# New Zephyr Extra from Digitrax



## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Has anyone else seen this on their website. It does seem better than the old unit. 3 amps, controls 29 functions. Those are the two options I would have really liked. Kinda makes me wish I wouldn't have bought the original zephyr earlier this year.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

that is it?! after all these years 4 extra buttons worth of improvement??! what a disapointment. i was so hoping for redesign, but yet again all the benefits of loconet are packed in one ugly, non ergonomic piece of plastic. what a shame.


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

Being able to expand with loconet is a plus. Everyone has their own opinion, I would've liked the extra amp of power (so I could run a couple more engines at the same time). I guess I could care less what it looks like as long as it works as advertised.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Abacus works as advertised. it worked well in 14th century, and it works now as well as it did back then. but today we capable of producing higher tech stuff, right? it is almost 2011, and other DCC players are getting devices like this out:









color screen, fully programmable, but expencive. i was really hoping digitrax will push competition this round. yet they take exactly the same thing, with same 7 segment numerical dispaly from 70's, now with 4 more uncomfortable buttons. yes, i always could just interface into loconet from PC but i just don't see what is the big deal making ergonomic and nice looking cab... other manufacturers do.


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

A few years back I bought an abacus, because I wanted, an abacus (for my desk) I didn't want anything high tech. The Zephyr Extra is designed to be inexpensive with a list price of $220. That ESU system sure is stylish and pretty and you can manage up to 16,384 locos but, as you did point out, expensive (list $749 and that's the B/W version) and underpowered at only 4 amps. Scarifice the looks and pretty displays add power and keep the price down.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Bman said:


> The Zephyr Extra is designed to be inexpensive with a list price of $220.


thats the thing, it wasn't designed. it is almost the same thing just packaged differently. the original design will be 10 years old next year. that's 10 years without innovation. and 220$ is inexpensive? what is in there to justify 220$ when street price of original zephyr is only 150 these days? components rated for those extra amps are not that more expensive. it is entirely possible to build a system with friendly LCD screen and stay within reasonable price. NCE did.

Chevrolet Cavalier was acceptable vehicle in 85. and it sure able to get from one place to another today so it fulfills its roll. yet there is room for improvement in functionality, economy, comfort. Digitrax released their new, more expensive system with zero meaningful improvement over the predecessor (as starter system from home few were pushing the amp limit). shame. they very well could just keep building the original zephyr.

PS
you bought an abacus, thats fine. but it is memorabilia, you surely don't treat it as augmentation of your moder calculator or PC computing power.


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## TapRoot (Oct 3, 2010)

dollar for dollar, option for option and ease of use for first time and small users the zephyr is hard to beat for a starter unit, and since they are trying to keep it that way..im sure paying someone to redesign and manufacture it would raise price and then that great starter unit would be on the weight scale..

Im buying one as soon as my store gets the new ones in that's for sure.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

TapRoot said:


> dollar for dollar, option for option and ease of use for first time and small users the zephyr is hard to beat for a starter unit,


that would be NCE or MRC that you just described. digitrax strong point is not ease of use nor price, but big and elaborate layouts that benefit from loco-net bus expandability. small and medium layouts can be perfectly managed by the other two players with their more friendly hardware and price.

the only benefit i see is perhaps lower price on original zephyr to clear inventory out and additional supply (hence price drop) of pre-owned units on second hand market/ebay of those who decided to "upgrade". i see no benefit in this new offering to justify extra 70$ over existing one.


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

tankist said:


> thats the thing, it wasn't designed. it is almost the same thing just packaged differently. the original design will be 10 years old next year. that's 10 years without innovation. and 220$ is inexpensive? what is in there to justify 220$ when street price of original zephyr is only 150 these days? components rated for those extra amps are not that more expensive. it is entirely possible to build a system with friendly LCD screen and stay within reasonable price. NCE did.
> 
> Chevrolet Cavalier was acceptable vehicle in 85. and it sure able to get from one place to another today so it fulfills its roll. yet there is room for improvement in functionality, economy, comfort. Digitrax released their new, more expensive system with zero meaningful improvement over the predecessor (as starter system from home few were pushing the amp limit). shame. they very well could just keep building the original zephyr.
> 
> ...


