Impressions about the Flight1 Meridian

[Guest flightpro08]

Hey everyone :DI'm on the "bubble" about purchasing Flight1's new Meridian package. I've been a long time "fan" of flight one, and have made numerous purchases from them (DF734, C421, Commander 115TC, DF Cardinal, etc.) The only reason I haven't "jumped" on the Meridian right away is because of its $30 price tag.Now, I don't mind spending $30 for it, but I want to get some initial reactions from everyone who already has it. :-)1. Is the Garmin GNS 530 included in the package the same one that RealityXP offers seperatly for $30? (For new customers)2. If RealityXP updates the Garmin GNS 530 at a later date, will Meridian customers recieve the update as will? (For free?)3. What are you overall thoughts/impressions?I'll probably download the manual and go through that tonight as well. :-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-cool VATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Senior Controller (C-3)ASRC (Advanced Simulated Radar Client) Beta Tester-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 30.82 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition SP1*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298-----------------------------Click Here to Download my American Eagle POSKY CRJ-200!

[Samaritano 304]

This does not answer your question, but me, Im not spending$30 on this aircraft when there is a new sim coming outin the summer. I know that its going to compatible with FS9but I'll stick to all the addons that I have right now.Making it compatible with all the new features might makethe developers charge extra for an upgrade... Just an opinion...Ed

[Tabs 2,790]

I won't get a chance to try it out until I get back from calss in a bout 4 hours, but Ed, I really think this is gonna end up being THE killer aircraft to have for FS2002. The Garmin is fully featured and works exactly like the real thing to the point where they tell you to just read the manual for the real one! Approaches, VNAV, autotuning of ILS/OBS, etc... Think of it as the GA equivalent of 767PIC's amazing FMC. The smoothness of these RealityXP gauges are supposed to be mind blowing too - I can't wait to see it.Ryan - Yeah the Garmin is the exact same one.

[Guest]

Hi,I just got it and have been playing with it. It is a frame rate killer and stutters really bad at certain points. You will need turn quite a bit of graphics down to have a smooth flight. Overall though it is an excellent panel and airplane. Very detailed and exacting. Just really need above a 2ghz to get the full spectrum out of it.I'm using a 1.3 with 512meg RDRAM and a TI440 128 meg video. It is quite taxing on my system which ain't saying much though.These are just my initial opinions and like I said it is a fabulous aircraft and panel you just need quite a bit of processing power so be prepared.Sean

[Guest]

Sean:Not sure what you selected with C-o-M, but you may wish to try the DXT3 Textures with 1-2Ghz system setting.Works extremely well on my 1.6/512Mb/GF4 Ti4200-128 Turbo. IMO, the 32bit Textures offer very little visual improvement.Hope this helps,Ben BeverlyLead Beta TestFlight1 Meridian

[michal 44]

>Works extremely well on my 1.6/512Mb/GF4 Ti4200-128 Turbo. >IMO, the 32bit Textures offer very little visual >improvement.I got to be ignorant, but what C-o-M is ?But on the subject of 16 or 32 bit textures I must disagree in general. One thing I miss from the FLY! world were true 32-bit panel/interior textures. This allowed for beautiful shade-color transitions with no banding. Apart from performance issues I wonder if the Meridian could be enjoyed with true 32-bit graphics since in my opinion it offers amazing visual quality that my eyes can readily appreciate. But if the underlying graphics is in 16-bit turning the display to 32 bit won't help. Anyhow, I do understand there are some FS2002 limits but was curious whether this product perhaps can offer fuller color palette.Michael J.

