I urge everyone who reads this to write more reviews. It doesn't need to be loads of text, just explain why you feel as you do towards the product, list the good stuff AND the bad stuff, and write a proper recommendation and clearly state to who you recommend it. Even an overly praised product like the PMDG NGX would be a complete waste of money to some people. Be critical but fair and don't just review the add-ons you liked but also the ones you felt was a waste of money, because those reviews are often more useful to others than the super-positive ones.

 

Also it doesn't hurt to have more than one review of any particular add-on. Quite the opposite actually so don't let the fact that someone else was first stop you.

I'm about to write one, if my time permits it - it's just a little tough at university right now, but I'm at it.

 

On topic: It seems I've been careful about my purchases this year nothing I really regret buying except SimPhysics, which I suspect to have messed up some of my aircraft.cfg's while not adding any immersion that A2A's Accufeel doesn't do.

 

 

Firstly, Ground Services X. I've heard so much praise about this so I bought it, with very high expectations. Sure, the animations are superb and my airports are much more alive, but I'm not sure some animations is worth 30USD. I had expected more communication with ground staff etc. The only lines of spoken dialougue sounds like it is generated by a speach engine - which it most likely is. It's not directy bad, but I'm not sure it's worth the money.

 

I was sort of like that when I got it.   It was awesome at first to bring in the catering trucks and all that jazz but I didn't know if it was worth all that but I think it is now just for push backs alone and now that Active Sky NEXT is producing real fogged in conditions there is a feature of GSX that has become a life saver to me:  FOLLOW ME TRUCK!     I had to use it the other day at Seattle because it was under 1/8th of a mile visibility and I was hopelessly lost to find my gate even with EFB running beside me on my laptop.    The cute little truck drove out to meet me and brought me home.   That to me, was worth every penny.

 

As far as purchases in 2013 I regret or think are the worst...   ORBX GO.. because... this is not needed for how I fly.   I don't think there is anything wrong with the product I just found it to be unnecessary after I bought it.

 

FSXBooster 2013 and FSXAssist - These did absolutely nothing to help my system perform better than manual tweaking had not already accomplished.   Again, not necessarily bad but utterly useless for my hardware setup.

 

 

Absolutely. It's just a shame the user reviews section on Avsim is in such a sorry state. There's not a lot in it and everyone is super-positive about everything they write about.

 

The prospect of writing a review is quite daunting to many people I suspect. I consider myself reasonably proficient with my native tongue but there's more to it than that. Keeping your neutral hat on and structuring the review is easier said than done. You also need to have a comprehensive understanding of the product to be fair to the author.

 

I urge everyone who reads this to write more reviews. It doesn't need to be loads of text, just explain why you feel as you do towards the product, list the good stuff AND the bad stuff, and write a proper recommendation and clearly state to who you recommend it. Even an overly praised product like the PMDG NGX would be a complete waste of money to some people. Be critical but fair and don't just review the add-ons you liked but also the ones you felt was a waste of money, because those reviews are often more useful to others than the super-positive ones.

 

Well said. Do you know enough about any products you've bought to start the ball rolling? :wink:

Heck, I'll write reviews. Without the incredible stress of slaving away as a staff reviewer :lol: In fact, I've been thinking about doing some side-by-side comparisons, starting with the Quality Wings 757 and the Captain Sim 757. I reviewed both for AVSIM, but no matter how conscientious you try to be, you're only going to get so many hours in on an add-on for a review. Now that I have flown both for a long time, I would love to revisit them.

 

As for being reluctant to criticize, while this thread is under Heightened Scrutiny, and people are being required to give reasons, what one usually finds bare are blanket statements that such-and-such is complete garbage, etc. followed by the pile-on. Every airplane is somebody's favorite, and I don't think there is any developer that deserves abuse with the exception of Ariane (if they're still around). Heck, even they produced a decent-enough 737, as far as that goes, but were just dishonest, even after some (like me) were willing to extend a cautious second chance.

 

I bought quite a few add-ons late this year, and can't complain about a single one. If anything, I've been surprised that they're better than I expected. GSX -- panned above -- is just the opposite for me. I can't imagine going back to bare aprons. Sure, it's eye candy, but it adds a bustle and excitement to every flight. Pushback is enhanced and a follow-me car to get me to a suitable gate is a great feature. It is configurable, so I haven't had any problems.

 

I think 2013 was a great year for flight simming. And my reason for naming Kim Jong Un was that he brought Dennis Rodman back into the news.

The prospect of writing a review is quite daunting to many people I suspect. I consider myself reasonably proficient with my native tongue but there's more to it than that. Keeping your neutral hat on and structuring the review is easier said than done. You also need to have a comprehensive understanding of the product to be fair to the author.

