I think the LionChief system is terrific. It allows families or anyone who wants to try the hobby to buy a set for not much more than half the equivalent price of Lionel's competitors, or even less in some cases.
It's actually more reliable as a communications protocol than Legacy/TMCC, and, in my experience, much less quirky than DCS and less complex than DCC.
However, this relatively affordable price means that the detail isn't up to current scale standards and the components are not meant to survive long years of intense use (motors, drive trains in particular). That said, failing in the first few hours of operation is probably due to you having a lemon. That's disappointing but not totally unexpected.
I've bought a couple of LionChief locos as separate sale for under $200, which is comparable to a Scout engine back in the 1950s, but higher quality thankfully. LionChief Plus and, presumably LionChief + 2.0 are entirely different animals, and higher quality and more detailed, as well as having the capability to operate in conventional mode. So the typical price differential of at least $100-200 is largely due to the more expensive electronics (both command and sound), drive train and detailing as compared with LionChief, which is designed as the budget, beginner line.
