I have the NYC A5 and overall I’ve been very impressed. This was my first loco without an e-unit and I was skeptical. It was a great buy and a ton of fun to run. I’ll share my experience with it thus far.
Pros:
nice details
heavy feel to it, metal tender
runs great with remote, app, and transformer
Very good low speed control for spotting cars at operating track
good puller, smooth and strong
front and rear remote couplers are awesome
can control top speed from app, then give the controls to 3 yr old
nice smoke output
nicely detailed running gear/side rods (although maybe not prototypical)
Cons (some opinion here):
no backup light
no firebox light
2 chuffs per revolution
speaker sound for chuffs is a little tinny (similar to alarm clock radio sound quality) I cant compare to other locos as this is my first loco with sound.
Running on 031 curves, I have Had intermittent issues with the headlight. The wire between loco and tender seems really crammed in there, perhaps causing issues with the connection.
I have some smoke fan noise (high pitch whirling) Not sure if this is normal or not
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None of those are real deal breakers, but it helps to know what you’re purchasing.
