Thomas the Train VS. Geo Trax

Gotta say....
Thomas is a CLASSIC that can be passed down through the generations. My son is 11 now, and I wont lie to you & say that he playsw/trains much anymore, but I know that all that we have will be used by my grandkids, if I'm lucky enough to have a few! And if I dont, the Thomas set maybe worth some money. It's a classic!

Just I quick thought, my son also loved Trains & Thomas the Train. At the age of 1 1/2 I started getting him the GeoTrax. My mom started getting him Thomas the Train. He is now 5 and still loves to play with the GeoTrax. Thomas is now in a storage box. And anytime I have watched my friends' kids, they always love to play with the GeoTrax, since you can both push the trains around or use the remotes.

Thomas has the highest resale value and you can get top dollar on ebay after they are grown. They can also be a keepsake and handed down to the next generation, which is what we plan on doing. Thomas rides can be had throughout the year (he just came to St. Louis) - a real train ride for you little one.

My now 4 year old son LOVE, LOVES his GeoTrax. He's had them for about a year and a half and we keep adding on. He plays with them everyday. Best purchase we've ever made for him.

Hi S. -

I have a 2 1/2yr old son, and a 3 1/2yr old son. They both like Thomas (we have just about all the toys), but they LOVE the Geo Trax! They both love to build the Trax, and watch the train drive itself. Another upside to Geo Trax - it is much much less expensive to buy additional pieces, and when you buy a set, you get a 20min dvd on trains to watch - maybe that will help your little guy? Whichever way you go, both are a lot of fun!

My son will be 2 1/2 on Monday - he LOVES his Thomas'. We have the wooden ones with the magnets, and he has never had any problems with them. He even figured out (by himself) that if the trains don't "hook up" to turn them around and do it. (The magnets will only allow one way hooking.) He plays with them everyday, and we frequently take one or two with us on errands!

I bought my son two geotrax sets last christmas (he was 16 months old then) and he absolutely loves them. We got the remote controlled truck which was important at that age but now he almost always pushes the trucks and trains around manually. He plays with his geotrax every single day and watches the geotrax dvd almost every morning while I get ready for work. It is by far his favorite toy. He still likes watching Thomas too and got thomas and percy engines from his aunt but the geotrax is definitely his favorite. It is also very well made - he stands on the tracks and has dropped the trains several times but everything still looks and works like new. I highly recommend the geotrax system.

FYI, we got the set that came with the remote controlled airplane and he hardly ever touches it. His sister will sometimes uses the plane but if your son is really just into trains, I wouldn't spend the extra money for the plane.

Hi S.
My son is now 12, but I have hundreds of dollars worth of Thomas stuff that honestly was played with very much. The tracks are rather difficult for a smaller child however. They are easy for a simple shape, but if you want to build something more intricate it can be difficult. They are also rather pricey. I don't know anything about the Geo Trax. Thomas will grow with him, as he gets older and more experienced with the pieces he will be able to come up with endless possibilities. My son played with his until he was about 9. Good Luck!

My son turned 2 in August. We bought him an enormous GeoTrax set off of Craigslist (only gave him about a third of what we bought) for $150 and he plays with it EVERY SINGLE DAY. He loves it! My nephews have Thomas and he has played with them, but obviously prefers the GeoTrax. Sometimes he turns on a remote controlled engine and just watches the train go until it auto time outs. GeoTrax tracks also hole matchbox cars and other wheeled toys. Plus, it is far less expensive than Thomas. FYI - my son watches Thomas and reads the books, but doesn't feel slighted by the GeoTrax. I hope this helps.

S.,

My son has been addicted to Thomas the Train for about 4 years now. He pretty much has it all. My suggestion (after much trial and error with my son) if you go with Thomas, go magnetic. The smaller, metal trains hold up very well. As far as the tracks - we have tons of them and my son never uses them. He would rather use a rug with train tracks on it or "make" his own own tracks on the edge of the carpet or rugs. My son especially likes that he has the same trains that are in the videos. We have never tried the Geo Trax, however, my son does prefer the metal trains to the plastic or wooden. Another thing to consider, at 2 your son's creativity, motor skill, and problem solving skills are probably not advanced enough to put the tracks together himself. However, he can take them apart and get frustrated that they are not together, thus creating a lot of work from you(speaking from experience here). Something to keep in mind :)

Good Luck!

