Hornby Elite delayed again

[ColinB]

I think the thing is with RM it all depends on their staff, where I live they are excellent. The trouble is the underlying organisation, so RM have been doing it for years and generally are consistent. DPD were brilliant when they first started but I suppose the accountants got involved and they are still good but not as good as they were. We don't mention the other firms, if you want it damaged then they are your preferred option.

[ColinB]

I think the thing is with RM it all depends on their staff, where I live they are excellent. The trouble is the underlying organisation, so RM have been doing it for years and generally are consistent. DPD were brilliant when they first started but I suppose the accountants got involved and they are still good but not as good as they were. We don't mention the other firms, if you want it damaged then they are your preferred option.

[Topcat1707821625]

Not strictly on topic, but Royal Mail can be patchy. Our regular postman is friendly and very efficient, but parcel deliveries can be iffy. I recently ordered something that consisted of two parcels. Royal Mail delivered while I was out and left only one parcel (the second time they have done this). They took a photograph that was supposed to be "proof of delivery" that was a photograph of a closed white PVC door like many others on our estate, no sign of any parcel because it was behind the door, and they didn't even get in the house number, which is on the door jamb.

[ColinB]

Yes I agree with you on that Topcat, many times since Covid started I get a ring on the doorbell, go outside to find the parcel propped up against the door. The delivery driver is nowhere to be seen. So if I was not in would it have stayed there all day?

[DarkRedCape]

What you are describing is exactly the issues I’ve had with them ColinB.

Get a ring on the doorbell, I’m usually at work but even if I open the Ring app straight away the driver is either already gone or just driving away. They make no attempt to actually deliver it in person. As where with DPD, they make sure its delivered in person. I think as already stated, it could be just about where you live, or even which driver you get that day.

[ColinB]

Yes, DarkRedCape a couple of weeks ago I was on holiday, the day I came back, a parcel arrived . The driver delivered it to my neighbor but checked in the evening in his own time that I received it. That was definitely a personal service, but I live in a small town/village and our sorting office is local so perhaps that is why.

[ColinB]

Yes, DarkRedCape a couple of weeks ago I was on holiday, the day I came back, a parcel arrived . The driver delivered it to my neighbor but checked in the evening in his own time that I received it. That was definitely a personal service, but I live in a small town/village and our sorting office is local so perhaps that is why.

[DarkRedCape]

Well it arrived, but it seems RAF96 called it. I know some of you have, or have had Elites, so let me know if yours arrived looking like this, my Select certainly didn't.

It does have one Xpressnet port only and it displays 1.45 when I powered it up. Etched into the plastic on the back it says 52/19.

This feels very much like a returned item.

My Select had plastic wrapping and twist ties over all items. I opened this and it seemed to be covered in fibres of some kind. Looks very similar to the fibres you find in a loft that has exposed insulation.

The manual actually seems to have food residue on the back, and it's without a doubt pre-used. If this is indeed a returned item, my trust in Hattons has been shaken considerably.

[96RAF]

/19 = 2019 so definitely an early build of the latest standard. 52 is just a contract batch number, not even a week number.

The plastic roll in right of the box should be around the Elite. Mine had a plastic bag for both the Elite and the user manual. As you say twist wire for the power supply and the bud connect cable which I do not see.

Give it the once over to check for serviceability - i.e. power up with the loco button pressed, then let it do its self test, then you can check each button and knob works by watching the display respond.

If AOK - Call Hattons’ bluff and say as it is obviously not factory fresh you want a discount, blah, blah.

[ColinB]

He did get a discount though, they sold it to him at the old price, which should be 20% below the new price if you can get one, which going by the throughput of their locos at the moment may be never. Hattons should have explained the situation though. I imagine it was to stop him keep phoning up and hopefully keep him as a customer.

[DarkRedCape]

Your comment is confusing ColinB.

Firstly, I didn’t get a discount. That was the pre-order price, they aren’t the same. They aren’t legally bound to honour the pre-order price, they could have upped it at any time.

Secondly, I pre-ordered the product with the full expectation that I would be purchasing a brand new product, not a second hand item they want rid of.

Thirdly, I’ve emailed them twice about this item in ten months. You word it as if I’m calling them daily for updates.

And lastly, would you be impressed if you had ordered a product expecting new, at a new product price, then opened the box and it was pre-owned?

[ColinB]

Sorry DarkRedCape that wasn't quite what I meant, they probably thought they were doing you a favour, I did say they they should have told you the situation. I do wonder when the Elite will reappear if ever. There is a shortage of micros and I suspect the one in the Elite is probably near obsolete, so getting new ones will be difficult. Just for the record Hornby discourages Retailers from adhering to preorder prices according to the preserved railway where I preordered before the 10 +10% rise but the loco arrived after. So I got stung by the price increase, the preserved railway went to great lengths to explain it was part of Hornby's terms and conditions. The only company to stick to pre order prices is Derails, then I got the opinion it was a one off case. Of course Hornby stick to the preorder prices, but they make the rules. If it is a pre used item by law they are supposed to tell you. The incredible thing is that they go for silly money on EBay. As for pre owned bit, I suppose I wouldn't have been impressed, but then sometimes it is difficult to know. I suppose the big question is "does it work", "has it got huge scratches over it" and if you want a new one are you willing to wait another two years for it. I would just moan at Hattons and ask for a discount, oh and check the price with a second hand one on EBay.

