Which is better?

This one is pretty simple..    SOLDER will always make a better connection  and dont be cheap with the guage of wire  min 16 awg     i prefer  14 awg

"I have fastrack, now which is better, buy lionel's connectors, or solder one wire to middle track, and other wire to outter track?"

   It depends on your ability to make a reliable solder joint. I'd practice till the question answered it's self .......DaveB 

I presume you are talking about the .110 (or whatever the actual size is) quick connects. The big advantage would be ease of changing them around. If you wanted to made any track changes this would be much easier to re-work than the soldered connections. They would also be easier to make for the original connections, IMHO.

I know many folks like it and swear by soldered track and track connections, but for some reason I just don't like soldering wires (or anything else) to the tracks, or switches. Purely personal preference here, no scientific evidence is involved in any way.

Thank you fan, dave and rtr, for the good advise.  An thank you rtr you always answer me right.  Sonny

You are most welcome.

Again my opinion only here, but I really don't see a difference operation wise between soldering and the connectors. If the connections are good and tight you should have no problems. I believe Lionel uses the same connectors on the jumpers on their block pieces and I also think there are quite a few folks here using the connectors on their Fastrack as well.

As long as the connections are tight, there's no difference.  The difference is properly soldered connections never loose tension or work themselves loose.

Depends on permanence (which usually is nowhere near as long as you planned).  My

grandfather soldered together a large loop of Marx O-27 track on a 4X8 board for my first train.  Worked great until I bought a pair of switches.  Then I had to rip a lot of it out.

Buy the Quick Disconnects in Bulk Here.

I lean toward the "solder it" side.

Two possible loose points with slide-on-crimp-on... the point where they slide on, and the point where they are crimped.  A quality crimp tool (no, a big pair of linesman pliers ain't it!) costs as much as a good Weller 100-140W soldering iron, maybe more.

On Fastrack there's plenty of good places to get a big chunk of metal to solder to.  Good soldering needs a good mechanical connection and a good soldered connection.  On Fastrack, I bend up the tabs that hold the track in place, put a wire under it, then bend the tab over the top to hold it in place. Then solder will finish the job!

IMHO,
Ed

You are quite correct about the crimp-on connectors and using the proper tools to assure it is done correctly and you have a proper crimp.

I am slipping in my old age, and have violated one of my own rules here by not qualifying that the crimp MUST be done correctly with the CORRECT crimping tool. Normally I am against crimp connectors as well, but in this case it I think it makes sense. I still think they would be a good choice in this application for ease in making any future track revisions, but they absolutely must be done properly.

Soldering to the quick connects as ACDX Rob suggests is also a good idea and should overcome any short comings caused by using improper crimp tools. Although I would still recommend getting a good quality crimp tool. 

I use the quick connects,& i also solder to the rails,one thing i always do with the quick connects is i make sure enough wire is sticking out so i can put a drop of solder on it that way even if you don't crimp the wire good it won't come loose because of the solder on the end of the wire.