I thought I'd share the experiences I've had with this system, so others can benefit from my woes.
First, I got the system June 14, 2020, after a very lengthy Plague-induced delay. While that's neither here nor there, it did set the tone for what followed.
First, the good: It seems to be a very good, very basic system for anyone just starting out in DCC that doesn't have any sound equipped engines, or anything that will require any advanced operations. It was very easy to install and hook up, and the system itself functions well, as long as you don't want to do anything more than operate single locomotives. Basically, plug in the power supply, connect that to the base station, and plug in the handset to the base station, and you're up and running. You can access 13 functions at the press of a single button on the handset. Power is more than adequate for a single engine.
Now, the bad. I don't know if I got a dud one, and can't get a response from MRC about it, so I'm going to have to assume this is how it's supposed to be. There's very little, if any, info out there as far as support. This is the most recent version, released in the last year or so. If you have a sound equipped engine, F2 is essentially useless. You can make the horn blow a long blast. Response time for the handset is so slow you can't do anything that requires a momentary tap of the f2 key, or any other one I tried. The system defaults to 28 speed step for every address, and has to be reset to use 128 speed step with every address, every time the address is called up. That makes consisting and having it work correctly almost impossible. You can build a consist, but you then have to go to every individual address and activate any sound or light functions you want on every unit in the consist, then call up the consist address to throttle up or down, then back to the address of the lead unit to use horn and bell functions, then access the consist to change speed. If there is a momentary interruption of power, you have to stop everything, access all the individual addresses, turn everything off then on again, change speed step from 28 back to 128 for each address, then get the whole thing rolling again. To say this is an exercise in frustration is an understatement. I don't know if I got a bad one, or if they're all this way, and can't get an answer.
I originally got this to operate a small N scale layout, running a pair of engines together since there are very steep grades a single engine can't handle. The handset being tethered by a cable, and being able to move around the layout as needed was another plus, as far as deciding to get it.
I will repeat, maybe this is one-off, and other versions and models are better, but I would recommend caution if you want to do anything with this system other than simply run a single locomotive in speed step 28.
First, I got the system June 14, 2020, after a very lengthy Plague-induced delay. While that's neither here nor there, it did set the tone for what followed.
First, the good: It seems to be a very good, very basic system for anyone just starting out in DCC that doesn't have any sound equipped engines, or anything that will require any advanced operations. It was very easy to install and hook up, and the system itself functions well, as long as you don't want to do anything more than operate single locomotives. Basically, plug in the power supply, connect that to the base station, and plug in the handset to the base station, and you're up and running. You can access 13 functions at the press of a single button on the handset. Power is more than adequate for a single engine.
Now, the bad. I don't know if I got a dud one, and can't get a response from MRC about it, so I'm going to have to assume this is how it's supposed to be. There's very little, if any, info out there as far as support. This is the most recent version, released in the last year or so. If you have a sound equipped engine, F2 is essentially useless. You can make the horn blow a long blast. Response time for the handset is so slow you can't do anything that requires a momentary tap of the f2 key, or any other one I tried. The system defaults to 28 speed step for every address, and has to be reset to use 128 speed step with every address, every time the address is called up. That makes consisting and having it work correctly almost impossible. You can build a consist, but you then have to go to every individual address and activate any sound or light functions you want on every unit in the consist, then call up the consist address to throttle up or down, then back to the address of the lead unit to use horn and bell functions, then access the consist to change speed. If there is a momentary interruption of power, you have to stop everything, access all the individual addresses, turn everything off then on again, change speed step from 28 back to 128 for each address, then get the whole thing rolling again. To say this is an exercise in frustration is an understatement. I don't know if I got a bad one, or if they're all this way, and can't get an answer.
I originally got this to operate a small N scale layout, running a pair of engines together since there are very steep grades a single engine can't handle. The handset being tethered by a cable, and being able to move around the layout as needed was another plus, as far as deciding to get it.
I will repeat, maybe this is one-off, and other versions and models are better, but I would recommend caution if you want to do anything with this system other than simply run a single locomotive in speed step 28.