Sound Familiar?

[nodcc4me]

Pat, although Ring Engineering started their business in 2002, they spent several years and probably a lot of money developing the products they would eventually be selling, followed by trips to China to set up the manufacturing process. The end result is a system that far exceeds anything else available today. Even now, I believe most of their time, and money goes toward R&D. There are some very cool things in the pipeline. They won't be going under anytime soon, barring some catastrophic event. In the unlikely event of that happening, we would continue using what we have, and would most likely be able to stock up on modules, if necessary, from suppliers. I have 30 RP equipped engines, and am not the least bit worried about it.


The HC controller is not just a fancy rheostat. It can do so much more, in an intuitive format that can not be compared to DCC. Nothing else comes close. As a beta tester, I am excited for the future of RailPro.

[William Brillinger]

followed by trips to China to set up the manufacturing process.

Hold it. The entire RailPro line is manufactured in the USA by Ring Engineering. I expect the injection molding of the housings are outsourced but as I understood it, that doesn't happen in China either. Certainly the individual components are from various sources offshore, but the circuit boards and assemblies are all manufactured in Ring's shop on his own equipment.

[nodcc4me]

That's true Bill, but I would think at least some if the outsourced parts are proprietary, or maybe not? I was also under the impression, from talking to Tim, that initially, everything was outsourced.

[PatP]

Al

I appreciate the comments back however, I am not the one needing convinced. I retired last year from phosphate mining in Florida where I built, started, managed and operated facilities and equipment for 37 years. I designed and built railroads, roads, draglines, pumping systems, processing plants and, my favorite, flotation machines (I can make rocks float) and flotation chemicals. I understand that electronic equipment will run forever, provided we don't do anything mean to it. I had 20 and 30 year old electronics in industrial conditions that is still operating. I would not have spent a couple grand of my own money if I wasn't sure about RP.

Part of my point was to you, Bill, Alan, Tim, any of the other regulars on this UG, for the guy I responded to (MustDecide) and the guy Kevin responded to on MRH. They have concerns about the longevity of the system they're looking to buy, and I bet it's not an equipment life thing, it's a support thing, and to the average guy it's a lot of money. If they have trouble who do they call if Ring is gone? Y'all? If you want to have a conversation about the longevity of Ring do it somewhere else.

Tim had just posted a thread last week about the number of members on this site. Most of them are coming here looking for information or reassurance. If you want to build up the membership and participation of this group, if RP is not just a fancy rheostat, tell that story. If you're a beta tester then you should be the expert on this stuff. I, and I'm sure most others, took it out of the box, plugged it in and mashed the button (I did read the instructions cover to cover). I see the MU'd locos tug a little till they find their sweet spot so my assumption is they are communicating common load. No one else does that, I'll give you that one. The DCC guys can do lights and horns, and I can do that with a small circuit board and some components on DC. The touch screen, being able to put my own pictures on it, not being limited to 2 or 4 numbers as to what I call each one that's pretty neat. After that? Yeah the engines run quieter and smoother and they will run a creep speeds, but those guys will have to see that to realize it.

So, after all that it's still a rheostat, but then I've had 2 days with it, and I can't seem to find an expert to educate me.

PatP

[William Brillinger]

Pat,

I think your comments are spot on, and I am glad you shared them!

[nodcc4me]

Pat, My longevity comments were actually for Must Decide. Sorry for the confusion on my part.


I'm certainly no expert on the inner workings of the system. Some of that is a tightly guarded secret. Perhaps Alan and Tim have a better understanding of the electronics. You won't need an expert. Just use it for a while and you will learn enough to make it work just the way you want it to.

[TomO]

Pat your message to Jeff was spot on. He did respond and says when he writes he doesn't represent MRH. My feeling on that is he should remove the MRH from his signature. When it's there I feel he speaks for the magazine. No need not to shy away, do what I'm doing about my misunderstood comments on the What's Neat article. Ignore them, even when Joe double talks. Seems different now that Cabosse does have a small ad.

Happy Railroading to all
TomO

[Alan]

Guys, please keep it civil on MRH. Let's rise above our emotions and focus on talking about the features and benefits of RP for that is the argument the detractors cannot win.

Single provider, sound library, and N scale are the only vulnerable weaknesses in RP. If challenged, you have no choice but to respectfully admit it. In every other aspect, and there are many, RP is clearly superior to DCC. Potential buyers want to know about features and benefits and will receive our message much clearer if we take the high road in all our communications.

[Alan]

Sometimes it falls right into your lap....

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/30650?page=3

I keep hearing about this RailPro, and how, even with the whole "proprietary" bit, some folks will still choose it over DCC... so, I have to assume that it must be something cool to take that risk.
So, someone, tell me what RailPro is, and what are it's advantages over DCC?
What is it, exactly?

That's your cue.

[KPack]

Responded, kept it simple and straightforward.  If he wants more info it very simple to look around for it.

-Kevin

[G8B4Life]

I had a reply typed out 14 hours ago, but called out. oh well.

Guys, please keep it civil on MRH. Let's rise above our emotions and focus on talking about the features and benefits of RP for that is the argument the detractors cannot win. ... and the rest of Alans post...

Good point Alan, I think we do a good a good job of this but we should always be mindful of it anyway. Some naysayers just have to have their say for some reason so we should try to avoid sinking to the same level when replying.

Pat,

I don't believe that beta testers should be subject matter experts in any sense (though it certainly can't hurt), their job is solely to provide feedback back to the developer on any anomalies (bugs) that are against the expected way something is supposed to work so the developer can fix it . A bonus to us is that beta testers have the exposure to any new features and can provide help to others sooner than everyone else but it's just a bonus, nothing else.

My post on the number of members here was just some simple stats I collected and should not be interpreted in any other way than what I got them for. What I was actually after in my stats was how long it had been since some of the zero posters had logged in, data I did not get as I wasn't prepared to spend the time. There will always be lurkers on forums, it's a part of forum life but I wanted to know, to the best I could get from the data available is have some people stopped visiting us.

- Tim