Do BLI Paragon2 decoders suck as bad as they seem to?

[spookshow]

I let the smoke out of two Paragon2 decoders this week just by running trains around in circles (one in an N scale E6 and the other in an E7). Add in the Paragon2 that burned up and melted an E7 shell shortly after I bought it 10 years ago and that puts me at a 50% failure rate (3 out of 6) on Paragon2. Are they really that bad or have I just been unlucky?

Thanks,
-Mark

[peteski]

The fact that after years of offering their models only with their Paragon decoders installed, they recently started offering "Stealth" models without Paragon decoders should answer your question. I suspect that so many modelers requested Paragonless models that they decided to make and sell them.

But in my experience the reliability issues aren't the biggest drawback. It is their performance (like long "reboot" times even with the slightest loss of track connectivity), and limited programmability of their function outputs.  Paragon4 seems to be a bit better, but If I have a choice, I'll get a Stealth model and install a decoder of my choice.

[CRR Chase]

unfortunately the answer is yes.. i hate it, because i am one of the strange people who like all the extras with the sound, that they offer.. it would be nice if the decoder was stronger, OR if they offered a better KA to maintain operation for during interference..

[jdcolombo]

FWIW, I've stripped out every Paragon decoder I have (4 Paragon 2's in the PA-1's; 6 paragon 3's in the Light Mikados) and replaced them with ESU LokSound at a cost of $100 a pop.  Which should tell you my personal views on the Paragons . . .

John C.

[Jim Starbuck]

I agree with John.
I’ve only had one P3 and one P4 but replaced them both with ESU.
Actually the sound and motor control was decent but the 1980’s directional lighting on an SW7 and no way to change it was more than I could take. The second one was the P4 which was supposed to have remedied that but I didn’t care to try so out it came. This was all before the Stealth versions so it stung to pay for sound only to replace it immediately. I preordered the first SW7 (something I rarely do) and the decoder was one of the two biggest disappointments I’ve ever experienced in N Scale.
I’m glad they listened and offered the sans Paragon because the models are excellent.

Jim

[tehachapifan]

One thing I do like about the 2 Paragons I have (one a 3 and the other a 4), both in N scale BLI NW2 switchers, is that the RPM's will throttle up automatically when the loco is under increased load. Pretty neat and, unfortunately, ESU's don't do that. The only other decoder I've seen do that is Zimo.

[spookshow]

The literal bells and whistles don't concern me as much as the reliability does. But at the same time, buying replacements from BLI is actually pretty cheap ($50 each) and the installation is dead simple, so I'll probably just go that route and then cross my fingers.

-Mark