Kato Kobo SD70ACe w/LokSound?

[MetroRedLine]

Thinking about buying one of these, mainly because I'd like to finally have a sound loco that's not a GE. How are they as sound locos?

I know nearly every loco with ESU LokSound is a winner, but trying to justify the cost, as one of these costs a bit more than a ScaleTrains DCC sound loco, but with less detail.

If Fox Valley sold their SD70ACes with factory DCC & sound, I'd be all over it.

[Viperjim1]

Just got my Spirit of 1943 the other day, it sounds great. got it for 239$ not bad and BLI wants 249$ for there UP Heritage units but haven't heard one of those yet.

[peteski]

Just got my Spirit of 1943 the other day, it sounds great. got it for 239$ not bad and BLI wants 249$ for there UP Heritage units but haven't heard one of those yet.

So Kato is cheaper than BLI, and has an ESU decoder and sugar cube speaker (instead of "that" BLI decoder thingie)?  No contest!    Unless you are into that Rollin' Thunder gimmick.

[carlso]

I agree with Pete here. I have the "Spirit" 1943 with ESU Loksound installed by KATO KOBO shop. We all know who KOBO shop is and I for one am very happy with his installs.

BTW, my unit "runs like a KATO" right out of the box and yes I did feel obligated to tweak the sound volumes for running on club layout.

Always have fun,
Carl

[MetroRedLine]

Another question about the Kato SD70ACe with sound - How do the headlights/ditchlights look? In my previous experience with Kato ACes, they're either too yellowish or too (cold/blueish) white (with the replacement lens part).

[jagged ben]

...We all know who KOBO shop is ...

We do?

[peteski]

We do?

Well, maybe not all of us . . .

See https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=44324.msg588778#msg588778 and some following posts.

[nightmare0331]

Well, maybe not all of us . . .

See https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=44324.msg588778#msg588778 and some following posts.

 

A side note on the LED's (headlights/ditchlights)....the lenses in the last few runs of SD70ACe's have been clear.  The LED's on the sound equipped units are the SMLED's on the ESU Select Direct board which are a warm white color.  To me they look much nicer then the original yellow/orangish tint that came on the original run SD70ACe's...later stock units came with clear light pipes and warm colored SMLED's.  But, as I've found, headlight color tint tends to be a bit subjective.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[peteski]

A side note on the LED's (headlights/ditchlights)....the lenses in the last few runs of SD70ACe's have been clear.  The LED's on the sound equipped units are the SMLED's on the ESU Select Direct board which are a warm white color.  To me they look much nicer then the original yellow/orangish tint that came on the original run SD70ACe's...later stock units came with clear light pipes and warm colored SMLED's.  But, as I've found, headlight color tint tends to be a bit subjective.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

I don't recall whether this was the model or not, but like you said, in some production runs Kato used cool-white (bluish) LEDs on the factory light boards, and to "warm up" the color they molded the light pipes from orange-tinted clear plastic.  That was a terrible idea (the resulting color was weird), and if a plug-n-play decoder was installed (with on-board warm-white LEDs) that resulted in orange color headlights.

It was good of Kato to offer replacement light pipes molded from clear (untinted) plastic.

As for the color choice, I like the headlights to look just like an incandescent light would look in a real loco. So the color temperature of around 2700K for older locos with bulbs as headlights, and little less orange (3000K) for modern locos with sealed halogen headlights).    Of course most manufacturers aren't that accurate in their choices, and even I still have difficulties in finding very small (0603, 0402) SMD LEDs with just the right color temperature. Especially when buying them from eBay sellers in China. So I often have to settle on a headlights with a less than ideal color.