Has anyone here picked one up yet? I would love to hear a review, do they have the same banshee whistle?
I saw one at my LHS but unfortunately I didn’t get to see it run, I was in a hurry. The model looks beautiful from the outside, but its a real shame there are not any illuminated marker lights as there were on the Q2 brass hybrid. Could the reason behind this be that the tender shell is plastic and not die cast or brass?
The other minor disappointment was the fact that I was expecting a real coal load just like the Q2, but instead its the same plastic mold of coal as on the PCM decapod.
I’m hoping the cab has illumination like the Q2 as well, but I won’t get my hopes up. Still, its a beautiful looking model and I hope it runs better than the initial Paragon 2 steam offerings.
I’m really tempted to buy one, it would be my first I1sa, I missed out on the last run of the PCM, and I am still in love with that shrill banshee whistle. [:D]
I am sure there will be pros and cons on the forums before the end of the weekend. You can not compare features between the Q2 and the other Paragon or Blueline locos. Just the price difference speaks for that. The more features and do dads the higher the price.
Well I just put a deposit on one, it has the long distance tender. I saw one run at the store, I love it. Hopefully I can pay mine off in the next 2 weeks, and bring it home. Money has been a little tight lately. [8D]
It does have the banshee whislte like the PCM version.
I purchased one of the first run I1sa Hippo’s and it is a nice model that runs very well. It only has the one whistle was the early days and I prefer the later PRR freight whistle like the J1 and Q2 had. The second run has the new sound and I am not so fired up about that since my new Q2 has the new BLI sound and it can be tricky to program. After one long set of sequences when I had changed many of the volumes down to an acceptable level, it stopped responding to anything I did including the CV8 with an eight it that location. I finally had to remove the tender shell and manually push the reset button to get it to reset. Then all of the volumes were back to the default level, which is much too high.
Don’t you hate to start over not knowing if the decoder will hang up again?? In my case, I just changed a few and
Can’t speak to the I1 paragon 2 release, but all my BLI models get a 9 or 10 out of 10 for running, except my 2 M1’s which I’d give a 7, and the NW2 with I gave a 5 until I put on a non-traction tire wheel set. The PCM (if it really is) I1 initial release is IMO the BEST running of the lot.
I also actually find the BLI sound system on the Q2 EASIER to program than the QSI with indexed CV settings. It was also the only loco I have ever purchased that I left at the factory sound volume (and start voltage etc, for that matter). I agree that 99.9% of them are WAY too loud, but not this one.
Out of curiosity, what are you comparing running quality to?
My absolute best steam runner is a P2K Heritage 0-6-0.
Interestingly the best diesel runner I have is also a Walthers P2K product, the H10-44.
The model does look nice and it really does smoke much better than the Q2 I have. The first run of the I1 did not have smoke and that is the one I purchased when they came out.
The first run only has the Banshee whistle which was replaced on many of the I1’s in later days with the PRR chime whistle.
I just got mine today. I also skipped the last few runs from BLI/PCM. Picked one with a long haul tender. It is a beautiful model and definately puts my old Bowser to shame in terms of detail. The whistle is the banshee whistle. Sounds very nice in tandem with an M1 and a J1. Seriously thinking of picking up another one now with the short haul tender as a helper… I’d especially recommend it with the 15% discount from Factorydirecttrains right now. Got it straight to the garage in 4 days under $280.
Did anyone notice that one of the superlatives they applied to the I1sa (known to the PRR crews as “hippos”) was “sleek”? [(-D] I’ve got an old PFM brass model of one, and if there’s one thing they’re not, it’s “sleek”! Nice models, though.
Looks like a good loco. I currently have a blueline M1a that runs great but the tender plug broke and needs fixing. I made up my mind almost a year ago I would switch to all modern diesel and have till now. A paragon 2 Y6b will enter my roster this weekend. There’s something about big steamers that just hits the right spot now and then. [:)]
A club member dropped one off for me to program for him. All I have to say is WOW!!! I tried all 3 whistles and set the second one on this loco. It has the long tender and my PCM I1sa has the short tender. The Paragon decoder sounds and acts great. After putting the new loco through its paces I played around with some features. The whistle signal feature is a good idea but the whistle should sound before moving and not while its already moving. A pause between whistle and movement would make this feature great. My friend said do not try the smoke. He doesn’t want that oily smoke smell on his new loco. I don’t blame him.
What a great sounding and running loco BLI has put out.
The default whistle sounded similar to my Blueline M1b and J1 and others. Whistle 1 sounds cool. Kind of a three chime freight whistle. Whistle 2 is a Banshee. It actually sounds better than the QSI version. The CV that selects whistles are numbered 0,1 and 2. The Paragon 2 whistles sound better because they sound like there is some sort of ramp up and taper off and not just on off.