Gary, I'm struggling to see why you keep banging on about CE compliance? Everything Hornby make must meet CE standards or they couldn't sell it. It certainly has nothing to do with DCC standards and compatability.
To me it is simple.
If I plug in a Select and try to use it - it is patently obvious that it is a naff piece of kit.
It cannot program my lenz decoders
It spikes and damages decoders
the interface is awful
Only a few functions are supported
It has randomly re-programmed decoders for me
Hornby decoders are cheap, nasty little things that have poor running characteristics and blow up at the first sign of a load.
Unfortunately the Hornby digital system has been made to a price and it shows. This is the problem with public companies though - the customer comes second to the shareholder.
The Elite is somewhat better, but still has its issues. As others have said it has the makings of a good system, but needs a few tweaks.
Hornby need to wake up and fix this before it is too late. Yes, lots of people are buying the digital sets and select controllers, but how many will pack it away, never to see the light of day again and forget any railway modelling aspirations they may have had because they became disillusioned after using the select?
My big concern is that instead of widening the hobby and making digital more accessible, it will act as a turn-off for the 'train-setters' who end up with a troublesome and unreliable system.
To me it is simple.
If I plug in a Select and try to use it - it is patently obvious that it is a naff piece of kit.
It cannot program my lenz decoders
It spikes and damages decoders
the interface is awful
Only a few functions are supported
It has randomly re-programmed decoders for me
Hornby decoders are cheap, nasty little things that have poor running characteristics and blow up at the first sign of a load.
Unfortunately the Hornby digital system has been made to a price and it shows. This is the problem with public companies though - the customer comes second to the shareholder.
The Elite is somewhat better, but still has its issues. As others have said it has the makings of a good system, but needs a few tweaks.
Hornby need to wake up and fix this before it is too late. Yes, lots of people are buying the digital sets and select controllers, but how many will pack it away, never to see the light of day again and forget any railway modelling aspirations they may have had because they became disillusioned after using the select?
My big concern is that instead of widening the hobby and making digital more accessible, it will act as a turn-off for the 'train-setters' who end up with a troublesome and unreliable system.
