[dwb]

>Indeed 'Top of the Range' in their usually very carefully worded parlance could be taken as meaning top of their own range

The positive interpretation is "Digital enthusiast - someone who would buy a Lenz gold, ESU LokPilot, Zimo MX63". Now if they think they can top those for features, then bring it on....

David

 

[dwb]

>but I doubt it will be a cheaper alternative to the lenz gold
For the modeller starting out on DCC, the comfort of buying Hornby will be welcome and they will pay the premium.

If Hornby fit their top of the range "DCC Fitted" locomotives with such a beast, I would happy to buy it and pay a bit extra just so that I don't have to take the loco apart to fit it. (I am a kettle man. The British loading gauge has a lot to answer for. Another example of the disadvantage of being first with the technology?)

David

 

[dwb]

>Hornby will now be offering "DCC Ready" options. No need to swap
I don't think you've been following this argument closely enough Gary. There are some of us with more ambition than the currently available Hornby decoder. For one thing I want Automatic Brake Control - ABC in Lenz terminology. This is such a neat feature I cannot understand why Hornby haven't incorporated from the outset - an isolated rail section, 4 diodes, a switch connection, a couple of CVs in the decoder and you can have your trains stop in front of a red signal. It would make a great accessory for a Hornby layout.

So until Hornby install decoders which in their words "The Hornby Sapphire will offer many, if not more features, including RailCom® than the Digital enthusiast would expect from a top of the range decoder" I would have to pay for a decoder I don't want and replace it.

David

 

[dwb]

>"DCC Ready" has no decoder pre-installed
>Am I missing something? Help me out here folks.
It's my fault. I got confused between Ready and Fitted - Sorry

David

 

[dwb]

>Why on earth would Lenz allow Hornby to rebadge their top of the line decoder and sell it for less than Lenz's own price for the Gold?
Because Hornby have brand recognition in the UK market. So long as Lenz get the return they want, should it matter to them what price Hornby sell it for. Hornby are a publicly quoted company and the shareholders won't stand for unnecessary subsidies. There's also the "fear factor" - Hornby are going to sell a top end decoder, so why not a Lenz, rather than a Zimo, ESU or even in house design. I wouldn't have thought that Bachmann have an exclusive agreement with any of their DCC suppliers. I still think the Maerklin and Trix DCC controllers bear an uncanny resemblance to the ECoS.

David

 

[dwb]

>Their European ambitions are far wider than the "home market".
They'll need something _very_ convincing to break into the German speaking market.

David

 

[dwb]

>Hornby may well end up fitting decoders to 100,000 or more locomotives in 2007 and produce 500,000 stand alone decoders for sale just for the UK
All the more reason why £15 extra for the current Hornby decoder in a Britannia is not good value for money. With those volumes, you should be able to fit a high end decoder and still make money.

David

 

[dwb]

I am very interested to see what new items Lenz introduce at the Nuremburg show in a couple of weeks time. I wasn't impressed by their DCC offerings last year. If they don't come out with a new command station with a graphic display ala ECoS, Viessmann, Maerklin, Trix and soon Dynamis, then one has to wonder if they have decided that there are better things they can do with their investment euros, such as their O gauge range, design work for Heljan and so on. In other words having established the standards and market for DCC, they are moving on and leaving the field for the mass manufacturers.

>>This explains the persistance of obsolete 3 rail AC , rejected everywhere else decades ago
>No no no not again please!
No no and thrice no. Pretty please not again

>Roco, Lenz or ESU at Warley?
I think Mackays Models, the distributors of Roco and Lenz would be be very upset to think that their presence at Warley meant nothing.

ESU have only recently appointed South West Digital as their UK distributor. South West were at Warley and had the ECoS on display and I was able to buy a LokPilotDCC from them.

and Zimo have only just appointed DCC Supplies who also had a stand at Warley and I bought an MX63R from them.

Digitrax certainly went "Large" at Warley but I think this might have been their first time? Previously they have relied on Sunningwell Controls to bang the drum for them?

David