The best currently available dcc controller

[Brian]

Asking "What is the Best currently available DCC system" is akin to asking What is the best car to buy?  You will get answers from everyone that theirs or the next generation one is the Bees Knees. 

 

IMO the only way to find a system that suits you (not everyone else) is to go and try as many as possible before you part with yourhard earned.  Somewhere like a MR exhibition where a DCC supplier has a stall is often a good starting place. Coastal DCC tend to have stalls at some shows (Unsure if they offer viewings at their premises though?)  Digitrains and several other retailers all offer tests before you buy in store, but be a little cautious, as some retailers may well will promote the brand that they sell, which may not be the best for you! 

Edited March 1 by Brian

[Nigelcliffe]

47 minutes ago, Brian said:

Asking "What is the Best currently available DCC system" is akin to asking What is the best car to buy?  You will get answers from everyone that theirs or the next generation one is the Bees Knees. 

 

IMO the only way to find a system that suits you (not everyone else) is to go and try as many as possible before you part with yourhard earned.  Somewhere like a MR exhibition where a DCC supplier has a stall is often a good starting place. Coastal DCC tend to have stalls at some shows (Unsure if they offer viewings at their premises though?) 

 

Coastal DCC have a shop, with demonstration facilities (part of a larger building shared with Orwell Model Railways).   Car park spaces on the forecourt.      
For any retailer, it is sensible to contact in advance to be sure the relevant expert will be present with time available for the customer.  

 

 

[melmerby]

DCC supplies Top Barn, Holt, Worcstershire also have demo facilities, they also do various DCC clinics (payable)

[RobAllen]

FWiW, I've gone with "The Full Works" DCC-EX & JMRI system from Chesterfield Models. For £155 they provided two boxes: the DCC command station and a Raspberry Pi running JRMI.

 

Net result is that I turn them on and the system is ready to use in a seconds with no need to wait for a laptop to get going. I have an old iPhone, so I spent the tenner on WiThrottle for control.

To configure JMRI, program locos and setup accessories, etc. it's easy enough to connect my computer to the WiFi network that it creates and VNC into the Pi to get at JMRI. 

Early days yet, but I'm happy that it works as my research implied that it would.

[WIMorrison]

1 minute ago, RobAllen said:

To configure JMRI, program locos and setup accessories, etc. it's easy enough to connect my computer to the WiFi network that it creates and VNC into the Pi to get at JMRI. 

 

I wonder if you mean DecoderPro which is a very useful part of JMRI?

[RobAllen]

2 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

I wonder if you mean DecoderPro which is a very useful part of JMRI?

Yes. I VNC'd into the Pi to use DecoderPro to create a roster which was magically available on the iPhone's WiThrottle which was nice. My motivation for getting a system with JRMI in the mix was that I wasn't motivated to program DCC decoders using an keypad.

There's also PanelPro which looks interesting as I'll be using DCC for my points and electromagnetic uncouplers.

[Nigelcliffe]

1 hour ago, WIMorrison said:

 

I wonder if you mean DecoderPro which is a very useful part of JMRI?

 

1 hour ago, RobAllen said:

Yes. I VNC'd into the Pi to use DecoderPro to create a roster which was magically available on the iPhone's WiThrottle which was nice. My motivation for getting a system with JRMI in the mix was that I wasn't motivated to program DCC decoders using an keypad.

There's also PanelPro which looks interesting as I'll be using DCC for my points and electromagnetic uncouplers.

 

Pedantically,  there is only "JMRI".   PanelPro and DecoderPro are just different starting screens of the same software, and all of the features of either are available from either starting place - just traverse the menu structures to get the different commands. 

 

One can setup different preferences for the starting places (so things then do behave differently), or even have multiple different preferences (profiles). 

 

 

Rob - regularly take a backup copy of the SD card in your PI.   They do go "squit" sometimes, and the backup copy means you can put that onto a new SD card and be back where you were.   A better option for a regularly used system is a SSD disc drive, but I think that's only practical on a Pi-4 processor.   

The Pi-5 has some teething issues over JMRI compatibility (along with numerous other software package compatibility issues),  its getting there, but may be a little flakey for some users. 

 

 

- Nigel  (who designed the roster view, which is the starting page listing locomotives, in "DecoderPro"  ).