Thomas Trackmaster vs GeoTrax

Love the GeoTrax. We had some Thomas, too, that were given to us but my 4 yr. old has outgrown Thomas and my 2 1/2 yr. old never got into Thomas, so they don't really play with it. GeoTrax covers all ages.

My experience has nothing to do with the specific toys you mentioned, but I'll tell you anyway. Thomas is expensive, and it's a phase. My 4 year old has the Thomas Duplo set. He LOVED Thomas when he got it at age 2. But now he doesn't really like Thomas anymore, so he doesn't like to play with the set anymore. He mostly gets out the Duplos and builds whatever else he wants.
In my experience, generic characters last longer in a child's every-changing tastes!

Hi S.,
My 3 year old loves trains as well. We have Train table and many Thomas wooden trains that a friend passed on to us. He loves the trains. We also have GeoTrax. We started collecting GeoTrax when my 5 year old was 3. Now they both play with them and enjoy them very much. They do have both remote trains and manual ones. GeoTrax says 2 1/2 and older. Both my kids were over 3 before they could really put the tracks together. Since you have a one year old, I would recommend starting out with a small set and train and then build as he gets older. It's something they can enjoy well past age 5. Hope this helps! C. M.

We have GeoTrax -- about a billion of them. My son loves to play with them and I have to disagree with the earlier poster about them not being able to make very many configurations -- my husband and son have built tons of tracks and they are never the same! They are extremely durable. Also, you don't have to get the ones with the remote controls (and even the ones with remotes can be played with by pushing them). The remotes are EXTREMELY easy to use. We got GeoTrax for my son when he was 1 1/2 and he caught on to the remote and how to put the tracks together right away. So to answer your question: GeoTrax have motorized trains and unmotorized ones and they are extremely durable.

I like GeoTrax, but they take up a lot of room and the configuration isn't as flexible as the Thomas tracks. You can do a lot more with the Thomas tracks.

My 4 yr old daughter asked for a train at christmas. I haven't heard of the trackmaster but we got her a GeoTrax. It has been a great toy. My trains are battery powered with a remote controller but I have seen sets that aren't. They are easy for even a 1 to 2 year old to use. They'll need help setting up the track of course, and Dad will want extra track pieces (you can buy just a track set)so that he can be more creative with bump and turns. Ours came with a factory and a grain mill, when you stop the train(with a lever) in front it turns gears/windmill in the buildings and loads the little bales into your train. My girls love that. My church nursery has a set with a sawmill and the saw spin when the child pushes down on the chimney the trains on that set are manual not battery powered. We did have a problem with one of our trains at first, but we called customer service and with minimal effort were sent a replacement and have had no other problems. Hooray for great service! We have had it for 3 years now and it has held up well(3 kids). It is easy for young kids to work unlike the old Lionel type my brother had. I would recommend it!

Hi S., My husband and I started buying the GeoTrax train set for our boys when it first came out. I really love it. It has tons of stuff that you can add to it and make different tracks with it. The only thing I will say is make sure you have plenty of batteries. The trains themselves have to have batteries as well as the remotes that make them move. I do believe one of them takes AA batteries and the other takes AAA. I have a 7,6,3 and 2 year old and they all four love playing with it.

I like the Thomas trackmaster.

Hi there...we have the Geo Trax set and absolutelty love it! I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good, durable train set. YOu can buy as many diffetent sets as you want and then interchange them. Some are automated and some are not, but that is nice because it encourages imagination. I have a one year old and a 4 year old and they both love it!

K.

We got the GeoTrax trains for my son when he was 2 1/2.. he's now 4 1/2 and still plays with them. He loves the remote control. We had an initial blip with one of trains frying on Christmas day BUT, Fisher-Price immmediately replaced the train and we've had no other issues. We have an older set (no little men) and we have a ton of stuff. We love it. You can find it on Ebay too. I know there are some push trains but most are the remote control. We've found it to be a great toy. We expect it to be useful for at least another year or two. Whenever we reconfigure the track it becomes new again. It does take a lot of batteries.. 6 AAA's (3 for the controller, 3 for the train). THis year they also have a remote control airplane set which we are giving James for Christmas.

** I should also note that I didn't want Thomas Specific things, I just wanted trains. My son was never big into Thomas and I just wanted something that wasn't connected to a TV program etc.

Hi S.,

In my experience with my five year old son and his friends... My son has the wooden Thomas train set. Not all of it is official Thomas but it's compatable. He loves it. Some of his friends have the motorized type sets. The trains are all broken or out of batteries so they just push them along by hand anyway. It makes for more interactive play to set up the tracks and drive the trains yourself rather than just turning them on and watching them go. That gets old pretty fast. I would recommend the non motorized sets. Way more fun and durable.

We have GeoTrax and they are awesome. They are so durable that the kids really can't break them. They truly have to try hard. We haven't had anything break so far. They take 6 AAA batteries, but automatically turn off to save batteries. We've had them for 5 years and have only had to change the batteries once in them. They make noises, go forward and backward. I speak highly of them and would recommend them to anyone.

Hi S.,
I have two daughters one 5 y/o in November and the other one just turned 2 y/o we have a GeoTrax and the girls love it. I think it is very durable... at least it can take the punishment the girls give it. We will probably add to it this Christmas. We have a thomas set as well, but it isn't motorized like the Geotrax. It's always nice to have a variety, that way you can switch them out and they don't get bored!
Good luck!
B.