Chris

I have an in-home daycare and our Geo Trax set gets played with every single day. My friend and her 4 year old son came over to play one day. He had a Thomas set at home but fell in love with the Geo Trax set. They have now purchased a set for him and it has taken the place of Thomas.

We bought the Thomas the Train set for my son. He really likes it and does not have problems putting anything together. The only drawback to the thomas the train is that Geotrax offers more extras and add on sets. My son does not know any different so he is happy with Thomas the train. He got it when he was 3 and he is 4 now and can build a track by himself. He is very happy with it. If your son is really into Thomas the train I would go that way.

My 3 1/2 year old is a Thomas freak! We live and breathe Thomas in our house and have ever since his 2nd birthday. We started with the TOMY plastic, larger Thomas sets with the blue tracks/brown tracks. They are cheaper and larger, and it did not take him long to figure out how to connect and disconnect them. But he has watched his friends get the train tables with the magnet ones and is now asking for that for Christmas. :) Oh boy! I would recommend getting the wooden ones, they are more durable. Our plastic ones break quite often, plus the batteries for them are very expensive. You can get the Imaginarium train table, it's about $80, and loads cheaper than the Thomas table, and then get the Thomas wooden trains, if he prefers Thomas. They are compatible with the Imaginarium table and tracks, and it saves you money. Good luck!
P.S. check out Thomas the Train website, they tour the country and might be near you sometime. You take a train ride on the real Thomas train, and meet Sir Topham Hat, and it's a lot of fun for the kids. We had a ball a few weeks ago.

Our son got into trains around the same time and we actually bought the slightly cheaper version of the Thomas tracks from Toys R Us... Imaginarium. They work with any of the other trains and the track sets were a bit cheaper. You can always buy the traditional Thomas pieces to go with it. At first it was tricky for him, and you will have a lot of pieces break, but now he's able to link and unlink them together, only thing he hasn't figure out is what pieces to use to complete the track (making them fit into a perfect circle).

We never tried GeoTrax or the magnetic kind, so we've only had a one-sided experience.

My son LOVED Thomas and played with it for years and years. We looked at GeoTrax and they are cool but Thomas just has more to offer in terms of imagination. You can head to the Whittle Shortline Railroad for more train tracks without the Learning Curve price tag BUT the Thomas is guaranteed for life. My son accidently broke a few of the pieces of the track and they were replaced - no questions asked.

My oldest, who just turned 8, always loved Thomas, and loved the magnet sets etc, and still plays with them, and now his younger brother who is 2.5 plays with them as well. The wooden tracks and magnet set is what we have. You can add on tracks etc... A little pricey, but we've had them so long, and as much as they get played with, it's well worth it!

We have the GeoTrax set and keep building on it. Both of my kids love it!

My son just turned 4 and has been into trains (Thomas included)since before he was 1! We got the GeoTrax set for his 2nd birthday, and have been adding to it since. He has almost all of the stations, and half of the engine sets. He definately does not get tired of it. He plays with the Thomas set at his preschool. If your son is like mine, it really doesn't matter if he gets to play with the Geotrax at home, or the Thomas set at school...he is happy. I think it is just a matter of personal preference. I just wanted the Geotrax because I thought it looked more "grown-up" and he would play with it for years. We still enjoy watching Thomas and reading about Thomas, even though he doesn't have the train set. I hope this helps you out a little.

I got my grandson the huge GeoTrax set for Christmas last year when he was a little over 2. We've added to it when things go on sale. His dad loves it as much as he does! He loves to operate the remote control trains and I think it has really started him out with pretend play. For his birthday (Nov 2) we got one of the Geo Trax airplane add-ons - there are 3, I think. We also bought the other two plus two more remote control planes that we will give him at Christmas. We went with GeoTrax because the reviews mentioned how sturdy the system was and how well it stood up to toddler play. Plus, I think it is much cheaper than Thomas the Train pieces - and you won't have to be lured into then buying the train table, too - which is pricey.
We're all for GeoTrax in our family!

