athern genesis sd70 or mth sd70


J

joed2323

Member
I hear good and bad of both companies, Im looking to buy a good dcc sound loco.

I was originally looking at a sd40-2 or a gp38-2 but then i was thinking of one of these.

I want them all, but for now i gotta buy one.

Which would you guys buy if you were in my shoes, and needed a good loco to start out with, out of the 3 i stated.

Im looking at a kato, athearn genesis, and mth. dcc & sound. Want something that likes to pull, not just some 200 dollar fancy looking loco that cant pull its own weight

Buying tonight unless i cant make up my mind, grrr

Also- on a side not how much bigger in length is the sd 70 over a gp38-2? they look pretty long im doing ho scale btw
 
The MTH is going to be the better puller. They also use led's instead of light bulbs. Nice ditch lights.
Happy with mine.

Bob
 
The SD70 series is roughly about 25% larger than the GP38 series. The ACe is 74 ft long and the Geep is 59.

IMHO, both those locos are good. If you go with the Athearn, go with the 2nd run that was just released. If you go with the MTH, Id recommend going with the PS3 sound models (I think the Tsunami sound on the Athearn is better) as the DCC ready had some lemon motors in them (like mine). The MTH does pull better, has LED lights that are nearly impossible to have burn out on you, but the Athearn is more heavily detailed. Theyre both nice. I have two of the MTHs, but theyre DCC ready versions.
 
is the mth compatiable with nce/ digitrax and all those?

the mth is a better puller since its heavier?

Yes i read that mth uses led vs athern and the light bulbs, but that doesnt matter much to me, unless the bulbs burn out often..

is the mth a better loco being almost 250 bucks? from modeltrainstuff.com

will i have derailment issues with the sd70 being longer then say a gp 38-2?

So the soundtraxx tsunami is better then the proto 3.0?

Also how do i know if the athern im looking to buy is a 2nd run or what?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
joed2323 said:
is the mth compatiable with nce/ digitrax and all those? Yes it is. MTH originally had its own DCC-like system called DCS which you had to have to access some of the PS3 equipped loco's features. MTH recently came out with a decoder chip upgrade that levels the playing field so everything is accessible via DCC. Your retailer can help you with that.

the mth is a better puller since its heavier?
The MTH is heavier, so that probably is the primary reason, yes.

Yes i read that mth uses led vs athern and the light bulbs, but that doesnt matter much to me, unless the bulbs burn out often..
The Athearn bulbs are notorious for burning out. Its anybody's guess how long they will last.

is the mth a better loco being almost 250 bucks? from modeltrainstuff.com
If you add one to your cart at modeltrainstuff.com, it should be $209.99.

will i have derailment issues with the sd70 being longer then say a gp 38-2?
You can get the SD70ace around 18 in curves, but that's without pulling any cars. Because it sticks out so far around these curves, if you pull any cars, it will probably have issues aka derail.

So the soundtraxx tsunami is better then the proto 3.0?
Debateable, but yes in my opinion. The horn on the PS3 is not at all protoypical and to me the engine sound on the PS3 gives me a splitting headache at idle. The tsunami sounds alot better to me, but you cant get it in a PS3 and the TSU version will not fit in the DCC ready version without shell modification (been there done that). They do make a GN1000 version, but its a pretty advanced install. I plan on putting the LoksoundSelect in my other one, but again, not a beginner install.

Also how do i know if the athern im looking to buy is a 2nd run or what?
Go on the Athearn website and look for the ones that were released this year. Note the road #s of the ones your interested in. Then go to your retailer and match. The reason Id recommend these is they sound better (earliest runs had a sound baffle issue), and various QC issues.
Brad
Click to expand...

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If you add a long shank couper to the back of the engine or to the front of your first car in the train you will not have a problem with cars on tight curves.

Bob
 
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