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I have an O gauge layout and an G gauge layout outside. Legacy control for the O gauge and Airwire and battery control for the garden railroad and I have no desire to use battery power on my O gauge layout . Two main reasons first is lights and accessories would still need a transformer and the cost of adding a battery and a motor control board per each G gauge loco is about 250.00 dollars. The main reason I use battery power outside is the effect of weather on the track. Not an issue inside. The 250.00 cost is if I install the battery and board add more cost if you have to pay to have them installed. Also the cruise control doesn’t work on the Airwire board as well as Lionels cruise in my humble opinion 

@Don Sweet posted:
The continuous current rating is 6 amps. The lighting outputs are rated at 1.2 amps . When you go above , like a smoke unit the RailPro displays an error. I do not suggest to any 3 railers this will replace Lionel or MTH control systems with all the same features.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to put that in the specifications, it's a pretty important parameter!

I haven't tried Rail-Pro, but I've considered it. The drawback for me is that you are committing to a system. Its not the sort of train control system you can dip your feet into.  I'm a 3-railer. I got the new BlueRailDCC and I like it. The first loco I chose to put it in is less than 2 amps, so I bought the $95 board. You can use the board in what they call "Basic Mode" which runs the motor and lights (without a decoder - no sound). After I enjoyed that for a while (and decided I was happy) I bought a SoundTraxx decoder and connected that to the BRDCC.  The loco runs really slick with the SoundTraxx decoder - lots of options. The app lets you edit all the options and trigger all the functions. The SoundTraxx decoder supports back-EMF (which helps manage the inclines on my layout). The BRDCC in "Basic Mode" did not have that.  The very latest Tam Valley firmware on the BRDCC supports AC power "out of the box", so I ran it on AC track power for a while. I finally broke down and bought a LiPo battery, and now I'm really spoiled. Stopped cleaning my track altogether.

So basically, I liked the way I could spend a little money, "try it out" and then move up when I was comfortable. Rail Pro is tempting, but it has that $400 starter barrier (starter kit plus 1 decoder) which I haven't been able to commit to.  The BlueRailDCC decoders (2-amp) cost $15 more than the RailPro decoders. The Rail-Pro starter kit is $320.  You can get an iPhone 6splus for $50 on ebay (to control the BRDCC).   I'm glad options like these are becoming available for O gaugers.

Excellent endorsement of blueraildcc. That being said, I have some questions/concerns:

@3RaylFan posted:

The drawback for me is that you are committing to a system (railpro). Its not the sort of train control system you can dip your feet into.

But isn't blueraildcc a proprietary control system as well? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

  I'm a 3-railer. I got the new BlueRailDCC and I like it. The first loco I chose to put it in is less than 2 amps, so I bought the $95 board. 

A similar spec railpro board would cost less than $50 without sound and under $100 with fully customizable sound.

 

So basically, I liked the way I could spend a little money, "try it out" and then move up when I was comfortable. Rail Pro is tempting, but it has that $400 starter barrier (starter kit plus 1 decoder) which I haven't been able to commit to.

While it is true that the railpro starter kit is $400, to achieve the same results could be had like this:

1. $30-40 railpro computer interface that allows you to do everything the railpro controller can do for 10% of the cost.

2. $50-100 railpro decoder.

3. Wireless computer to phone interface/casting device to mirror the computer screen onto a phone. Easy wireless control.

  The BlueRailDCC decoders (2-amp) cost $15 more than the RailPro decoders. The Rail-Pro starter kit is $320.  You can get an iPhone 6splus for $50 on ebay (to control the BRDCC).   I'm glad options like these are becoming available for O gaugers.

The main benefit of newer railpro decoders is that they can run on DCC tracks. And since DCC is not going to be completely scrapped anytime soon, there will be forward compatibility. Even if railpro vanished from the face of the earth right now, one would not be high and dry without a way to operate your railpro trains. Will blueraildcc do that?

"The main benefit of newer railpro decoders is that they can run on DCC tracks. And since DCC is not going to be completely scrapped anytime soon, there will be forward compatibility. Even if railpro vanished from the face of the earth right now, one would not be high and dry without a way to operate your railpro trains. Will blueraildcc do that?"

I think it was a wise move for RailPro and BlueRail to both embrace DCC. The BlueRailDCC board is like a little DCC command station you put inside your loco (so the commands to the decoder can come straight from your smart device). If you disconnect the BlueRail board, your decoder can get signals as DCC through-the-rails (just as it always did).  BlueRail developed Bachmann's E-Z App line, which is a long standing line that I think gives staying power to the product.

 

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