I am starting to lay track on my layout, but have yet to buy a power supply for it. I see there are TONs of them out there… I’m staying away from DCC right now. So can someone suggest a good power supply for me to use, the local hobby shop has them and they range from $20 - $200, I just don’t know the difference between them and why the big range.
jspisak,
MRC is the way to go. You can get either their no frills Model 1300 or 1370 Rail Power power packs, or, if you want momemtum and braking, go with the Tech 4 series. The Model 200 is their basic model. The 220 and 260 will come with momentum and braking to simulate realistic starting and stoppiing.
MRC also makes a nice one with a built-in amperage/voltmeter for catching shorts called the Power Command 9500. It also has momemtum and braking. The former will be in the $30-60 range; the 9500 close to $100. ALL great units! You can’t go wrong with them.
Tom
I have to agree with tstage MRC is the way to go. I have a railpower 1300 and it is fine for me. I got it for christmas 2 years ago and it is a big improvement from the bachmann and Life Like cheapo Power packs.
MRC all the way! What you pay depends on how many bells and whistles you want–meters, momentum, pulse power, etc. I’m more than happy with my MRC.
MRC. I made the mistake of getting the cheepest power pack I found. Some no name thing from Hobby Lobby. I told myself it was just a temperary unit until I was ready to invest in DCC but for just a few more dollars I could have had a nice pack with even sped control and smooth low speed operation.
MRC, get the meters then when you go DCC it will fit right in.
I have an MRC Sound and Power 7000 And it works great.[2c]
JIM
I’ve been pretty happy with my MRCs. I went with the 280s to get dual-throttle to save some space, and since I didn’t care much about the other features. I’m honestly now strongly considering DCC to get some of the additional features and to simplify operations. No more fiddling with blocking, and I’ll be able to run more than the four engines I can support with DC.
I have the older 2500 and the 9500, been happy with both. The momentum makes it easy to get smooth gradual starts and stops.
Enjoy
Paul
MRC is the only way to go. Even their handheld is pretty much bullet proof.
I have an MRC pack from 1988 and it’s still going strong. I also have DCC and use the MRC as a power supply for the command station now. Now and then someone brings over a non DCC equipted loco and I turn the DCC off and run two wires to the layout from the MRC and run the loco. I have a switching layout so there are no reverse loops. MRC builds great stuff!
Cheers,
Ed