When my son was 18 month old, my mother in law bought him his first geo trax set. It was a small set, but it kept him interested. Since I was new to the "big boy toys", I did some looking around and it seemes to me that the geo trax is a bit more child friendly, durable and such than the thomas products. I also think geo is a little more less expensive. Now we have 2 huge tubs of geotrax, and my favorite par is they are easy to clean! My son, is 5 now, with a 3 y/o brother as well, and both my boys love the geo trax. They do like thomas, but thomas is also a 'character' they see a lot on TV.

Today, I am voting for Geo Trax, I have much more experience with them and enjoy that set more than the Thomas pieces that we have had.

Our boys have both Geo Trax and Thomas (wooden, larger plastic, and smaller diecasts). They both love all of the Thomas stuff, hate the Geo Trax. Also the wooden Thomas stuff can be interchanged with other wooden tracks. Walmart has some cheap ones, so it may be less expensive to add on in the long run. Good luck!

Hi S.,

My children have all went through the Thomas and Geo Trax stage, and all the rest of our Thomas items went in the garage sale this fall. The Geo trax on the other hand are still all over our basement. Our 5 year old daughter is still requesting Geo Trax for Christmas, and my 9 and 8 year olds and our neighbor kids all still have fun playing geo trax with her. So as much as I hated to see Thomas go bye-bye the Geo trax have entertained them longer.

L. S.

My BFF kids have Thomas and we have GeoTrax. Although Thomas has all the marketing stuff behind it, I think the GeoTrax hold up MUCH better in the long run than Thomas. Granted, I am talking exclusively about the motorized units. My BFF has had to replace the Thomas Train multiple times in the past 3 years for her son. In 12 trains we have owned of GeoTrax we have only had 1 go belly up and I think that was because it finally had taken one too many blows....Initially, with the GeoTrax, there is a need for a lot of batteries, but thankfully the trains turn themselves off after so many minutes of lack of use. Thomas does not. So what may appear to take more batteries only does on the onset but not over the long term.

As for the tracks...I LOVE the GeoTrax. The options are limitless..which cannot be said about Thomas (lack of elevated or loop the loops). You can even buy additional layouts from some sellers on ebay in case you get stumped on how to make new and more interesting tracks. The tracks are sturdy and resilient (I can't tell you how many times my kids have "accidently" crashed into them with no breakage!)...They are tough, tough, tough and are extremely well built!

As for the cost...my recommendation is to look at the used GeoTrax on ebay...a lot are being sold as kids are growing out of it...frankly, I don't see us growing out of it anytime soon because we make it a HUGE family affair. And the new GeoTrax out this X-mas is really exciting! FLYING planes! Sooo cool! If you want something really exciting for your kiddo definitely buy the elevated track and the clock tower...it is SOOO cool to run 3 or 4 trains at the same time up and down different elevations! It'll keep his attention for hours! It certainly did when we started giving the GeoTrax to my son when he was 2!

Now, if you are wanting something that is non-electrical, then your wooden trains are a classic. But frankly, I don't see anything non-electrical holding a childs attention for very long this day and age. Just my opinion...it's what my 3 & 5 year old gravitate to at least.

My advice is one sided also, my son is 3 now and at 2 we opted for the Thomas Take-a-long set, it's the plastic track and magnet trains.

Maybe it won't last as long, but i love that choice for now because the Thomas trains are people to him .. James and Thomas get in fights and go in time-out. Salty steals Godon's coal tender and Gordon chases him around the track .... i don't think he's use that much imagination if the trains were generic to him.

I have to set up the track and he likes me to set it up in a circle so he can sit in the middle .. the only building we have purchased so far is the round house so we don't have a lot of $$ investment in it.

Just remember, whatever you get needs to be compatible with everything. We got the Thomas-clone set with the wooden tracks that are standard sized, and his relatives got him matching sets for holidays, and then we just bought the individual trains with batteries and hooks. (They have Thomas versions of those, too.) We'd had the plastic tracks initially b/c we thought the same thing, but then they switched plastic track types and we were stuck with useless track. The wooden tracks are made to fit with any other kind of wooden track, but the plastic aren't. And they are meant to fit with almost every kind of train out there.
Just something to think about as you make the decision.

