THE CHOICES OF GOING DCC.

[Anonymous]

Hi all
I have been doing some homework on dcc systems and i have narrowed the choices to either the Digitrax Zepher or the Atlas Commander, can anyone recommend one of these systems over the other and why?? This is my first dcc system and hopefully it will be trouble free!!!! any infomation will be very appreciated.

[simon1966]

HI Boysie,

I have a Zephyr system. I have owned it for a few months and found the installation and opperation very simple. I also considered the Atlas commander. For a simple layout, either one would be a great choice. I decided that I was going to need to expand my system over time and thus chose the Zephyr. The Zephyr is one element of the Digitrax system that can all be connected together to create a larger more featured setup. Look at the Digitrax web site and decide if you want, need or can afford any of the other modules that can be added. If not, then the expandibility feature of the Zephyr is of little benfit to you.

[Anonymous]

The Atlas system is made by Lentz and shares thier bus so either would be a good choice since both would be expandable in the future.

[cacole]

I have no personal experience with the Atlas Commander, but two members of our local club ditched them and bought Digitrax because they had problems with the Atlas systems not recognizing any decoders except Atlas, and being too limited in the number of available functions. Another member had to change to Easy DCC because he had slight color blindness and couldn't see the Atlas red-on-black display, which was very dim.

[Anonymous]

Hi. Approximately how many locomotives can you easily run at the same time on a 2.5 amp DCC system? Thank you. Bill

[cacole]

The number of locomotives that can be operated simultaneously is going to depend on the current draw of the motors in the locomotives, the degree of inclines that are on your layout, and how many other items are drawing power from the DCC system, such as passenger car lighting.

Personally, I have ran 9 locomotives as a single consist, all Proto 2000 engines, up a 15-foot long 2% grade, pulling 36 loaded MDC ore cars, with no overloading of the DCC booster.

[jwmurrayjr]

I use the Atlas Commander and two walk-around throttles (HandCommands) and I like it a lot.

But, between the two, I'd have to recommend the Zephyr because it is more advanced and a newer system.

However, if I were to upgrade I'd probably got with Lenz or NCE.

[johncolley]

It would be interesting to give a table with all the features possible. List all the brands/models of DCC and give each feature a "1" If a unit doesn't have that feature it gets a "0". Run the totals at the bottom then the cost and see which is the best bang for the buck, eh?

[Anonymous]

There's such a table at the back of the "DCC Made Easy" book Kalmbach sells. [:D]

[cacole]

There is a comparison chart available at Tony's Train Exchange (http://www.tonystrains.com)

[AntonioFP45]

Am not an expert but have a good friend that uses the Digitrax Zephyr. He let me try my hand at it. I was impressed at how very user friendly it is! Great value for the price.

I'm planning on getting the Zephyr.

[orsonroy]

Both the Atlas Master and Digitrax Zephyr are low- to midranged DCC systems. Both work reliably well, and as stand-alone systems are virtually identical. The differences come when it's time to upgrade. Digitrax offers more DCC products than Lenz, and at different price points. Digitrax offers something like seven walkaround handheld throttle options, while Atlas/Lenz offers four. It's simpler to upgrade Digitrax to infrared wireless or radio wireless control. And finally, it's easier to find Digitrax products and customer support in the USA than it is to find the same for Lenz.

So it all boils down to upgrade pootential. If you're SURE you won't ever want lots of bells & whistles type upgrades for your system down the road, it doesn't really matter which system you use. But if you think you might want to upgrade in the future, take a hard look at everything else the manufacturers offer.

[Anonymous]

I've been sold on Digitrax for aboout 3 years and will be buying the Chief for my new medium size layout (24x25). It seems to be the majority choice on all the layouts I've seen over the last several years. Probably about 35 - 45% were Digitrax and I've visited about 100 layouts in the last 4 years.