Tony said:
Mel..... serious Question and not to be interprited as a snipe in any way but what is it about the cliff Barker system that is so appealing.... ive been looking at his site and i dont see what all the fuss is about it seems the same price as the revo but with a lot less functions and from looking at the controler how do you control more than one loco at a time.....i dont want this to turn into a LGB / Niquadria? type battle... its not ment that way
Tony
Tony - all fair questions and I hope you'll allow me to comment as well as Mel. You're absolutely right in saying that the Aristo has more functions than Cliff Barker's kit. As ever, the question is whether a particular user needs them or not. Cliff's design point is one controller for one receiver, but you can control two receivers from a single transmitter if both are linked to it. Aristocraft's design point is one controller for umpteen chips (locos or accessories). The real consideration is whether you intend to be primarily a user of multiple battery locos or not.
In both systems you can have a trail car containing the control chip which can be attached to any number of locos via a lead. In both systems you can have gradual acceleration and deceleration. The Barker system features an excellent "cruise control" system of halt/resume previous speed in the same manner as that of a car. Not sure if the Aristo system has that.
The Aristo system's single controller, for me, is both its strength and its weakness. It clearly has many sophisticated features, but only one user can use a single controller at a time. So if you have visitors to your layout they either have to bring their own controllers or they can't play/test. If you have the Barker system, every controller is expected to have a dedicated chip, so multiple controllers for multiple users are in place already.
For me, the Barker system is cheaper in "lumps" of UK cost (£130 for one 2.8 amp system complete except for batteries) and utterly instinctive to use. Some visiting kids understood mine in about 30 seconds flat. The price crossover point between the two systems is just over 3 loco chips. Four chips or more and the Aristo is cheaper overall (so long as you have only one Aristo controller). Three loco chips or less and the Barker system is cheaper. For those of us who are primarily track-powered but want battery power as an occasional option, that makes the Barker system very attractive.