About to Make DCC Plunge Here...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I know it is tres-cool to use smart phones for everything, but I think DCC and the train room is one place I want to leave my phone behind.  I don't want texts, emails and (heaven forbid!) phone calls interrupting my time there, and I kind of wonder what would happen if a call came at an awkward moment of operations.

That's a good point, and I've had it happen to me (there are fail safes that you can turn on that stops the train).

There is a good other option though. Buy cheap Androids off ebay and just use them as throttles. I know Victor has bought a bunch of them (including my former phone) for just that purpose.

They beat out the regular DCC hardware because they can be had for MUCH cheaper.

I've been using WiThrottle too. I think, combining it with JMRI, means that you can have a platform agnostic control layer too, which is kinda cool.

[C855B]

... Buy cheap Androids off ebay and just use them as throttles. ...

iPhones, too. iPhone4's are going for $30-40. I just upgraded to an iPhone6, and am keeping the 4 to use with WiThrottle.

[GaryHinshaw]

Veering off topic, but any comments on the ergonomics of touch screens vs. physical knobs/sliders for control?

[ljudice]

Hey, thanks for all the inputs, thoughts and ideas!!!!  Doing some more searching and research and I've been looking at some videos on YouTube covering various aspects of different systems.  (Sound like my son the day of his driving test when he told me he hadn't practiced parallel parking in 3 months, but he did watch it on YouTube that morning.  He did pass it though...  ).

[Dave Schneider]

Veering off topic, but any comments on the ergonomics of touch screens vs. physical knobs/sliders for control?

I am interested in this issue as well. I am thinking about which DCC system to use on the Beer Line, and I would strongly prefer (I think) an old-fashion rotating dial for speed control. Thoughts?

Best wishes, Dave

[Philip H]

I' e run WiThrottle over at Eric's and frankly, I like the s ergonomics Of the virtual iPhone throttle better then any Digitraz throttle I've ever touched. I also have an NCE power an at home, and I like it's rotating center dial.

[bc6]

Being an IT Pro and a lonewolf I have no complaints about the NCE Power Cab setup I run. Although very basic in nature the setup I find that NCE gives me all the bells and whistles that I want. If you want a kick read the manual you know how us IT guys love to read manuals lol. Ive got my NCE set up to interface with JMRI and Ive even tried WiThrottle with my Droid Razor Maxx and my Nexus 7 Tablet and both worked flawlessly. One thing I hope you can take advantage of is starting with a small roster of locomotives. I started into DCC with a roster of 30 locomotives what a pain oh well maybe someone will learn from my experience and start out with DCC sooner rather than later. You'll always have support from NCE via tel or email or join the Yahoo NCE group if you need more help. Good luck with what ever system you choose it beats not having any DCC at all.

[ljudice]

Yep it sounds like there are pluses and minuses but overall, it's a big improvement...

I have a fair # of units but the plan is to just do a couple at first, especially since the layout itself is still far from complete.