MTH vs. Athearn SD70ACe.

GrantTheClown · September 01, 2012, 06:59:02 PM

Sup y'all? Name's Grant, I'm new on here but I know what to talk about. I hav a question. I want at least one SD70ACe in NS heritage, I have an Athearn M-2 in NS which is amazing. But I am curious with MTH since I have their HO crossing gates and those are unmatched. I just can't decide on what brand ACe to get. Could y'all give me some opinions? Many of them will be greatly appreciated. -Grant.

thpbears · September 01, 2012, 07:29:16 PM

I have a MTH with sound and DCC. I also have a Athearn Genesis woth Sound and DCC. They both look great and run real smooth. I have no issues with either that I have.

Badhorse79 · September 01, 2012, 07:36:42 PM

Athearn to me has better looking details MTH looks a lil toy like , bulky if ya will, ! MTH as a few molded on details as athearn almost every detail is separated ... and the Genesis Drive is pretty slick ...tsunami sound too so im an athearn ACe buyer and when athearn releases the Gevo's its over for any other manufacturer for me .... I might "might" get a few Intermountain Gevo's but I don't know till athearn slaps em down?!

GrantTheClown · September 01, 2012, 07:59:53 PM

Thanks guys, both products are great and that's the hard part for me to decide, all I'm planning to get ia the NS S&A ACe, question is, what brand?

Badhorse79 · September 01, 2012, 08:29:50 PM

Ok! Here's what ya do .... Buy Both and which ever one ya like the least .... Paint it another scheme ya least like and sell.it for $50-$75 more than ya paid for it .... lol jk

GrantTheClown · September 01, 2012, 09:43:55 PM

LOL BadHorse that's a good idea. Problem is, that I'm getting 2 of the Intermountain NS GEVO's that are just flat out amazing and more than likely an IM SD40-2. I'll prolly get an Athearn but you never know!

Conductor · September 02, 2012, 02:18:12 AM

Quote from: GrantTheClown on September 01, 2012, 09:43:55 PM
LOL BadHorse that's a good idea. Problem is, that I'm getting 2 of the Intermountain NS GEVO's that are just flat out amazing and more than likely an IM SD40-2. I'll prolly get an Athearn but you never know!

The Intermountain GE's don't pull worth anything. MTH SD70M-2's are excellent.

Badhorse79 · September 02, 2012, 09:07:09 AM

That is true ...however I have a2% grade and nothing I have can pull more than 10 cars up it alone ... So it adds a lil frustrations to operation the other grade is about 1 and a half% and even that's a challenge but manageable

ARandall70 · September 02, 2012, 09:34:34 AM

That title line has been on most model railroad forums at some point in the last two years, and often leads to "lively" discussions. I would search it to read more.

I would say the deciding factor for me would be if MTH is going to change the details of their model to accurately reflect the changes made to the SD70ACes over time. Athearn has already made it known that they intend to do so. Back when they released the NS SD70M-2, I planned to purchase their unit until I learned it was not really a SD70M-2, and that they didn't tool one, just put NS on a SD70ACe body. Yes, it is different.

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=58145&whichpage=1

I would say that if you have the opportunity, go to a hobby shop when the models are released and see if you can't get a good look at the MTH product. Maybe they will have one out of the box or even running so you can evaluate its performance for yourself.

GrantTheClown · September 02, 2012, 11:56:55 AM

Hence why I'm not a huge fan of the MTH M-2's. The detail is a tad off. MTH has also made it clear that they are adding NS specific details on the ACe. Odds are I'll check it out. 99% of their products I've either owned or tried out has impressed me thoroughly. I'll probaby at least buy one cause with the exception of the ditchlights, their ACe is nicely done and sturdy from here say.

NSMoWandS · September 05, 2012, 03:03:52 PM

From a source who knows Mike... MTH WILL be making the Heritage ES44AC's also. I got a pre-release flyer. It has all 20 units in O scale and HO. O scale will have top of the line and a lower line. HO's will run roughly $370 for DCC with 3.0 sound. $350 roughly for DCC reg sound. And $200 roughly for DC. Just FYI. Dan

GrantTheClown · September 09, 2012, 04:06:30 PM

They're doing ES44AC's in HO!? In that case I'll prolly go MTH all the way!

ARandall70 · September 09, 2012, 07:18:57 PM

Quote from: NSMoWandS on September 05, 2012, 03:03:52 PM
From a source who knows Mike... MTH WILL be making the Heritage ES44AC's also. I got a pre-release flyer. It has all 20 units in O scale and HO. O scale will have top of the line and a lower line. HO's will run roughly $370 for DCC with 3.0 sound. $350 roughly for DCC reg sound. And $200 roughly for DC. Just FYI. Dan

Wow, pricey. I've got sound units on order for less than their DC version. Hopefully the details are impressive when the photos are released.

GrantTheClown · September 09, 2012, 10:18:01 PM

This might be a tad unprofessional to say, but that's a little unexpected from MTH. I didn't even know they have tooling for the GEVO platform...

Badhorse79 · September 14, 2012, 01:40:56 PM

Here's a lil video about athearn paying attention to detail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vodo2OXdCFc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

nsSD70M-2 · January 06, 2013, 12:57:58 PM

I think the overall build on the MTH is better. I bought the DCC ready version and with some modification I'm installing new LED's and tsunami sound into the loco to truly beat out the Athearn model.