I may have missed any reports but has anybody received one of the FEF's, or SDP-40F's with Loksound. If so, how do they run and how satisfied are you with the Loksound? ? How does the ESU compare to either of the new Soundtraxx decoders? Carl As an after thought, are any of the announced IM products with Loksound available as yet?
Carl: I have both FEF #844 and #838 with Lok-Sound from Kato. The Lok-Sound decoders are fantastic. I have tried the first Soundtraxx Economy decoder and wasn't impressed with it, especially the motor functions. Although I used the original Soundtraxx decoders years ago, I found the motor functions just plain awful. I removed them all and replaced them with ESU sound decoders and haven't looked back. I've been using ESU sound decoders for over 10 years now. BTW Carl, you know my history in N scale. Staying cool and having fun with it..... Shades
Shades, Yes, you are correct, I know all of your N scale history. I admire your work and knowledge regarding decoders and N scale in general. You have helped me many times over the past 10 years or so. Thank you. Carl
First of IM SD40-2's are to be shipped in January, on shelves in Feb. Approaching 3 years since they have been announced, so we'll see.
Carl: Thanks for the kind comments in your above post. IM SD40-2s' are the first to arrive in February, followed by IM SD-45's in the spring. I am more interested in the drop-in diesel decoder that Matt at ESU Lok-Sound will release for N scale diesels. They were supposed to be available by the end of November. Hopefully we'll see them by the beginning of January. Staying cool and having fun with it........ Shades
Shades, You are welcome my friend, I meant it. I too am anxious about the "new" small ( nano ? ) Select decoder, but am not too thrilled with a recent reply from Bryan. He sort of gave me an "around the bush" reply when I asked him about them. His comment led me to believe that the small decoder is not or may not happen at all for the DIY users. I truly hope he misunderstood my question. Has ESU over commited resources for all the manufacturers new factory installs? Time, I guess, will tell us. Carl
Got my Kato SDP40F's with factory ESU sound decoders installed. At first look, they are pretty darn good. I just need to dial in the speed tables and speed match before I give them the big tests.
I also hope there was a misunderstanding as I've also been eagerly awaiting the slimmer DIY sound decoder. Really hope this hasn't gone away!
I have one Amtrak SDP40 F.....Love the sound, I'm going to open up the fans using BLMA kits should help with the volume....But it runs ans sounds great out of the box.....
Hi, I speed match all my locomotives based on function. It is not as though these may or may not need any tweaks, but I have never had two locomotives run exactly the same. Plus I place a custom speed table and then use trim to match. That gives me really great running consists.
I was planning on purchasing two of these and didn't want them so far off I had to speed match. I run like locos together, and have only had to speed match two Athearn F45s, even though I purchased them from the same dealer at the same time they had completely different motors. I did finally order two so we'll see how they run as soon as they arrive!
I am not saying that they were too different in speed to run together. I have a process for all locomotives to get specific speed tables and then set the trim to a specific top speed like 90 SMPH. I didn't run these until after they were all setup.
