I've now spent the best part of 9 hours testing out the Q400 and I'd like to give my opinions. Frankly I was surprised but hopeful when I first heard people gushing about the quality. Lots of guys have compared it to the NGX and many have said it surpasses the PMDG aircraft - at the moment I'm afraid they're wrong, the NGX still can rest easy, the Q400 has some way to go.

 

Don't get me wrong, the VC and external visuals are very good indeed. Crisp and sharp with lots of detail. Engine sounds are deep and impressive - from the cockpit, although from spot view they're disappointingly muted. Lots have commented on the detail sounds in the flight deck - well yes, some are good and there is a good variety of click and lever sounds. However there is something about the sound mix that is wrong - too many click sounds sound wrongly placed - small switches make big unnatural clunking sounds when moved, a few don't have any sound at all. The NGX sound set is extremely well blended and natural.

 

The FMS modelling is already frustrating. SIDs that don't draw correctly are unacceptable. It's clear that the Nav data isn't being read and interpreted properly. Direct To's don't work 50 % of the time. The track line disappears when selecting a Direct To and LNAV goes wildly off track. Go-around procedures are not depicted properly either - it's a shame.

 

On the topic of go-arounds - it might be me, but there doesn't seem to be anyway of binding a key to the GO-AROUND button on the power lever. The default FSX command doesn't work with it. Majestic's control panel doesn't allow any special key bindings - this is a glaring omission in a product of this type. Performing a GA by panning your view to click a power lever click spot is a nightmare and not realistic. The same goes for the Autopilot disconnect function - there is no yoke disconnect key, pressing z gives you the wrong indications and visual warnings. 

 

There's a couple of other small bugs - it seems the attitude indicator is 2-3 degrees nose down on the ground - it should read 0 degrees. When tuned to an ILS the DME value jitters to and fro about 0.8 nm as well.

 

Unfortunately there seems to be a major issue with the elevator / trim / autopilot interaction. I've just finished a flight with a nose dive into the ground. The autopilot doesn't seem to trim out the elevator to a neutral position in any stage of flight (you can see this on the PFCS indicator) - meaning that when you disconnect the A/P the aircraft you get is badly out of trim - very frustrating results if you're at 200'. Is it using the default FSX autopilot by any chance?

 

It must be said that documentation is poor. The tutorial is a not very helpful and the systems manual is rather short. The 'checklist' is a weird combination of normal procedure flow and checklists, which is hard to follow. Importantly there are no profiles or flight patterns that explain actions and sequence of take off climb and approach. 

 

I'm sorry for the negative post, but with high expectations and a £40 outlay I feel the comments are valid. I really want to support dedicated devs like Majestic but at the moment the Q400 falls some way short of NGX standards. I hope that service packs and the PRO version can go some way to iron out the niggles. 

 

Adam

+1

I have the same issues + I don't get ADF1 or 2 needle to show on FO's side PFD...I'm positive all will be fixed eventually.

Also the seat armrest is blocking parts of the radios, I wish they could be raisable.

The Q400 VC is very good, but the NGX is a tad better... still the Q400 is the best turboprop for FSX, which is an fantastic achievement! all credits to the developers. 

But if I had to choose with a gun to my head, IMHO the NGX is still on top, pound for pound, in FSX :Whistle:

I wonder how much money majestic has made today. 

 

Hopefully enough to reward them for their work, and get them to release service packs to fix any bugs. And then maybe they can go back and create their old -300 to be updated with all this new technology.

Hello, I was able to download right after purchase but when I fill my information into the installer and click install it waits for a while the window says not responding and after some more time I get a new window which says Internal Failure.  I have downloaded twice on one computer and then downloaded on another pc with another browser all with the same result.  I don't see this error else where in this forum and can't get to Majestic's website so some help would be appreciated.  Thanks, Tony

How does this plane hit the VAS? Anyone using Process Explorer care to monitor it for a bit?

Have not had time to check all the switches and knobs yet, but many are default FSUIPC commands. And also a very pleasant surprise is that mouse macros work. Programming your hardware should be much easier than some other planes. Thank you Majestic.

Hello, I was able to download right after purchase but when I fill my information into the installer and click install it waits for a while the window says not responding and after some more time I get a new window which says Internal Failure. I have downloaded twice on one computer and then downloaded on another pc with another browser all with the same result. I don't see this error else where in this forum and can't get to Majestic's website so some help would be appreciated. Thanks, Tony

 

It's the exact same story with me..... You aren't alone my friend.

It's the exact same story with me..... You aren't alone my friend.

 

And here as well.

I did some more playing with the installer and still no luck, ran installer as administrator, ran in compatibility mode, complete shut down and power up, I don't think it would be useful to try it in safe mode as you would want the installer to access all the files it needs, disabled antivirus. :(

It's the exact same story with me..... You aren't alone my friend.

Same here!! :(

I'm also experiencing the sound loss after 10-15 minutes...  It seems like when I try to either change aircraft or quit FS after getting the sound loss, I get a black screen and I'm forced to kill FS via the task manager.

Buying from JustFlight gave me an error message after I clicked submit.

Somehow the download link was in my order history though.

 

Tried to install, and on the activation screen I get an "Interal Failure" message.

Awesome.

 

Can't get to the Majestic website, and there are no support forums up. Finally found their email address on Facebook.

 

Very discouraged with all this.

They've got my money but I don't have a working product.

Purchased from JustFlight, error at checkout but downloaded, now I'm getting the NO ORDER FOUND error...  Guess I'll try again tomorrow  :(

Hi All,

I have just get the Q400 and Installed it, I have started FSX. When I load the Q400 nothing works, The Landing gear is and up and when you try to turn on the barrettes nothing happens.

Done anyone know what's going on ?

 

Thanks Alex

Did you run the installer as an administrator? were you prompted to load the gauge when first loading the aircraft from the menu? try loading a default airplane sitting on a ramp, then go up to the pause menu and select this airplane.

At this point I'd be happy if I could just install the thing, or if they had a working support forum.