We were given a wooden train set when my oldest was two. It had the magnets. The kids could play for hours building. My son loved the trains and my daughter liked the people,trees, buildings, and animals. Well then they both became interested in other things like wiggles, little people, cars, etc. We became more focused on buying those sets but the train set was something to get out on occasion. But my second son LOVES trains. At first he was fine with any regular old train. As long as it moved. But then he was introduced to Thomas (not by me, I can't stand watching Thomas) and he just thinks it is the best. If we see a Thomas toy in the store we have to stop and let him look. I personally wanted to get something without characters. The geo tracks look really cool. I am sure he would have been happy with them too but Thomas and Friends are his buddies. He sleeps with those things. They have held up just fine. We have the TOMY blue tracks that his great grandma bought him. It has an engine that you wind back and it goes on it's own. Then he has the tan plastic tracks with battery operated engines that also have adapters so that you can connect it to the blue tracks. They also came out with remote control engines for some of the Thomas characters. The control is very easy to use. My son can't make a complete circle with the tracks on his own but he really doesn't care most of the time. He can put the pieces together just fine. He picked it up really fast. I guess from watching his brother and sister. So while I think Geo Tracks is really cool I think kids have a greater bond with Thomas(at least if they are big fans of the show).

I am a mother to a 16 YO and a grandmother to a 6 YO we've tried several different train sets over the years and Geo Trax have been the favorite. The remote control is so much fun, everyone can get involved! You don't get in each others way. The ease of putting the track together is a great plus, you will still need to help as getting the tracks to go somewhere takes a little thinking LOL. With Geo you can also get airplanes, the new air set looks really interesting, I might have to get that for Christmas even though we have the old airport, this one looks like it does loop-de-loops!
The kids liked carrying Thomas around it was more of a car like toy, the tracks we're so many sizes, kinds and harder to keep together that we gave up on the tracks and used the Thomas on the floor.

My son is now 7 1/2 and he loved his geo trax train. He actually had both kinds of trains (and still does), but his favorite was definitely the geo trax. I think the idea of it running on it's own and having the different levels of track really made it more fun for him. The trains are definitely something I will hang on to for my children's children. I really don't think you can go wrong with either.

My 4YO son has 2 different Thomas sets and several GeoTrax sets. He loves them all. We have the wood track Thomas trains which also work with brands from Wal-Mart & ToysRUs. We have the Take-A-Long Thomas sets with the grey plastic track. And we have several GeoTrax sets. (He has lots of grandparents, aunts & uncles.) Anyway, here are the pros & cons of each.

The wood track system has the most add-ons available by a huge margin over the other sets. Plus there are compatible sets available in several brands, making the cost less. You don't have to have a train table for them. We don't. We keep them in bins in his room and pull them out to play. He's been playing with this set since he was about 18 months. It's easy for him to put together and take apart and there are many add-on packs of track, buildings, trains, etc. The track is extremely durable and most pieces flip over to be used on either side. One drawback, the painted wood trains are more suseptible to wear than either of the other 2 sets. The paint can get chipped or worn on the corners if your son tends to throw or drop them, but they still operate fine. My son is pretty careful with his, but even so, he doesn't seem to care if they are worn and plays with them anyway. These sets will stand the test of time and still have value when your son is throught with them.

The Take-A-Long Thomas sets have 2 different types of track and you'll need adaptors to work between the 2. It's more difficult for my son to put the tracks together himself than with the wood track. There are no other compatible brands. The track seems durable enough, and the metal trains are extremely durable. Great if your son likes to take toys with him places. I know Walmart and Target carry these, and probably some others. I can't remember if ToysRUs has them or not.

The GeoTrax set track is very durable. My son can put the track pieces together by himself, but needs help with the bridges, ramps, switches, and such, like those that come with the Central Station. It's more complicated than he can do on his own. There are way fewer options for trains than with the wood sets. The wheels on the trains are plastic and prone to wear or nicks when dropped, which then can cause problems with running. My son does love the remote and that the trains move on their own and they will run without track, but stay away from running them on carpet. He also has the flying airport and likes it. There aren't many track add-on packs to make all the systems connect together without major calculations on Mom or Dad's part, and no other compatible pieces made by anyone other than Fisher Price. The buildings, track, and trains are somewhat bulky and hard to store. Not such a good deal if your son has a small room. My son just got this for Christmas last year (at age 3) and has added more sets since then. He is very good with trains, tracks, and other mechanical things, but I think it would have been frustrating for him when he was younger.

