TCS Decoder Pricing - Ouch!

[peteski]

It seems to work .. Peteski has +152

Yeah, I must have a lot of members "fixing" the votes on all my blunt and bashing posts. 

[Ngineer]

The increase since I last bought is ridiculous - 30% or more across the board. Wow.

You're absolutely right. The increase IS ridiculous. I am a huge fan of TCS decoders, but  in December I started to buy NCE decoders. In N scale, they have less functions, though.

On an unrelated note, why in the world would someone down-vote Mike's post?  He didn't say anything untrue or derogatory about anything

That's how I got downvoted some time ago. Just because I expressed my fears without being derogatory. Seems like the new normal.

   Javier

[ryan_wilkerson]

I've been on a TCS kick for 4+ years while converting my locomotives. I still love the warranty but for new decoders, I'm thinking of going with Zimo because of the performance. I have ~10 of the Zimo MX 6-pin decoders installed in Fox Valley GP60M/B and GEVOs and they are super smooth and slow. I haven't tried their hard wire decoders but with the price increase on TCS, I'll give it a try.

[peteski]

Zimo decoders are great. And they work really well with coreless motors too.  I also like their mini sound decoders (MX648).  I bought several from MBK (since the discounted price was really good) but they haven't restocked them.

The English version of Zimo's website is not all that great, but there is a very helpful Zimo group on Yahoo Groups.  Zimo does not seem to have a decoder exchange policy like TCS, but I'm not in a habit of blowing up decoders anyway. 

[jdcolombo]

I've been on a TCS kick for 4+ years while converting my locomotives. I still love the warranty but for new decoders, I'm thinking of going with Zimo because of the performance. I have ~10 of the Zimo MX 6-pin decoders installed in Fox Valley GP60M/B and GEVOs and they are super smooth and slow. I haven't tried their hard wire decoders but with the price increase on TCS, I'll give it a try.

Agree on Zimo - it's great.  The ESU LokPilot non-sound decoder is also excellent, and comes in various versions for hard wiring or NEM651 plug-in.  Both the Zimo and ESU run about $30-35 depending on the exact model and configuration at e-tailers like Streamlined Backshops:

http://store.sbs4dcc.com/

John C.