Let's Talk Mth


Alright everyone so just to let you guys know I am new to thr forums but have been enjoying reading old posts. The one thing I have noticed is that when taling about mth products on this forum the threads are super old. Anyway I though I would revive a topic that has model railroaders split into 2 groups. Those who like Mth and those who don't. In my personal opinion Mth makes the best quality locamotives in terms of sound. However when it come to standard dcc programing not so much. Now me personally I am a steam guy so when it comes to buying a steam engine it has to be perfect lol. The only time I really ever program an engine is when I have to adjust the chuff rate or when I want to make alterations to the whistle or something to that extent. With Mth I don't have that problem as the chuff rate is always in sync. When I look at other steam models like bachmann oor broadway limited I notice huge problems with chuffs going out of sync. At any rate my big question is what do you all think about mth? Personally I think they're great when it come to detail and sound and I've never had a problem running them on my dcc layout or at the club. I'm hoping that this post will give me some goood feedback on to what people think of their mth engines, good or bad experiances with the company and just an overall experiance or interpritation of their locamotives steam or diesel. Look forward to hearing from you all.
Clint
 
MTH where to begin.. The lawsuit that lead to the bankrupcy of Lionel, the lawsuit that almost took BLI down, the lawsuit to try to patent for themselves a technology that had been in the public domain for years and years, the lawsuit that derailed advanced DCC development for years, the lawsuit against Union Pacific trademarks, the many lawsuits I don't know about......

Had more here but deleted. I don't want to get in a lawsuit or the forum in a lawsuit, or the OP in a lawsuit.
 
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There is still a lawsuit pending against BLI, a new one launched in 2009/2010. Unless it was settled and hushed. :confused:
 
I have a brand new MTH F3. I will never buy another one. It runs terrible, won't accept even the limited DCC programming MTH claims it will, and the response I got from the "help line" was that it sucked to be me. I sent it back, and all they did was burn the road number into the decoder to shut me up. It now won't accept any other number, or any other adjustment of anything. Even the volume control pot on the bottom of the unit doesn't work.
Oh, and the paint is peeling off it, as well.
If you want it, I'll be happy to sell it to you for half what I paid for it, and call it an expensive lesson learned by me.
 
Alright everyone so just to let you guys know I am new to thr forums but have been enjoying reading old posts. The one thing I have noticed is that when taling about mth products on this forum the threads are super old. Anyway I though I would revive a topic that has model railroaders split into 2 groups. Those who like Mth and those who don't. In my personal opinion Mth makes the best quality locamotives in terms of sound. However when it come to standard dcc programing not so much. Now me personally I am a steam guy so when it comes to buying a steam engine it has to be perfect lol. The only time I really ever program an engine is when I have to adjust the chuff rate or when I want to make alterations to the whistle or something to that extent. With Mth I don't have that problem as the chuff rate is always in sync. When I look at other steam models like bachmann oor broadway limited I notice huge problems with chuffs going out of sync. At any rate my big question is what do you all think about mth? Personally I think they're great when it come to detail and sound and I've never had a problem running them on my dcc layout or at the club. I'm hoping that this post will give me some goood feedback on to what people think of their mth engines, good or bad experiances with the company and just an overall experiance or interpritation of their locamotives steam or diesel. Look forward to hearing from you all.
Clint

I'm in agreement with BNSF. One of the guys in my club bought 2 ACE's. One went north while the other went south. The odd ball was returned to the LHS
which was then returned to MTH. I was returned 5 weeks later. No change. Attempts to reprogram were unsuccessful. Finally going on line too learn how to remove the shell (not explained in the instructions) we changed to the truck wires. 2 other members have also had problems with MTH's decoders either not accepting address or dropping them. I will never buy one Phil
 
looks like you all have had some really bad experiances. Iwonder why I have never had any problems with Mth. Where can I find out more informaion about all these law suits?
 
i have 3 mth engines, 4-12-2 is my fav but i dont think i will get anymore until they straighten out their compadability issues:(
 
Not to rehash old issues, but;

I have never had a problem running my MTH GG1 for two reasons.

1) Prior to the Christmas holidays layout construction was halted and hasn't resumed.

2) MTH has never delivered the GG1 which was promised for the fall of 2011.

Here's hoping that other companies I have pre ordered from, such as Con-Cor (PRR MP54), have a better on time delivery record.

Joe:)
 
Not to rehash old issues, but;

I have never had a problem running my MTH GG1 for two reasons.

1) Prior to the Christmas holidays layout construction was halted and hasn't resumed.

2) MTH has never delivered the GG1 which was promised for the fall of 2011.

Here's hoping that other companies I have pre ordered from, such as Con-Cor (PRR MP54), have a better on time delivery record.

