When one thinks of Digital Command Control (DCC) products, for many model railroaders Digitrax is usually the first company that comes to mind. Back in April I ran a poll here on About.com asking model railroaders which DCC system they used. Among those who responded our results[/link"> showed that 23% used a Digitrax Super Chief or Empire Builder. Among the other high-end systems listed the NCE PowerPro came in second at 18%. But among the entry level systems the NCE PowerCab was the choice of 16% of the people while the Digitrax Zephyr was owned by only 14%.
Now only 222 people had responded at the time of this writing, but without manufacturer sales data available this is the best information I have available to work with. In these results Digitrax and NCE products are owned by 715 of those responding; 37% Digitrax and 34% NCE. Clearly Digitrax margin of preference is wider in the high end products than NCE's is in the entry level. Then why did the PowerCab beat the Zephyr? Two words, user interface.
I'm a Zephyr owner. And having worked in the computer field for nearly 30 years I have no trouble with a numeric display and using number codes to program and run my system. I also really like the patented jump ports which let you use up to two DC power packs as additional throttles. But I'm not sure how many people actually use them. One thing is clear to me however; everyone I know who owns a PowerCab says that they chose it over the Zephyr because of it's simple menu-driven user interface. Now, as I point out in my review of the Zephyr, this unit won a number of rewards for its innovative design. But that was in 2002. So it's probably time that Digitrax upgraded the Zephyr. It definitely needs an LCD panel with a menu driven interface. Personally I'd like a recall switch that let's you toggle the last two locomotives without having to enter an address. And I've heard people talk of a "switcher" mode on one of the competing units, where the throttle has it's zero point at the center, letting you move the locomotive forward or reverse without having to change a direction control. What do you think? Is the Zephyr due for an overhaul? Please take a moment and answer the three questions below:<SCRIPT LANGUAGE= "javaScript" SRC="http://guidepolls.about.com/modeltrains/6254326085/poll.js?linkback="></script>
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