I have no personal experience with Lenz, but I have read many posts from satisfied users. Asking about DCC recommendations is almost akin to asking people what denomination of Christian Church to join. You will get many different answers, almost always reflecting what that particular author is using. Go with a system that is popular in your area so that you can get readily available help if and when you have problems...which you will.
Hi jgeisert, Welcome to the 'board. I own a Lenz system. It started out as a Lenz 01, I then bought an extra throttle with the rotary speed control. It makes it nice when you have someone else over, but it does not have all the programming capibilities that the 01 does. Now owning a Lenz system is like owning an original IBM computer as opposed to a 'clone'. Lenz invented what we call DCC today. This is not to say that other mfg. havn't put forth some neat tricks of their own. The electronics are very stable, things work as they are susposed to. I like the 02 throttle because I'm an analog person and like knobs to turn rather than buttons to push. I also like the fact that since I've bought the system, I've already received one upgrade from Lenz, that was very easy to install. When I first bought the system, I did have a problem with my 01 throttle, it went back to Lenz USA in Massachusetts and lo and behold within a few days a new 01 throttle arrived. Debby Ames is the honcho there and her customer service skills are REALLY good. A plus to all this is her husband, Stan Ames wrote the NMRA book on DCC so you get a wealth of information at a phone call. I am not an especally adept computer person, but I had a train running on DCC in about 4 minutes after wiring up the Lenz to the tracks, which only took 11 minutes. Programming is very simple and the instructions are in layman's english. I model in HO steam and use Soundtraxx decoders on all my engines and I've been able to adjust the CV's with no problems. Good luck with whatever system you choose, make sure you try them all out before you buy.