Depends on exactly what you're looking for, but I would definitely stay away from the blue plastic battery operated Thomas sets. The track is flimsy and the trains are cheap plastic. Not durable enough for young kids your sons age.

Hope this helps!

Good Morning S., Our 3 yr old grandson loves the Geo trax just like you he can put them together and move the shapes etc.. He does have a couple of Thomas TT things, but no tracks, he just runs the little trains around with the rest. He has several TTT books and DVD's and he seems happy with that.

My Brother in law has 2 little boys 5-6, they have bought them the larger TTT things, built a table for the tracks , and can be put away easier for them. These are quite expensive for the larger models. They adopted them both from Russia when they were 7 and 11 months old. The youngest Noah had some disabilities so the larger toys were easier for him. He is Fine now growing normally, typical little fella. Sweet as pie.

Personally I would stay with Geo Trax, functional, interchangeable tracks, and just plan fun. Let your imagination flow.

Happy Birthday soon little man
K. Nana of 5

hi S....i think it is definitely a personal opinion. my son has magnet thomas, wood thomas, lego thomas, and battery thomas...plus we have the geo trax as well. he rarely plays with the geo trax. i'm not sure what it is...but they usually just sit around. we got into thomas when he was about 18 months old and he is now 3 1/2 years old and still has this strange obsession with thomas and friends. he can do the track and link them together just fine. have you thought about getting the lego trains? they are super duper easy to put together and they are farely big in size. i wish they would have had them a few years ago and we would have definitely started out with that. as far as pricing...i think it just depends where you buy the products. i can find thomas stuff at discount pricing on the internet so that's the route i usually take. i haven't looked on-line for geo trax. good luck to you and you could always buy a couple of each and just see what your son would prefer to have. that's how we started and now we have a shrine of thomas everywhere! happy birthday to him!!

Our sons still love wooden Thomas. It was a bit difficult for them to use Thomas when they were younger but they learned through trial and error. They are now 8 and 10 and still play with their Thomas. The plus side was that there are wooden trains made that are realistic like Union Pacific, Amtraks, etc. which work on the tracks too. They also talk about keeping their Thomas and having their children play with the trains when they grow up, get married and have children.

We recently looked at every imaginable train set out there for my little boy for his birthday and we ended up with the geotrax. The Toysrus website has a bunch of reviews for all the different sets. Right now they have an incredible deal on the larger imaginarium set(works with Thomas but so much cheaper) that comes with everything trains, tracks, table, and LOTS of extras($129). They also have bonus items in the geotrax train station set(that's what we got) at toysrus($49). The geo trax are just so easy to use and they seem unbreakable(at least so far). The geotrax are also incredibly easy(and less expensive) to add on to in the future.

We started collecting Thomas for my 3 year old and he loves them!My 2 year old niece plays with them and so does my 5 year old daughter.Anyway one thing I liked about them is that when he gets really into his playing and pulls them up of the track the magnets are strong enough to hold together instead of all the trains falling to the floor!There are 2 different types of trains and tracks.There are wooden tracks and they are more pricey and so are the trains that go on them.The trains are wooden as well and a slight bit bigger and they are the ones with the bigger stronger magnets.Then there are plastic tracks that go with the plastic train cars.They are a little cheaper and smaller.They are called take along.I personally think the wooden sets are alot more durable.We got a Geotrax set for his birthday.I asked him if he wanted to keep it or take it back and get more thomas stuff.It was a really cute set but I took it back because we are really happy with the thimas stuff.I just think the wooden tracks stay together better and that he would out grow other train sets.They are pricey but you can look at garage sales,ebay,craigslist,even sometimes thrift stores (if they are unaffordable for you like they were for me.) Alot of times Target will put the sets on sale or even clearance.

We have both. My child personally loves the Thomas tracks better. We do have to put it together for him but, now that he is almost 4 he can do some of it with help. He also got both sets for his second birthday and is still playing with the Thomas sets. We got him the Thomas Trackmaster and add new trains every birthday,Christmas, etc. Thomas also helped him learn his colors, numbers and now his letters. He loves it! We almost never use our Geo Trax anymore but, Thomas is played with everyday since he was two. Was the best toy we ever bought!