Can someone please advise me, I am from the Uk, and am building a HO Switching Layout to exhibit, which needs quite a few loco’s, all needing to be DCC, I have purchased a couple of Proto 2000’s, Bachmann,Broadway and Kato Loco’s which all need decoders adding.
I have some Lokpilot and Tcs decoders on board some, but I am looking at some of the Digitrax range of decoders, as some of them are designed to fit into US built loco’s, can anybody please help on how good or bad they are, as the sound range seem very good vaule, or do you only get what you pay for.
I’ve never had a DOA decoder from any maker. For P2K diesels with the wires going to a small board which has the 8 pin socket and plugs in to a larger board that had the constant lighting diodes, Digitrax makes the only decoder that plugs right in AND doesn’t require light bulb changes. I repalce all my bulbs with LEDs anyway. In fact I usually just hard wire decoders unless it would be really crazy to do so - such as with my Stewart AS-16’s.
If you’ve been using ESU decoders, anything without BEMF is probably going to be a disappointment. And I don’t consider the Digitrax BEMF to be all that great.
The Digitrax warranty is now pretty much exactly the same as TCS - it breaks, even if you did it, you can get a free repalcement. The first time.
I’ve settled on TCS decoders for all my locos this time around. Last time I used the D13SRJ because of the $12 price - compared to similar and more expensive decoders from the likes of Bachmann it’s light-years better. At the time, TCS did not have BEMF< so paying more for the TCS did not make sense, although I used a few of them. Now I use the TCS T-1 for almost everything, even many locos with 8 pin sockets I still hard wire the decoder in.
The Digitrax sound decoders which are currently available are sound-only. They require an additional motor decoder, and, for ease of installation and programming, they will work best with other Digitrax decoders. So, while the SoundBug, for example, is about $50, you need to spend another $25 for a compatable 165-series decoder. (Prices approximate, MSRP.) Yes, this includes a speaker, but it’s a 1-inch round one and it doesn’t fit in many locomotives.
The SoundBug is definitely second-rate sound. If you need both a motor and sound decoder, you might as well buy a Tsunami and get a truly first-rate product.
In the latest issue of MR, Digitrax had an ad announcing a new line of sound-and-motor decoders, for about the same price as the older SoundBugs. These didn’t appear on the Digitrax web site the last time I looked, and they’re not listed at Walthers either. I’ve also noticed that my LHS has been out of SoundBugs for couple of months now, so Digitrax may be in transition on these products. Since these aren’t available, no one knows how good they are yet, and it will likely be a few months before we find out.
As far as I know Digitrax doesn’t list any motor and sound decoders. Only motor and light decoders and sound decoders with no motor functions. My decoder of choice is the Digitrax DZ125. It’s current rating is 1 amp (1.25 amps peak) and can take up to 20 volts track power. It’s sized for Z Scale but is robust enough for HO Scale. It controls motor and light functions and I’ve used them in locos as large as the Athearn SDP40F with no problem. I like it because it’s small and can be tucked away almost anywhere without having to mill out any valuable weight. The DZ125 has to be hard wired. The DZ125PS comes with an 8 pin plug and the DZ125IN comes with a 6 pin 651 plug for use in UK and European locos.