We have tons of GeoTrax and they are great. My son got them last Christmas when he was 3 and still uses them 9 months later. My 2 year old daughter can also use them. She is actually playing with them as I type. They are durable enought that they can stand up to her jamming them together or walking on them. I also like that you can start little and build your collection over time. I thing our first set was $19.95 at Toys R Us. There are also 2 different remote control engines that run on different frequencies. Very important if you have the possibility of fighting over the remote. Finally, and most importantly, all of the pieces that I have looked at are molded plastic and not painted - no lead paint!

My son got Geo trax a few years ago, he loves them. They are very durable and there are so many accessories you can add for other holidays or birthdays. We have the "big city" he got from santa last year. I babysit boys in his age group (he is four) and they love building the city and putting the tracks together. They have a HUGE variety to choose from.
My son just has a big plastic tub he keeps his train stuff in and all the thomas and the geo are in this tub and he has no problem getting what goes where.

Hi S.,
I have a little boy who is almost 4. He doesn't get into Thomas very much & just loves trains in general. He has a Geo-Trax set & really likes it. He wants more Geo Trax for his b-day. They are operated by an easy to use remote control although you can push them as well. They do seem pretty durable. I think they're great except for the fact that they go through quite a few batteries. The engine & the train uses batteries. There are some large sets for sale on Craig's list or you can find some good sales at Christmas time even at Kohl's. Where do you live & how much do you charge for a haircut? :)
T.

We have regular Thomas wooden train tracks but decided to "upgrade" to the GeoTrax last Christmas, also turns 3 that month and it was the theme of the season. He loved/s it and plays with it often. They are tough and colorful. Lots of sets to add on. This year we will add the airplane set! Only downside, batteries and it takes up a lot of space. Go Fisher Price! They make the best toys I think.

We play with GeoTrax at a friends house and I was really impressed with how easy it was for my kids to use it. It was durable too. It takes up a lot more storage space than our wooden Thomas set though. The other thing is that our wooden set has a lot of different brands combined and they all work together. It also doesn't use batteries as the GeoTrax use alot. If you go with that set I'd also go with a couple good sets of rechargables and a charger. The kids were pretty disappointed when they ran out in the middle of play.

My son who's 3 loves the Geotrax train. SOmetimes he'll use the remote to make them move on their own but he also loves to just push the trains along the tracks. You can buy additional trains and cargo trains for the Geotrax which is what we have done and he liked to mix all the pieces up to create new trains. Melissa and Doug also make a wooden train set (around $100). Everyone I know who has the Melissa and Doug train love it and say it was worth every penny. I personally like the good old fashined wooden trains but the Geotrax is a good buy too.

We have the geotrax and my boys love them, we get another set to add to it every birthday or Christmas. I love that you can add to them and make it a whole different set. They have played with them for years and it is still their favorite toy. They are extremely durable. We have had other expensive wooden tracks break on us. The other thing I like is that they are easy to use. My almost 7 year old loves them, but my almost 2 year old can do put the track together as well.

When my twin boys turned two, I decided between the exact sets you are asking about for their birthday. I decided on the Thomas set only because it didn't have the remote control for it like the GeoTrax. I thought the remote would be too complicated for them at that age, plus it was one more thing to get lost and make the set "not work." The Thomas set just has the switch on the train itself that you can turn on to make it go. That way, if they have the train, they can make it work. They don't have to find both parts. Anyway... as far as the sharing goes, my neighbor's boy has the exact same train set the boys got, and brings a train down to our house every time he comes to play. He has the exact same trains. His mom found an inconspicuous spot on each train they have that's the same and put his initials on it with a sharpie. We haven't gotten them mixed up yet. I don't have anything against the GeoTrax. My daughter's friend has that set and really likes it. His mom says it's pretty durable as well. But he's also older. My daughter and he are 4, which is more the age recommendation for that set anyway. Hope that helps some! Oh... and as far as the "Thomas" name: My boys don't even know who Thomas is, or what the "names" of any of the other trains are. They just like trains in general. If they were really into Thomas the show, I could see the trains being a phase. They may still be a phase. But it's not because they like the show.

We have GeoTrax. My kids love them. It has tons of accessories and is very durable.

Hello!

We bought my son the GeoTrax station and one addition to it so far. He loves it and hasn't stopped playing with it. It is very durable and nothing has broke on it so far. I love that it has a motorized and non-motorized trains, it has lots of additions to it.
For Christmas we bought him the new plane attachment. It has a track for the plane to zoom around on (motorized), but it's station attaches to the train track.

To compare... our day care has the Thomas Train set and I have been told that it is already broke (tracks and the trains).
My son also has a wooden train set and he doesn't play with it near as much as his GeoTrax.

Hope this helps.

my son has goe trax and we have really liked them. the wooden train set he had wore out much faster than the geo trax. he's had them for several years and still really likes them and everything still works! we've never had the trackmaster toys, but geo trax have so many different sets that can all go together, and they seemed to be a better price than most of the thomas the train sets. good luck

We have GeoTrax and love it. It can be configured in so many different ways. I don't know about the Thomas Trackmaster so I can't give it a fair comparison, but we do love our GeoTrax!