Does anyone know if the Just Flight Professional Dash-8 is just the PSS Dash-8 re-issued or is it an improved version? The reason I ask is that their web site claims that it has "working weather radar" and a "programmable FMC" which I do not recall the original PSS version having. I used to have the PSS version and do not want to buy it if it's just the same.Also, can anyone comment on the included scenery packages? I recognize two of them as pretty old works from FS2002 days but the Frankfurt scenery interests me if it's any good. I'd be grateful for any info. Thanks. I have made several purchases recently of payware products that turned out to be very disappointing and I'd like to avoid another one if I can! :(

Does anyone know if the Just Flight Professional Dash-8 is just the PSS Dash-8 re-issued or is it an improved version? The reason I ask is that their web site claims that it has "working weather radar" and a "programmable FMC" which I do not recall the original PSS version having. I used to have the PSS version and do not want to buy it if it's just the same.Also, can anyone comment on the included scenery packages? I recognize two of them as pretty old works from FS2002 days but the Frankfurt scenery interests me if it's any good. I'd be grateful for any info. Thanks. I have made several purchases recently of payware products that turned out to be very disappointing and I'd like to avoid another one if I can! :(

From the looks of it, it's a re-issued (and perhaps improved) PSS model. If they were making improvements though, I'd suggest taking another look at the visual model. There were so many inaccuracies with the PSS Dash that stood out, and it doesn't appear as though they've changed anything on it at Just Flight. Even though opinions may differ, I would personally recommend spending the extra $$ and getting the Majestic Software Dash 8-300. It's got all the bells and whistles, plus a fantastic visual model and ear-blowing sounds.

+1 Majestic.To answer your question, though: It's just the PSS Dash. The PSS Dash did have a working FMC.

+1 for the Majestic bird.The JF one is indeed the PSS Dash 8 and it is not improved over the PSS download version.

+1 MajesticThe "working radar" statement on the PSS always carried an * which denoted the wx radar would display a variety of echo returns BUT these were not based on currently loaded FS weather -- the returns were simply displayed for asthetic purposes only aka (eye candy). :(

Thanks everybody. I really appreciate the advice. I will avoid the Just Flight offering and save my money for something worth buying. I have heard great things about the Majestic Dash-8 but wasn't sure I would get okay FPS on my older, single-core CPU computer? If I thought it would run well, I'd buy it in a flash. Any feedback on how frame-rate friendly it is? (As a comparison, I get okay performance with the Flight1 ATR though with some complex airports and lots of AI I sometimes have to stick with the 2D cockpit for landing.)

Thanks everybody. I really appreciate the advice. I will avoid the Just Flight offering and save my money for something worth buying. I have heard great things about the Majestic Dash-8 but wasn't sure I would get okay FPS on my older, single-core CPU computer? If I thought it would run well, I'd buy it in a flash. Any feedback on how frame-rate friendly it is? (As a comparison, I get okay performance with the Flight1 ATR though with some complex airports and lots of AI I sometimes have to stick with the 2D cockpit for landing.)

You'll get exceptionally better performance with the Majestic DHC8 than you do with the ATR.

The ATR is one of my favorite birds in my hangar at the moment (most of my videos on www.fs9blog.com are of this bird alone). It might give some performance hits on complex airports, but it shouldn't be discounted. =)

the PSS dash-8 is a FS8 aircraft updated to work in FS9. the VC is only visual ... this was standard practice for developers in FS8. this doesn't bother me as i don't fly in VC.the FMC works, but does not go 'deeply' into real-world function.panel (2D) function and detail are good.the biggest complaint is the .air file was not updated to work correctly in FS9 (there were some significant changes to the flight model engine from FS8 to FS9). the result is descent, approach and landing behaviors are just wrong. takeoff, climb and cruise are not as noticably 'wrong'.--

wouldn't worry about FPS,I fly it on an AMD64 3800+ @ 2.40ghz with a GF6600 graphics card and it does really well.I do however not use the VC,so that might have something to do with it.

I fly it on an AMD64 3800+ @ 2.40ghz with a GF6600 graphics card and it does really well.

I flew it on an ever slower machine: AMD Sempron @ 1.8 GHz and a Nvidia GeForce FX5200. No problemos :(

Thank you everyone for the great input. It sounds like the Majestic Dash-8 is going to be my next purchase. I read the excellent AVSIM review when it came out ages ago and thought it sounded superb but the review did not mention FPS performance and given the complexity of this product I just assumed it would not work well on my PC. As it's a pretty expensive purchase, I didn't want to take the risk. You have all convinced me otherwise! Thanks for taking the time to help me out.BTW, I wasn't disparaging the F1 ATR. I love it and use it frequently. But in VC it does challenge my computer's abilities sometimes. For me, the essential illusion of flight simulation is smooth and fluid FPS and that is my top priority, along with realism of course, in deciding what aircraft and scenery to use.