Lionel Polar Express in HO any good?

[sixpakpop]

REALLY asking for a friend. I know Lionel is Lionel, but I'm not familiar with their offerings in HO scale?
So is the Lionel Polar Express in HO any good?
He says O is too big and N is too small. He's turning into a regular Goldilocks on me here......
Help!

[Jbub]

I would think if someone is wanting the polar express train, they want to put it around a Christmas tree. Depending on the size of the tree, HO would most likely look really small. I don't own the set but looked at Amazon reviews, specifically the 17% 1 star reviews. Most people said the set looks nice but the track is garbage. It connects magnetically and needs a really flat surface to work. Personally I think the set looks nice, better than the cheapo O gauge version but I don't think it's worth what Lionel wants for it.

[davefoxx]

I would think if someone is wanting the polar express train, they want to put it around a Christmas tree. Depending on the size of the tree, HO would most likely look really small. I don't own the set but looked at Amazon reviews, specifically the 17% 1 star reviews. Most people said the set looks nice but the track is garbage. It connects magnetically and needs a really flat surface to work. Personally I think the set looks nice, better than the cheapo O gauge version but I don't think it's worth what Lionel wants for it.

I agree that the HO version under a tree will be invisible, and the one-star reviews would turn me off.  I bought my daughter the O scale version two years ago, and it has been under the tree ever since.  We still love it.

DFF

[greenwizard88]

I'd go with O scale. HO is too small, and (ironically) O-31 can take up less space under the tree than 18" radius. It looks like the O gauge one has an 18" minimum radius, so they're literally the same size.