Wants review of new PK2 Gp-7 sound unit.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m considering buying one of the new Proto 2000 GP-7 Dcc/sound engines. Does anyone have one and can give a review?

Thanks, Jim

2

I have a P2K GP-7 in PRR livery. It runs smoothly, is nicely detailed, can crawl at a snail’s pace, pulls and tracks well and sounds great. I’m no expert, but I give mine high marks.

I’m sure others here can provide better details.

3

Good loco, but a few things you need to know.

  1. Might have cracked gears ( a known issue with this loco). It is an easy fix with Athearn half axles.

  2. The sound (if it is an early unit) leaves something to be desired. Your best bet is to update the sound chip (around 30 bucks).

  3. Amp draw can be high because of stiffness in drivetrain.

David B

4

Dave, this would be one of the new releases, 40000 series. Would it still have the potential cracked gear problem?

Thanks, Jim

5

…if it is a new release, it might include an extra set of drivers just in case.

David B

6

I had bought one of the first P2K GP9 i. The detail and overall running is superb. The sound on this particular model is weak. It can’t compare to any BLI for sound quality, and volumn, At loadest setting the horn is only 1/2 that of other sound units. I don’t know if it has been improved on later releases.

I haven’t had any issues with cracked gears on this one. About the time this was available, I believe the gears had been changed to a different material to solve the problem. This doesn’t mean that they may not exibit the same troubles. Some of those bad gears could have been used.

7

No personal experience with this model but:

  1. The cracked gear problem was with earlier versions of the P2K Geeps. Runs since Walthers purchased Life-Like are not reported to have this issue.

  2. Most sound locos come set from the factory as very loud. Unless you’re really into creating a ruckus in your layout room, most modelers seem to turn the sound level down from the factory-set level. All that noise may impress your buddies, but most likely a lower sound level is more useful. I doubt that very many will be disappointed in having a more realistic sound level out of the box.

8

I have one and like everybody has said, they run very well and are very nicely detailed. I’m no expert on the prototypical sounds they should make but they sound ok. I did have a vibration issue with mine, I would blow the horn and it would vibrate. Shimming the speaker was easy to do and I’m the only one I know of that had that problem.