Uncoupling-- How reliable is it?

I use Kadee's as well as their magnets. I ended up cutting the metal plate into strips slightly wider than the magnets. I glue the magnet to the metal strip then to the wooden ties. I wasn't about to rip up ballasted track to install per instructions. Got the idea from Forum member Cape Cod Northern. As far as how they work. Pretty good. The trip pins must be right on the money. I can uncouple and delay couple reliably with about 80 percent of my cars. There are always those that don't seem to work as well. If your persistent I'm sure you can get them all to work properly. The majority are the older 805's. The 3railcouplers are probably more reliable as far as getting the cars uncoupled. Where the Kadee's really shine is making up trains. You can couple one car without moving it.

 A pic of 2 Kadee magnets in the yard. About the same look as the Gargraves. The beauty of the Kadee's is they require no wiring.

"Then I begin to read about folks who have switched to Kadees, which look better, are more prototypical, and have the delay function-- and have installed the 809 Kadee magnets with the backing plate underneath the track-- which looks like something that would be much easier done during the track laying process"

  Most folks that use Kadees don't worry about the magnets, they just uncouple where ever they want with a pointy stick or small screwdriver. The only problem is spurs that are too far from the aisle to reach still wil require magnets..DaveB

In my HO, HO30, N and 2-rail O scale days, I wouldn't use anything but Kadees.

For 3-rail O scale, I'm satisfied with the Lionel-style couplers.

Your mileage may vary.

Wow! That is a NICE layout!

If I understand you correctly-- the standard Lionel couplers uncouple very well-- but you have to "bump" cars together to get them to couple, whereas the Kadees couple together with very little force involved.

I am glad to see that it is possible to install Kadee magnets "after the fact"-- so if I wanted to upgrade to Kadees in the future I don't have to tear the track up. Thanks for the info.

Check out my YouTube videos for the Kadee couples and switching. I did a demo on switching 3R cars with Kadees and a 3R electro coupler on the engine. I even show you exactly how to install the "between the track" magnets so they work as intended.

3R rail couplers work like Kadees??? not even close

The only way I come close to how smooth Kadee couplers work with the lobster claw is to take them apart and smooth all the latching surfaces.  That gets you close, but the Kadee couplers probably still win the race.