Its been a while since I did any soldering on circuit boards ! I guess that's the big downside as it is a kit and therefore you have to solder all the components on yourself. It is very simple to follow the instructions, just a case of "solder by numbers"
Once soldered up it worked first time. There is a sliding on/off switch on the circuit board but I added a small toggle switch into the battery wire that I mounted in the back of the tender.
The other controls are a pair of variable resistors, one for chuff speed, one for volume. The sound is not programmable beyond that, as in it generates one loco sound only. The horn is not of any use as it sounds more like a bleep.
Its quite a big circuit board so won't fit in a little loco !
and comes with a 50mm diameter speaker. I made a back box for the speaker and it is mounted behind the circuit board facing down.
Although the volume seems low on the video it is about right in the flesh.
I too had looked at this previously, but could see no way of synchronizing the chuff to a variable motor speed. Having recently wired this loco to be just on or off to leave running round a continuous loop the variable speed is no longer a problem, I have just tweaked the card to be something like the speed the loco runs at.
For £7.99 I think it is cracking value and good enough for people that just want to add the element of sound to a loco. It isn't specific to a garratt and not suitable for someone looking for an authentic sound. But at the price I could add a second one at the coal bunker end to simulate pistons at both ends
All in I think it was a good investment