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Ron, now you did it! You're going to get a bazillion answers now. [:D] It's a never ending debate between the two systems so hopefully it won't raise its head here in this thread. The two systems compete for the same market share. I just picked up a Zephyr 3 days ago to be used in an N-scale layout. I've done a fair amount of reading and comparing before I bought it and even spoke to a very knowledgeable guy at the LHS. Here's your answer: both are good and both have features that the other does not. You need to compare these features which are specific to each one and ask yourself if these features are important to your or not. I went with the Zephyr becasue Digitrax is a well known DCC company and you can upgrade and expand later one. With the Prodigy Advance the jury is still out as MRC doesn't have a good history of making DCC equipment backwards or forwards compatible. Expansion aside, the Zephyr has features that the Prodigy Advance doesn't have that are important to me. You can run DC locos as well as DCC locals at the same time. This will allow you to take your time and money to convert your existing fleet. There's no ru***o DCC everything in sight. The Zephyr also has two Jump Ports that allows you to hook up to two normal DC power packs (even the starter set buzz packs) as throttles. There is a limitation in that these Jump Port throttles can only be for direction and speed control. This is perfect for me as I plan on sharing my layout with my 3 year son. He doesn't need anything more than direction and speed at this time. I don't have to spend a ton of money for another true throttle and this gets me and him in the water cheap. Later on, if his (or my) needs changes I can always get a true Digitrax throttle and plug it into the Zephyr. With the Prodigy Advance, I need to run out and get another throttle (around $100?) in order for my son to work his logo. There are some other differences too but these were what sent me over the fence to the Zephyr side. Your requirements may be different. Just remember either sets are quite adequet for a beginning DCC system.
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