Jeppesen Sim Charts?

[kevinc5 15]

Anyone using Jeppesen Sim Charts? Opinions? Can they be opened in a window while running FS2002 in 3d mode?Thanks

[N562Z 4]

Kevin:I use them, love them, and wouldn't leave my virtual home flying ILS without them. For the most part they seem to work fine while FS2002 is running 3D Fx mode. I do occasionally get a system crash or FS 2002 lock-up with what I've only been able guess by process of elimination was caused by the Jepp program's "Flight Tracker" feature - a potentially nice idea which would allow you to chart your aircraft's position superimposed over a particular Jepp chart. This is very rare and seems to have been fixed by disabling the feature during a software reload. Well worth the benefits of having the charts if you fly airliners or a lot of ILS flight plans in general aviation aircraft.Alex ChristoffN562ZMinneapolis, MNThermobulb@aol.com

[Guest jase439]

Don't waste your money. I bought these last year and was terribly disappointed with the quality and accuracy of these charts. The software was buggy and the images were poor. They were outdated (like 1998 or something) and had no means by which you could update them. Support was third-rate.The only good thing I have to say about it was the money-back guarantee. I returned my set for the full refund.You can find all that you need online.J

[michal 44]

>...and the images were poor. Are you talking about Jeppesen charts ?. Don't confuse Sim Plates (not from Jeppesen) with Sim Charts (from Jeppesen). You can say whatever you want about the Jeppesen product but quality of image is fantastic - but I agree that the other product - Sim Plates have very poor image quality.Michael J.

[Guest]

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you need Sim Plates or Charts to utilize ILS, SID's and STAR's. There are a lot of websites out there that offer free charts just look under a search engine etc. Do not waste your money!For US charts try www.echoplates.comGood Luckpilot 737

[Guest jase439]

I was, in fact, referring to Jeppesen Sim Charts. Although I was running version 1.2 or 1.5 (or some such thing). Based on the images on their website, the 2.0 product looks entirely revamped - so I'm probably not qualified to make a judgement on the newer release. I can tell you that v1.x looked nothing of the quality shown in the screenshots for v2.0.I do know that Jeppesen is top dog when it comes to charts - which is why I came to expect the same level of quality when I purchased Sim Charts. I was very disappointed in the correctness, clarity, and overall operation of the software. It was a clunky kludgey thrown together Visual Basic hack any novice programmer could have whipped out in a weekend. I found their technical support to be practically non-existent as well - another big surprise to me.They did take my Sim Charts back without question, though (less some ridiculous $15 S/H fee they assessed). Hopefully, your experience will be better! To that end, though, Buyer Beware ;-) My first experience was sufficiently bad to deter me from trying future versions of this product - there are too many fine online resources available now too: and those are the best price of all...free

[michal 44]

>I was, in fact, referring to Jeppesen Sim Charts. Although >I was running version 1.2 or 1.5 I don't have 2.0 either. I still use Sim Charts 1.1 (!!) and consider the image quality to be absolutely phenomenal. They are crisp on my monitor and look beautiful when printed. The tech support - I tend to agree but the product is so self-explanatory I would think 99% of PC-literate customers wouldn't need one.Michael J.

[Krister 51]

I'm using Simcharts 2 but I always print out the charts I'm going to use. As Pilot737 said you find many charts freely available online but it's very comfortable to know that you have everyone (almost) readily available.The quality of the printed charts are first notch. A friend of mine who is a commercial pilot gave me his set of real life SAS charts for the whole Scandinavia and I'd said the Simcharts are on par with them. Then again I'm no real pilot.I also got the high and low altitude aerad charts for Europe and together with Simcharts they provide a very entertaining experience.Krister

[siggy 154]

Be a bit careful about them, I had version 1.1 (Oceania) and all but one of the ILS charts of two of the major airports in the region had garbage printed across them. Initially I was told that they are looking into it, but then, when FS2002 was on the horizon, they told me to buy 2.0 as 1.1 would not be fixed.Now, I spent the money to buy 2.0, only to find that still at least one of these ILS charts still has garbage printed across it. They told me that a patch is being worked on but I guess the patch will later be called 3.0. This has been months ago and still no news from them. It sometimes need a bit of effort from you to get a reply from them. In other words, IMHO support is not existent.The charts that do not have garbage printed across (or displayed across) look good when printed out. On the screen they will not look as good due to missing screen resolution (I used 1024x768).Cheers,Siggy

[Guest]

Siggy,You can find the majority of Oceania charts free of charge for download as a PDF at the Royal Australian Airforce Aeronautical Information Service http://www.raafais.gov.au/The quality is excellent. I also use simcharts for many areas of the world but for Oceania and South East Asia / Australia I use the link above. Go there - you will be amazed! This link seems to be one of the best kept secrets in the flight sim world!!Cheers,MarkSydney

[Guest GabrielR]

I Use the first version of the Sim charts that I bought when I was using FS2000, the printing quality is great and I used to print every set of charts before a flight. I like them, I always fly with them, and I love the sectional maps that they provided for the US, where I always fly. I woudn't fly without them.Even though there's another version out there I still use 1.5 and I find them worth the money I paid for them Back then.I know there's a bunch of sites that offer good charts for free. If I new that back then...I don't know.What I love about SIMcharts is that I know I will find just the chart that I need. I don't care if they are old, etc in 2 years, I have never found any inaccuracy... maybe the Real world has changed, but I am not a real pilot, so I don't care if that VOR is not there anymore as long as it is still present in FS2002.For example, I bet that finding a chart of an especific ILS procedure for a given, not very famous airport in South America is quite a challenge, with SimCharts, that specific chart will be right there if you need it.That's just my opinion.

[siggy 154]

Hi Mark,Thanks for the link. What does it take to get registered ?All files seem to require userid/password.Cheers,Siggy(Sydney, too)

[Guest]

Geezz Siggy your right!! The user ID and password requirement is new! I downloaded the complete set in late June and they didn't have and password etc then. I guess the site became too popular with simmers!I have sent you an e-mail.Cheers,Mark

[greggerm 312]

I'll put my $0.02 in for the simulation use and quality of the Jepp SimCharts. I have been using the package for a while now, and I actually have used some "work resources" to print out the plates of all the airports my VA flies to. With SimCharts, you have all your plates in one place - no muss, no fuss, no downloading. Of course, I've now FILLED TWO 4" BINDERS with the darn things (printed double-sided no less), but I have a complete set. :7 I have seen scans/PDFs of real continental USA plates at American Flyers, but they can be difficult to read. Printed, the Jeppesen charts are VERY hard to beat - they are based on high quality vector graphics, making enlarging them an easy feat. Plus their ability to interface with FS2002 make them a useful tool for some, especially those with multiple monitors. While yes, there are free offerings, I personally feel the Jeppesen package is worth the expense. Many free chart sources don't have the map of the airport - 99% of the airports in the Jeppesen pack have the airport diagram.To each their own, though!-Greg

[ronzie 21]

Can you go with low tech?I bought several of the U.S. Government US TERMINAL PROCEDURES volumes. They are $4.25 each and are published every quarter. About 22 volumes cover the entire US and each covers a number of states depending on airport density.I do not know what happens to expired volumes, but after looking into these coverage probably less expensive than the Jepps. Maybe you can find a local or national source of recently expired volumes which might be more up-to-date than the Jepp series. Each volume contains SIDS, STARS, DEPARTURE PROCEDURES, and the usual mini airport diagram.If you are only interested in a few U.S areas, these might be the way to go.