I disagree, while the Zephyr Extra may not be an all new design, it is a new design, or maybe update is a better word.

Let's get back on point, the original topic I started was about the Zephyr compared to the Zephyr Extra and not other systems. Feel free to start a new thread comparing different systems from different manufactures. 

The Extra was in my opinion "designed' to be a slightly better unit than the original i.e 3 amps instead of 2, control of 29 functions instead of 10, run 20 addresses and 20 throttles instead of 10 addresses and 10 throttles, all for a street price of $20 more than the Zephyr (I found both for sale on a fairly popular website). As a new operator of DCC the increased power and the control of more functions are two items that would enhance my model railroading fun right away.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Bman said:


> ...
> I disagree, while the Zephyr Extra may not be an all new design, it is a new design, or maybe update is a better word.
> 
> The Extra was in my opinion "designed' to be a slightly better unit than the original...
> .


my point exactly. it is just an update. a mild update to solution that was begging for substantial upgrade (if not ground up redesign) for years now. it was "designed" to be a slightly better unit where the need is for lots and lots better unit. the room for improvement is vast and others doing it already at affordable price. shame they not realized this opportunity.

well, next up for update as i understand it, are their throttle cabs (roomors running here and there). if the update is of the same magnitude, as much as i want a loco-net system i will have to stay with my NCE and its 4 cab adresses.


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

So for NCE the Power Cab is there entry level unit, is that what you have or do you have another unit? If I understand NCE terminology right a "cab" is a throttle? Thus Power Cab is an all in one hand held unit (both throttle and power)? What do you mean when you say "I will have to stay with my NCE and its 4 cab addresses" Does that mean the system can run a max of 4 locos at one time? I'm not finding much info on the surface of the NCE site.

Knowledge is golden and I guess I'll take this opportunity to learn about other systems as I am newer and very one dimensional.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

theoretically dozens of locomotives can be controlled, what really limits amount of locos is power output which basic NCE doesn't really boast. i run 3 at once (2 of them with sound) but controlling them all with one cab becomes uncomfortable. cab and throttle is prety much the same thing. what NCE has integrated into cab is comand station and booster. this way they achieved the economy of only one device but it is a walk around as well. out of the box PowerCab can have only one additional device (second cab). if one buys smart booster (and i guess i evetually will) besides increased power output, number of cabs possible increases to 4, which at this point is limited by available cab adresses. and in reality 4 is really not that lmiting - 2 cabs, USB interface into PC(takes cab adress as well), and perhaps their mini-panel is all I (or any other house layout operator) will ever need, but thats dead end and i don't like dead ends...

digitrax however has their cabs sitting on Bus (loco-net) which means more devices can live together, which explains why their system is more suited to large club layouts. then there is transponding and detection and all kinds of elaborate train control neatness. i was really hoping to jump on loconet wagon but their user interfacing hardware (cabs) are just appaling to my taste. especially after seeing the menu system of 150$ NCE - simple and intuitive, yet very powerfull. hence my whole disapointment with this new long awaited device that really doesnt bring anything new to the table...


