Carrera or Scalextric Digital

[Nevadazielmeister]

My apologies if this horse has been beaten to death, I searched a few pages and years deep and couldn't find anything.

Can you all comment on why you chose one over the other? What options were missing from one system as opposed to other? What changes would you make to your current setup?

I appreciate your input and ask before I really invest in a big system. My concern with Scalextric is there financial wows and with Carrera, being a German company, appeals to my German heritage and the fact that I grew up as a kid there.

[HomeRacingWorld]

[BARC 1]

I went with Carrera, because at the time Hornby-Scalextric was going through some financial restructuring. They seem to be through that now, so may not even be a perceived issue at this point. I have been happy with my choice as the electronics have been solid, except for an issue I had with a pit lane. Was never able to pinpoint why I had a failure. I have used some creative wiring to allow analog to run as well, and I just felt the issue was mine. Replaced the unit in the same set up ,and it failed again. Swapped out the pit lane LC electronics with a regular LC and I have never had an issue again, so there must be something a little more sensitive in the pit lane LC then the regular ones.


I think at this point you would be happy with either. I wish there was no reason to make a choice, and that the industry would have standardized the the technology like the Model Railroad community did. However I feel at their own peril they have stubbornly stuck to proprietary design, minimizing the mass appeal to the market. As a hobbyist it would be much better if we were not forced to make a choice and instead know that whatever we bought would run with the other.

[btaylor]

I have a huge amount of Scalextric digital. I have the six car setup up with all the whistles and bells. I like it for what it is. I like the very small chips that are available in Scaley, and have chipped some of the smallest cars that you can buy. The track system is ok, and scaley sport track is the same thing, so expanding is easy. the LC's worked good for me, and the sensors never failed. the corner LC's can be switched to run either way by changing the wires and sensor location, so that is a plus. The cars can be ran in ghost mode at any pre determined speed.
The controllers are pretty cheaply made. I only had one fail, and they are cheap to replace. overall I give the Scaley system a 9 out of ten. it is complicated to get setup right, and I only really got it performing using an aftermarket program that allowed using a full screen. (tv) I have never used Carrera digital, so no opinion there.
I do know that Carrera offers RTR digital cars, where Scaley cars must have the chip put in. no biggie, but adds to the car cost by about $17-$19 bucks per car.
That's what I know of the one digital system, hope it helps.

Bob

[kidvoltage]

If you want to run 1:24 cars then Carrera is the only choice. If you don't have room for track the size of Carrera, then Scaley is your choice.

Having had both types of track, I prefer the Carrera.

You will have plenty of fun with either.

[b.yingling]

Unlike Harry, I don't know of any financial woes for Carrera, and I believe Scalextric/Hornby have been on the mend the last couple of years.

I prefer Carrera digital because of the track. Not just the ability to run 1/43, 1/32, and 1/24 digital on one layout- but the track itself. Carrera's stiff, smooth, wide plastic is the closest thing to running on wood that you will get w/o a router. The digital systems all have their own pluses and minuses, and features from one don't necessarily corelate to the other, but I wouldn't make a choice based on those differences, because you don't know what you will want from a system until you use it.

Is there anyone near you running digital? Any hobby shop near you (this one is almost always a no nowadays) that sells digital?

You're going to want playmates for your digital track, so if users near you seem to prefer one or the other, that could weigh heavily in your decision.

In the end, you can't really go wrong with either, and my bet is that two years from now you will have forgotten all about this digital slot stuff, or you will be very, very happy with whatever choice you made.

[GRUNZ]

I have SSD with the APB connected to a PC that runs RCS64. For pitsensing I have Smart Sensor.
This combination is the best digital system you can get for the level of simulations: once the APB is connected to a PC as a slave/proxy the RMS running on the computer can take over almost all the aspects of the communication protocol which allows for a great deal of realism. For instance, if the simulated weather changes, the simulated track condition changes as well which affects the way the car drives (delayed brakes, slow acceleration).
This introduces a gear deal of strategy in race where you win not only because you are the fastest but also how you manage your simulated tyres/fuel.
If you do not want to use RCS64, there is also ESRM as alternative that gives a huge amount of simulation options.

But be aware the APB out of the box sucks: you need to get the cable to connect to the pc, the RMS (ESRM is for free, RCS64 has a 30 days free trial),and the smart sensor. after that you have the best system so far.

Now, scalextric has released the ARC PRO which is way better out of the box than the APB. The Scalextric free app is ok, but does not provide the level of realism that you get with RCS64 (or ESRM) and the APB. Something better that the scalex app is the Magic App but it is still not even close to RCS64 and the APB I have the arc pro and tested the magic app, so I am talking from experience).

I have raced on Carrera digital track (Brescia Corse club track in Italy - Giovanni Montiglio's very same club (the guy behind thunderslot cars and all the NSR pre 2016). Carrera digital provides you with a better experience if you get their accessories. You can get even pitlane pieces that can sense when a car is in the pit (this option is not available with SSD unless you buy third-party hardware or modify some of the existing one). The carrera digital system can also be connected to a third-party RSM running on a pc but the level of simulations is not close to what you can achieve with the APB and RCS64 (ESRM).

