I am thinking about purchasing the locomotive mentioned in the subject heading for my son who’s an avid model railroader. I have heard that there may have been some electrical/DCC decoder problems with the early deliveries of this engine. I would appreciate any user experiences and/or problems you’ve had with this locomotive and any recommendations as to whether or not you would purchase it again.
Thanks for your help!
Bob L.
The early problems with the Sound/Decoder only occured when using the engine on Analog/DC layouts.
The loco would start moving and only then the sound would start; this didn’t happen when using the model on DCC. Anyway this is fixed on my 1 model (out of 5) and I believe when you order now a UP or BNSF GEVO you will get one without that problem.
You can easily notice this by the red dot on the boxes label and inside the red dot should be a “3” and then you know you have the updated version.
… other than that I didn’t have any other problem and I would definitely buy them again and I was actually so happy with my first 2 UP GEVOs that I bought 3 more and am now the proud owner of some of the best detailed engines out there.
Sure they do cost a lot and the sound could be a little better but I’m sure that they will do an update of some kind in the future (like everything else the sound will evolve further).
If you buy one and you will encounter a problem you will be in very good hands as the Customer Service of Tower 55 is top notch and Brain Marsh is always very quick answering questions and suggestions.
I hope we will see the CSX GEVO soon and also I’m waiting (more or less-) patiently for the SD70ACe/SD70-M.
Bob,
I own 4 of the Explorer Series Locomotives. I would buy more in a heartbeat (if I had the $$). I did have to return 2 of them because they needed a firmware update on the decoder chip to make them work correctly. (The red dot issue) The other two worked flawlessly out of the box and now that the other two were reprogrammed, they also work perfectly.
The detailing on the locomotives is great and the paint is very sharp and crisp. I think you’ll be pleased with them should you decide to go ahead with the purchase.
Don Z.
Thanks for your advice and quick response!
Bob L.
Thanks much for your input. My son will likely be very happy with this purchase.
Bob L.
I don’t know about problems with the early versions, and the red dot on the end of the box that mine came in has a plus symbol, not a number.
I recently purchased an SP ES44AC explorer series in the Black Widow Classic Concept with a Digitrax SoundFX decoder, and it is one of the best locomotives I own. The engine itself is made by Ajin Precision of Korea, and the Digitrax decoder is very good.
I would not purchase one of these engines for a young person because of the small, delicate details, but if your son is an adult and a model railroader, it would be an excellent choice.