Just bought a Athearn SD70ACe With Sound pre sale looks great and I have a number of other Athearn which I like, but I just noticed that MTH has a Rio Grande Heritage Model SD70ACe looks great which is the preferred Manfg. and what does everyone like and why?
The only thing I am not exiceded about with the Athearn is their cheep Handrails.
I think both locomotives are likely to be fine in their own way, and certainly the handrails can be improved via brass wire or perhaps a third party version.
One word of caution about the MTH version…unless it is fully compatible with DCC, you are not likely to get all the functionality out of it. You will need a DCS operating system for that. The loco will operate under DCC, but in a restricted manner. If you don’t yet have any DCC system and other locomotives, then now is the time to seriously consider which, DCS or DCC, you will use. There is a difference.
-Crandell
I have two of the MTH Aces and they are fine locomotives. They run very smooth like butter, and pull like tanks. And they sound amazing with two speakers. I have an NCE DCC system. I can consist them together using universal consisting. I don’t consist them(MTH) together with other locomotives. I plan on purchasing more of these.
I will probably get the Athearn Aces, I’m sure they will be fine lcoos as well, but they are not out yet. (who really knows when).
…because it’s handsome. [:P]
Tom
AS nice and detailed {and expensive} as MTH’s locos are, I don’t plan on buying any because as stated above by Crandell, they are really designed to run on MTH’s DCS system. I don’t like the idea of being “forced” into their “proprietary system” to get full functionallity out of them when general DCC is available everywhere. They may run on DCC, but MTH would prefer you buy their proprietary DCS system to run their locos on. That is like saying your TOyota will run marginally on any gas purchased anywhere, but to get the best performance you must only buy Toyota branded gas. I don’t think so.
Just my opinion, others will vary.