I have been reading MR for the last year or so, I would like to start a small layout. I have a 8X15 room to use. I want to buy a DCC system, have gone to many shows, no easy answers.
Tempted to go with Digitrax, some say they are difficult. It would just be me, running no more then 2 trains, but I do want all the sounds. Nov issue of MR will have a story on the latest in DCC.
Any suggestions
Thanks
Bill, in CT.
I had a Digitrax Zephyr up and running in 45 min and that included a decoder install. 2 trains won’t be enough, trust me. The Zephyr will handle many more and is expandable. A good choice, but other choices are just as good.
I have a Digitrax Zephyr and I find it very easy to operate. The staff at Digitrax have always been very polite and helpful with all of my questions. I would highly recommend a Digitrax product.
Throw in another vote for Digitrax… All of them will have a learning curve, some a little more steap than others. Once you get the swing of your system though, regardless of what it is, you’ll swear by it or swear At it.
Over on the General discussion forum, there’s a great DCC clinic thread. I’d reccomend checking it out… It’s probably buried down around page 5 or 6 right now…
Good luck
Jeff
[8D]
Here is a link to Joe Fugate’s “Forum Clinic : Twelve Years Experience in DCC” …
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36389
Same here for Digitrax. The book has a sort of getting started section. I’m new to this within the last year and I had mine connected and running in about 30 minutes.
Being new, I purchased my first loco with decoder already installed.
It is not hard.
I use NCE ( http://www.ncedcc.com ) . The equipment is all US made, seems easier to understand than DigiTrax and the customer service has been excellent… For decoders I have Lenz (usually supplied with Atlas loco’s when they come with factory DCC) and NCE which I have fitted myself.
The december issue is supposed to have a buyers guide. Personally I like the zephyr. Digitrax customer service is great and their dealer network is pretty extensive.
Jesse
I have an MRC Prodigy Advance and I am very happy with it as well. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the DCC systems out there, you just need to choose the right one for you.
Almost any DCC systems are good in thier own ways. The bachmann system is the bottom of the line and basically just runs trains. I have a zephyr and it works great. I have expanded it with more throttles, throttle panels and a booster along with a PC interface. But the system in the box is great to get started with. A word of caution. Dont even get your locomotives near an MRC DCC system. The prodigy and prodigy advance sound tempting with lots of features at a low price but they are complete junk! We ordered a prodigy advance for the modules almost a year ago, hooked it up and started running trains. HUGE mistake. the thing randomly decides to stop running trains and maybe 10 seconds later will start up again. If you run a consist, all you can run is the consist and no other engines will respond. Not to mention the thing puts out 22-25 volts instead of the correct 16-18. After a couple months we had some decoders succumb to the beast so we sent it back to MRC. They sent us a brand new one and we had the same problems! Plus the programming interface is absolutely rediculous. Trust me, MRC makes some good DC power packs, but thier digital systems arent worth the box they come in.
The electonics dummy here hooked up a Digitrax Zephyr in five minutes and started running trains. How simple can it be. I’m hoping Santa will drop off the radio remote unit so I can walk along beside them if I want to throw switches and the like.
Really though, from what I’ve read… just about ANY of them are fine.
Jarrell
I have a Lenz set 100 which is great. One of the best things is that you change the voltage from 11 up by .5 all the way to 22 from the handheld unit. No other unit as far as i personally know can do this.