March 15, 2002

Digitrax DH121 Now $12.97 each in a "5 Pack".

Digitrax announced today the release of a "5 Pack" for their low end DH121 decoder. The 5 Pack list price is $79.99, TTE $63.95, or at TTE prices $12.79 ea. Wow!

The current single piece price is $15.95. We are accepting orders now and will start shipping next week.

Digitrax's initial release of the DH121 several years ago started the price war between major DCC manufacturers which has resulted in spawning a variety of economy decoder options for DCC users to choose from. Since the other manufacturers of economy decoders like Lenz, NCE Corp and Train Control Systems are providing a higher level of performance for their economy offerings, $15.50-$19.95, compared to the DH121, and have higher costs, they may not be willing to drop prices further but rather rely on their increased performance at a slightly higher price to maintain market share. So the DH121 may stay the lowest for awhile.

The key features that the DH121 is lacking compared to the other economy decoders are:

• Silent Running.
• Smoother motor control.
• Programming on the Mainline.
• 128 Speed Step operation for loadable tables.
• Special effects

Ultimately each user has to decide whether he/she wants the lowest price or a low price with better performance features.