@MartyE posted:Their business will be fine. They are listening but IMO and my opinion only, there is just not enough reason to invest in a hardware remote when technology and feature sets change so quickly. They could design a new and improved remote and by the time it's ready for market be obsolete. Years ago when things weren't changing every other year you could suspect that the product life would be 10 years+. Now the latest and greatest comes out almost every year with all new features. The fact that they have incorporated the ability to use the Cab1L and Cab2 with Base 3 says they are listening. Remotes are still a thing and they still work.
Yes it works with the older remotes, but the only one that is in production is the 1L. The Cab-1L is no where near as good as the Cab-2. As someone who adopted Legacy more slowly, and uncovered the differences one at a time, I’ve come to realize just how good “full Legacy” control is. It mostly comes down to the absolute speed steps that make MU consists run so much more smoothly.
Even for ERR locomotives, I usually use 32 step mode and switch to the DCS controller because it sends absolute step commands instead of relative ones.
The reason it works so much better is that when a unit in a consist misses a speed command and gets out of sync with the other units, a flick up and down on the throttle sends another absolute command, and they all change to that new step.
In relative mode (which is what the Cab-1 and Cab-1L use) if an engine misses a throttle up or down command, the only way to sync them up again is to bring the whole consist to a stop and then try again, and hope it doesn’t miss it again.
How can they give us as much as possible, future proof it, and still be able to make a profit to continue to make other products.
This is the red herring. Cell phones and tablets will NEVER be future proof, and are beyond the means of even the most talented model railroader to build from the ground up. In order for there to be any semblance of “future proofness” Lionel will have to commit to upgrading their apps in near perpetuity and be at the behest of two tech giants and their passing whims.
Maybe if you think it's a mistake, organize a movement and approach Lionel. It's worked in the past as someone alluded to the ERR situation and even the Black Modules.
That’s what we’re trying to do here.
I can hear it now. Lionel makes a new hardware remote, a new feature comes out that only the App can support and everyone will want another new remote with that button that does the thing the App only does now. We'll be having the same conversation again in a year or two.
Another red herring. The Cab-2 had software in it under Lionel’s control. Features can be added.
I will state and have always held the position that I absolutely prefer a hardware remote but I am also realistic about the cost of a smaller company to invest in the R&D and all the other costs to bring a new product to market. Then the demand has to be there and to be honest OGR is a small sampling of the market. I'm sure Lionel has done their homework on this.
I still think a dumb controller that cradles the "smart device" as it's brains could be a compromise to give folks a tactile feel of the controls that are most used without needing to invest a ton of time, money, and effort.
If I had a dollar every time someone predicted Lionel was going to sink their business...
Let’s be honest. The ship has sunk a few times, only for other’s to resurrect “the brand”.
