Is the Märklin infrared controller 6070 & Hand Controller 6071 a lost treasure?

My friend never did build his dream layout, but is a firm believer in that the Märklin infrared controller was the best control system ever made for Märklin. I am helping him sell the last part of his HO collection on ebay and he was telling me how the Märklin infrared controller system was the best item ever to be discontinued and lost to Märklin fans. He said it had fewer complications and was more user friendly than DCC. While he never used the set he owned, he did enjoy at a friends layout how he could point the remote from any location in the train room at the ceiling and have the train respond. It was from this great time with a friend that he bought a complete Märklin infrared system. Being a Ham Radio person he said there is less signal interference than with DCC or other systems in an urban area when compared to Märklin infrared controller system.

I feel at the time this came-out in the late 90's that Märklin infrared controller system may have been best at the time, but with how far DCC has advanced in the last 10 years I think that is a hard claim to make. Anyway I just wanted to share my experience and see what people think. Thank you for your time and enjoy your trains.

Here is a picture of some of his Märklin infrared items:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/...trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Best regards,

Tyler

DCC has advanced, but so has Märklin - nowadays we can use iPods/Phones/Pads and more as remotes...

Hi,
I bought a new 2009 release 29161 starter set.
It was very reasonably priced, and came with an infrared controller. The receiver was mounted in the track box that connected to the transformer.

It all worked very well, forward, backward, speed, lights. I believe it could choose up to another 3 locos, but I only used it with the one.

I am about to now buy the 29182 start set, with the same control system. I am looking forward to it.

For a simple, straightforward control system for starters, yes it is the best ever. However, you cannot compare it to the advanced 6021x or 6065x series of digital controllers.

regards
Kimball

With the old system, you can use up to four 6071 and run 80 trains (with some boosters).
The new starter set infrared controller supports four addresses, but don't expect to run more than two trains without booster. Four senders can be used with one receiver.

Yes.
We were using them on the ETE Bay Area modular layout, back in the early 2000.
If my memory serves me well , we had up to 4 IR remote-controls operating simultaneously.
Cheers