DC/DCC

[rrinker]

See, I have to disagree with the idea that DCC is changing so rapidly that what you buy today is obsolete tomorrow. WHile this is a fairly high-tech bit of equipment, it's not at ALL like computers where the above is true. There is absolutely no reason to be ditching you equipment and buying new stuff every year because it's last year's model. This may have been true of MRC's initial attempts at DCC - poor systems with limited featurs and no upgradeability, when they came out with a new one you had to ditcht he old one and start over again. They FINALLY got it witht heir latest series, you cna buy the basic one and make it as capable as the top of the line without tossing anything. It took them 4 tries to get this right though, pity the people who were early adopters. Luckily, this is NOT and never has been the case with some of the other systems out there. I point primarily to Digitrax as the example here. If you check eBay you will notice even old Digitrax equipment going for full price - because it is all perfectly viable as accessories to a system you just bought yesterday. Of all the products prodced by Digitrax since they started, there is like ONE item that cannot be used on a modern system - and that is a small plug adapter that converted the old pre-Loconet systems to Loconet. Old boosters, old throttles, it all still works today, with no workarounds. Even teh odball Challenger system throttles, which had 4 throttle knobs to control 1 of 4 addresses, in groups of 4 - they are commonly used by peopel who own those Roco cranes, since the whole thing works on multiple addresses, witht he old Challenger throttles you have all 4 ready to go, just twist the appropriate knob. Other brands have also maintained a fairly robust upgrade path with little or no 'waste' . This is why I do not ever recommend the Bachmann EZ Command. It's too limited and a total dead end - you cannot upgrade it, it is what it is. After you play with it for a while and learn what DCC actually CAN do, except the EZ cannot access those features, you are stuck with it.
I am stll using the same base system I purchased 7 years ago. It accesses all the functions of the newest sound decoders. It's never had any sort of upgrade, nor has it needed one. I've added additional equipment, not because I HAD to but because I WANTED to. I started small with a completely upgradeable system, had my plans remained the same and I had built the planned basement empire I was starting on, I would have just added capacity as needed. My plans changed, things changed a LOZT in my life, and it was all stored away for a few years. I am now building a more modest layout but still bigger than my previous one, so I added a few bits to the system to handle it, but the basic system remains the same, there has been no reason to repalce it with somethign newer because someoen came out with a new type of DCC gadget that does not work with it. Nor have I felt compelled to replace the decoders in the locos that I already installed them in with something newer. Other than 2 factory sound equipped locos, I don't do sound, it's ok, lots of fun for a while actually, but then it gets tiring. I'm 2 blocks from the tracks so I hear the real thing frequently - even a Tsunami isn't that good. My road and era require only front and rear lightson locos, no fancy beacons or Mars lights, although the decoders I got 7 years ago handle those features just fine if I needed them. There's little if ny functional difference between decent decoders from a few years ago and the decent ones of today - certainly nothing that would make me tear them out and buy all new ones. Maybe if I still had some of those ones from the first days of DCC - things HAVE improved, but once those improvements made it into general production decoders, they haven't AGAIN made anywhere near that great a change.

--Randy