Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The Zephyr Xtra starter set from Digitrax is a great way to get started with DCC. This Xtra set is an improved version of the original Zephyr starter set. This new version's combined command station/booster/throttle is DCS51 as opposed to DCS50 in the original Zephyr. The difference is that DCS51 can handle 20 addresses simultaneously and provides 3.0 amps of power as opposed to DCS50 handling only 10 addresses and providing 2.5 amps. So basically this improved version in Zephyr Xtra provides increased capacity for small home-based layouts and is the same price as the previous version.
Many people are vary of switching to DCC as the term Digital Command Control can sound too technical and discouraging. The costs can also be overwhelming, although they don't have to be. Admittedly, there was a time when I thought my son and I would never move from the conventional DC layout with cab control with switches and wires. But once we saw and experienced DCC we were sold. The one major limitation for us was cost. All we'd been exposed to were expensive, radio DCC systems costing hundreds of dollars. Those are great, but you can get started with DCC for much less.
This Zephyr Xtra is an inexpensive way to get started with DCC. It does not have a remote throttle, but it's flexible enough that you can add a remote throttle if you want (once you get hooked on DCC and save your pennies :-). It also allows you to connect up to two DC power packs to it and use them as additional throttles. Moreover, you can buy a USB LocoBuffer from RR CirKits and download JMRI on your computer and have additional digital/software throttles via JMRI program. So even though DCS51 comes with only one throttle out of the box, the system is very flexible to add additional throttles for very little additional costs.
The other thing that makes Zephyr's DCS51 very flexible and cool starter set is that you can actually run a DC train, i.e. a DC engine without a DCC decoder along the side of your decoder-equipped engines! This is pretty cool as it allows you to run some of your DC trains without having to spend money up front on DCC decoders for every single one of your DC engines. So it allows you to pace yourself financially -- if you buy two non -sound decoders for thirty dollars a piece you can run three trains (two decoder-equipped and one DC engine) right away.
There are many other cool features of the Zephyr Xtra starter set which need not all be listed here. See [...] for more details. But if you are considering switching to DCC and are not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars for advanced DCC systems and equipment, you should give Zephyr Xtra a closer look. You won't regret it. With your existing DC throttle and DC engines you can hook up Zephyr Xtra to your existing layout and experience the fun of DCC in no time.
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