Joe:)
lol joe , my big boy is in the same container that ur GG1 is in :rolleyes: i gave up !!!
 
mth is a bad word in my house. Clunky details, where other company's details are much finer and more to scale, lawsuits, a proprietory control system that is almost completely incompatible with the other control systems in use, especially when those other systems have compatibility between the decoders, lawsuits. Refusal to even consider making their system more compatible, lawsuits. An attitude that is rooted in the toy train market mentality, lawsuits. Who else but a toy train maker would articulate a locomotive that was never articulated, lawsuits. Their lawsuit that bankrupted Lionel, did even more damage than that. It caused Samhongsa, one of the finest model locomotive builders to close down their shop, along with Korea Brass, one of their subsidiaries to close up as well.

Iron Horseman, its a known fact that mth had a very minor role in the resolution of the surcharge for UP lettered products. Walthers and some others played much, much bigger roles in that. mth just claimed the credit for it.

I don't like their business practices. I don't like their products. I wouldn't care if they started selling every steam engine my favorite prototype had, I won't buy them. They will never produce a product that I will ever purchase. Did I mention the lawsuits?
 
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... With Mth I don't have that problem as the chuff rate is always in sync. When I look at other steam models like bachmann oor broadway limited I notice huge problems with chuffs going out of sync...
Clint

The reason for this is that these locos rely on a chuff rate that is tied to the throttle setting. Occasionally this type of sync gets out of whack with the loco's actual speed. mth has a built in sync, tied to the revolutions of the motor. They have a small infrared detector IIRC, that reads a painted set of stripes on either the motor shaft or the flywheel.

On some soundsystems, especially the Tsunami's, you can attach a cam with a wiper, to an axle and have it regulate the chuffs.

What some modelers do is adjust the chuff sync in such a way as to only get one, or two chuffs per revolution of the axles, so at speed, there still are distinctive chuffs that can be heard. Prototype locos at speed, sounded more like a solid roar and not the separate chuffs most people like to hear.
 
2) MTH has never delivered the GG1 which was promised for the fall of 2011.

Shipping delays are a fact of life. I don't think I've ever seen any product come out exactly on the first expected date when anounced.
(With the exception of those companies that only announce a new product after it's already in production.)
 
Oh, MTH.... here we go again.

A member of the club I belong to had an MTH SD70ACe that blew its board after a year. MTH told him.... tough luck, it's out of warranty. He took it to an MTH authorized repair center (which is really just a store willing to eat the cost of sending stuff to MTH... they don't do much "repairing" in house) to get the board replaced at his expense. Well, when the board arrived a few months later (they take forever), it cost $140 just for the board. (the board uses a proprietary JST connector so it was a quick swap)

Then, another member of the club had a SD70ACe that would not start up. According to MTH, the sound board needed a software upgrade. So, he brought it to an MTH authorized repair center. They basically just swapped his engine with a new one since it would take months and months before MTH would fix it.

Another member bought a pair of SD70ACes; DCC ready without sound. Those things were a dead short when it he put them on the tracks. The club electrician opened them up and found that they were wired incorrectly. After wiring them correctly, they promptly smoked 2 decoders. Why? They were wired just like the ones with sound, except the ones with sound operate differently than conventional DCC. Their sound locos use a negative common for the LEDs, while the DCC standard is to use a positive common. I think it was a production anomaly since I haven't heard of anyone else with the same problem. The club electrician was threatening to throw the damn things at a wall and pay the kid back for them because they were so frustrating to rewire from the ground up.

As for me.... MTH hasn't made anything that I want yet. Their SD70ACe and SD70M-2s are just unacceptable to me detail-wise with the large washing machine sized ditch lights, the dynamic brake fan that's actually supposed to be a grid, and the poor quality control.

As much as I'd hate to say it, even Athearn has better quality control than MTH... and Athearn's quality control (on the older products) was virtually nonexistent in the first place!
 
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Weren't there also several complaints on this board about l-o-n-g turnaround times for warranty repairs?
 
Shipping delays are a fact of life. I don't think I've ever seen any product come out exactly on the first expected date when anounced.
(With the exception of those companies that only announce a new product after it's already in production.)
fact of lif & redicule are to diffrent things

big boy 2nd run , i ordered for delivery well.....

MAY 2011..............................PUSHED TO....................

OCT 2011................................PUSHED TO..........

SOMETIME IN 2012 :confused: COME ON THATS JUST UNEXCEPTABLE :mad:
 
Iron Horseman, its a known fact that mth had a very minor role in the resolution of the surcharge for UP lettered products. Walthers and some others played much, much bigger roles in that. mth just claimed the credit for it.
My point exactly. I would say other than timing MTH had nothing to do with it. I actually knew UP was backing off from the policy from the UP board of directors (I was a stock holder at that time) and some UP executive friends LONG before big Mike started claiming that "he" got them to back down.
 



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