I am an 'occasionally flight simmer' taking a spin for a few hours when real life permits. My 'records' in flight simming goes back to CFS2, IL2, FS2000 (What a dog!), FS9 and FSX.

 

And no tube liners to me, thank you. Cruising at 30.000 feet gets a bit boring in the long run. No, I like to fly low and slow, bush flying style. With challenging weather and approaches, up-hill, cross wind and very short landings. Separately or all together. And I sometimes fly 'heading, time and distance' with the GPS turned of.

 

Thus the visuals has always been paramount to me. And I have roamed the internet for hours for add-ons for my flight sims. I have struggled, tweaked and adjusted' hardware as well as software to 'push' both to perform just that single percent better than last time. Using at least the same amount of time on tweaking as on flying (I guess this goes for most flight simmers?)

 

Then came Flight.

 

I like it because it's kind of 'instant'. It's a matter of a very few minutes and you are in the air.

I like the Van RV-6 for being a 'hot rod' with a G-meter.

I like the Stearmann because it's a biplane with an open cockpit and I love to' make 'Navy style approaches' to be able to see the runway 'all the way down'

I like the Icon because it's something different.

 

Not many planes to choose from. But as I have seen one member mention, you get to know every plane better. Never cared about checklists in any other sim.

 

And I like the flight models. Not a pilot, never been and probably never will be, but they 'feel right'. As I see it, flight models has not been the main focus area for most modellers. That be MS or 3rd party modellers. You could end up in a Mi-24 Hind with the flight model from the standard Bell 206. No bellyache intended, just an example And, by the way, from where should they know how a Hind flies?

 

I saw mentioned somewhere that FS9/FSX has 'one wing flight models', not separate 'right wing/left wing' flight models? Hence you can't do proper aerobatics e.g. hammerhead manoeuvres in those sims? True? And will we be able to enter an adverse yaw in 'Flight'? Or is this just wishful thinking? A grasp for the proverbial moon on a stick?

 

I like the detailed scenery. I like the weather (Does the wind drift your plane by the way?) And so far it meets my desires and it has all what I have been wishing for in a flight sim. And when the Alaska scenery comes around, I'll go and get it for sure.

 

But with all these goodies, I have found that I miss something: A good set of rudder pedals! What do you have, if you have? What are your experiences and recommendations?

 

After a quick and not very thorough search, I found these 'candidates' with the 'Combat' pedals as the initial first choice:

 

Saitek Pro Flight Combat Rudder Pedals

Saitek Pro Flight CESSNA Rudder Pedals

Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals

CH Pro Pedals

 

From http://flightcontrols.org:

 

Ch Products Pro Pedals Vs Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals vs Logitech G940 Flight Pedals

 

They cost about the same, although you maybe able to find the Saitek pedals slightly cheaper

Saitek pedals have an adjustable tension spring and deadzone configurations that make the pedals less sensitive to small changes while your foot is resting

Biggest problem with Saitek: Warning. There has been reports that stomping down on the pedals can force them to push to far into the base and effectively lock up. What follows then is a time consuming process requiring removing about 20 screws to reset the pedals.

Saitek pedals are spaced wider apart and is more comfortable for center mounted joystick setups.

CH Pedals are known for their reliability, unfortunately some users of saitek pedals seem to run into toe brakes breaking very quickly.

Logitech G940 flight pedals are not available for sale separately. If you already own a HOTAS or a joystick, than a G940 would be overkill.

 

Have a nice weekend and take care

J

Funny, sometimes it was if I read a post of my own. I also (finally) missed a pair of rudders and I bought the Saitek Combat pedals two weeks ago. Huge advantage over the CH and Logitech pedals: you can keep the heel of your feet on the ground. I (think) I like that a LOT more then those pedals where you have to keep your entire foot in each pedal. With the heel on the ground moving the pedals is a lot more relaxed (I usually let the 'ball' of my feet rest on the pedal) and (what I only thought about just now) you can easily keep your feet off the pedals (standby ) AND when you move in your chair you won't move the pedals like (I think) you would or could with your feet entirely in it.

