Digitrax starter set comparison

I have the older Super Chief 5 amp.

The Super Chief was retired in 2009 and replaced by the Super Chief Xtra 5amp. This set increased function support from 12 to 30. I believe nested consisting was also newly added here. I understand the upgrade.

The Super Chief Xtra has now been retired and replaced by the EVO Evolution Advanced starter set. Comparing the features, I don't see anything new here compared to the Xtra. Am I missing anything?

Thank you,
Jas

 

Thanks Rick. In the past I felt NOT including a power supply was odd and would agree that including a power supply now with a starter set doesn't seem so "revolutionary".

In the past we also had the choice of 5 or 8 amps but it meant buying a different set, now I believe we get that in a single set and 5 or 8 amps is determined by the power supply feeding it.

Lastly, nested consisting seems to work on my old Super Chief so for posterity I'll correct my earlier statement of it being "new" in the Super Chief Xtra. I find it confusing because I gathered this information from the Digitrax product page and their bulleted list of features made it appear new.

 

In some ways, the new DCS210 based set is more than a Chief system. In others it is less. DCS210 has 100 slots. DCS100 DCS100 has 120 slots. Routes and nested consisting were always available on DCS100 all the way back to the first iterations back in 1994. Nested consisting requires decoders that support advanced consisting. Many early decoders didn't but the option was always built into the command station. One additional item I like is the button to reset the command station . It does an option switch 39 reset to defaults. It can also be turned off if desired.
What has really been dropped is the DB150 based starter systems. There is no longer a Digitrax starter sytsem without a separate programming output. They did add a loconet port to DCS210 bringing those up to 3.

The new Evolution system comes with a DCS210 command station/booster. 5 or 8 amps available depending on the power supply used. A new DT500 throttle is also included. Other than a software enabled on/off power switch, I haven't seen much difference between it and a DT402. Probably new internal parts but that might be due to obsolete parts on the older model.

IIRC, DCS100 was upgraded twice over the years. First, Digitrax increased the functions from 5 to 8. Somewhere is there the front connectors were also changed from spring clips to the plug with screw terminals currently used. That occurred very early 1996 or so. Second was to increase functions again allowing functions above F8.That improvement basically left further increases not necessary. Functions packets above F8 are generated by the throttle and simply passed on by the command station. That left additional function increases to new throttle models. The DT400 brought us up to F12. DT402 increased that to F28. DCS100 lost the 'alias" feature during the same Aliasing allowed two digit decoders to be assigned an "alias" 4 digit address and the command station remembered it. By that time it was almost impossible to find a decoder that wasn't capable of 4 digit addressing.

i have recommended that my club not "upgrade" to a new system at this time. The upgrade path for our Chief based system would be the new DCS240 Command station/booster. DCS210 would be a step backIt is capable of 400 slots and has a PR3 built in. To access the new upper slots above 120, DT400 and /or DT500 throttles are required. We really have not had enough "slot=max" issues to justify the expense. All of our slot=max issues are the result of improper handling (dispatching) of addresses by the operator. The new station will just take longer to get there but we would still get there if the same improper dispatching methods continue.

Martin Myers

 

Wow Martin you are very knowledgeable. Thank you for sharing. I think I'll hang on to my Super Chief and maybe send in the DT400 to be upgraded to the DT402 to access additional functions if Digitrax still offers that upgrade program.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

They do. I sent a DT400R off two weeks ago to be upgraded to a DT402D.