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Piko Vs Marklin - which gives you better value for your money?
 Joined: 21/09/2012(UTC) Posts: 1,730 Location: Toronto
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Hello, Everyone: I am considering buying a Piko loco. For less than $73.00 (plus shipment, taxes and duty  ), I get two pantographs and a whole loco. See below. The question is, how does Piko measure up with Marklin? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. baggio attached the following image(s): |
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Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,446
Location: DE-NW
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Hi! Originally Posted by: baggio  The question is, how does Piko measure up with Marklin? Piko offers three product lines: Hobby, Expert, and Classic. IMHO all give good value for the money. The loco you are showing is from the Hobby line. It runs pretty fast. The Expert line gives slightly better detailing for a slightly higher price. The Classic models show very good detailing, have better decoders - at a much higher price (and mostly include goodies bag with small plastic parts to be installed by the owner). When buying Piko Hobby models, make sure the loco has a socket for the decoder (early models have dirt cheap decoders that are soldered in (no socket)). Avoid those unless you are able to install a new decoder. The loco on the picture is a new one with plugged-in decoder. If you don't mind that the locos have plastic bodies, give Piko a try. AFAIK both Hobby and Expert are Made in China. |
Regards Tom --- "In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS  |
 2 users liked this useful post by H0
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 Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,870 Location: Gibraltar, Europe
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Hi Silvano,
The Piko Expert and Hobby ranges are very good value and comparable to the Marklin Hobby or "My world" locos. I would agree with Tom that the earlier Hobby decoders are not so good. I have a Piko Taurus like the one in your picture but in different colours, and the decoder performance is very primitive, somewhat like Marklin Delta decoders.
Be careful with the pantographs, they are of similar construction to the Marklin ones but maybe more fragile. |
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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1 user liked this useful post by RayF
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 Joined: 27/06/2012(UTC) Posts: 3,478 Location: Holland
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Hi Baggio,
We have a 3 rail AC digital Piko railcar (item 57320) and after 2 years of use we are still very satisfied.
From day one the motor sounds a bit squeaky at very low speeds, but this is not really a problem.
We run her analog with a 280A transformer from 1949 and even the decoder remains good and is not toasted by the slightly too high voltage of this transformer. The quality of Piko is OK for me.
Marco |
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1 user liked this useful post by kweekalot
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 Joined: 18/10/2012(UTC) Posts: 1,404
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Originally Posted by: baggio Hello, Everyone: I am considering buying a Piko loco. For less than $73.00 (plus shipment, taxes and duty ), I get two pantographs and a whole loco. See below. The question is, how does Piko measure up with Marklin? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. If i am right, From the UK to your neck of the woods theres know import tax! If this is right i found a as new Marklin Torus for £125 from an English dealer. I have used these peaple and thay offer good service. Please find here there list- of witch 39355 is an OBB torus with lots of extras! such as long distant headlights and air horn and close couplers! http://www.contikits.com/3%20Rail.htmMarklin info on 39355 http://www.maerklin.de/p...=&wishednumber=38615Hope this helps as the Marklin torus is not a hobby loco, cheers Dan danmarklinman attached the following image(s): |
Marklin and Piko era 4 SNCB , Marklin wagons
Wiking model car Fan
Faller fan including car system
Instagram: marklin1978
Wiking fan
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1 user liked this useful post by danmarklinman
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Joined: 28/11/2007(UTC) Posts: 8,234 Location: Montreal, QC
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Importation by Canada Post adds Federal and Provincial Tax, plus $8 Canada Post handling fee. It is ridiculous that in many cases the fee is actually higher than the taxes.
If your order is under $100 it stands a chance of getting though customs without being stopped, so no tax and no fee.
If you want a nice Taurus, I would consider one of the Maerklin models with the amazing C-Sine motor or either the Jaegerndorfer or Roco models in fancy livery.
Regards
Mike C
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1 user liked this useful post by mike c
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 Joined: 20/12/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,300 Location: manteo, nc
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I can tell you from experience, the Piko Taurus doesn't like R-1 curves. It'll bog down because the radius is ttoo tight for it.
