Come on guys, Lots of good ideas and fun stuff in this thread, lets not get it deleted because we can't get along. I'm actually a bit confused how this 'fight' even started and had to re-read the whole thread from the beginning to see what I missed. Don't seem to have missed anything and am just as confused now.
I will say that I don't think any of the actual ideas proposed here are bad ones. Only one seems to have been knocked down as impractical. The rest haven't been commented on at much at all. So, here we have them:
1. Separate buttons for couplers to remove the lag in whistle and bell functions and chance of accidentally double clicking and firing a coupler. This one is not too hard to accomplish, but would require tooling to make a new remote and circuit board for the remote, as well as reprograming of the way LC+ engines handle the coupler commands. Doable, but for the limited added value it brings, not worth the trouble, in my opinion.
2. A bridge device to allow Legacy/TMCC to operate LionChief engines. This one is simple and Lionel could bring it to market at any time they wished at a cost lower that any third party developer could hope to match. I just don't think it is in the business model for them at this time. see comments below on legacy users.
3. A LionChief remote switch controller. This one is also doable. In a post above I outlined the method I'd use. One could also market dedicated LionChief FastTrack switches that come with a dedicated, factory paired, controller. Such a controller could easily be made in the current case used for wired remotes. I don't think this will happen, but it is doable, and cheap.
4. More interesting/varied crew talk sounds and Station announcements. It wouldn't be hard to add more sounds, but some of the reasons why it is not likely were discussed above on the points of recording cost and implementation of road name specific engine boards. As for add on cars or stations with more elaborate sound sets, I think these are very possible, but the controller needed to access each sound independently would require a new product design. a simple button that just plays the next sound file on the list, however would be pretty simple. I see either option as unlikely at this time, but third party developers have already shown fairly easy to do options for low cost remote sound devices.
Unless I missed it those were the actual suggestions for improvements to the LionChief system that were asked for so far in this thread. Nothing seems outlandish. Nothing seems to be asking too much. None are very likely to see market from Lionel either. In any case, I don't see anything in this list that justifies telling people to forget LionChief and upgrade to Legacy, and none of the people making these suggested improvements are saying LionChief is garbage and needs these improvements to be any good. They are just thoughts of things people would like to see, if it were possible in future product.
On to Legacy users. There have been sever comments to the effect that LionChief is a step backwards, and why would anyone want such limited functions. I agree with you in principal. Some of us on the LC band wagon do think the actual nuts and bolts, underlying technology in LionChief is VASTLY superior to that in Legacy, but the end product offers nowhere near the same level of functionality. It's often been said that a cell phone has more computer power than the Apollo rockets that went to the moon, and that is more true now than ever before. The comparison here with LionChief and Legacy is the same with the phone and rocket..." Yea, but can your phone go to the moon?" The answer is simply no. not because the computer in the rocket was superior, but because it had a giant, multi stage, rocket attached to it. The obsolete electronics in a Legacy engine have better stuff connected to them, and that makes them do more things, and do them better.
In the end, LionChief is not, has not been, and never will be, marketed to folks that operate Legacy. It is not for them. It is for folks that like low cost product with a couple of the best and most useful features of command control. Lots of folks like to tout the virtues of LC for young children. I don't doubt them, or that the remote is easy for kids to use. On the other hand I think folks are underestimating just how easily those same children could pick up on how to use a Legacy remote. Anyone seen a PlayStation4 controller?
Who I do think REALLY benefits from LionChief Plus products is the conventional operators, who are still a very large part of the O gauge world. Her you have a nice engine that runs just fine in conventional, so these guys that are not interested in Legacy or DCS or whatever else will still buy it. Then some of them just might give the remote that comes with it a try... and find out they actually like it. I see LC+ as a gateway drug for conventional operators into the world of command control.
JGL