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MRH thread

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trainman605:
From what I've been told by a dealer is Ring is a small company with mostly family working there and 5 or 6 people are doing it all. I think they are doing a very good job with there product, but new developments will come slow, if your not happy with what they have and you can't wait, I would look elsewhere.

trainman

ON28:

--- Quote from: trainman605 on January 29, 2021, 12:18:33 AM ---From what I've been told by a dealer is Ring is a small company with mostly family working there and 5 or 6 people are doing it all. I think they are doing a very good job with there product, but new developments will come slow, if your not happy with what they have and you can't wait, I would look elsewhere.

trainman

--- End quote ---

I know all that. You missed my sarcasm at the end. But manufacturers know hobbyist dollars go where they're wanted, and stay where they're appreciated. Tim's not in it for laughs.

TwinStar:
The propriety issue has come full circle and has lent credence to that argument for those of us in the Sergent Engineering camp. Frank is trying like hell to get out of the coupler business and several sought after versions, such as the H and shelf couplers, just aren't being produced and there doesn't appear to be anyone taking up the reins. In the pooled passenger equipment group that I operate in I can no longer make the argument for Sergent H couplers and we're in the process of standardizing on Kadee's with their horrific looking trip pins. So, I get the 'what if Ring ceases' argument now as it's happening in other parts of this hobby and there's no guarantee that anyone will take over Ring.

The HC is LOOOOOONG overdue for much needed upgrades (better ergonomics, better graphics, faster processor, better touch screen interface) and the sounds are significantly lacking compared to any DCC competitor. The N scale crowd, and small HO locomotives, have been promised a smaller LM for what, five plus years now? DCC sucks, I get that, but RailPro is competing by sucking just a little bit less now. If Tim wants to keep this a niche electronic hobby for himself then he's welcome to it. However better RailPro may be the lack of growth in both hardware and software make it a less appealing alternative with each passing year without any noticeable improvements.

I'm not pulling out my LM's anytime soon in my E unit fleet but I'm also not going to be wrestling one into any of my SW's either and they'll receive DCC instead. Relying on Tim solely for upgrades and growth puts no pressure on him to speed along innovative designs or scaling down the size for broader use. If he really wants RailPro to succeed then the best coupe that he could pull would be to allow Iowa Scaled to offer RailPro in their ProtoThrottle. It would be the only version that wouldn't require a second piece of equipment to talk to a third piece of equipment to talk to your locomotive. Or imagine a dual RailPro/DCC offering in a Rivet Counter ScaleTrains SD40-2 with frog drop and flange squeal sounds. He doesn't appear to have the capability or desire to take this industry wide and the niche uniqueness of this is wearing thin. I can get a very good RDC sound file in a $42 DCC decoder but still can't get one for my RDC. How may more years will I have to wait?

G8B4Life:
You raise some interesting points Jacob.

With Sergent, his succession model is flawed right from the outset. While I don't think he's "hell bent" on getting out (he'd just outright stop if he's hell bent) his succession model of "here's the 3D models, go figure it out for yourselves" was never going to work, most people don't have a foundry in their basement like he does and they don't have the years of development experience to know what to buy from what works and what doesn't to create a foundry. If he had been a bit more "here's the 3D models and this is the process and equipment I used" I believe we'd have seen the couplers available out there by now.

Yep, I get the "What if Ring ceases" argument, same as I get the what if DigiTrax ceases, or NCE ceases, or MRC ceases and nobody takes them over arguments. The DCC crowd seems to think they are immune from this propriety and ceasing business risk but their systems aren't, only their decoders.

Yes, I agree, the HC needs some upgrades. I won't comment on the ergonomics or processor at the moment but I did do up an alternate set of graphics for the HC a long time ago. People liked them but no-one (including myself so far) ever took them to Ring and said we think this looks better. I am still working on that alternate screen concept and also writing a hopefully thought provoking page for TR to read (which covers much of what you've said) but it's slow going.

Sound, I'll leave that subject alone, I've made my points on that before and been told how horrible they are.

- Tim

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