[DarkRedCape]

Oh absolutely, I agree they probably thought they were doing me a favour, but they should have asked if I wanted a pre-owned one before sending me one, and they certainly shouldn’t have charged me full price for it.

I too have wondered if the Elite is ever likely to make a return. I did wonder if they were holding off on making any more Elites because they were working on something new, or updating it to work with a newer chip, but I think this is just wishful thinking.

It may just be me but I’ve never actually seen a brand new one on Ebay, they are always described as used, but the condition is basically new in box, and as you point out, they are usually still very expensive.

Anyways, I will contact Hattons and see what they have to say.

[AndyMac1707817969]

What is the fixation with a Hornby Elite, lots of alternatives out there and many would say better.

[ColinB]

I know AndyMac there are, I recently upgraded my system, there is a thread that got locked about it. It wasn't until I downloaded the manual that I found out all the other things it would do. Given Hornby can't meet the timings with its core locos, I seriously doubt if they will ever make any more Elites, well not in the near future.

[rpjallan]

What is the fixation with a Hornby Elite, lots of alternatives out there and many would say better.

 

 

Not if you want to use Railmaster software…

[ColinB]

Yes rpjallan but you just use the Z21 software which is a free download. I must admit I have never used Railmaster in anger, it came with my second hand Elite. Even though the Seller said he had told Hornby about the license change, it never worked. I even had issues loading it on my laptop, which for me generally puts me off. It reminded me of some of the bad packages I had used in the late 1990s, issues with a license system. They should be providing it for free, that way more people would buy the hardware that goes with it.

[96RAF]

@colin

iTrain and Traincontroller, etc are not free, in fact they are very expensive for the top of range versions, so why should RM be free.

Free packages like Rocrail or JMRI are effectively open-source relying upon donations or self help.

The vast majority of RM problems are proven to be common or garden finger trouble at the HMI usually from ignoring the instructions.

[ColinB]

I suppose it is what you want a DCC controller to do. I just want it to control locos with a simple user interface, that is why I like the Digikeijs. I can set pull down boxes for each of my locos and control them, the only limiting factor is the speed of my current PC. I originally was going to write my own windows interface, but it does entirely what I want it to do. When reading the manual today, I even found it has a scripting function. For wireless control if I want to, I have an old Samsung phone running the Z21 software. So I really don't need Railmaster. Pete Waterman is using the Z21 software to control the locos on his exhibition in Chester Cathedral so I assume it can't be that bad. I only said RM should be free to enable Hornby to sell more DCC controllers, seeing as I imagine that is the only controllers they work with. Perhaps I will have a play with my RM just to see how good it is.

[ColinB]

Well I tried it and surprisingly it works on my laptop with the activation code. I remembered what I didn't like about it. It seems to want you define every loco before you use it, rather than having a simplified menu for just running a loco with an id (correct me if I am wrong). I like programs that let you do that and save putting all that data in once you decide to get serious.

[DarkRedCape]

I always thought the RM software would be a major pain in the behind if you already had a full layout with motorised points, and dozens, if not hundreds of trains, as setting it all up could take days if not weeks.

I only have about 12 locos and just a simple tree track oval, so it’ll be no biggie for me when I start using it. Hopefully.

Hattons have replied to me and I was contacted by one of their senior staff. It seems a returned item got put into the new stock and it was sent out. Their handling of the situation has been absolutely first class, as it was with my Oliver Cromwell.

They’ve asked that I send it back to them and they’re going to reinstate my pre-order as it was at the time I placed it. It means waiting again but in all honesty, I’m still a while from completing my loft and getting my layout fully installed, so the wait doesn’t bother me too much. My Select handles my needs for now.

[ColinB]

Yes that is what struck me. I have over 250 locos, mainly because I fix broken ones. I have about 40 points. Now I only ever run about 5 locos but they could be any of the 250. I keep a spreadsheet of the loco ids and when I want to run one, I put the id into the DCC controller. The other thing was you couldn't just put class 47 into it and it selects all the Hornby class 47s, no you have scroll down to the actual model number which if you bought it from a split set you won't have one. I am sure that there is a way to bypass the Hornby model as you must be able to enter non Hornby locos. Let us put it like this, it could be so much better. I notice it also makes use of loco detection, but Hornby doesn't support that at the moment. That is what I like about the Z21 software, when I was testing mine I just changed the id but kept the rest of the default data, who cares if it is some German loco if you are only doing a test.

[RDS]

Even though the Seller said he had told Hornby about the license change, it never worked.

 

 

The licence terms of RailMaster (HRMS*, not Hornby) say it is NOT transferrable, so it is hardly surprising it did not work.

*Hornby RailMaster Support

[96RAF]

Spend an hour reading the manual and you will see you can list any loco by an assumed name and its address. Add functions as necessary.

There is even the facility to list Bachmann generic sound loco functions to save you typing them in. Plenty of old forum chat about all of this so no point rediscovering the RM wheel.

[ColinB]

Well RDS he supposedly contacted Hornby to get it transferred. When I activated it on the Hornby website it didn't give an error. I know that is how I have done it in the past with similar packages that I used in my old job. It doesn't matter that much, I won't be using it, I just wanted to see how difficult it was to use. I only use the Elite to program locos, the Railmaster and two accessary modules came with the Elite when I bought it broken off EBay.