Does anyone know much about this system? MRC - DCC Series - PRODIGY EXPRESS, Item: 0001408, TRAIN CONTROLS/DCC I'm friends with a guy who owns a local hobby shop and he has this companies dcc systems in stock. Says if I give him a hand a few hours on a sat/sun with inventory He will let me have it as payment. Is it worth it?? I was going to go with the NCE starter system but if I can get this for just a few hours of my time I might consider it if it will do what I need it to. I'm just looking for an introductory system to run at the most 4 engines. I have a small 4x8 n scale layout. Is this something I could add onto in the future? I'm sure he would order me the NCE system Thanks Tj
Wow, thats good payment for a few hours work. That system can be added onto, upgraded and expanded. You could always add wireless, or even a advance2 handheld to it. If you get to where you need more power, just add a booster.:tb-biggrin:
INVENTORY Unless this is a very small hobby shop, you will be there all day, both days. Unless he brings in more people. I would hold out for the NCE PowerCab. List price is about $190.00 At $10.00 per hour you would have to come up with some cash out of your pocket. Unless he will sell at cost. You see Power Cabs on sale for $150.00 or less at times from Walthers. Happy counting
Not a bad deal as all it is costing you is time. If the MRC doesn't fit the bill you can on-sell it and put that money to a different starter system.
Hi.. Good system, as for time spent working in a hobby shop in lue of payment.. Well I for one would not be shy.. Just work how long it would take you to work or save the money to buy one.. Stuart
You heard the proverb "Never look a gift horse in the mouth"? Well, they didn't have vets bills in those days I've had trader friends, but they've still been pretty hard-nosed with me (I got some discount, but I know they still made a good profit). I'm just suspicious that this is a line he's struggling to sell. I'd agree with woodone really - if you've decided the NCE is your thing, you should probably hang on for that rather than compromise an important piece of your system for a quick buck ... ... if slaving all weekend can be called quick Doesn't he have other stuff (loco's, stock, track) he can 'pay' you with?
The guy is a good friend. The work would only be 4 hours each day sometime in the next 2 weeks. It isn't so much inventory as it is helping straighten things up a bit after the holiday craziness. After a lot of thought I think im going to stick with the NCE system. I'm still going to lend a hand but I'm going to get some other stuff as payment.
That is a great deal. Dont listen to all the nay sayers about MRC's Prodigy. It is an excellent system. I use a Prodigy Advance2 on my layout and the Prodigy Express on the work bench. It is extremely user friendly and I would highly recomend it. As far as decoders go I would stick with Digitrax or NCE though.
I second that comment. My original system was the Prodigy Express but I have since expanded it with a booster and then a 2nd "Advanced" cab. I plan to further expand in the coming year with a wireless handheld, to give me a final grand total of three engineers for my layout. Stick with higher end DCC decoders such as Digitrax, NCE, or TCS and you'll not be dissatisfied.
Tradeoffs Interestingly, though the Prodigy Express only provides 1.6 amps of track power and the NCE Power Cab has 2.0 amps, the power cab will only run 4 locos at a time. The online review I read of the Prodigy Express I read was confusing to me. It says, "Up to 25 address can be used but only 5 will be retained by the cab when power is turned off." Can one of you Prodigy Express users tell us whether that means you can control up to 25 locos at a time, or only 5. It sounds like it will control 25, but forget what speed settings you had when you turn power off. Not a big deal to me because I like to stop all my trains before powering down anyway. The 4 loco limit on the NCE Power Cab is actually a bigger deal to me than the 0.4 amp difference. I seldom have more than three trains moving on my 4' x 8' N scale layout at a time, but I like to have others available in the yard. I know it doesn't look as high tech as the Prodigy Express or the NCE Power Cab, but I am very happy with my Digitrax Zephyr, its 2.5 amps, and its 9 loco limit.
