cjbartkowiak

Hello All- I received my WIU from Raymond while I was on vacation over the holidays, so it was waiting for me when we returned. WOW! First Impressions: Very nice!. MTH did a nice design mimicking the TIU but without the TIU size. Packaged nicely and consistent with DCS packaging. I would have like to seen a printed manual but was able to obtain via the Internet. First Setup: I have an older TIU (an original) and had already upgraded to 5.0. Thus, I already had a USB to Serial adapter. In talking with Raymond, we figured that if I could upgrade the TIU with the adapter I had, it should work with the WIU, and it does. My plan was to hook into my home network. My home network does not have WPS enabled, so I proceeded manually, which wasn't problem. I used the Ethernet port with the network set to MTH ("Set the MTH/HOME selector switch to MTH (I know, it seems odd, but trust us)"). Note, I did not have the WIU connected to the TIU and was still able to configured the WIU without a problem. In retrospect, I should have just followed the instructions on page 6, "For Routers that Require Manual Setup (no WPS feature)." But in the end, WIU was up and running connected to my home network. I assigned it a static IP, I don't think this matters since the app searches for the WIU based on broadcast. First Run: WOW! I added my 2 engines (I am a holiday hobbyist in O) and was up an running in seconds. And as stated, it does everything the remote does (short of the Premium features). As a matter of fact, it does it so well, now my wife and kids run the trains. I must say, MTH did a very nice job with the WIU and the APP, hats off to MTH and their vision and design teams. Issues: I have not run into any. I did loose my network connection once from my iPad and had to use the remote to stop and shut down the trains, but that's explainable and not an issue with the WIU. I have not seen the WIU loose its network connection. Summary: This is a GREAT addition to my holiday layout and set. I agree with the posts above, it is easier to run from my phone rather than the iPad, but my wife prefers the iPad. She puts the PRR 2-8-0 #2819 in proto-cast mode and the next thing I here is the Polar Express sound track coming from the engine. In the mean time shes blowing the horn of the PPR NW2 #9171, making all sorts of racket sending the cats running for cover. Again, I must say, MTH did a very nice job with the WIU and the APP, hats off to MTH and their vision and design teams. Craig Bartkowiak Whats Next? A miniature GoPro for the front of the Engine that has a window in the App display???