Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Considering it's a toy, I think it deserves five stars but let me lay out an engineer's critique :D Using this engine almost everyday with my son has brought out some design flaws. First the pros: - very strong engine, on flat tracks, it can pull 10-15 cars. Struggles to pull that many cars around a curve or up a slope, but that's more because it struggles with traction, not power. - Batteries last reasonably long - Nice switch to toggle between automatic and manual mode (my son imposes a manual mode a lot of times on all players) - Quick stop button - Goes in reverse too! Cons: to be fair, I am nitpicking - my biggest gripe, why doesn't it have a magnet in the front? My son makes long trains that sorely need to two engines to drive the train smoothly. Despite having two of these, I can only use one at a time and only in the front. VERY frustrating. The little freight engine that Brio sells lacks power to be a good secondary engine. - Only two wheels are driven - this gives it less traction than a James engine I have from another set. Having more wheels driven would have utilized it's powerful motor much better and given the engine much better traction. As noted above, it has the power to pull 10+ cars up a slope but it lacks traction making it's front end lift up when going uphill with a heavy load. - When going backwards, the rear independent floating piece doesn't track well and the big wheels struggle to find traction to go uphill backwards. So basically the reverse feature is mostly wasted. - Wish they made it a bit bigger - 1) accommodate 2xAA size batteries (2) give it more weight in the front to pull a longer train All said, this is the best toy engine in our stable. The Tomica black steam engine doesn't have sufficient torque to pull a long train, is too light to have good traction, and uses hooks so isn't compatible with the magnet linked train sets. The Thomas and Friends engines are similar to the Tomica. Thomas and Friends engines that use magnets don't have very good drive mechanism and often get stuck on the tracks. Brio - Please please make this engine with magnets at both ends! We will sure buy three - one in front, second for middle and a third at rear of a long train :)