Aerosoft Diamond DA20-100 Katana 4X (FSX): Absolutely beautiful aircraft with a ton of features, but requires way more effort than I want to put into flying. Flew it a couple of times and hangered it.

 

Dare to ask a question on their forum and one particular individual, whom they hold in high regard, makes you never want to buy from them again (I haven't!).

 

Ernie

My biggest regrets would probably be the Wilco Airbus Evo Vol 1 and their E-Jets V1 series. Luckily I got the E-Jets on special for about $20, flew them for a couple of days then uninstalled them and haven't touched them since. Their aircraft seem really buggy particularly the 6000ft/min drops in the Airbus and the VC's just look horrible.

 

BBS Airbus....

 

4 months of no updates, they ignore their own forumn for support and act like kids on facebook.

 

I'm starting to regret that purchase as well... They seem to constantly fall back on their promises and the way they treat their customers is questionable. It was probably a mistake on my part to buy it instead of patiently waiting for the FSLabs Airbus to come out.

This is a great thread, and I am relieved as to how sane and civil it remains. Good job (almost) all!

 

Kind regards,

 

Come on Stephen - what was your most unliked FSX upgrade (not including hardware LOL). :rolleyes:

 

Cheers

jja

Come on Stephen - what was your most unliked FSX upgrade

 

Upgrade to Moderator.

BBS Airbus....

 

4 months of no updates, they ignore their own forumn for support and act like kids on facebook.

 

No surprise there.

They are the leftovers of the old PSS (Phoenix simulation software) that left hundreds of customers without a paid product when they suddenly took their online installers offline without so much as a warning.

 

As soon as I found out BBS was PSS, I made sure to stay far, far away.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk...typing errors imminent

I think with the BBS Airbus it's a case of making expectations that they can't meet. So far the model that they've released isn't too bad for what it is and in some ways works a lot better than the Wilco Airbus.

 

The problem is that it's been months without an update and very little communication from them aside from what they post on Facebook. The company is made up of 2 guys working on an Airbus with the complexity of an FSLabs or PMDG aircraft when normally this type of project would involve an entire team of full-time professionals.

What a great thread and the comments are so informative. I have only one FSX plane addon in my hanger and that is the LDS 767. Yup its VC is very long in the tooth, but it is so bug free and flies like a dream.

 

My esteem for the LDS has dropped dramatically in the last year. It was never totally bug-free (engine start/FMC data dump problem) and recent incompatibility with video card drivers and a "deal with it" attitude on the support forum has put me off rather permanently. But like many posts in this thread, that's just my mileage.

 

In any case, without a doubt, my most regretted purchases, as a class, are those from Wilco. Always enticing, but just flawed enough to where they will only always frustrate. They are regrettable because, like a battered spouse, I will continue to return for more abuse. As many said here, my most recent bout is with their V2 of the CRJs... just a load of junk.

GREAT thread. Got me thinking not only about purchases I regret, but about why I regret them. There are a few types...

 

-- Airplanes: "I've just got to fly a [fill in the blank]." I've bought too many planes because I wanted to fly that particular type, and ignored the fact that the simulation wasn't all that good. There are lots of second-rate bush planes gathering dust in my hangar, and a simplistic DC-3, too. Lesson - buy the best, no matter what the type is. I never thought much about piloting a B-17, but I'm addicted to A2A's - it's my favorite multi-engine prop.

 

-- Scenery: "That looks like a great scenery - I don't care where it is." I've invested a lot in wonderful scenery, like the ORBX regions, that I don't use very much because it turns out that when it comes to FS, I'm a homebody. I love flying in my local area. That's mainly because I'm addicted to local weather - I love trying my hand at flying in whatever's going on outside my window. If that means flying with default scenery (enhanced, of course, with GEX and UTX and some custom airports), that's fine. But it means I don't make it to Australia or the PNW or Antarctica nearly as much as I thought I would. This is all about my flying habits and isn't a comment at all on the quality of all that great scenery. This is sort of the opposite of my lesson concerning airplanes. When it comes to airplanes, I want to fly the best, no matter what kind of airplane it is. when it comes to scenery, I want to fly my backyard even if the scenery isn't all that good.

 

-- Systems: "I need more complexity." This is part of a bigger pattern in my life - I'm attracted to complexity and then the activity gets too complex and I wind up not enjoying it, it seems like work, and so I break down and stop doing it. In FS, that means I get caught up in flying IFR with the RXP Garmins, or doing the walk-around on the Aerosoft/4X Katana, or trying to master the 737NGX, and at some point I realize it's turned into a chore and I walk away from FS for a while. Then I remind myself that it's OK to go flying in the A2A Cub, or to use Ant's Tecnam Sierra instead of the Katana. It's fun again. Less can be more. In this category, I love all the purchases I avoid - especially the Katana - but I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would.

 

Please note that all of this is about my personal preferences. And in that sense, I don't really regret any of these purchases, because as a result of buying them and trying to learn them, I found out what my FS "style" really is. So in a way it's all good - lessons learned, and like that.

 

There's another side to this coin - purchases I hesitated about, that turned out to be happy surprises. The A2A B-17 is one of those - I didn't think I was up for a big multi-engine airplane, but the automated crew made it an easy transition. And the DodoSim Bell 206 - I came to it years late because I thought I wasn't up for helicopters, and it turned me into a helo addict - helos give me the perfect mix of challenge, short flights and VFR procedures. I hope there'll be more surprises to come - I'd really like to find my way into an airliner. Maybe the NGX will turn out to be it, if I can only block the time...

