(12/29/21) SOLD OUT! Beta 3.0 Engines from Menards!

Thanks Menards. I look forward to sending you my feedback!!

Oh my gosh - here we go again!

I'm betting sell out will occur in 2.75 hours

Wow- that was fast. Such a short turn around they must have been planning v 3.0 while 2.0 was in production.

I finally managed to snag one this time!

@RSJB18 posted:

Wow- that was fast. Such a short turn around they must have been planning v 3.0 while 2.0 was in production.

It was Air Freighted for faster delivery. Apparently they want this beta test phase expedited.

Finally got one ... and ships to Canada as well

Hopefully with full production in 2022.......

So what's your guess that they changed in 3.0?

Finally, I was online at the right time!

well i got one this round.......

Ordered. Looking forward to testing it out and seeing what else you guys have up your sleeves!

I really, really hope they put metal gears on the worm wheel. If they did that, this loco will last for years.

However, I am not overly optimistic. The changes in 2.0 seem to be mostly in software, which is cheap and easy to modify.

@RoyBoy posted:

I really, really hope they put metal gears on the worm wheel. If they did that, this loco will last for years.

However, I am not overly optimistic. The changes in 2.0 seem to be mostly in software, which is cheap and easy to modify.

Plastic gears would definitely be a deal-breaker for me.  That would be good info to have before pulling the trigger.

I did not get the 2.0 so I could not do a direct comparison with the 1.0, but from what I've read, the major performance and cosmetic issues were resolved. I just happen to check my phone and was able to get a 3.0. It will be interesting to compare side by side. At this price point, I'm not really expecting metal gears, however my 1.0 has about 40 hours on it pulling 5 aluminum cars.

Steve

@AtoZ Lewis posted:

Finally, I was online at the right time!

I had just stepped out of the shower when my phone pinged. Great timing.

Steve

I see they must have tired of the nitpicking as to what type of F unit it is. Now just called Santa Fe Diesel.

Looking forward to more road names in the coming year.

Steve

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Now just called Santa Fe Diesel.

Steve

Problem solved.  Too many things begin with the letter 'F' anyway - right? 

John

This time I'm in.  I can't just sit back and let everyone else have the fun testing these. 

Still available at 2:08.

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

At this price point, I'm not really expecting metal gears, however my 1.0 has about 40 hours on it pulling 5 aluminum cars.

Steve

My feeling is that the life of the plastic gears is not determined by operating hours or operating load, but by the number of temperature cycles the locomotive goes through in use, or in storage. Since the expansion rates of nylon and steel and different, the gears will eventually crack and slip.

NOTE: I am not talking about the idler gears on the side of the trucks. Since these are slip fit, they will last for many years. The gears of concern are the worm gear on the motor (which I think has been changed) and the worm wheel gear on the driven axle.

Plastic gears that are press fit onto steel axles/armatures are the ones that will fail.

Look at all of the wonderful David O. King models from the 80's that are no longer operational because their plastic gears have split.

We are officially sold out. Sorry for everyone who missed out!

-Mark the Menards

Snagged one!  Woo Hoo!  At this price point I am planning to repaint it to Amtrak.  I had a nylon geared B&M from Lionel as a kid that just kept stripping out at the axle.  I eventually gave up on it.  Hopefully that won't happen to this one - but with dual motors, remote control, I'm willing to try it!

I don't claim to be an expert on plastic versus metal gears but all my HO engines have plastic gears on the axles.

True, there is a lot more force on an O gauge engine versus an HO engine but I've been running some of my HO engines for 45 years without any problems.  I'm assuming my plastic gears are hi grade nylon.

It seems like metal gears would wear faster if not properly oiled versus plastic gears.  I just use a light '3 and 1' oil on them.

The worm gear on all my engines are brass.  Also, the combination of the two may work well to prevent 'wearing'.

I think a lot of people view plastic as cheap.

I've 'googled' nylon versus metal gears and find a lot of positives for nylon.

Nylon is also more quieter than metal gears.

It seems like nylon would, also, last longer if not properly lubricated as, I'm guessing, a lot of railroaders don't lubricate their engines as often as they should.

All my engines have this type of gear where the center is brass to prevent any cracking on the axle.

These comments should 'stir up' some debate!

Fast sell out.

Man these go quick. Still no mention of fully featured conventional operation though...

@MG Brown posted:

Fast sell out.

Menards marketing is great.  Waiting for Beta 4, 5, 6, ……

Ron- I would agree with you about Menards marketing.

I will wait to make the "buy" decision until the production version and hope that they offer other liveries.

@CAPPilot posted:

Menards marketing is great.  Waiting for Beta 4, 5, 6, ……

Really? I tend to think they are honestly trying to get feedback from us so they can put the best product possible into production, which benefits everyone. Call me naive, I guess.

Nylon gears will fail. Bachmann was using nylon for a long time and gear failure is a problem with their older locos. Many of the better brands, Kato, Atlas, BLI, etc. use engineering plastic that doesn't suffer from the splitting cracking issues like nylon does. I have N scale locos that are over 30 years old with plastic gears that don't have issues. I have a Weaver O gauge loco with a metal gear that did split rendering the truck it is in non-functional, so gears splitting isn't just a concern for plastic gears, though far less likely to happen with metal.

I am going to hold off on the Menard's locos offerings for now. The remote thing is one major thing that makes it a non-starter. The other is the chrome. Makes it look cheap. Maybe when they get through all of the Beta units and get the bugs works out, then I'll look at getting one.

@CAPPilot posted:

Menards marketing is great.  Waiting for Beta 4, 5, 6, ……

Really.  Around beta 300.0, everybody who wanted one will have one!

Brendan

Would be nice to have Menards report the differences 1 to 2 and 2 to 3...

@Jeff T posted:

Would be nice to have Menards report the differences 1 to 2 and 2 to 3...

That would be nice.

Steve

@Landsteiner posted:

So what's your guess that they changed in 3.0?

A key question. Without previous release owners getting a chance to purchase one for comparison who knows if it is for the better?

@Jeff T posted:

Would be nice to have Menards report the differences 1 to 2 and 2 to 3...

Cannot provide good feedback without that.

I would only be able to report the difference between 1.0 and 3.0, but it will be interesting.  Kind of a fun process to be involved in. Being on the west coast I expect there will be a number of reviews before I even see mine.

Steve

I have a Beta 1 release, and will report the differences when I receive the Beta 3 model.

@bmoran4 posted:

Man these go quick. Still no mention of fully featured conventional operation though...

Do any LionChief locos run conventionally? Would be surprised if these have that ability.

Lionel acted upon feedback and the latest two generations of LionChief are able to run with a full conventional feature set.

@bmoran4 posted:

Lionel acted upon feedback and the latest two generations of LionChief are able to run with a full conventional feature set.

Current Lionchief R-T-R sets do not have conventional operation built in to them. They can only be run with a remote or Bluetooth app. LC+ & LC2 engines on average cost considerably more than this Menards engine because they have considerably more features.

@Jeff T posted:

Would be nice to have Menards report the differences 1 to 2 and 2 to 3...

Menards asked for user feedback to be sent directly to them. Everyone here will nit pick at this thing until Menards includes every feature found in a Vision Line locomotive and still want it to cost $170.