MTH recently started delivering their H0 K4 equipped with smoke and DCS. Some comments on tinplate newsgroups indicate this model may not be well received by H0 modelers, perhaps, because DCC is so established in H0 that few are interested in a newer, non-compatible DCS system.
What's the consensus on this group? Will MTH make any in-roads? Or will the K4 emulate Lionel's Challenger and revert to blow-out sales?
Ray H.
Pop goes the weasel.
in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net at snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote on 8/1/06 9:10 AM:
I thought that the MTH DCS systems would also operate on DCC, but that some functions would not be available. If so, the success of the MTH designs will depend on the usual things: price, availability, quality, and prototype fidelity.
in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net at snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote on 8/1/06 9:10 AM:
I was just on the mth web site (
Hundreds of features? Yikes! I'm all for flexibility and all, but that's just too much for my pea sized brain. And I'm not sure why they have decided to go that route rather than DCC. The QSI systems in my BLI locos can set chuff rates, volumes on all of the different sounds, etc. The only disabled features (due to MTH litigation, but that's another flaming thread) have to do with setting the train speed in miles per hour rather than 0-127 positions in a speed table.
Oh, well that's capitalism (even the lawsuit part), and we'll see if the new system is perceived as a better mousetrap (or wallet hoover, whatever) than DCC.
According to the review in the July MR, the MTH K4 *starts* at 9.2 volts DC and is designed for a max of 24 volts. I can't imagine that a loco with specs that far out in left field would make any significant inroads into the HO/DCC arena, especially considering the negative publicity MTH already seems to have foisted upon themselves.
Stevert
Yep. Weasels.
and DCS.
not be well
in H0 that
in-roads? Or will
sales?
My LHS just received one, and personally I think it's WAY over priced.
Unless you're going to use it to pull an "Amusement Park" ride on an existing DCS controlled O-gauge layout, I don't see the point to putting DCS control in an HO loco. All it does is help jack up the price.
Len
volts DC and is designed for a max of 24 volts< I would suspect this will make it mostly unusable for HO. The NMRA spec for HO is 0 to 12 volts and DCC is the same. All engines that are DCC but will run on DC have a higher starting voltage so how it runs on DCC will either make or break it. Command control is firmly in the NMRA camp so another format is useless.
I think this will be a major hindrance to their entry into the HO market.
__________ Mark Mathu The Green Bay Route:
Mike has pissed off so many HO modelers that only the ignorant or the desperate will buy his HO offerings. The only truly "revolutionary" thing about the MTH K4 is their tinplate-like chuffing smoke unit...which are banned from my RR club because of all the problems that result from using them (it stinks, it's an irritant, it leaves an oily film everywhere, etc.). However, as we all know, Mike is a stubborn SOB, and my guess is that he will continue to offer his HO product line long after it proves unprofitable if only to stick it to the NMRA and to all the HOers that have ripped him and his company. Of course, he'll still declare victory, whether he actually wins or not.
Paul A. Cutler III
************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************
Stevert:
Left field it is, but according to the review this only happens on DC; DC[C|S] operation is more in line with reality. Still, this DC operation is not really excusable in such an expensive loco. Methinks somebody is running ye power through too many diodes on the way.
Another oddity is the pickup from loco only with *automagical* changeover to tender pickup when needed. So why we don't pick up all times from tender, hmm yes?
It just seems like a severely overengineered model loco. A lot of newer models are: patent drawbars, automatic and usually unprototypical class lights, working radiator fans, and other stuff that makes a fun once-in-a-while project but really hinders a model's performance.
Perhaps if I had lots of surplus cash, I'd buy one and 4 or so P70 coaches and run a train called the "Creeping Featurism". :-D
Cordially yours: Gerard P.
You mean O-scale reality, don't you? That's where DCS has it's roots, and what it was most likely designed for. Read on about how only 10 CV's are programmable, and how some of the CV values are reversed. That's not the DCC reality that I'm used to.
It gets panned in cheap locos, too.
Could be.
Good question!
Somehow I can't help but think it's more an effort to force the "M*H way" upon us.
Not me. You couldn't pay me to take one of these.
Stevert
CV's are programmable, and how some of the CV values are reversed. That's not the DCC reality that I'm used to.< Have these people even looked at a modern DCC sound decoder and what they are capable of. I'm guessing this engine will be a non-seller. If you want one wait until they dump them, gut the weird MTH electronics and put in a real sound decoder.
... some clubs have members that do that. ;-)
But how do you get rid of that hunchback boiler?
LOL! Thanks Mark. I nearly spewed all over the keyboard on that one. And I really needed a laugh today!
Regards,
DAve
Too true! Fortunately, we don't have any at the moment, but we have had a couple in the past.
Paul A. Cutler III
************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************I saw one at my LHS and talked to the owner about how it is being recieved. So far, he said there has not been much interest at all. I think MTH has bombed out on this one and like Lionel, they should keep tending to the lawsuits and building toy trains for the toy types.
snipped-for-privacy@earthl> MTH recently started delivering their H0 K4 equipped with smoke and DCS.
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