Bill |
Marklin HO and Z also Hornby 00 and US 2-rail |
1 user liked this useful post by obxbill
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Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,870 Location: Gibraltar, Europe
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Originally Posted by: danmarklinman Originally Posted by: baggio Hello, Everyone: I am considering buying a Piko loco. For less than $73.00 (plus shipment, taxes and duty ), I get two pantographs and a whole loco. See below. The question is, how does Piko measure up with Marklin? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. If i am right, From the UK to your neck of the woods theres know import tax! If this is right i found a as new Marklin Torus for £125 from an English dealer. I have used these peaple and thay offer good service. Please find here there list- of witch 39355 is an OBB torus with lots of extras! such as long distant headlights and air horn and close couplers! http://www.contikits.com/3%20Rail.htmMarklin info on 39355 http://www.maerklin.de/p...=&wishednumber=38615Hope this helps as the Marklin torus is not a hobby loco, cheers Dan Hi Dan, I've bought from Contikits before, and frankly, it's a bit of a lottery. One loco I bought from them needed over £80 spent on it to bring it back to working order and complete. Another time I bought two coaches from them and one coach was missing a wheel set completely. This Taurus they are selling has been in their inventory for years, and £125 is a very low price, so I suspect there may be issues with it. A new Piko Taurus will be around that price and will hopefully be brand new and without problems. I would go with the Piko. |
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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1 user liked this useful post by RayF
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Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,870 Location: Gibraltar, Europe
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Originally Posted by: obxbill I can tell you from experience, the Piko Taurus doesn't like R-1 curves. It'll bog down because the radius is ttoo tight for it.
Bill Mine runs perfectly fine through R1, though it does slow down a bit because of the decoder not being load regulated. The newer versions will not have that problem. |
Ray
Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways
Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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1 user liked this useful post by RayF
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Joined: 18/10/2012(UTC) Posts: 1,404
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Originally Posted by: RayF Originally Posted by: danmarklinman Originally Posted by: baggio Hello, Everyone: I am considering buying a Piko loco. For less than $73.00 (plus shipment, taxes and duty ), I get two pantographs and a whole loco. See below. The question is, how does Piko measure up with Marklin? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. If i am right, From the UK to your neck of the woods theres know import tax! If this is right i found a as new Marklin Torus for £125 from an English dealer. I have used these peaple and thay offer good service. Please find here there list- of witch 39355 is an OBB torus with lots of extras! such as long distant headlights and air horn and close couplers! http://www.contikits.com/3%20Rail.htmMarklin info on 39355 http://www.maerklin.de/p...=&wishednumber=38615Hope this helps as the Marklin torus is not a hobby loco, cheers Dan Hi Dan, I've bought from Contikits before, and frankly, it's a bit of a lottery. One loco I bought from them needed over £80 spent on it to bring it back to working order and complete. Another time I bought two coaches from them and one coach was missing a wheel set completely. This Taurus they are selling has been in their inventory for years, and £125 is a very low price, so I suspect there may be issues with it. A new Piko Taurus will be around that price and will hopefully be brand new and without problems. I would go with the Piko. If i am onist i have had problems through a car transporter turning up damaged. But he did give me a discount on one more carrage i wanted! The loco is cheap as he cant get rid of his three rail stock! As he said there is no market for it in the UK  |
Marklin and Piko era 4 SNCB , Marklin wagons
Wiking model car Fan
Faller fan including car system
Instagram: marklin1978
Wiking fan
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1 user liked this useful post by danmarklinman
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Joined: 20/12/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,300 Location: manteo, nc
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Originally Posted by: RayF Originally Posted by: obxbill I can tell you from experience, the Piko Taurus doesn't like R-1 curves. It'll bog down because the radius is ttoo tight for it.
Bill Mine runs perfectly fine through R1, though it does slow down a bit because of the decoder not being load regulated. The newer versions will not have that problem. Interesting. Mine always sounded like it was in a bind and slowed down so I sold it. Oh well.  Bill |
Marklin HO and Z also Hornby 00 and US 2-rail |
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