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

and actually i will use this thread to ask those who own the system a question about operation.

scenario:
to trains are controlled, loco A and Loco B. 
speed set for Loco a to crawl, say 25% of throttle. we switch to control loco B and set full throttle. the question is, what happens now when control is switched back to crawling loco A? loco is crawling at 25% but the handle is now cranked up to 100. i assume it will not immediately jump, but now any movement on handle will command very adverse change of speed as you cannot move back to 25% power immediately and will have to cross other values.

i guess this can be somewhat remedied with big values to Inertia, but still


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

It will immediately jump! Loco A is set at 25%, next Loco B is set to 100% and both of them are now running, the address on the throttle is set to Loco B and it's at the full position. If you want to switch back to loco A with out changing the speed of Loco A, you must first press the loco button (to enter A’s address) then adjust the speed handle down to Loco A’s original position, enter the address of Loco A and press the button again. Loco B will still be running at full throttle and you will now have control of Loco A. If you do not do this step and leave the throttle in the full position as soon as you switch to Loco A it would jump to the new speed. If the NCE Power cab system maintains the last speed setting and you can switch between two without making adjustments that’s a plus.

I chose the Zephyr over the Power Cab and Prodigy Express because I wanted to power many locos at the same time. From what I was told, the other two units did not have the power capabilities to run up to 5 loco’s like in my video below.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV9bFWvLvJk


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

It all boils down to personal preference in what aspects of a specific system an individual thinks he/she will get the most use from. Each entry level unit from each manufacturer most likely has it's +/-'s, whether it be price, easy of use, functionality, power, looks etc. The challenge is to find the one system(s) that best suits the individuals needs and...

One of the best ways to do that is in a forum setting just as this.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

Bman said:


> ...
> If the NCE Power cab system maintains the last speed setting and you can switch between two without making adjustments that’s a plus.
> 
> I chose the Zephyr over the Power Cab and Prodigy Express because I wanted to power many locos at the same time.


thats another reason zephyr turned me off. i bet they didn't solve this jump in thir new extra either.

Power cab doesn't have a lever that bounds command speed to specific physical position. there is a thumb-wheel ala mousewheel and buttons to increase decrease speed. as soon as other loco selected the display changes to reflect its adress and new speed that one was set to. as i said, running three locos on my small layout was extra busy, so the human attention span is much more limiting that power out put me thinks. 2 is fine however, as there is address recall for two locos available.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Looking forward to hooking up my NCE this winter....


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## Bman (Aug 24, 2010)

sstlaure said:


> Looking forward to hooking up my NCE this winter....


Have you used DCC before? If not your really going to love it, I know I sure do!!!


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

No I haven't. I've only been building this thing for 11 months and have been getting it running using DC (as I had DC rolling stock to use for testing, etc.) Right now my SD60M (Athearn Genesis) is my only DCC engine, but I plan on converting the rest as well. Sometime this winter I'll get everything going with my DCC system (I already own the Powercab system) just need to get the auto reversers for the wye, and return loops and I'll be good to go.

Well....I guess I kind of have - my Dad has a 4' diameter test loop hooked up - so I've run some of his engines in DCC on that.


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## TapRoot (Oct 3, 2010)

tankist said:


> that would be NCE or MRC that you just described. digitrax strong point is not ease of use nor price, but big and elaborate layouts that benefit from loco-net bus expandability. small and medium layouts can be perfectly managed by the other two players with their more friendly hardware and price.
> 
> the only benefit i see is perhaps lower price on original zephyr to clear inventory out and additional supply (hence price drop) of pre-owned units on second hand market/ebay of those who decided to "upgrade". i see no benefit in this new offering to justify extra 70$ over existing one.


well where im from the zephyr and all digitrax are on par or cheaper than related NCE stuff, and IMO far less complicated not that either of them are...

plus its less than $70 more...my store was saying probably $30 once the old ones are gone. which is still $40 less than powercab


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## Tlauden (Sep 16, 2010)

the hobby shop i go to had a zephyr xtra set up on there layout which i was using a little while i was there, it seemed like a nice setup and very easy to control the diffrent loco's. I cant compare to this to the original zephyr due to i never used it but i know when it comes time to buy DCC im going with digitrax. And BMan thanks for clearing up that issue about the speed and the loco's changing speed when switching between them, im sure people have found out that the hard way lol but i appreciate that info for when i get the system thanks!


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