Tugboat15, I am a lifetime model railroader and up until a short time ago had never touched DCS. I have done G scale battery power, N and HO DCC and of course ac/dc conventional most of my life. Bought an Explorer a month ago for a new layout build that is a 3 rail loop on an elevated level and a 2 rail scale loop on the lower section. Not one switch anywhere, but a few sidings for parking and creating the illusion of more going on than there is. This is in a man cave/home office. The train layout goes around the wall in an area about 10X14. Mostly for running, relaxing and allowing me to work on lighting and other interests. That being said, I just bought the upgrade last week to full Wi-Fi. The reason is that there are many more train control functions (sounds/etc) on the full system. In messing with it for only about an hour I believe it's the right choice. Got lucky and bought the TIU at an auction some time ago and just had it sitting around. Watched a YouTube video on how to download the updates and it was easy. The TIU is working with the new wi-fi just fine.
Good luck brother and whatever you do, enjoy it!
-Todd
