Over the last years, I read not so good comments about Athearn Genesis locomotives: light bulbs, Tsumani decoder, bad electrical pickup . I stayed away and only bought products from Atlas and Rapido Trains equipped with Loksound decoders.
Athearn is now announcing a GP9 in the right road name and color scheme for the region and era I am modeling. It is equipped with Tsunami2 decoder and leds instead of bulbs.
Is there some forum members who tried this new generation of Genesis locomotives and who can comment on the performance?
Guy
Modeling CNR in the 50's
I decided to give Athearn and Soundtraxx a second chance when I bought a pair of the recent Amtrak SDP-40Fs. At the time I really didn't want to bother with doing another sound install and I figured if the Tsunami 2 didn't pan out I would change it out later.
Actually, I was pretty impressed with the sound and performance of the Tsu-2. The overall sound is quite loud, to the point of needing to cut the overall volume by about 25% and the horn and bell volume by about half.
Big difference from the original Tsunami. Recently, Soundtraxx had a "June trade-in" deal and I bought four more Tsu-2 decoders for EMD 567s but have not installed them yet.
As far as the LEDs all I can say to Athearn is, Yay! Finally!
Hope that helps, Ed
I have seven of the GP9's with original headlights and have had no problems with them and they all run beautifully.
Can't say anything about the sound, as I get strictly DC units as I can't stand the sound units, at the distance we view our layouts we shouldn't hear them anyway so why have sound.
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
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Guy Papillon Over the last years, I read not so good comments about Athearn Genesis locomotives: light bulbs, Tsumani decoder, bad electrical pickup . I stayed away and only bought products from Atlas and Rapido Trains equipped with Loksound decoders.
The only wide ranging comments I remember reading was the rendition of some freatures on the body/shell being not quite right - apparently because Athearn didn't do their own measurements but copies cad blue prints done by someone else - Front Range possibly.
As for lights, light bulbs burning out is a universal problem for most, if not all Athearn engines with incandescent bulbs. They are slowly converting over to use LED's on newer models.
As far as the Tsunami decoder, the complaints are mainly with the Tsunami I decoder which people complained of weak horns and the OEM version often did not have the correct horn for the model. Rio Grande experts complained the sound equipped GP9 from Genesis did not have the correct horn sound for the D&RGW GP9's. I bought all non-sound D&RGW GP9's (3 numbers).
I have not heard of anyone complaining about bad electrical pick up ever. If you heard of that, I wonder if it was someone with an isolated case.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
dti406Can't say anything about the sound, as I get strictly DC units as I can't stand the sound units, at the distance we view our layouts we shouldn't hear them anyway so why have sound.
Hi Rick,
I guess I'm a little different. I like getting right up along side and viewing my HO-scale steam and early diesel locomotives sometimes, as they pass by at track level. If I were standing at that distance in real life I think I'd hear something. Maybe N- or Z-scale, not so much.
riogrande5761As far as the Tsunami decoder, the complaints are mainly with the Tsunami I decoder which people complained of weak horns and the OEM version often did not have the correct horn for the model. Rio Grande experts complained the sound equipped GP9 from Genesis did not have the correct horn sound for the D&RGW GP9's. I bought all non-sound D&RGW GP9's (3 numbers).
Rio,
Besides the weak/wrong horn, I was not keen on the so-so motor control of the Tsunamis. I've been told those could be improved upon with tweaking. However, I could get a TCS Wow or Loksound decoder and have wonderful motor-control right out of the box. I can tolerate a less-than-perfect horn choice over a locomotive that can't switch at <5sMPH.
Supposedly the Tsunami 2s have improved in that respect but I haven't evaluated one yet in person.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
riogrande5761I have not heard of anyone complaining about bad electrical pick up ever. If you heard of that, I wonder if it was someone with an isolated case.
From my experience, the poor conductivity between the wheel and bronze contact strip seemed to affect the F3 and F7 Genesis models. It took a little tweaking to get it straightened out and I would usually disassemble the truck anyway in order to solder the pickup wire instead of using the friction clip. Out of maybe two-dozen Fs, I had problems with bad pickup on perhaps three or four.
I think I have about a dozen Genesis GP7 & 9s and never had any issues with pickup interruptions.
Ed
gmpullman riogrande5761 I have not heard of anyone complaining about bad electrical pick up ever. If you heard of that, I wonder if it was someone with an isolated case. From my experience, the poor conductivity between the wheel and bronze contact strip seemed to affect the F3 and F7 Genesis models. It took a little tweaking to get it straightened out and I would usually disassemble the truck anyway in order to solder the pickup wire instead of using the friction clip. Out of maybe two-dozen Fs, I had problems with bad pickup on perhaps three or four.
riogrande5761 I have not heard of anyone complaining about bad electrical pick up ever. If you heard of that, I wonder if it was someone with an isolated case.
I have only run some of my Genesis F7's and no pick-up issues noted so far. They were from around 2002 production and I have heard that the earliest Genesis F units had some issues with the running due to the axles being tight in the truck journals - and solution was to ream out the journals some. AFAIK, that was corrected after the first few years of production.
Were the poor conductivity issues limited to a production period that you know of?
Sorry to read about the trouble with them. Call me cheap, but $100 is about the highest I'll spend on a DCC-ready loco. I don't mind putting in the program chip either now that I'm passed the fear of destrying the shell when removing it!
riogrande5761Were the poor conductivity issues limited to a production period that you know of?
I can't really pinpoint a specific date-range. They were all early-run models, though. It seems that the larger, bright yellow box may have been a clue. The later Genesis package design with the all blue box and clear "clam shell" inside are more recent.
Regards, Ed