AS2012 and no more REX.Every flight for me is different now as I load the proper weather textures before each flight. AS2012 has more reasonable texture loading times and this option in now usable.

I use REX 2.0 Overdrive, and eagerly waiting for Essential. Essential will have many updates to the weather using the new REX Edge Technology. I haven't used any HiFi products so I don't know about them.

Nothing payware, just HDEv2. Looking and working perfectly (At least from my point of view.).

I LOVE HDEv2 for the sky textures. In fact I own REX OD, FEX, and AS2012 (haven't tried any of its textures yet), but between REX OD and FEX, no one has done a better job on morning, noon, and sunset sky textures than that of the HDEv2 sky sets. After months and months of testing REX and FEX sky set with and without ENB, I have yet to find anything that produces as realisitic sunrise, day, and sunset colors as HDEv2 looks.However for clouds, between REX, FEX, and HDE, I still like my FEX cumulous clouds the best, but use and REX cirrus set. The HDE clouds are my second choice though if I didn't have REX or FEX.As far as weather goes, AS2012 is the best one I have used yet. I've used ASA, then ASE and now AS2012 and using DWC mode with wind lock I get perfect destination winds and AI going in the corect direction and landing on the correct runway, a feature that I used to have problems with using ASE or ASA and DWC.I wont say that REX has been a total waste of money for me, but considering that I only use its cirrus set, water, and runway/taxiway/apron textures, I dont really have much use for it and I have never even tried its weather generator.Sean Campbell

REX plus AS2012. I don't like the sky colours in AS as much as REX, but the airport textures and weather depiction in AS2012 is still the gold-standard IMHO.

rex only waiting for the essential pack to come out which will be soon hopefully

AS2012 here.

AS2012, really liking the textures so far, the clouds seem to meld with the rest of FSX much better, where as REX clouds sometimes seemed out of place compared to the rest of the sim.

AS2012, really liking the textures so far, the clouds seem to meld with the rest of FSX much better, where as REX clouds sometimes seemed out of place compared to the rest of the sim.

seems to be fine here the clouds seem to be in the sky where they suppose to be :)

ASE with REX textures here..Is AS2012 Hi-Fi's 'equivalent' product to REX? They have now added textures to their already great generation engine? Or does it add more/less? There is a very good discount on AS2012 from ASE, but I have REX, so I don't want to duplicate..Same sort of quandary as the OP (oh to have such simple dilemmas in RL!)bestjake

Been looking at these products myself recently. I've been a long time user of REX, and before that the original versions of Activesky.In my opinion REX is great for graphics, but it has a mediocre weather engine. I've made several posts about it elsewhere recently, but I think it's important to note that those people hoping Essential will bring REX up to AS2012 standard would appear to be mistaken. The REX 'Essential' update will see REX use radiosonde (weather balloon) data instead of forecast data, which they claim will give REX the most realistic weather. However, they neglect to mention this data is very sparse - there will be a LOT of interpolation. Balloons only get sent up from relatively few locations, and even then launches are very infrequent. So there will be no oceanic data, and even continental winds aloft would be interpolated and inaccurate. This will not be as good as AS2012, which uses the NOAAs Global Forecast Model (GFS), the same source used by realworld flight planning.It definitely seems that AS2012 is the only product to have accurate winds aloft, using the 'DWC' mode to directly inject GFS data into the simulator. However, even AS2012 isn't that great because cloud and precipitation data appears to be based off ground-based observations, mainly METARs. This is completely inadequate, particularly in oceanic airspace where there are no METARs or across a country such as Australia where there is a lot of... nothingness... in between weather stations!I am unsure why these specialist weather products have been developed for years and years and they still haven't come up with realistic weather models.So to summarise, get REX if you want amazing graphics, but know that the weather engine is suboptimal and this probably won't change with their Essential update. If you want realistic winds aloft so you can plan your flights with pinpoint accuracy using a tool such as the soon-to-be-released PFPX, get AS2012. This clearly has the better weather engine, although if you're flying anywhere outside the US you're very likely to notice large discrepancies between the simulation and realworld cloud cover and precipitation. The bottom line is both products are mostly for eye candy and a rough approximation of weather, and neither are very realistic.

Edited January 30, 201214 yr by gbalean

Wait for weather essentials to hit before making your decisions. Lots of new features in their weather engine.

It is a little bit costly. Compared to AS2012 the PMDG 737 NGX is nothing but cheap. And I bet it is a lot more complex.

Edited January 30, 201214 yr by member111333

So to summarise, get REX if you want amazing graphics, but know that the weather engine is suboptimal and this probably won't change with their Essential update. If you want realistic winds aloft so you can plan your flights with pinpoint accuracy using a tool such as the soon-to-be-released PFPX, get AS2012. This clearly has the better weather engine, although if you're flying anywhere outside the US you're very likely to notice large discrepancies between the simulation and realworld cloud cover and precipitation. The bottom line is both products are mostly for eye candy and a rough approximation of weather, and neither are very realistic.

So AS2012 wont be good for Europe?Andy

It is a little bit costly. Compared to AS2012 the PMDG 737 NGX is nothing but cheap. And I bet it is a lot more complex.

Huh? A program that interpolates real weather? It interprets weather and sets graphics for you. Expensive? I don't know... I think you're wrong.

REX wll go for me, AS2012 here we come.Sorry but REX for me wasn't what it was cracked up to be.