New for 2015, M.T.H. Railroading App • What do you think?

I think it will have a positive impact on the hobby for sure.  Everything is leaning toward a mini control of some sort that we can operate tons of things from any where we are.  I am old and was brought up using a transformer to run trains, but the last 10 years or so have gotten used to using the DCS remote, although I must admit I like the speed control of the throttle in my hand, a lot better.  Not sure how I am going to like moving my finger on an IPad or something...

I think it's great but thought it would be out by now.  The price of the WiFi module seems high, I seem to remember the MTH guys said it would be 'around $100' and it's $179 in the catalog. It will also mean the end of the separate remote I am sure.  So don't expect MTH to spend money on designing a new remote.  

I like the colors and the round speed dial. It might bring the younger generation into trains again. As long as the app is free I can swing for the Wifi module.  

Dave Hikel demonstrated this at the DCS user's group on Wed night before York and it is pretty neat and easy to use.  

After seeing Dave's demo at York, this thing was very impressive. I felt the user interface was better than the remote. He described a technical issue that delayed them for several months which has now been solved. We signed up to be a Beta tester and received his box. I haven't installed it yet, but will next week. 

While I could only watch part of the DEMO on Friday in the orange hall, I did like the basic interface.  It looked to me that the train control was swipe dependent that triggered the basic functions of speed, horn whistle, and bell.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

It looks like Dave brought the basics to the front and the details to the back.  Can't say that that was a bad thing at all.  I'd hope that they could do a video of it so it would be available to see.

Definitely cool.

Technology continues to march forward. Seems like a great idea to be able to use your smart phone to run your trains.

I'm glad people who want it have it, but permit me a short rant.

Apps?  I don't need no stinkin apps . . . my phone doesn't do apps.

It is an amazing device.  If I open it and press the right buttons I can talk to someone far away - even in England or Germany.  If someone wants to talk to me, it rings, and if I open it, I can talk to them.  And the best part is if I don't want to talk to anyone I can just turn it off. It doesn't take pictures.  It doesn't store a contact list or text.  Best of all, when its with me and I'm around other people, it does not distract me so i spend all me time looking at and pushing its little buttons, but instead I look at them while we talk . . . .  

I did not see the MTH presentation, but did see a presentation of Lionel's counterpart last spring.  As a DCS user, I think this is an offering that will appeal to a lot of folks.  I do have an iPhone 4 and recently acquired an iPad hand-me-down from my daughter's boyfriend.  For me the iPhone would probably be too small, but the iPad may be the ticket.  As to losing the feel of the present controller with buttons and scroll wheel, I have mixed feelings.  I like the eyes off control of physical buttons except I have trouble with the thumb wheel with my arthritis.  I think the tablet approach is going to be a God send for me in the future.  Her boyfriend and my son-in-law have helped me with getting setup with voice commands for texting, so that may be something in the future for train control too.  Who can tell.

Lee, no offense but this coming from someone who still runs his trains conventionally is not surprising.

First off, I think both Lionel's LCS and MTH's Wifi offerings are great. I think it opens up possibilities for those who are into technology and "bells & whistles".

Legacy and DCS are the reasons I got back into trains a few years ago. Conventional control got boring to me many years ago.

The younger generation lives by their cell phones and tablets. I think gearing the control interface this way will be a boost to the hobby.

I also believe that smartphones don't necessarily make people distracted. If you don't want to be on your phone when with people or distracted by your phone, put it on silent or turn it off.

I see more trains going to the concrete floor.

That looks a lot like my phone (without the broken piece) and your description also nails it for my phone. I did have to upgrade to a new flip phone a few years ago. The battery died in the old one, a new battery was $50 and a new flip phone was free. I got the phone.  

However, I have to confess, we do have an ipad and I think the younger folks will love these apps and it's a good way to interest them in the hobby. A lot of younger folks do have a smart phone, itouch or ipad or other device that runs apps. Anyway, I hope it will be a big draw for getting more kids interested in our hobby.

I'm really looking forward to Dave Hikel's app getting finalized.  I am 100% command control (I found running conventional very unrewarding), and I am now fully invested in both WiFi systems (I bought Dave's WiFi module).  The nice thing about Dave's app, assuming I heard correctly at the DCS meeting, it has the potential of running both DCS and Legacy.  So maybe we will soon have just one remote to run all our trains.

My wife has an iPad.  She's is getting pretty good with it too.  So far today she has only yelled and cursed at it for about ten minutes.

