Thomas versus GeoTrax

[cp5]

My 2 year old is now into trains he'll be 2 1/2 by Christmas and I was thinking about getting him a good train set. He actually has a beginners set of thomas the blue plastic track and Thomas and James Engines. It's the battery operated one. Then he also has the Geotrax with the remote control.

I want to expand on one of these. I don't plan to keep buying both its so expensive and I know before you know it he is going to get bored! For those of you that own either set can you please give me some pros and cons on them. I would appreciate any input!

Thanks in advance!

CP

[SnuggleBuggles]

We have both.

We only have the Conductor's Crossing Thomas set that sells at TRU for $39. We have just a few extra tracks and Cranky the Crane to go with it that were given to him as gifts. He has many engines for it. He seems very happy with the limited set he has.

We also have Geotrax...many, many Geotrax. When we look through the brochures we can count on one hand the things we *don't* have (maybe a slight exaggeration but pretty close!). Geotrax definetly rule in our house. Why we like them? Colorful, so many add ons, cheaper than Thomas(you can buy a pack of 6 tracks and accessories for $10 vs a few bucks for a single Thomas track), battery operated engines that move well (we have a battery operated James for Thomas and he can't get up any hills), so many possiblities and themes. I'm not into the whole GeoMotion stuff - I like some of the plain things better.

Our favorite Geotrax add ons are the High Chimes Clock Tower, any of the elevation set (bridge, mountain...), Big City Lights center, and Rocky Falls Tunnel. be sure and buy older items first because they get discontinued!

At 2 my son had some trouble building with the Geotrax but he was good at telling us how he wanted us to build for him. :)

Now, Geotrax take up a lot of space, both in terms of space needed to build as well as store. That is the biggest downside. I have had 2 problems with the trains but FP was very, very good at resolving our problems. Battery life is pretty good with them too since they power down after a few minutes.

Geotrax would get my vote. They're just cooler. :)

Beth

[hbridge]

We too have geotrax and are very happy with them. My DD loves trains and we thought about doing the whole wooden track with the table and such, but my DH wanted the electric. It's been wonderful expecially since the wooden tracks are everwhere; the bookstore, our children's museum, friends houses; so she plays with them and really enjoys them in other locations. The Geotrax are unusual around here so she and her friends have some "new" toys to play with.