Anyone else think their search engine is worthless? I’m trying to look for HO ore mine kits. If you use the general search engine you get 500 non related products you have to search through to find 4 or 5 mines kits. If you use the advanced search, you get nothing unless you have the manufacturer and catalog #. If I waisted the $20 for their catalog to get mfg and #, why would I need their web site? I don’t know the mfg. of the different mine kits to narrow it down. Anybody got any tips on useing their engine? You think they do this on purpose to get you to buy their catalog.[V][banghead][banghead][banghead]
i don’t like their search either, last night i wanted to search for p2k locomotives and you get 1,000 non related items- plus you cant just click on say, locomotives you have to do a search for anything thats not a new arrival[:(!] is their catalog really $20?
that’s the whole purpose of the catalog…it makes it easier to order stuff from them from the internet because the item numbers from the catalog can be entered on the website for quick access…a lot of the internet companies are like that…try to use www.internettrain.com or www.discounttrainonline.com 's search engine and it’s the same thing…you have to wade thru all the other stuff before you come across something you want…I find that using www.google.com is a lot easier because it takes you to a lot of different manufacturers for the same item that you did a search on…chuck
Nope…Took me less then 10 seconds for ore cars.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Freight&scale=H&manu=&item=&keywords=ore+cars&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search
Came with coil cars as well!
The catalog from them is $26. You can find it for $18 if you hunt around.
CW- I don’t have anyware near the trouble with the 2 sites you mentioned. I think Walthers is about the worst.
BRAKIE- No you didn’t. Look at what actually came up. This is what I’m talking about.
Yup…I needed to look closer…[:I][:0]My bad…Sorry…I didn’t ask for loads or coil cars!!![:0]
I did find the ore cars 6 pages deep on Walthers freight cars…
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=WALTHERS&item=&split=30&category=Freight&scale=H&instock=Q&keywords=&start=150
Starts on the bottom…
I generally get the catalog at the Timonium train show for about $14. Makes ordering a lot easier.
I dislike on-line catalogs in general, but Walther’s is more percular then most.
The search can be narrowed, using catalog section, scale, and manufacturer. I’ve found you have to be very specific with your keywords. Most of the time it is much easier to page through the printed catalog (and more fun).
Nick
I have some tips. If you’re searching for buildings, like the mine kit, bring up the “structures” catagory in Advanced Search. Then bring up HO scale. Then type the kind of building you want. You don’t have to type in the manufacturer or part #. Just don’t make the “keyword” to complicated, or you might not get anything.
If you’re looking for engines or cars from one manufacturer, bring up the “locomotives/traction” catagory. Then bring up the scale. Then type in the manufacturer. You don’t have to fill in every box. I never use the part # box, since I don’t study part #s.
I find the Advanced Search to be very simple to use. If you do it the way I do, it should be simple for you too. If it doesn’t bring up anything, then they most likely don’t have that certain thing on their website.
Since you brought it up, the fact is it doesent work very wel at all. You know and I know they have the products were looking for but we just cant find them. They need a little help !!
Yup! Go to the general search-type in ore cars(or ore mines)-you get tunnel portals and weathering chalks???
Go to the advanced and use it as DARTH described above and it comes back no results.Now we all know that they sell at least 4 or 5 ore mines.(and many more ore cars). All that fuss to find something your going to charged 20%-30% more for.(oh…the humanity!!!)
I did the search like I described for you. I used the keywords “ore mine” and found this.
http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/700-4
Is this what you were looking for?
I think both the quick search and advance search features work well. I use them all the time and have no problems.
The quick search is truly useless. The other thing I find annoying about the Walthers site is their decision not to maintain the old LifeLike website. I used to be able to browse that site and quickly see which locos LifeLike offered. Trying to do the same with the Walthers catalog site is much more tedious.
Remember that their engine is not “smart”. It goes by the exact letters you put in, therefore BNSF will turn up different stuff than Burlington Northern Santa Fe. There a lot of things that go by similar names.
Darth- I just tried that link and got a “you must have cookies enabled” error message. (They are enabled)
Maybe I need to go to the Microsoft update page and see if I’m missing something. That site just isn’t working for me at all. Maybe it’s my PC and that I’m on dial up. I dunno???
i just tried the walthers advanced search- under manufacturer i put “proto 2000” i didn’t select a scale, i didn’t select a product type and i got ZERO RESULTS we all know they have gp38-2’s in about 20 roadnames- maybe somone should e-mail Walthers a link to this thread to show them we hate their search.
I also find their advanced search frustrating, sometimes you put in what your looking for and presto it’s there then next time. it’s can not find an item, even though you give them scale, manufacturer, and part , if I knew part number, I wouldn’t need to search.
Proto 2000 is only a series from Life-Like, so they aren’t listed as a manufacturer. You have to type Life-Like as the manufacturer and Proto 2000 as the keywords. It should bring up about 1,000,000 results.[:D][:D][:D]