Plarail in its present state - What are your thoughts?

They do make HO but it's very limited like once every few months.  But they still churn out NGauge like crazy.

As for Plarail Advance, I feel those are solid collectors that can fetch a higher price in the market.  Especially if they are well-maintained and boxed.  That's one thing with Tomix and Kato, they know people want them in their cases and people don't buy them loose.  But typically train collectors are very good with maintaning their collections.