Since a couple of people are reporting that they have noisy GEVOS, I thought I would report that I received mine today and it is quiet. I detected no problems in the trucks.
I also got a response from Matt, now that's what i call caring about your customers. He said he would take care of it. I have a third one that is quiet as a mouse and runs great so the other two are not the norm. I have 6 more on order and i'll stick with FVM, after all these are his first release so problems were bound to arise. Dave
I'm not sure, but I think they are made in China. Any ways - Matt has responded quite quickly to my e-mail and is making the effort to correct the problem I am having with one unit. Can't beat the FVM customer care effort.:thumbs_up:
Who's to say the 'one' isn't the ugly duckling and is quiet and the other two noisy ones are the norm? Jury is still out I'm afraid. More negative feedback overall than positive that I have seen so far.
They look like Atlas clones to me. I had two IM SD40T-2's that had the same truck problems mentioned, I ordered new trucks from Atlas and they run OK now.
People who are unhappy are much more likely to make it known, satisfied customers tend to keep quiet as they got what they expected. But it's a wise decision to wait with any new product. Sometimes we are just so eager that we forget about that, or we are afraid the product might not be available anymore.
I've said this on other forums, but let's not forget the days where almost everything you bought had to be tinkered with. Even the tried and true Athearn Blue Boxes. Sometimes we need to put the modeling back into model railroading. Even Atlas has the issue where you need to take out the bushings to make some units run quieter. This is a first run, and there are bound to be some issues. Matt stands by his products and will get this fixed, it may just take some time to get the bugs out. Correct. I'm thinking we've got more "squeaky wheels" than bad units. I've witnessed five run myself and they were a bit noisy, but ran well. Personally, the paint and the additional details made it worth the price. I can deal with tinkering with a mechanism.
I know my unit runs fine. Have not had the derail problem mentioned yet. Quite frankly, despite the negatives people are putting out, this loco launch by a new manufacturer has gone remarkably well. If you don't think so, do some searching and read the threads from when the Athearn F59 came out or the IM tunnel motors. FVM has done a great and I mean GREAT job entering the loco market. Thnaks FVM from a happy customer.
I have seen others also that run as they should, quiet and smooth. I also looked at the trucks to see if i could find a problem but nothing was apparent on why they kept derailing and sounded like my 30 year old coffee grinder. But these engines are so good looking and a step above everybody else's i just had to order them, heck i have 7 more on order. I have every confidense that Matt at FVM will make these units right. I have no problem taking things apart to fix what is wrong but being a new product i thought it was best to return them so FVM can have a look at them and see what went wrong. Dave
C'mon they're beautiful models and Matt is going to fix whatever problems are out there, but the notion that we should be pleased something is not perfect in order to add enjoyment to the hobby is silly. Imagine if your computer or microwave didn't work properly and you called the manufacturer and they said "well, look, we suggest you tinker with it - it's a lot of fun and maybe you'll learn about your new appliance in the process". The idea that model railroading is the hobby where you buy expensive stuff and then have to fool around with it to get it to work is going to kill us.
CP version I for one would really like to see a picture of the CP version now that FVM is bringing out the low number-board versions:thumbs_up:.
Those who don't want to fix theirs can send them back, and those want to fix theirs will do so, thereby keeping the price lower for those who don't. It's only a few that have problems. The dumbest thing is to think that the conversations on these forums are representative.
You don't see a difference between an appliance and a piece of hobby equipment? I do. Also, they don't make microwaves in limited runs from small mfgs. I am also not skilled at microwave repair, but I am pretty confortable inside an n-scale engine. BIG differences here.
You can buy a microwave for under $100 though. The N scale locomotive MSRP's are over $100. At that price, they should be running without problems. I realize this is a hobby but it's ready to run for a reason. Any problems should be a small amount of the run. These forums are not a good sampling and there is no way to get a good sampling to see just how wide spread the problems may be. People with bad units will always complain while those with good ones won't (until they see a thread with problem posts like this one). Still, I expect a level of quality with things I buy, especially if they're over $100. By not expecting quality products right away, we're going to get crap as the bar is lowered. The bar should never be lowered, it should always be going higher. We should be expecting high quality products at all times. Saying people need to 'tinker' with their new locomotive is absurd in my book.
What is magical about $100? If someone was selling brand new automobiles at $100, would you expect them to not need tinkering? Or would you be suspicious of how someone can sell a brand new automobile for $100, and expect that they might "need some work"? Those who want absolute %100 effective quality control need to realize that it WILL mean higher prices for N scale locomotives. And you can reflect that the price already would be higher if not for those of us who, on that rare occasion when we encounter a true problem with a new locomotive, would rather spend two hours tinkering with it than two weeks waiting for it to be repaired by a manufacturer. I reject the assertion that we are not generally getting fair value from our manufacturers. We are quite possibly living in a rare time in history when it is even possible for such a thing as a reliable N scale locomotive to exist.
Well from what I've read and also heard; the problems are manageable and Matt is standing behind his product 100%. No QA system is 100% effective; oh how many of us wish it was. But as long as the manufacturer stands behind their product and do there best at rectifying the issues that occur. There is no real issue. And needless to say those of us that don' t have the ready skillz to fix the issues that occur there is the Knowledgeable folks here on TB to come to our aid. :tb-cool: Yeah Trainboard and Matt of FVM. I myself will give Matt a chance to get a handle on these issues and as in his history give us the products that we've come to love from FVM; and I have no doubt that he will do just that. With that being said I hope those of you that have had problems have all let Matt know what problems that he needs to address and not just mentioned them here on this board:tb-wink:
