Athearn Genesis F3 A/B

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P

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Behind the throttle
I just purchased an Athearn Genesis F3 A/B with DCC & sound. After reading through the very short manual, I have a question. Since both A and B units are powered, do I program them to run as a consist? The manual was very basic and did not address this concern. I bought the Erie units and they look great. Hopefully they will run and sound just as good.
 
If you're going to run them together you can either give them the same #, or give them seperate #'s and just MU them as per usual. I'd imagine only one has the horn/bell so one # for both might be easier?
 
The instructions just say to "program the locomotive the same way you would program any other NMRA compatible decoder with your DCC system."

I have a few DCC loco's but this is my first A/B unit. I have a few Proto 2000 steamers with excellent programing manuals.

If you were ever new to DCC and this Athearn loco was your first one with a decoder, I think you would be clueless on how to operate and program it.

Thanks for the help!
 


Athearn instructions leave a lot to be desired. Since both units have sound cards, it seem like consisting rather than giving them both the same number would give more realistic results. There's a slight pause between the A unit start and the B unit starting and I imagine consisting should replicate that pause. OTOH, running them together as one number won't hurt anything. The only real advantage to giving them different numbers if you'd want to run the B unit alone as part of another consist.
 
I had a few minutes to try out my new loco's yesterday. I just ran them with the #3 address since I didn't have time to do any programing. The A/B units ran well except for a abrupt stop when throttling down. That may just be because they are new.

Sound.....The jury is still out on this one. I am not crazy about the bell. The horn and diesel sounds are nice. The volume needs to be turned down. I comes out of the box set at "rock concert" volume. I did have one glitch with the sound. Occasionally the bell and/or horn would turn on when the engine crossed one of my Pico turnouts. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I have read about MRC decoders not being the best. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
 
what do you think of the athern units now? we have proto's F-7's and was looking to get another set of them but might consider the athern's if they were as good.??
 
I think Athearn Genesis F units are the nicest on the market right now. I would avoid the MRC sound decoders (unless you have an MRC DCC system) and put in some other sound decoder if you want sound.
 
They run great and look fantastic. The sound is not that great though. If you are handy and can swap out decoders then I would get one. If sound isn't a big concern, you can also mute it. I think the diesel sound is good, the horn and bell are ok but some of the other sounds such as the coupler crash are really bad.
 
thanks, I think I will stick with the proto units, they run and sound awsome, It is to bad the athern ones don't have all the sounds down. it would be nice to get a decent set for less than $300.
Thanks again, Mark
 
I just purchased the Genesis F-3 A/B set in Rio Grande (yup, I actually bit and got a DIESEL!), and I'm very pleased with the detail and the running qualities. I didn't get the sound version, because I'm not really into that aspect of it, but it's a really lovely, smooth-running set with terrific response to my power pack. I like 'em, though I wish Genesis had put them out in the original black and yellow instead of the later 4-stripe silver and gold. But hey, they're still very handsome. And boy, do those puppies HAUL!

Tom
 


Genesis F7 A/B

Hi All,

I took the plunge and bought 2 sets of the F7 A/B units in sound. I did this based on the info I got from forums such as this one.
I have to say that as a newbie I was very happy with them. I programmed them in Direct Mode and the sound is good and boy can they pull some weight.
I'm glad to have forums such as this one to refer to.
Thanks

zzwheelz
Downunder and way out west
 
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