PIKO proves that good quality can come out of China if you are in control and know how to manage your factory. I love PIKO products!

I have bought some recently and have been favourably impressed with the quality and repro fidelity.

As usual is just a matter of quality control when you produce in China (or elsewhere in the world), I have several Piko locomotive and rolling stock, they are really nice and price is cheap.

I have to say. I did have some Piko? It's was ok, but it was cheap after all. I still used my Marklin shunter over the Piko loco, everytime. The Piko locos were larger and weighed less? So in the end they got sold?
I will buy second hand Marklin now, rather than Piko. But that's just my opinion.

@Goofy
That is a funny remark about the quality. I have several PIKO models that have a five pole motor, LED lighting, Plux22 plug and nice details. Where as the, sometimes, 80€ more expensive Märklin model has old crappy noisy motor and is based on a 30 or more year old mold.

I don't know what you value in quality, but I value great technology just as I value great details and a price that justifies the work put into making the model. I think PIKO models have a great balance between price, tech and detailing, oh and they run very well.

Märklin has let me down several times lately. I am starting to become annoyed with paying too much for too little. Metal housing isn't everything in my world.

I have several Piko locos from their Hobby, Expert and Classic series. I have yet to have a problem with any of them.

The oldest of my Hobby locos, a Taurus electric, has an unregulated decoder which is not very smooth running at low speeds, much the same as a Marklin loco with a 6080 decoder. I plan to change the decoder for something better.

Most of my Piko locos have a level of detail better than Marklin Hobby series but not as good as the full range Marklin.

I also have quite a lot of Piko coaches and wagons. They are very well detailed but delicate. I usually change the wheel-sets for better running through Marklin turnouts.

Same for me. I have two AC Piko loks that I run, as well as multiple freight/tank cars that I also change the wheel sets out. Never had an issue with them and as I said earlier, on some of their more recent tank car releases, I think the level of detail exceeds some of my recent Märklin tank cars

Those old locos have the Uhlenbrock AnDi decoders.
I replaced one with a Tams LD-G 32 decoder, but am unhappy with the results.
I replaced one with the ESU decoder from my Märklin 37537 loco and I'm happy with the results.
I replaced one with the Uhlenbrock decoder from from a newer loco where I installed ESU LokSound and it works well IMHO.

Better get a decoder with attached cables as the AnDi is soldered in and there is no decoder socket in those early Hobby locos.
Notice that the colour scheme of those AnDi decoders matches neither the NMRA standard nor the Märklin standard. The loco board is prepared for a NEM 652 socket and you can go by position on the board, but not by colour.
Almost any decoder will do.

I was thinking ESU personally. Thanks for the insights and your thoughts

PIKO has three levels of quality:

1. HOBBY - red colour on the boxes
2. EXPERT - blue colour on the boxes
3. CLASSIC - dark blue colour on the boxes

It's a great mistake to compare models from different groups, especially Hobby and Classic. Don't forget this, dudes.

I know someone who works at PIKO, and have met many higher-ups from Marklin. (in case I need credentials?)

PIKO has a factory in China that produces only the Expert line products for PIKO. (You know those highly detailed locos and cars with many parts... Can't imagine how much it would cost to pay a German to do that!)
The factory in China is run by onsite German execs. The factory is clean and organized, exactly like a German factory. The workers are full-time PIKO employees who get paid well and are happy to work for a good company. In fact, any time they need to hire there is apparently a long line of people wanting to work for them? Germany produces the HO Hobby line, buildings, and all big scale items. All tooling belongs to PIKO and is owned by them. All buildings and land is theirs as well.

This is how they can watch quality control. It is also how they can produce an item on tooling they own, in a factory they own.

I dare say, this is how you would want your company to run if you had one! Nearly every other train company products, guaranteed to be made in China with little quality control until the containers reach their offices in their stated country. (By then it is too late!) Check the "Made in ___" label on all of your trains... you will see! (All governments require that label.)

PIKO has made some of the best models I own. When PIKO new items are announced, you can basically pre-order the taxi to take you to the model train store on the release date. The model will be there when you arrive. They have a very good track record of delivering on time. The quality is amazing. I love my PIKO models.

There are some US dealers that, especially with the more limited edition/allocation things, will order directly from Germany and don't have any Made in___ stickers on them, and given the very limited volume wouldn't really come afoul of the US law requiring the Made in Label. Anything a dealer sources from the US distributor on the other hand, which would have been basically manufactured/known to be for export would be covered by that US law and hence have the label, and why the mix bag so to speak of whether it has the label or not when purchasing from a US dealer. This is from my personal experience.

That being said, those things that are ordered by dealers that were on the limited allocation or something front, I'd expect to be manufactured in Gyor anyway, well, at least assembled anyway. Don't forget also that just because it has a Made in Hungary sticker, doesn't mean all the components were. With most anything these days, perhaps an Assembled in label might be more appropriate.