one we have not had an issue. The number board and ditch lights were the same loco. As I said above, we now own 3 of them and are very happy. One is the UP1982 purchased without a decoder and it has not had any problems at all. The other is a UP sound version purchased from eBay, real cheap. I was very worried about this one, wondering why it was offered for sale? Perhaps the owner was scared by reports? Anyway, it has performed fine as well. Look Athearn obviously must be having issues otherwise the reports would not be as they are, but our experience has be reasonably satisfactory. In th
I have two BNSF units. They both had warped trucks. I followed Athearn’s advice on the fix of twisting them to see if that would alleviate the problem. I tested it on one unit and it seemed to have solved it. I also fixed the speaker enclosure on the fixed unit and installed LEDs from Ulrich Models.
I am a sucker and purchased the lighting kit. I must say that it was easy and I couldn’t think of a more easier way of than what Ulrich Models was producing. In fact, I considered the kit a time saver. It only took me an hour from the time of tearing out the bulbs to placing the shell back on after the installation.
The unit I fixed has performed flawlessly so far, but I haven’t ran it much since fixing it. I still need to work on the other unit.
To be honest, both units ran flawlessly around curves with warped trucks, but I thought it was worth it to try to fix it in the first place.
When all is said and done, this is a fairly sad indictment of Athearn. Yes my son and I are happy, but really this level of problems, when you take all the reported issues that can be found on the web, is far outside what should be expected from a quality manufacturer. I have no doubt that the MTH loco is a good product, but I decided to express my opinion of MTH long ago by letting my wallet do the talking, and I don’t plan on changing that stance. It is a great shame IMO that companies like Athearn are providing MTH with an excellent opportunity to gain a foothold in the HO market.
I suppose on the bright side, this will almost certainly mean that in time the Athearn models will start to show up heavily discounted? For those of us content to tweak and re-work the bits we don’t like, then this will be an opportunity to get some lower cost models down the line.
Not that there were never problems with US produced products, but my experience with Chinese manufacturing in my day job leaves me cynical at best. Not that Chinese workers and business owners are inept or dishonest, but it is sure a challenge to control the process from another continent.
We found instances where Q1 samples were produced at plant A and as soon as the documents were signed and our reps left, production migrated to another “plant” down the street. Sometimes the basic material mix was altered as well as coatings, etc. Their reply was that plastic was plastic - they made no distinction between an engineered resin and re-ground plastic lawn furniture.
Well, seeing as I have heard so many great things about the MTH, I think I am going to go with the majority. Sorry, Athearn. I think I have decided upon their UP flag scheme, it looks fantastic! Sound is also a bonus [:^]…
Also, I have changed my agenda. Seeing as the other engine I have my eye on (Atlas Genset) comes out with a second run in late August, that is the one I will ask for, the ACe is what I am going to get ASAP! A few more mowings and hopefully she’ll be mine by August!
Thanks for your thoughts,
Acela