I've gotten the new Zepyhr, but not particularly for the recall feature. The same goes for the extra function controls, heck, I'm don't know if I can come up with that many things, but the extra power,- however small an increase combined with the other additions swayed my decision to get it. I still have yet to even try it out since work has run me down lately. Today may be the day though, i need to finish converting a loco first, with sound of course.
i think the recall has its uses, if you have a big layout with loco's of the same type and livery with different running numbers, you may remember a loco 30 feet away buy a fueling depot was the last one of that type moved but can't remember the actual address. the recall stack would save you a walk to get the number.
No, there is no recall on the original Zephyr. This is probably the most blown out of proportion feature though. If you plug a DT400/DT402 intot he Zephyr, you get recall - it's a throttle function, not command station.
Why do I say it is overblown? Let's say every one of you locos has a full 4 digit address - meaning like 1234. Ok, to select this loco you press Loco, 1, 2, 3, 4, Enter. 6 key presses. Let's say you have a recall feature. Press recall once, you get the previous loco. Definitely shorter. Recall twice - 2 locos ago. Etc. The process is actually Recal as many times as you need to go throught he list, and then Enter ont he one you want. So for the first 4 locos in the list, it's fewer keystrokes. Up to 5 for the 4th loco - Recall 4 times, then nNter. For loco #5, it's now 6 keypresses. Same as just keying int he loco address. Anything beyond that, it's fewer keystrokes to just enter the loco number using the normal method. And when some of them have fewer than 4 digits in the address, the 'benefits' of the recall function diminish even quicker. If you used only 2 digit addresses, at most it would be 4 keystrokes to select a loco - same as recalling the third loco in the list using the Recall button.
This is why I find this to be a mostly useless feature. I guess it makes things look better on the comparison chart. And yes, I DO have recall - I have a DT400 AND a DT402, both of which can do up to 16 recalls, but I never use it. It's just as easy/quick to key in the loco's cab number. The REAL advantage of the Zephyr Xtra is 20 locos/20 throttles vs 10 and 10 for the original.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
This question would be far better served being posted over on the "Electronics and DCC" forum.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I have a Zephyr not the new extra. One of the fetures that I like on the new zephyr is the loco recall. I was talking to the local hobby shop and they told me that you could do a loco recall on the system that I have. I don't know of any way is there a way.?? I know there is a blast mode that is not in any manual that works great but never saw anything about loco recall.