I'm flipping through my Feb. 2015 MR which arrived today and for the second month in a row there is an ad from TCS clearly stating "WOWdiesel is HERE" (their caps) right below is another ad from Tony's Train Xchange stating "EMD WOWsound decoder starting at $74.95."
I am well aware of the lead time for magazines but two months of clearly stating "is HERE" is interpreted to me as, here, like available, right now.
I wrote to TCS and got a friendly reply and a "late 2014" availability date but this clever marketing ploy of building anticipation, then saying it's HERE then not making it available anywhere is getting tiresome.
OK, if they went the "preorder" route I might at least feel like I was in line to get one but internet searches have a few demos and little else, even on the TCS site.
I guess I'm a little more frustrated because I have about a dozen EMD engines waiting for sound decoders and I'd gladly get Loksound Selects for them but I'd really like to see first hand what these new decoders from TCS can do before I make any cash outlays.
Thanks for letting me blow off a little steam, Ed
I've been looking at several sites, including TCS's, and none of them have the diesel Wow! Sound decoders available yet.
Hey, it's only a month or so late as of now - Tsunamis were YEARS late.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I know several of the Wow beta testers from a narrowguage list I'm on. They were taking input and making last minutes modification right up until release of the steam Wow. Something similar is probably happening here.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I know sometimes last minute glitches show up and that there's a fine line between announcing a product and the release to the public. I'm sure TCS wouldn't want to have to deal with the risk of having a bum product in the hands of the consumer.
It just irked me to see the second ad today boldly stating "it's HERE." When I saw the ad last month I was all over the web with credit card in hand!
I believe all of TCS production is in USA and that is a big plus for me (I'm not about to stop buying ESU, though) I guess I just needed to vent!
Like Randy mentioned with Tsunami, it was something like 5 years before we saw the diesel version!
Good Night and Good Luck, Ed