Just saw a new item for a new MRC drop in decoder for Proto 2000 FA and PA locos. Sudedenly they have stereo sound (right aftr the QSI announcement) but that's nto all. They come with a choice of two prime mover sounds. Yes, two. Fellow ALCOfiles will know what those two are, to cover the various FA and PA variations as produced. However, the options you get are EMD 567(!) and Alco 539T. Yes, 539T. Most FA versions and the PAs has 244 motors, FA4's had 251s.
I REALLY REALLY hope the prime mover type is a misprint and MRC didn't mess it up this bad. But for $109.95 I'll stick to QSI or Tsunami.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Pretty funny actually. They keep coming up with new releases without doing their homework or quality control and people keep buying it.
It's like Lucy with Charlie Brown. Keeps putting that football down and pulling it up when you go for it.
Springfield PA
Hamltnblue They keep coming up with new releases without doing their homework or quality control and people keep buying it.
They keep coming up with new releases without doing their homework or quality control and people keep buying it.
There are enough people who believe MRC's outlandish advertising claims who don't know the difference in prime mover or air horn types, that they're making a huge profit off their sound decoders, so they're probably not too concerned about accuracy.
When you consider the quality of construction and components, it would appear that there's very little cost of materials and labor involved, and selling them for over $100 brings in lots of ca$h.
Yeah...it really is sad to see.
Enough people will buy those things and then...gee...why did it go poof?
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Yes, I wonder how many potential hobbyists that have left the hobby due to MRC crap?
I know of at least one that wrote on a Swedish Forum, after all the troble he sold all his stuff and went on to follow other pursuits......
IS it SO hard to actually have some sort of quality inspection on their stuff??? Or are they so hard pressed for money that it is a no-go?
Amazing that a company that was leading in the DC market has totally messed up their reputation in the DCC market....
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
They do make excellent fuses!
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
It is a shame. They used to had to be make the best DC powerpack's and throttles. The overwhelming majority of everyone that I knew with a layout used MRC. I still have my Tech 4. It's a shame that they're not building the same quality in DCC.
__________________________________________________________________
Mike Kieran
Port Able Railway
I just do what the majority of the voices in my head vote on.
The new ones do seem to be better quality construction - all surface mount parts securely attached to the board, not parts hanging off the edges by their leads like their older ones. Now the sounds aren't right - or maybe they weren't all along, just that with a better quality sound chip it's too obvious what each one is and it's now not possible to pass off an EMD567 as something else.
If I still had my Tech II I'd like to take it apart and see if it is just components flying in the breeze or if there is a nice neat circuit board. It always worked, but witht he larger room to work with it's not nearly as critical as trying to use micro size parts to make things that fit inside locos.
rrinker If I still had my Tech II I'd like to take it apart and see if it is just components flying in the breeze or if there is a nice neat circuit board. It always worked, but witht he larger room to work with it's not nearly as critical as trying to use micro size parts to make things that fit inside locos. --Randy
Randy,
I did a while back as the arm on the potentiometer broke. While not surface mount, the whole setup seemed to be neatly and well done.
Eric
That's pretty funny considering that their Atlas S-unit board is loaded with an RS-3 244 prime mover sound effect...the same engine that was in the FA's (and, with more cylinders & Hp, the PA).
Paul A. Cutler III
I'm still holding out hope that it was a type and they meant 244 and not 539. But it boggles the mind why a 567 as the alternate, although if the deocder fits in the Proto PA then it shoudl fit in the E units as well. But that needs DUAL prime mover sounds.
The people that are programming them are probably non railroad people. MRC should have checked. It's a shame, they were an industry standard for many years. Hopefully they'll improve their product line.
Sounds like (no pun intended) that they are letting the Chinese do it all, including the quality control...
Maybe Wabash.
cacole Hamltnblue: They keep coming up with new releases without doing their homework or quality control and people keep buying it. There are enough people who believe MRC's outlandish advertising claims who don't know the difference in prime mover or air horn types, that they're making a huge profit off their sound decoders, so they're probably not too concerned about accuracy. When you consider the quality of construction and components, it would appear that there's very little cost of materials and labor involved, and selling them for over $100 brings in lots of ca$h.
Hamltnblue: They keep coming up with new releases without doing their homework or quality control and people keep buying it.
Hello! Thank you, that's what I've been saying all along. I absolutely agree.
John