 

I'm about to put all these lessons to the test - I'm building a new system and wondering what I'm going to reinstall once I get FSX set up. Right now I'm looking forward to a very simple setup, with only the best add-ons. But then I'll get intrigued by something or other, and the cycle will start again...

 

I wonder what I'll learn this time around...

Glad to see I am not alone in purchasing Abacus software...it was long ago before I knew better.

 

I am sorry I spent $79 on FSLABS Concorde X, not a bad product, just too complex for me. Just can't find the time to devote to it.

My esteem for the LDS has dropped dramatically in the last year. It was never totally bug-free (engine start/FMC data dump problem) and recent incompatibility with video card drivers and a "deal with it" attitude on the support forum has put me off rather permanently. But like many posts in this thread, that's just my mileage.

 

I love the LDS 767. In fact, along with the NGX and 744X it's one of my top 3 purchases that I still take out regularly to do cross-country AU flights in QFA colours. Definitely no regrets with this one!

 

As far as bugs are concerned, no software is ever 100% 'bug free'. Some developers just do a really poor job with their testing and it really shows on the final release. Have you had a look on their forum? There actually is a fix for the engine start/FMC data bug that has been around for a while. It's quite simple as all you need to do is download an updated GAU file that they have and replace your existing one in your LDS 767 aircraft folder.

Just the Iris silent twister. Not working on basic stuff. Almost no presence of developpers on the support site. Update that doesnt fix the deficiencies identified.

 

All others buy has been satisfactory. Md11, real air Citabria, ezdok, fsuipc, baytower RV7, rex, utx, gtx, Several Orbx.....

 

Pierre

I've got to say I regret all of my Captain Sim purchases except for the C-130, which is still exceedingly buggy. I also regret the Carenado PA46T. I find it boring and bland, definitely not their best effort as of late. May as well add the QW757 to the list too. It is still awful on my FPS (noticeably worse than NGX) and is way too simplified. Their BAE is absolutely astonishing considering where they were on the 757. (QW BAE/Avro is in my top 3 FSX aircraft list!) I'll end the regrets list with the IRIS A-10. The flight model was just atrocious, a real let down since the rest of the plane was very decent.

 

I regret that the maddog 2010 isn't FSX native so I haven't bought it.

 

I have gotten much better about only buying what I really want, so I don't have as many regrets as I used to.

ORBX Lancair

 

Captain Sim 767

 

Ariane 737

 

O and EVERYTHING I've got from Carenado...I just keep falling for the screenshots

I'm surprised the FCS Sunderland hasn't received a mention yet - or was everyone frightened off by screenshots of the external model ?

 

Also, just a word in Abacus' favour - I used their Copilot nav utility in FS98 and thought it was excellent. In fact, it was CoPilot that got me out of just doing circuits in the then new-to-me civilian flight simming hobby, and started me on cross-country flying. If it wasn't for freeware like Plan G, I'd seriously consider buying the latest version.

 

On the other hand, Abacus' Flight Deck, a collection of naval aircraft for FS98 - I'm pretty certain Grumman never fitted the F9F with the fuel gauge from a lawn mower.

A good thread indeed, considering the fact that most of us have spent a pile of dollars for this hobby during the years.

 

Luckily I have not much to add since I have enough patience to wait user comments to pop up and even wait for the sales. I also have a big gratitude towards the simming community worldwide, its you out there that have solved most of the minor or sometimes bigger problems with the payware products. In fact, my complaint as a customer goes for the poor or sometimes arrogant customer support that I have followed in the different developers forums. Due to this my way of asking help is first from the community and if nothing helps, then from the developer. I have no personal experiences on this, but I follow keenly many forums of the products that I own.

 

I have thrown away only one paid addon at once and that is CR1 Beech revamp, it was practically free but it just looked awful. Not much money wasted but it has kept me away from their Trimotor which I very much would like to have.

 

Rest is just being annoyed.

 

Virtavia F-106 Delta Dart. I Belong to F-106 fan club and I was sold by the screenshots. VC is below average freeware and its currently not installed.

HiFi ActiveSky. Works well, but they are milking my money with updates I feel I should get free or with considerably smaller amount of money. I won´t upgrade for the sake of principle.

PMDG J41. Wonderful teacher of turboprop philosophy and great immersion, but unfinished and could be easily repaired with an update that the developer sees unnecessary. FMC causes CTD´s, so I don´t use it, which is actually more fun, because the need to use VOR´s and NDB´s. And a bit like CR1 situation, the unfinished product keeps me away from their much praised other addons. Although I´m sure I´ll fall for their DC-6.

Aerosoft Twin Otter. The awful VC restricts flying this wonderful classic to demanding airports. But I fly it anyway.

Horizon VFR. Flat scenery of a small country that takes most of your HDD space and fps. Uninstalled and it stays that way. I scare crows from the apple tree with those cds.

Carenado Beech Mentor. They said it is pure fsx, I say its a poor portover. Sounds are beefy, though.

Milviz B55. Without TrackIR this cockpit is unreachable.

REX (FS9): I was better off with Pablo Diaz freeware clouds and HiFi´s early weather programme.

 

In general I would like to add that some of the companies like FSDT, PMDG, Sibwings, Orbx and Aerosoft have activation systems that belong to computer school coding lessons and not to the paying customer. One click should do it.

 

I have to comment on CS products that most of the earlier jets were much more hand flown that the present day jets. I have taken them manually to the cruising altitudes and there the AP has kept the course reasonably well. There was also a good user made tutorial around on the 727 during the fs9 times, perhaps it is downloadable somewhere?

There is not much choice if you like the older planes, excluding the 737.

As for the 767 and 757, I have flown very little, but at least from the few landing circuits I´ve made they really have a big plane feel.