Who's 3 rail track is good for floor ?

Well  many others swear by Lionel Fastrack for a Carpet Central. What is it that upsets you the most?

The other option[ and it's a bit more pricy] is Atlas O track and Ross Roadbed. You will have to paint the roadbed as it only comes in a preformed foam from Ross.

Another less costly option is Industrial Rail track but there are no switches.ant then there is MTH Realtrax. which has differences of opinions.

I guess I will probably at some point make a permanent layout and am not a big fan of the look of the Fastrack. Additionally I wonder if it the sections will stay together and not wonder apart on the carpet. I just wondered if there was a better track out there  since I am coming back to 3 rail after a decade of N, G, and Z scales. I do love the selection of switches and other goodies though. Thank you for the input.

If you're on carpet, Fastrack is the way to go.  The carpet will partially address the biggest Fastrack complaint - the noise.

I'm partial to RealTrax for carpet. I have both Fastrack and Realtrax and I have better luck with the RealTrax staying together on a carpet. Rock solid actually. I liked it so much around the tree that I used it on my main layout. I run pretty much every day and have many switches. Have a glitch here and there easily fixed. I am a big fan of RealTrax.   

Thank you both for your input. It helps to know the problems before investing in track. I have an oval of Fastrack and you're right it's even noisy on the carpet. The carpet does seem to keep the joints from wandering apart, but It seems to much like the track Bachmann made for HO. 

RMT Super Snap Track made from the K-Line tooling is tubular track that snaps together. It's much quieter than Fastrack, and you can use track pins when assembling permanently.

I ran a small oval on the hardwood floor for a month, and did not have any trouble with track coming apart.

Just be aware that if you set it up on carpet, engines will suck up any carpet fuzz between the ties.

Bruce

You have all been great ! Thank you for your input !

The Fastrack is losing it's rail plating as we speak, nice, brings back memories of the 1970's Lionel quality. I am glad I only have an oval of it. It could be good stuff, but it really seems cheezy, no offense to those of you who have had good luck with it. 

Thank you all again for the great input !!

Personally I am not a fan of the built in roadbed track mostly due to the noise.

The roadbed acts as a speaker cone for the rail noise. Hollow rail is an echo chamber as well.

My current layout is RealTrax which I prefer over Fastrack due to rail shape.

Differences in the two that I know about:

Fastrack is a inverted U of rail tabbed into the plastic roadbed (3 tabs per rail I think).

RealTrax is a rail shape (now hollow unfortunately) that is held on by tie spikes.

The spikes are molded plastic and not as strong as the metal tabs of Fastrack but there are a lot more of them.

RealTrax center rail is darkened and less obvious. Fastrack center rail is the same shiny material.

RealTrax roadbed is darker and the ties are a bit farther apart.

Fastrack uses Pins in the rails and this enforces alignment at the joints but in at least one case has gotten corroded and unusable.

Realtrax has copper contacts under the roadbed, these can be troublesome if not connected & separated properly but make excellent contact normally. They do not align the rail ends but I have had few issues with this. Tweaking the end of the rail with a set of pliers fixed them (I bought some used track).

Fastrack  pins together and pushes together as pinned track always has.

Realtrax is best connected by holding the 2 pieces in a V with the rails touching and rotating them flat while pushing together. To separate, hold down one and lift the other. The last connection in a loop is the hardest, it's hard to get a good angle between the tracks.

Both stay connected well unless they have been separated several times, then RealTrax can get loose, Can't say about Fastrack.

RealTrax has clips available to lock them together very firmly for this reason, the clips are not needed for most use. I had a loop I stood up against the wall when not in uuse for months (until my wife banished it to the basement).

Fastrack now has TMCC switches.

Realtrax switch command is via an AIU on the DCS system.

Fastrack switches are supposed to be awesome reliable.

Realtrax switches can be troublesome if some issues are not dealt with.

These issues are; loose rails (superglue it down), sometimes the rail points do not stay tight against the fixed rails, it can be either position or both. Cause: little springs popping over the post in the switch. Use needle nose pliers to move the spring back across the post into the notch in the post. I now add a small square of plastic glued on the end of the post (it's flat) to any I have to fix. Never had a repeat fail with or without the added square.

Sometimes the magnets that the reversible switch machine snaps to pull out of the socket. simply maintain orientation and put a drop of gel superglue in the socket, it will be fixed indefinitely.

My layout has been in use for several years now. It is RealTrax, is not screwed down and has no clips except where 2 sidings span the gap at the Crawl-under. And only there because there is no wood supporting it at all for 3 feet or more. (No I don't drive engines across there, it's a couple dead end sidings)

My track has not separated or given me dead spots yet.

Now, If I didn't lose you yet, I really like ScaleTrax for permanent layout.

Real rail shape, much smaller rails and ties, a lot closer to scale. No roadbed tho, it needs ballasting.

See toytrainsontracks.com for some demo video of trains on Scaletrack. Rich sells videos of how to do a layout with Scaletrack too, I like them.