Hi all,Well I've gotten some money for Christmas, and I'm trying to decide between buying myself either a small monitor for gauges/2d panels/gps, or a track ir system (which I figure would eliminate the need for another monitor.) I'm running a triple monitor setup right now on a TH2G through an nVidia 9800 GT 1GB video card (so it's got a free dvi port). I've been looking at small monitors (less than 12") and found a couple that could work (for example, a Coby 12" that's also a tv for $100), and a couple of touchscreens like the liliput 7 - 9 inch models (though it sounds like those can be blurry at the supposedly higher supported resolutions.) Of course, the cost of the small touchscreens can be in the $200+ range, and for less than that I can get a track ir system. Anyhow, I'm looking for opinions on whether to go with a fourth small monitor for the gauges, or if I should go for the track ir system. Any advice or pointers would be most welcome. I hope I posted this in the right place, since a monitor question seems to fit in the video category, but the track ir... not so much, so sorry if this isn't the right place, but I wasn't sure what other category would fit the question.Thanks in advance,-George

George, I bought the Mimo 720S mini monitor with touchscreen, and it really killed my framerates. I, too am running 3 monitors (albeit on FS9-specs below) and because it was a USB monitor and didn't work from my 5870 I think it really hammered my CPU -- the straw that broke the camel's frame rate back, so to speak. Also, these monitors run at really low resolutions -- the mimo is built for something like 800 x 480, I think -- so some program GUIs don't even set up correctly on them. The monitor can be tricked into higher resolutions, which I've now done on a third WideFS box, but these smaller monitors may not be what you want. I would buy one from a place like thinkgeek.com that takes no questions asked returns and give it a try to see if it fits your needs. You'll notice I kept mine and it's perfect for the box I have it hooked up to, which is just running Active Sky 6.5, FlightDeck Companion, and Pro Flight Emulator, three programs I rarely have to interact with during my flights.<< http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/bfa3/ >>Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info, Chuck, it's most appreciated. The Mimo was one of the small monitors I was considering, but I was a little leary about the USB being used for the video source as well as touchscreen operations. I think I'm starting to lean more towards the trackir side of things as I really don't want to lose any performance in FSX if possible.Thanks again, and Happy Holidays! :)-George

GeorgeI use four touchscreens in my multi monitor setup. Instead of going with the very small screens, I bought 2 17" widescreen touchscreen monitors, and two overlays to convert a couple of existing 19" widescreen monitors. The price for the normal size monitors was not that much more than the small ones. And with a larger screen, more popup panels can be placed; there's more flexibility.There is no performance hit from the 'touch' portion of these monitors - to the computer, they are just extra monitors. One is actually used on a networked machine. Adding monitors and views will have an effect on FS FPS, but since I use 2D views in Full Screen Mode, the impact is not significant. The extra screen real estate is very signficant, from a usability standpoint. I fly mostly airliners with CDU's or MCDU's. Programming them on a touchscreen is a pleasure. Similarly, my main instrument panels are touchscreens, which makes operating the FCP or MCP or whatever the heck version of airplane denotes as the FD/AP controls - a pleasure. I used to assign lots of functions to my CH HOTAS, and had to remember which button did what with which airplane. Now I just push the VNAV button on the instrument panel with my finger.I still have some buttons assigned on the HOTAS for FS Controls, and I still have to use the mouse for some things. I also use TouchBuddy on the fourth networked touchscreen to run various simulator commands.I have TIR, but must say, I'd rather just look around at the instruments panels without that device. The instruments and controls are rock solid on a multi monitor setup. This is of course IMO; realizing that there are many satisfied TIR users out there. To each their own.Noel [email protected] / 8800GTX + 9600GT / 4Gb / Vista64

I got TrackIR, and I really think it takes the simulation experience to the next level. Feels more real to move your head around. And if you