I think the iPad app has a lot of promise. For me, the biggest advantage is being able to see all my switches, power blocks, and accessories, including their status, at one time, and being able to change their status with a touch, rather than having to select and manipulate one thing after another. With switches, for example, I can tell at a glance if they're set the way I want; this is much more efficient than selecting one switch at a time to check its status--or walking around the layout.
Another feature I like is yard mode. With Legacy engines, it gives very fine, efficient control over train moves. However, I find that with TMCC engines, the direction of movement in response to moving the throttle to the right (forward) and to the left (reverse) is the opposite of whatever direction the engine was last set to. This adds uncertainty when making train moves. Have you experienced this issue?
The other main drawback I've found is the lack of sound volume control. When I'm running trains, I always need to adjust the volume of each engine I'm running, depending on which/how many engines I'm running, who is with me, and how I'm feeling. I understand that the iPad app is oriented more to layout control than engine control, but if Lionel could add just one thing to the iPad app, sound volume control would be really useful.
Cheers!
Keith
