I haet to bad mouth a manufacturer but MRC rishly deserves it and has for years.

I first came in contact with MRC when they were importing Tamiya model kits into the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The kits were great but MRC had a nasty habit of thinking they were the only source for them and that they could therefore dictate what the market prices would be. It was easy for them to control the market (and who could sell Tamiya) when they had an exclusive agreement to do so but as soon as that agreement expired they started doing nasty things to both the consumers who bought Tamiya products and the merchants who sold them. They haven't changed since they seem to have the same narrow minded idea that they can dictate what happens and what doesn't.

I liked their DC power packs but I won't stand for it when it comes to DCC and decoders. I think the market won't stand for their trying to control everything in DCC either so it wouldn't surpirse me that MRC is not long for this economy.

Irv

In my 1/20 post I included the following statement which was incorrect. 

"Also, if you intend to throw a lot of turnouts with your DCC throttle MRC works fine except you can't control loco speed and direction while in switch thowing mode.  This is inconvenient if you do a lot of switching.  Digitrax and NCE do not have this limitation."

Actually, NCE does have this limitation.  You can't control speed and direction while in switch throwing mode.  And, you can't stay in this mode once you throw a turnout.  You have to re-enter this mode each time you want to throw this or any other turnout.  Digitrax lets you do this and it's really slick when doing a lot of switching or running through a series of turnouts that each need to be thrown.

I realize that this may not be important to many who operate turnouts manually, but for me it's a very important feature and would be a factor in making a DCC system selection.

Jerry

I had not realized that the other systems didnt have that ability.

I have a friend with a layout that has DCC controlled turnouts linked through pushbutton controls. However, his production of control panels tends to lag the track laying.. in some cases by almost a year. He has little sticky note numbers next to the turnouts that are not paneled yet so we can use the throttle to throw them as required.. it would be a real pain if I didnt have access to digitrax "switch mode" on the DT400.

One thing I have learned from operating on folks layouts that are "dcc heavy" is I want manual control of my turnouts... but thats another topic.

Chris

Upon further investigation, and confirmation from an NCE expert, I've found a very nice feature with NCE turnout control.  Even though the NCE system immediately returns you to the loco running mode after throwing a turnout, which I didn't like, if you then double press the select accessory key, the previously thrown turnout will reverse its position.  This just might solve what I thought would be a problem for me.

And, there is another benefit to this.  Since you are immediately returned to loco running mode you can then activate functions, like bell and horn.  With Digitrax you cannont operate any functions while your system stays in turnout throwing mode.  So, what looked like an NCE negative turns out to be a positive.

I had problems with a Prodigy Express DCC system.

I took it home from the LHS, hooked it up, it worked fine for a few weeks, then the power supply went bad.I took it back to the LHS, they replaced the power supply, and once again it worked for afeww days then the power supply went bad.

After 3 power supply failures, it went back to the LHS and was sent into MRC.It has been seven weeks now and I've heard nothing.
I checked all my electrical circuits annd tested my engines ( BLI Steamers), and had no problems.
I have been using a Bachmann Easy Command DCC system I bought to run some Christmas trains until I could find another good DCC system.
Surprisingly the Bachmann has run everything fine for the past 7 weeks with no problems, but I only run 3 trains at a time for now.
The guy at the LHS said that several other Prodigy systems were returned by customers for power supply failures, so it's apparently a Prodigy problem.
So today I found a great deal on a brand new NCE wireless Power Cab Pro system with the 5 amp power pack included for well under $500!!
So I jumped on it !!!
Like Joe Fugate said, the MRC Prodigy is basically limited, and the NCE is not!
All I have to do is read through the manual, hook it up and run trains!

Best deal I've come across since I attended an estate auction at which 3 BLI steamers, 2 T4's and a J1 ( all HO) came across the auction block and  I bought all 3 for $500 !!!
All 3 engines were still brand new in their boxes, had never been taken out and run!
And I was the only bidder, and only one other model railroader there was a buddy of mine who
is into "O" scale and picked up a brand new MTH K4 steamer for $200 !!!
It was a good day!

I'm a Happy MRR'r!!!
TheK4Kid

Just purchased a brand new in the box NCE Power Pro Cab system on Ebay.
I haven't had a chance to hook it up yet.
It came with the Power Pro Cab hand held controller, power pack, and 5 amp booster, all the cords , plug ins, and an extra NIB MRC model 1300 power pack, which will come in handy for powering up  accessories!
Got a real good price on it also!The whole deal was $300 plus a few bucks for shipping!
I like the fact it has a computer interface and my Prodigy Express doesnn't!
I will be selling the Prodigy Express soon.

TheK4Kid