The above covers the aspects related to what you can achieve with a digital setup. Then there are the track physical properties.
Carrera track is better than scalex* and you can also run 1/24. Because I want to include digital 1/24 in my club, I have bought plenty of Carrera track, digital pieces and borders. However, my idea is to use the carrera track with oXigen and I am waiting to move to this setup once the guys from RCS64 release RCSO2, that is a version of RCS64 that provides simulations for the oXigen system.

hope it helps.

*having said that, I have raced on my current scalex track for 4,5 years now and I do not have any particular issue so far.

[Nevadazielmeister]

[Nevadazielmeister]

[dw5555]

I too run Carrera because when I first started in digital it was well ahead of it's counterparts as to what you do with the system. Since that time Scaley has caught and surpassed their digital options with what the system can do. As Bruce pointed out their are 2 differences 1 being the track being a little more robust (like all Carrera products, overbuilt) and 2nd for me is the option to run 1/24 cars which I run exclusively now. Carrera does take up more of a footprint so take that into consideration.
Dave

[R/TRandy]

I really don't think you can go wrong with either Carrera or Scalextric digital systems, both are very good.
I think it will depend a few things if any system is better for you. I got back into slots about 9yrs ago and also came to the question between the these two brands. At that time there were 4 companies to compare, but I narrowed it down between these two right away. In the end it was the cars that were available from each company that pointed to one over the other.
I have Carrera Digital and would most likely make the same choice today.

How much room do you have?
What type of racing do you like? Stock car, Trans Am, F1 etc..
Do you ever want to run 1/24?
Who will you be racing with? kids, Buddies, serious racers...
Do you have a local hobby shop and what brand do they sell?

I have a big area in the basement, so space was not a big deal for me. As I mentioned it was the cars that I liked to race that was a big factor for me. I thought I would also like to run the bigger 1/24 cars, but I bought some and they are fun. But no one else in my racing group liked them, so I sold the ones I had. I race mostly with a group of friends and the racing is a lot of fun, but we all don't take it to seriously. So we don't really use all the bells and whistles that the system has most of the time.
And finally Carrera was what my local hobby shop (now closed) sold at the time.

Randy

[WaltB]

If your goal is group racing I think finding out what is run near you - if anything- is key. Getting people (racers) to switch systems will be very difficult at best. If it's just you and the kids , buy what you want.

I bought an analog SCX set and a few extra cars a few years back, sold it and bought the Carrera Digital DTM Championship set along with extra cars, wireless controllers, pit lane, Hairpin, lane changers, curves, etc.

The track is good quality and the digital parts have been reliable, you do need to let the controllers charge fully if not used often. My dilemma is I don't care for most of the digital offerings and chipping cars will get spendy fast. I would modify the track to run analog but I lose lane changing, which was the primary reason for my purchase. I did purchase an analog set to run all my "off brand" cars.

GRUNZ posted what can be accomplished with digital, but for me that defeats the purpose. My slots are my time machine , uncluttered by electronics . I am moving toward routed and like was mentioned this will be but a memory in a year or so. Just not what I want.

Lots of people love digital but it isn't for everyone , and it's not inexpensive. Think through what YOU want to do and find out what's happening locally before you invest deeply.

[b.yingling]

[GRUNZ]

First of all, yes SSD is Scalextric Sport Digital. It is the current type of track.
The only difference is that I am using the APB (Advanced Power Base) that gets connected to a PC.
The new digital power base from scalextric is the ARC Pro. I share 100% B.Yingling's view: so far the arc pro is a step backwards for us that have been used to the RMS like RCS64.
For this reason I mocking call it Arc Am(ature) ;-)
But we have to say that the Arc Pro out of the box is now one of the best system out there: sure it is not at the same level as the APB with RCS64 but WAYYYYY better that the APB out of the box with that nonsensical tower. Scalextric did a great move back then to open up the protocol and firmware so that third-party developers could take control of the APB to run all the simulations thought the PC.

One would have hoped that after 10 year scalextric had learned what is required to make a good system out of the box. The ARC PRO is all wireless (except for power) which is nice.
But it could have come with a separate track piece for wireless pit sensing or sector timing.
Instead no: the best thing that they could have come up with is to change the order of ID/colors and to swap the position of the lane changer and brake buttons. WHY????

Anyway, one thing that I would like to add is that SSD with RCS64 and pit sensing is the best system from my personal point of view.
We (my digital group) totally enjoy the simulations and strategic factor they add to our racing.
We have also oXigen available to us (I have controllers and chipped cars for all of them) but the "simple" digital approach (basically analog with lane changing) does not appeal to us.
Of course if we could organise longer races (like 6 hours) with 12+ teams of 2+ drivers on huge tracks like they do in Europe then things might be different...but here in new zealand there is no traction for digital at that level.

I would like to point out that I do race analog on wood and I spend way more money for preparing my cars for wood racing than for digital.
Initial cost of the chips is there but you do not need to have all of your cars chipped...with 20 chips I have served my fleet of 100+ cars without breaking the bank.

[WaltB]

Racing cost is set by class choice and rule content, it can be minimal or not.

You're right I don't need all my cars chipped, was just being cheap and lazy.

For the OP I do like the Carrera, but I know nothing about the SSD or it's capabilities.