Athearn v MTH

[AC60CW]

Ok...gonna toss this out for discussion. Recently I have been looking to invest some money in to a really nice HO engine. I have narrowed it to two. Both are SD70ace's. One is by Athearn and other is MTH. After some quick research both have good points. I would like to her feedback on both from actual experience or someon else's review.
I like the looks of both. The Athearn has a better sound. MTH has more weight though. One major thing I lime on the MTH is the automatic couplers. My concern is reliability though.
Both look comparable in over all appearance.

Thanks

[SD80MAC]

The Athearn has nicer details, but is a lot lighter than the MTH and doesn't pull as much. The MTH model is more rugged, the handrails are made of metal versus the easily bent plastic on the Athearn. The Athearn has Tsunami sound, which normally would be better, but they screwed up one the ACe. You can barely hear the horn. I almost think the MTH has nicer sound. The MTH also beats the Athearn in terms of lights (although the ditch lights on the MTH are on the large side). The automatic couplers on the MTH are a gimmick, yes they work but the couplers it comes with that do it are huge and way out of scale. When I had mine I replaced them with Kadees. I sold my MTH because it was too new for my era. Do you use DCC? The Tsunami in the Athearn can be reprogrammed and the CV's can be changed. Aside from volume control on the MTH, you can't program it (slow it down or speed it up) at all.

[BerkshireKid]

Jon, Remember MTH made the new version of the 70ACe's where you drop your own chip in and can program all the variables.

[Garry K]

I personally would never buy anything from MTH, due to the way they were trying to sue everyone in sight a while ago, they way they claimed to have invented DCC, etc. Not a very nice company to do business with. Go with the Athearn!

Garry K

[SD80MAC]

Jon, Remember MTH made the new version of the 70ACe's where you drop your own chip in and can program all the variables.

True Dane, but the DCC ready versions aren't sound equipped.

[AveryRdhouse]

I picked up a few MTH Little Joes for the layout last year. The details are ok, but they're performance sucks. One will run fine, they other will derail on straight level track. Pulling power blows. As with the Mth dcc, you cant change the unit numbers. You cant consist it with other units. I would love to run a Joe and three SD40-2s together. Cant. I have a buddy with a MTH SD70ac. He ran it and promptly boxed it back up. I have migrated back to Athearn in the last few years. The quality is good and they have come along way from just ten years ago. My choice would be good ol Athearn.

[AARR]

I have not bought an Athearn in many years because they do not make the models I am looking for (1950's AA) but years ago when I modeled a different era I acquired a sizeable fleet of their GP38-2's and added weights to them. If pulling power is their major hang up can you add weights to these newer Athearn units?

[AveryRdhouse]

I feel your pain AARR. I to used to add weight to the many sd40's I had. I see no reason to add weight to the new Athearns. They have made them a bit heavier, and best of all, they run sooooooo much smoother than the old stuff. I love the bright headlights and the detail on them. The plug-n-play decoder set up is simple and quick. I would rate them just as good as the Kato's of ten years ago.

[AC60CW]

I am running DCC.

What about the option of buying on not equiped with DCC and sound. And buying one to put in? Further, what DCC/Sound decoder would be best.

[bnsfben]

I own a Athearn SD70ACe. I really like the locomotive overall. As stated above, it is very light and does not pull a lot. Also, the horn is way too quiet. Other than that, I personally really like the engine. I like it better than the MTH because the sound accuracy is much better than the MTH. The Athearn has a E-Bell sound and the horn sounds a lot closer to the real thing than the MTH. (I think the new MTH versions have a E-Bell???).

[AC60CW]

From what I have read. MTH did switch to actual recorded sounds like the Athearn has.

Would adding weight to the Athearn be a big deal or not ? I am really swinging towards the Athearn as it is.

[bnsfben]

I have not opened up the shell of the Athearn ACe yet. I don't have any weights right now. But I will look inside soon to see if weight can be added any where on the locomotive.

[AARR]

Even when the engines are adequately weighted I always pack as much additional weight as I can into the shells. It only helps their performance.

[AC60CW]

I think I am going to go with the Athearn SD70ace. Should be ordering it next Friday.

[nssd70m-2]

Overall I think that the Athearn one by far is alot better than the MTH one, mainly because the way the model looks and the detail that was put into it. The MTH version looks a little too "Toyish" for my standards. The Athearn model looks very close to the real-life thing (in my opinion). I attached below a picture of my BNSF SD70ACe #9271.

[KCSrailfan]

I'd GO with Athearn if I was you. Its Better all around. MTH f***ed up in to many areas for it to be considered an "ok" model to me. If you want an toy like model go with MTH,and the list goes one with the number of things wrong with they MTH. Heres a pic of my 2.