Vertigo Studios F8F Bearcat Review

[Sayuuk 3]

Hi,just wanted to add a few "fun facts":- a patch that will fix the ADF and several other issues has been promised for over 5 months now- the customer support doesn't exist, you may get an answer sometimes, but you won't get a solutionThe day I bought the F8F I told VS about the non-working ADF, which was pretty much the only reason I bought this thing (I already owned the A2A P47, so why bother).I was told that there would be a patch soon, now (the patch was announced at 12/04/2010) there is still nothing, except for some responses stating that the patch is being worked on (for that long... really??!!)The ADF in their next product - the F9F - was fully functional, so getting the code to work obviously wasn't the problem.I can only conclude that Vertigo Studios is one of those companies that develop one product, sell it unfinished and then move on to the next one======================================Until issues like the above are addressed and VS reconsiders its perspective on their "custommer (non-)support", I think now one should recommend buying products from this company at all - let alone buy themIt is a rip-off and a bad example to other developers. For the price of the F8F you can get a product like the Aerosoft Katana, a model that seems to have taken 10 times the amount of work and which receives excellent support by its creators.A company that adverts features that don't work in a product and is unable/unwilling to fix the issues at hand (or to issue a refund for that matter!), should not be supported by a respected website like AVSIM.======================================Potential customers of VertigoStudios: STAND DOWN!The F8F isn't worth a penny of the 25GPB it sells for!Cheers,Stefan

[shipdriver 20]

I've never posted on this particular forum, but felt I had to speak up. I have to respectfully disagree on most of this (including statements about customer service). One thing I cannot disagree with is anything related to the ADF because I never knew anyhing about it (is it supposed to be some sort of fake ADF that uses VORs or something?), and can't find it in the manual or in any advertising. Otherwise, it is my favorite warbird to fly. I have a soft spot for Vertigo's own F6F because the Hellcat has more history than the F8F, having been the frontine US Navy fighter for the last 3 years of World War II- whereas the Bearcat came too late for the Pacific War. However, the Vertigo F8F is a more beautifully done model than F6F (which was Vertigo's (then called RealFlight) first effort) and superior to most others (like the JF Wildcat and A2A P-40). Visually, it is in the realm of A2A's WOPIII birds. Engine and systems modelling doesn't approach AccuSim, but compare favorably with all non-Accusim warbirds that I have flown. One thing that struck me while making a video of it a while back was how realistic it sounded from a distance using the EZCA world camera as opposed to just being a quieter version of the close-up sound. I felt like I was watching a real plane takeoff. And hey, it's got a tailhook. I get the impression that Vertigo is much smaller outfit than A2A, which tempers my disappointment in the progress of the patch, along with the fact that I have gotten tremendous enjoyment out of the bird. Being a Pacific War history buff and a Navy man, I 've always been disappointed with what was available until RealFlight/Vertigo came along. Still waitng for a Zero though...Regards,Rob

Hi,just wanted to add a few "fun facts":- a patch that will fix the ADF and several other issues has been promised for over 5 months now- the customer support doesn't exist, you may get an answer sometimes, but you won't get a solutionThe day I bought the F8F I told VS about the non-working ADF, which was pretty much the only reason I bought this thing (I already owned the A2A P47, so why bother).I was told that there would be a patch soon, now (the patch was announced at 12/04/2010) there is still nothing, except for some responses stating that the patch is being worked on (for that long... really??!!)The ADF in their next product - the F9F - was fully functional, so getting the code to work obviously wasn't the problem.I can only conclude that Vertigo Studios is one of those companies that develop one product, sell it unfinished and then move on to the next one======================================Until issues like the above are addressed and VS reconsiders its perspective on their "custommer (non-)support", I think now one should recommend buying products from this company at all - let alone buy themIt is a rip-off and a bad example to other developers. For the price of the F8F you can get a product like the Aerosoft Katana, a model that seems to have taken 10 times the amount of work and which receives excellent support by its creators.A company that adverts features that don't work in a product and is unable/unwilling to fix the issues at hand (or to issue a refund for that matter!), should not be supported by a respected website like AVSIM.======================================Potential customers of VertigoStudios: STAND DOWN!The F8F isn't worth a penny of the 25GPB it sells for!Cheers,Stefan

[Sayuuk 3]

I've never posted on this particular forum, but felt I had to speak up. I have to respectfully disagree on most of this (including statements about customer service). One thing I cannot disagree with is anything related to the ADF because I never knew anyhing about it (is it supposed to be some sort of fake ADF that uses VORs or something?), and can't find it in the manual or in any advertising. Otherwise, it is my favorite warbird to fly. I have a soft spot for Vertigo's own F6F because the Hellcat has more history than the F8F, having been the frontine US Navy fighter for the last 3 years of World War II- whereas the Bearcat came too late for the Pacific War. However, the Vertigo F8F is a more beautifully done model than F6F (which was Vertigo's (then called RealFlight) first effort) and superior to most others (like the JF Wildcat and A2A P-40). Visually, it is in the realm of A2A's WOPIII birds. Engine and systems modelling doesn't approach AccuSim, but compare favorably with all non-Accusim warbirds that I have flown. One thing that struck me while making a video of it a while back was how realistic it sounded from a distance using the EZCA world camera as opposed to just being a quieter version of the close-up sound. I felt like I was watching a real plane takeoff. And hey, it's got a tailhook. I get the impression that Vertigo is much smaller outfit than A2A, which tempers my disappointment in the progress of the patch, along with the fact that I have gotten tremendous enjoyment out of the bird. Being a Pacific War history buff and a Navy man, I 've always been disappointed with what was available until RealFlight/Vertigo came along. Still waitng for a Zero though...Regards,Rob

The ADF is supposed to be a normal ADF...It is in the cockpit, has a pop-up panel so you can set the frequencies and it does not work... in contrary to the F9F, exact same setup => works... About company size => progress of the patch...My problem is that I paid almost halve a year ago for something that I do not have yet. Now if they where (as they are legally obliged) to issue me a refund, I'd turn around and go away.But if the developers tells me that there's not going to be a refund, because he's going to fix it => he should fix it...Right now he took my money (gladly) but didn't deliver, so please pardon my frustration!Cheers!