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Bachmann's E-Z App Bluetooth HO Locomotives

BN Bill NielsenOGR Forum Member

I purchased one of the new Bachmann HO Alco RS3 E-Z App locos when they first became available about 3 weeks ago, and I tried it out on my HO modules during our club's Holiday display at a local library. It worked quite well using my iPad as a controller, and I was so impressed, I bought a second loco (an F unit). Monday, I spent most of the day running these locos on the layout simultaneously, using my new iPhone (my wife changed the provider, so I had to give up my 5 year old iPhone 3GS in favor of an Apple 5S). The system worked very well, and I found that the phone was easier to hold and operate using just one hand. While I can see room for some feature improvements, for an initial release, I think this system is really terrific. I'm pretty excited about it's future potential, and I can't wait to see what comes next! I'm active in several scales, and I also have a Lion Chief O 3-rail Mikado (which I also am very fond of), and both systems operate in a similar manner. I was an early adopter of DCC (purchased a Digitrax Challenger at Valley Forge in 1993), and I can see the BlueTooth giving DCC a run for it's money. I'm looking forward to BlueRailTrain's release of BlueTooth boards for both HO and O in the near future, and am excited about the future of BlueTooth Control.

Bill in FtL

Last edited by Bill Nielsen
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BN Bill NielsenOGR Forum Member
Bob Delbridge posted:

Bill,

How is the "feel" of controlling a train from a touch screen?  How is the slow-speed response?  The only videos I've watched don't show much in the way of slow-speed control.

Do you find yourself looking at the screen more or looking at the train?

How big is the board?  Can you fit a battery inside the engine with the board?

Hi Bob, 

The touchscreen is definitely different than the old fashioned knobs, but then I've had far too many years to get used to knobs. The slow speed is pretty good, but I think the knobs may be easier if you are trying to crawl along tie by tie.

I do have to look at the screen because it doesn't have the tactile feel of real three dimensional controls, but there is still plenty of time left to watch the trains!

I can't say about the board size, since I haven't removed the shell of either loco (if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it), but I did briefly consider swapping the F-unit shell with a DCC version I have in SAL paint, until I wondered what would I do with the matching SAL DCC B-unit? I think multi-unit lash up control still has to be developed. but that's not a big issue for me, since my layout is small, and I can always use dummy units. The BRT video showed the board in one of their early F-units, and it looked bigger than a typical DCC board. Of course, that video was made quite a while ago, and they have said they have reduced the board size since. The RS3 board would have to be quite a bit narrower just to fit in the hood, and BRT has also said they were working on shrinking the boards for N scale. I'm looking forward to their coming developments, but I think the important focus at the moment is getting the App for the Android platform released, which will really help open up the market, since not everyone uses an Apple iPhone.

Bill in FtL

Last edited by Bill Nielsen

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