Is the Raildriver value for money?

I am poised, ready to purchase a Raildriver controller, and would like to seek comment from current users.

I note other threads indicating happy owners, and also note that there are software drivers that will work for my Windows 7 installation of TRS2006 (and for 2010, which I am considering upgrading to also), so I am pretty sure it will work OK.

I am, however, concerned whether the very large cost (especially when including freight to New Zealand, and a likely 15% tax I will have to pay on receipt) is value for money. For that cost (around 10 times the purchase cost of the Trainz software) I am hoping for something really robust, reliable and solid – is this true? What is it made of, is it metal, or light plastic? Has anyone had one break? Do the switches and levers stay firm and rigid after lots of use? Is there anyone with a bad story to relate?

A technical question also – I see the unit includes 28 programmable buttons. The downloaded manual instructs on how to programme these for Kuju, but not for Trainz. It does provide a label template for Trainz, implying they do work – but are they user configurable? A notable omission in the Trainz key legend list is decouple – I take it you still need to use the mouse for that?

I would appreciate detailed comment from users.

All I know is I want one.:udrool:

If I ever get a job then I'll let you know how good they are.

Thanks William for the note......

Time to bring this to the top again, maybe someone who owns a Raildriver could drop a comment in? I would really appreciate it.

Have had one for years. I really like it. It does have it's limitations however. Despite what has happend to some I have been running it with windows 7 using the 2009 drivers. If you plan to run MSTS with a windows 7 machine there are no drivers at present for msts. The only thing I have found is that I cannot keep a steam engine going as I need an automatic fireman. this is probabley due to my lack of knowledge about Trainz as I have only been using Trainz for less than a couple of months but it works great for all of the diesels and electrics. I take that back on steam engines - if you use DCC mode you can use the foward & reverse lever for operating the engine. The case is made of heavy metal or at least mine is. The controls are very well made You do have to use the mouse to uncouple and not being a programmer I do not think you can do key assignments. There are a different drivers for the various Trainz versions and I would almost bet the older versions will not work on a 64 bit machine. I accidentli dropped mine a couple of years ago and broke the light switch. I tried to get a new on from them and they claimed they did not carry spare parts, fortunatly I was able to find one at an electronic supply so be forwarned.

William0d0 said:

All I know is I want one.:udrool:

If I ever get a job then I'll let you know how good they are.

Click to expand...

That makes two of us
But before I would buy a RailDriver, I would build a whole new system to run TS2010 on.

FW

I have been trying to configure the logitech rumble pad to run trains, but I suspect the interrupts in Trainz bypass the keyboard and logotech routines, and it won't work.

zl1amw said:

I note other threads indicating happy owners, and also note that there are software drivers that will work for my Windows 7 installation of TRS2006 (and for 2010, which I am considering upgrading to also), so I am pretty sure it will work OK.

Click to expand...

I have been using it for years and still works OK for TS2010.
You need to use the mouse when in free roaming and when you decouple manually.

Once you get it, you don't want run trains any other way.

It's worth the money spent when you like trainz

CBorg said:

Once you get it, you don't want run trains any other way.

Click to expand...

I am also an owner and that above quote describes just how I feel. Once you have a run a train with RD, there's no going back.

Its amazing and worth the dough!

Now a quick question:

I had bought it for TS2009 and now have upgraded to TS2010 and I am on a different machine. I have yet to hook up RD due to a lack of time but I was wondering if it works with TS2010 because the box says it supports up to 09?

Thanks

Davis

I finally got up the courage to download sp2 for 2010, after a few Aussie coolaides, After a few omygawds, a reboot and cleaning the registry with pctools everything "seems to be working great" including RD with the 2009 drivers.:Y: More coolaides are in order!!!!