 

Anyway, this was what I read in a LOT of reviews and even though I haven't used any other pedals (which is why I added 'I think' here and there) I can understand this is a big advantage over the CH and Logitech pedals. BTW The 'normal' Saitek pedals also have those foot-in-the-pedal setup: only the Combat and Cessna pedals have those nice heel-on-the-floor pedals.

 

I bought the Combat version because 1. it was 50 euro's cheaper then the Cessna version, 2. the Combat has nicely rounded pedals (where you keep the top of your feet on) which look more comfortable (to me) and 3. the Cessna version wasn't available when I decided to buy pedals.

 

In short: I also LOVE Flight and I LOVE my Saitek Combat pedals!

Jesper,

 

welcome to the FLIGHT forum!

 

Some years ago I had a bunch of hardware to control my simulator stuff, but when I quited I offered it all to a friend :-|

 

When I re-installed xplane, flight gear, condor, silentwings and FLIGHT, I was soon aware that while Condor and FLIGHT can easily be controlled using the mouse & kb, the other aren't, so I bought a simple Saitek Cyborg X...

 

xplane didn't (again...) convince me, flight gear is GREAT but my PC is not up to date to run it, silentwings was uninstalled and Condor and FLIGHT remain my two sims now and for good... Guess what? I seldom use the joystick... Most of the time I am perfectly ok with the mouse & kb :-)

 

BTW: I really enjoy the many updates from previous versions that FLIGHT brings us in FM, weather, etc... and it's simplicity of use!

Hello

I fail to see how the weather is an update ?

No real world weather updates possible, just the few themes supplied by MS.

Hardly an update from something like AS2012 is it.

I fail to see how the weather is an update ?

 

I think he meant that the weather that you DO get, is awesome and an improvement over previous versions. Not being able to load real world weather and not being able to change the options isn't an improvement obviously.

Fog / Haze rendering on the graphics part...

Wind gusts/shear and overall turbulence, including the effects of mountainous terrain...

 

Only weather themes are available, thus you can't change the temperature/pressure/visibility/cloud cover at you will, but then again I can't either when I go flying for real...

 

RW Weather is a rather delicate feature to include and represent properly... I'd rather not have it than have it very badly implemented...

 

 

Hello

I fail to see how the weather is an update ?

No real world weather updates possible, just the few themes supplied by MS.

Hardly an update from something like AS2012 is it.

Cessna pedals. No competition. have tried all of them except Logitech's, and there is no contest. Sometimes "you get what you pay for" is true.

I've modified the Logitech G940 petals by creating heal cups cut from coffee can plastic and additionally raising the front of the unit. I find them comfortable and they feel right. My feet rest in the heel cups and don't slide down with this mod. Toe brakes are more comfortable (waiting most patiently for MS Flight toe brakes).

 

I liked my old (expensive) Thrustmaster FCS very much but, alas, I can't get the old 'gameport" electronics to function well with today's computers.

 

Hello Jesper.

 

 

I saw mentioned somewhere that FS9/FSX has 'one wing flight models', not separate 'right wing/left wing' flight models? Hence you can't do proper aerobatics e.g. hammerhead manoeuvres in those sims? True? And will we be able to enter an adverse yaw in 'Flight'? Or is this just wishful thinking? A grasp for the proverbial moon on a stick?

 

Seems I heard that once or twice. Doesn't really matter, since designers have worked around the issue a long time ago. I've done hammerheads, knife edge, tailslides, and snap rolls. (FS9/FSX)

 

Funny, sometimes it was if I read a post of my own. I also (finally) missed a pair of rudders and I bought the Saitek Combat pedals two weeks ago. Huge advantage over the CH and Logitech pedals: you can keep the heel of your feet on the ground. I (think) I like that a LOT more then those pedals where you have to keep your entire foot in each pedal. With the heel on the ground moving the pedals is a lot more relaxed (I usually let the 'ball' of my feet rest on the pedal) and (what I only thought about just now) you can easily keep your feet off the pedals (standby ) AND when you move in your chair you won't move the pedals like (I think) you would or could with your feet entirely in it.

 

I have the regular Saitek pedals. The heel guard, actually lets me keep my feet on them, without moving across the floor. Yet, I can also just keep my heel on the floor and push against them. IMO, it doesn't matter either way. The point is to push for rudder, and swivel forward with the toes for braking.