Hi guys,

I have done my research and understand why Marklin appears to be NOT considering a CS4 or whatever. I understand the economics, the logistics and the development issues quite well, so that is not my point at all.

But recently something has happened to me that I think I should share:

I am wanting to purchase a CS. My supplier in the past year has been Lippe, and I have ordered Ctracks, and more from them up to a couple thousand euros. However, the CS3 is backordered on their web site and after seeing that all of the other main web suppliers have it inmediately in stock, I asked a week ago for an estimate of availability.

I had been waiting for 3 weeks for it to become available and had it reserved.

Total of 5 weeks on backorder.

To my surprise they answered back promptly as is usual in them ( which is why they get my custom) saying that they believe they will have it mid February. A FEW WEEKS away even further!!!

For such a big dealer, I find this quite extraordinary. Could it rwally be that they expect a novelty of some sort from Marklin? I have had this same experience with Apple products many times.

Just asking myself the question.

Regards from Southern Spain
Santiago

Cheap dealers run out of stock early while not so cheap dealers may still have it in stock.

I don't know where CS3s are assembled, but I think they are made in larger batches.

According to the traffic lights of the Märklin product database, both 60216 and 60226 will be available again.

It depends where you live.
In some states the delivery takes extra time and due to order to fill up store too.
To import cost too for reseller.

Sure Märklin will offer a new digital system but the question is if Märklin want to spend more money by present new digital system.
Maybe a black box like Rocos Z21 but same functional like CS3?
Who knows?

Sales have decreased by more than 10% on the German market for Piko 2025.

It’s hard to believe that someone would develop a new CS4 when others are shutting down their development.

It doesn’t help to just develop new things; instead, they can try to finish what is missing and fix what is wrong in CS3 first.

For those who are hoping for built-in Wifi, it is possible to connect to one thru the LAN socket.

Hi Santiago
For anyone to say that Märklin is NOT developping the item following the CS3 is very bold

My crystal ball is not better than yours BUT:
- the development takes multiple years (4, 5 or more years I don't know but certainly not five minutes)
- Märklin has released Central Units or Central Stations since 1985: 6020, 6021, CS1, CS2, CS3 and the life expectancy of the CS3 has already surpassed the CS1 and CS2 expectancy

The replacement is caused by:
- critical components unavailability
- major processing or storage need changes caused by software requirements
- competition disruption.

Any anouncement of a CS3 replacement would cause an immadiate slow-down (a crash) of sales so Märklin will wait until the last moment and will ensure the stock of CS3 is low before anything

CS3 are produced in low quantities (5000 to 10 000 total) so the production of electronic devices comes ALWAYS in significant quantities and are generally accompanied by slight changes caused by component's evolutions, improvements, etc So much so periodically we see the CS3 as NOT available meaning only you have to wait for the next production run (2000 units or so).

So shortly:
Yes Märklin is working very hard on the next generation of a Central Station because the CS3 is already 10 years old which is huge.
You will discover the next generation at the very last moment (NO ONE will tell you in advance

Cheers
Jean

Let's wait and see I repeat.. be patient!
maybe on Autum news we have some news

Personally, I would stick with a CS3 even if something new is announced in the European Autumn this year. I never buy the first of a new model (this especially includes cars).. Does anyone remember the initial pain with the CS1, CS2 and CS3 - especially for the non-German language speakers?

When the new model comes out, it will be even more expensive, possibly costing 999 euros?

No, a screen is not necessary, a really good web interface is enough. They should save a lot on development costs and unnecessary hardware.

They could also put a bit more effort into update corrections by adding more features to the mDecoderTool application from March 2023.

Most of it is built as a web interface for browsers with open source.

If you use all three different options to configure the decoder, either in CS3 or via browser, the safest option is the Windows application.

Trying to keep all this together is going to be way too heavy a development.

Is it really unnecessary to keep some in stock? From what I gather, they usually replace them during service.