I worked hard all my life to stay current with technology and even at the very edge of new development, so that in retirement I can become a luddite.  

I am looking forward to this app being released as well.   If it can run Legacy trains as well, that would be a great feature,   I would one app to run both dcs and legacy.  

Very interesting.  I have Legacy and DCS, but mainly operate conventionally.  The idea of operating with an iPad(which I have) is very cool and it is good to see both Lionel and MTH evolve with this technology.  I do think it can bring younger people to the o gauge hobby.  At this point though I do not see it being for me.  Perhaps one day, when I am using the command systems regularly and/or have a large layout.

Another thing we have in common here, my wife is the one that had to have an ipad and she does exactly what you describe your wife as doing with it! About all she ever does is text our daughter.

I was very interested until I saw the Wifi to TIU module price.

There are numerous Wifi to USB/Serial adapters on 'deBay for under $50 that appear to do the same thing - tranfer Wifi signals to the USB or Serial port.

Even with marketing, and the MTH name on it, $175 is way too high.  To be honest, I was expecting a MSRP of $99.

Of course, none of this would be an issue if MTH would provide the command code structure (like Lionel has done), so programmers other than a chosen few (one?) could contribute to the technology with apps for iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Linux, etc....

IMHO, of course!

The only issue would be is MTH having to deal with increased calls to their tech support from consumers expecting them to support products developed by others.  Yes, MTH can put disclaimers on their website, inform callers that they do not provide tech support for those other 3rd party apps, etc. but that is not going to prevent those calls coming in and absorbing more of their time and resources.

A lot of "open source" proponents often seem to overlook this caveat.

I am not positive, but I think the under $100 MSRP was suggested at one of the MTH presentations at York. I was expecting a price around that point as well. However, lately every thing has been really increasing in price so why not that item as well? Must be a sign things are getting better if everyone thinks they can get away with all these price increases? I guess if they do get away with them and sales remain at a respectable level, then things are actually getting better. Or at least we are becoming more willing to part with more of our hard earned money.

John,

I have to disagree.  The subset of people who would want to work on software to do  Wifi Control, who use MTH engines, who use DCS, that are into O gauge railroading is not a huge group.

If the codes were published and documented with a disclaimer, I would not complain a bit if they responded to a call from me with, "I'm sorry, but MTH does not provide support for software questions or issues related to 3rd party software."... seems to work for Lionel!

Apple does not provide support for the millions  of apps that they sell thru their app store...they make the box, provide a software development kit, and I can write apps for MY iDevice.

Ed

rtr12,

I just got a note from UPS... prices going up 4.6% across the board!

As an IT professional who has spent a large amount of his career in smaller to mid-size manufactuing, eletronics, and semiconductor testing industries, I have to disagree with your disagreement.  

Comparing Apple to MTH is, to forgive the pun, apples and oranges.  Apple is a huge company that sells millions of devices and has a large resource base to tap in, and in cases, 24/7 worldwide support, not to mention that they (and other software/hardware vendors) by deliberate design, don't always post their support information prominently on their websites (or they at least make you navigate through several links or force you to fill out an online form before you get there) just to avoid those "irrelevant" type of calls & inquiries.  

MTH and the other O gauge manufacturers on the other hand, are small nickle-sh*t companies by comparison with resources that are not always in optimal proportion to capacity, and making access to contact support more difficult as other larger software/hardware manufacturers do is not a model that works in such a niche market.  It doesn't matter how big or small the group of open source is when you're a company as small as them.  With the limited time and resources at your disposal, you want that time and resources helping customers with the products you actually support, and calls received by users with the expectation or lack of knowledge of the degree of support provided by MTH is time and resources wasted, a situation that would only get exacerbated when 3rd party products start cropping up that you opened your architecture up to.  Like I alluded to earlier, not everyone reads disclaimers or "gets the memo" and would still call asking for support that you don't provide.  Why waste precious time as a support provider and the consumers when you can avoid it?  It can also can give the impression to certain customers that MTH doesn't want to be bothered in helping them even if they legitimately don't support that 3rd party product and tell you to call someone else.

Open source has it's place, but it does have its drawbacks, and that includes additional layers of ambiguity and complexity when it comes to end-user support, and that's exactly what MTH has been avoiding by not open-sourcing their DCS command sets.

As for Lionel, well, there were 3rd party TMCC developers like ERR, TAS, DD, etc exploiting Lionel's published command sets, and look what ended up happening to them; they either went out of business or ended up getting absorbed by Lionel.