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Athearn Genesis F7 A&B with DCC/Sound in both units
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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1
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908
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Sat July 28, 2007
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$225.00
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6.0
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supersize
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Description:
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F3 ab with DCC and Sound in the A and the B units. Badged as Santa Fe Freight (Blue and Yellow).
DCC and Sound system are MRC.
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Keywords:
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F7 A&B Unit Sound HO DCC Athearn Genesis
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Author
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Joe Daddy
C & SF, my obsession
Registered: October 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 144
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Review Date: Sat July 28, 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $225.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Finely detailed, both A & B units powered and with sound
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Cons:
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Very poor slow speed operation, DCC and Sound system defects and short comings
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I was indeed excited to see Athearn release this product.  My road name and freight colors are all the options I value in DCC and Sound and the huge benefit of both units powered with sound. The honeymoon was very short though.
I must add that this is only the second Athearn locomotive I have purchased since returning to the hobby in 2005. 80% of my freight rolling stock is Athearn and I'm quite happy with it, however, Athearn still does not have it right when it comes to locomotives. They can blame it on their parent company Horizon Hobby who owns both Athearn and MRC. 
The units are closely matched and do not pull against each other, like my P1K F3's do even after a lot of Speed Curve work.
Like QSI, the sound system can put out very loud and hgh quality sound.
The unit includes a radio controlled remote to allow for control of sound on DC layouts. (I wonder if including this functionality included the downside loss of low speed operation.)
The dual sounds are kinda neat, but frankly it is not something I'd require in my decision process going forward. They do have a doppler effect that is quite genuine but it is not pronounced.
Strong pulling power, pulled 25 40' & 50' box cars and caboose on my long 2% grades. Unit easily stopped and started on grade, lurching at the start though.
The B unit was silent due to a defective speaker, yes they sent me a new speaker but I had to replace it. The service from Athearn was about the same I received from BLI, poor. I wanted a replacement which they refused. They would only send me parts. After the speaker was replaced, well more disappointment.
Slow speed operation on this unit is 7-9 mph measured by my trusty Accutrack speed-o-meter. My BLI E6 & Proto 1000 F3's will run under 2 mph.
These locomotives rather lurch at start!
The MRC decoder has the fn keys mapped differently from QSI and Soundtrax, namely 0, 0 is sound off/sound on and turning the headlights on and off use fn 0. Figure that out!
Yes, I conditionally recommend this unit due to the MRC decoder which is the root cause of all the issues I have with this locomotive.
Sorry but I don't do DC so I have no idea how it performs there.
Joe
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Joe Daddy
My model railroad blog and home of a few of the many lessons learned as a Newbie.
http://wwwjoe-daddy.blogspot.com
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