[Steve Dra 7,579]

Hey Ryan,Pics here http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/DCForumID47/16784.htmlI'll give a flight report when I fly her later tonight. It looks sweet though. :)Regards,Steve Dra

[Guest]

Ben,I selected less than 1ghz with no 32bit textures. I don't think its the aircraft that causes the slowdown its the complexity of gauges and refresh rates that kill me.I usually run fs2002 with High setting but I've been looking forward to flying this so long I've turned them to medium with no air traffic. Its a great plane maybe when I can upgrade to a faster computer I'll get the full enjoyment from it.Don't get me wrong though I love this aircraft. Did the tutorial flight and it was flawless. Only issue was on landing coming into the runway it began to stutter slightly but I still believe this is due to refresh on the GARMIN 530. thanks though for a wonderful aircraft, I can due without eyecandy to fly this wonderful creation.Sean

[spotlope 0]

I believe C-o-M is for Config-O-Matic, the configuration utility included in many Dreamfleet/Flight1 aircraft.

[Guest]

Has anyone received the official Meridian information manual? How is the quality(black&white or color, etc.)? Do you have a choice of adding it to the purchase with the installer (discount), or can it only be puchased directly from the web site now? Whats the shipping time? Any info is appreciated, thanks. Matt

[I132 0]

Absolutely worth every penny!!!!This is the best aircraft that has ever been introduced to FS. The new guage technology is so smooth and the complexity is outstanding. I have been flying with the new Garmin since it was released so the learning curve for me has not been as steep as for others. THis plane is everything that the boys at Flight 1 have stated in the forums and adds. I don't find it to be a frame killer at all. No worse than PIC, Airbus Pro or the Falcon 50. If you look at the Config-o Matic you can adjust it to fit your computer specs. I have run it at all 3 settings and found no difference in visuals but it does improve performance. I flew the tutorial and then jump right into a flight from KALO to KMSP and it was wonderful. The only thing I notice was the flight director on approach seemed to want to line up to the right both at KMIA and KMSP. I may be doing something a little wrong though. This plan is a sim within a sim. Well done Flight 1 team, it is well worth the wait. Also such a wonderful change from the Heavy jets! If you want a grat GA aircraft with plenty of techno stuff, than this is for you!!!!Happy FlyingScott Burke

[Guest]

Thanks Scott..Best,JIm Rhoads

[briansommers 74]

yeah i have it and i have a 2gig system with 512megs and gf4 w/128 megs and yowzaa!! its a frame rate killer on my system, flying around half moon bay at 5-6fps, i think maybe flying the carribean, flatter areas would be better, i had lots of enhanced mesh as well which im sure didnt help, very nice a/c and i think it would be great to practice ils procedures, the instruments are the smoothest ive ever seen, ciao!Brian S

[HawaiianCondor 0]

Agree with you Scott, incredible airplane, best looking panel of any GA aircraft I've flown in FS2002 (and I probably have them all, at least on the high end freeware side). Flight model very stable, sounds superb, visual model outstanding. The panel/guage technology does seem to set a new and higher bar for FS, imo. I did notice that the Garmin had me about 5-7nm north of where I was in reality (as confirmed by topography and FSNAV), so I wasn't able to perform a GPS to VLOC approach to KMSP today...since I couldn't wait for the manual to arrive at my home, in typical fashion, I may be missing an instruction or two on the Garmin, though I've never had to initialize a GPS...regards,

[kjackson 0]

Just flew the turtorial and this bird is amazing. She flies quite well and with good framerates on my 1.6GHz P4. I have a G3Ti200 with most of the settings set reasonably high. I haven't changed them since flying around in the SenecaV and there is no difference in fluidity flying the Meridian. The main difference is the true-to-life gauges and the smoothness of those gauges. You can easily fly an approach without having to guess at the exact numbers. This plane is really a joy to fly. The GNS530 alone is worth the price and it is coulpled well with other gauges and functions. The TCAS is spot-on too. I spotted and avoided another AI plane just before ATC warned me. The graphics are stunning. The night lighting is a thing of beauty with the soft panel glow and the panel backlighting and knob lighting are just right. The ice lights add a special touch at night. I have very little time to post this as I must get back in the air to fully enjoy this beauty. I have flown every major GA and heavy out there and this is by far the best and with no install woes or major framerate hits. This is the one to get. Other commercial aircraft vendors will be hard pressed to match or beat this plane.Simply amazing.Just my 2cents,