MTH SD70ACe (HO)


bnsfjason

bnsfjason

Maintenance in the way
Anyone ordered or reserved one of the MTH, HO SD70ACe?
I did and I paid $249.95, is it worth it or not? by the looks of it, I think it is.
I'm not very familiar with MTH, all I know is that MTH is known for O scale and MTH has ventured into the HO scale, any feedback about MTH?
 
Don't know either. MTH is still relatively new in HO but their steam releases have gotten generally good reviews. I do not like MTH's DCS system. The claim is that the sound is better and it will still operate with standard DCC. They have not explained if the uncoupling feature will operate with standard DCC. MTH went through a huge patent fight over sound systems that nearly destroyed other DCC sound system companies and lost. Their business practices have been questionable at best. I prefer not to support a company that I think is basically unethical.
 
If anything, i'll see if I could do some manipulation and change the DCS to DCC or DC on my own.
Never mind disregard, MTH has given the option of running it DCS, DCC, or DC.
 
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They look beautiful thats for sure, and im curious to see how reliable the working coupler are :D And the fact that they come DCC with sound for $249 is even better :D

I wish i could pre-order a BNSF right now but.... lol
 
Looks like the remote uncoupler is good in DCC as well. Though I cannot use it with my Sergent couplers...

I'll draw my own conclusion once I have my first model.

I have to admit, it looks like MTH is following BLMA's lead in using good looking women to describe the models...
 
UP2CSX said:
Don't know either. MTH is still relatively new in HO but their steam releases have gotten generally good reviews. I do not like MTH's DCS system. ...Their business practices have been questionable at best. I prefer not to support a company that I think is basically unethical.
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I refuse to support them at all. Their control system is proprietary, and as such any new development has to come from them and them alone. DCC on the other hand, has basically open source standards and anyone can develop and market any advance in the technology, as long as the standards are adhered to.

By their various lawsuits, they delayed the advancement of DCC for a couple of years at least. They have refused to work with the NMRA to make DCS, more compatible. Instead their solution is to include a DCC decoder with limited access to the DCS functions. They did start claiming that their 120 step speed control was better than DCC's 14/28 step speed control a good year after the majority of DCC decoders were already functioning at 128 steps.

Don't know if anyone remembers the long, long thread over across the street from several years ago about all this. I believe their VP of marketing, or at least one of the project engineers Andy Edellman (sp?) started the thread, but really could not supply any real details about the HO version of the DCS system. Oneof the posters who had the DCS on his three rail O-guage layout even offered to let MTH test their engine on his HO layout provided that he had to make no changes to his DCC system and that the DCS wouldn't cause any damage to it. The MTH guy said OK, but the test never occurred.
 
Cjcrescent said:
I refuse to support them at all. Their control system is proprietary, and as such any new development has to come from them and them alone.
Click to expand...

A fellow at the club turned up with one of their GS-4 steamers. Well actually it was a GS-4 dressed up like a GS-6. (that's the SP daylight steamer/American Freedom Train/warbaby for you deprived diesel modeler types who aren't into steamers...you poor folks :D:p;))

I didn't like it at all! Though it did run & pull well, it was a pain to program. Only the basics were even accessible for programming through DCC. Lots of toy like "gimmicks". Who really needs station sound effects anyway? And the whistle... awful! There is a functioning prototype available, but did they record & use it? Nope! it was a N&W whistle :(:(:( The drawbar spacing was large enough to drive a truck through, and there was not a second hole to reduce this of you wanted, so they were bascially thinking of getting the thing around 18" radius curves, and to heck with any sort of prototypical appearance. And to put the icing on the cake, they have train wreck sound effects in several (if not all) of their steamers! :mad: After years of teaching my son and other kids to run the trains at slower realistic speeds, they go and do that!

It looks to me like MTH is attempting to cross market between toy trains & model railroading. Those who like the Lionel-ish gimmickry will buy their stuff. Gee I wonder when we'll see the HO milk car & unloader that spits little milk cans across the layout room??? I can hardly wait!

The one thing they do have as an advantage is: they have won enough of their lawsuits that they don't have to actually make any money off the trains! And don't give them too much credit for the UP trademark lawsuit thing either. They did get lots of press about that, but the real effort came from behind the scenes, from people like Phil Walthers, and the good folks at Atlas.

No offense to the three railers in the crowd, or anyone who buys their stuff. We are free to spend our hobby bucks on whatever we want, and if we all did the same thing, it would be a boring hobby for sure ;). These are just my views on these guys, which as you can read, aren't great!
 
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