It doesn't have to be that complicated though. For the official AVSIM reviews, yes, but not for user reviews. What matters is that you are honest about your experience with the product and that you relay that experience in an informative way. What matters isn't really how much work went into development or the size of the dev team, or the complexity of the model. What matters is how well it works and how much you enjoyed it.

 

Well said. Do you know enough about any products you've bought to start the ball rolling? :wink:

Gave it a shot earlier today. Unless (even more) people thinks I'm an idiot I might do more. ;-)

 

 

Every airplane is somebody's favorite

Very true and what matters is who that somebody is. If he generally likes the same stuff as I do I might follow his recommendation, if no I probably won't. Either way the review may very well be helpful to me.

Rolf,

 

Do you have a link to your review? I agree they don't need to be as comprehensive as official AvSim ones but they have to be sufficiently substantial to be useful to others.

 

Somewhere between bullet point pluses and minuses and War and Peace. :biggrin:

 

Incidentally Moderators, does this topic still need monitoring? It seems quite a grown-up conversation to me. :wink2:

It's right up there under "Content -> Member reviews".

 

 

Incidentally Moderators, does this topic still need monitoring? It seems quite a grown-up conversation to me. :wink2:

Based on your recommendation... If things change, please report the "going south" indicator. :lol:

WORST is a word I would rather not use. How about "the most disappointing"...There are two on my list:

MOST Disappointing is Majestic Dash 8. It is a beautiful aircraft but for the price it should have been well beyond Beta when it was marketed. First there was the "jumping up and down and doing gyrations in flight" bug. after two updates (read that as fixes) it now flies beautifully but now there is NO Sound.

Add to that the limited response to pleas for help from Majestic and I must give it very low marks. It COULD be a favorite of mine but at the momement I wish I had not bought it. In the meantime it is grounded until it is fixed.

Next is REX Direct4 Textures. A fine company with superior support but even with the help of REX support  have been unable to get the program to install either networked or on my FSX PC. I did get so far as to complete one install and see the start splash screen but then it crashed. I know REX will fix it eventually...they are fine developers but in the meantime I am back to Flight Environment X for textures to use with ASN.

 The primary difference in these disappointments?: I will still try REX products knowing that someone there REALLY will try to help me.

 The other guy?: They seem more interested in getting their next product on the market than in solving the problems so many of us are having with the first one. A very pricey product and an error I will not repeat

Based on your recommendation... If things change, please report the "going south" indicator. :lol:

 

Thanks Tom. Roger that! :Big Grin:

Not entirely sure it was in 2013... but the MS Flight add-ons I purchased were taken off

my hard drive, soon after MS cancelled the MS Flight product   :mad:  

I have a number of regrets but the one that bugs me the most is the 727 from Captain Sim. This product is unfinished and even with many many community fixes, is still a PITA to fly. I have yet to be able to trim it properly without it making large vertical movements and its quite unstable. My attempt to contact support resulted in CS closing the ticket without a response.

 

This is my first and last purchase from them.

That would be because the real one doesn't do that either...

 

Did not know that. Well learn something new, BUT since the runway turnoff lights don't do anything it makes this plane very hard to taxi at night.  

That makes two votes for the CS 727 in this thread, I know their support isn't much to write home about, but knowing that, and not expecting much to begin with, I bought it a couple winters ago and just enjoyed the hell out of it. I spent some time on their forums and figured out all the fixes, took care of them myself, and got a great deal of entertainment out of reading the "Lou Stories" in the process. Probably took me 3 evenings to get everything working the way I thought it should, and most of that time I spent sidetracked reading war stories. In the end I added a bunch of real world liveries that I actually flew on back in the early 80s and did dozens of successful flights recreating those real world flights and other real world routes of the day. I even made a half-a$$ed Stapleton scenery so I didn't have to fly out of the new KDEN.

 

I bought the 727 on one of the 9.99 sales so for me it was well worth it, I guess it just comes down to what you like to get out of an addon, for me a few months of nostalgia is worth a lot more than a couple hours of automation (which is about all I'm good for), but then I'm an old fart that likes to fiddle with things and I'm used to patching things up to my satisfaction from spending several years doing it back in the freeware days.

 

I'm not trying to say anybody's wrong about not liking it, it's not up to PMDG standards and I don't argue that, but I definitely have a contrasting opinion and certainly wouldn't call it regrettable. I thought it was awesome, I bought the 707 the following year during the next 9.99 sale and went through it all again :smile:

The 727 is one of my favorites. I have trim set up to the top buttons on my joystick, and learned how to "blip" it for reasonable trim adjustments. Most of the time I'm on autopilot, anyway. Mastering that is important to enjoying the airplane. It even does a respectable autopilot approach. In fact, last night I was just doing large circuits at KSEA at 5000' with a low ASN ceiling and visibility, which meant I couldn't see anything for except for takeoff and landing. I used the 727, the CS 737, and the Coolsky DC9 -- all old tyme aeroplanes. I had a lot of fun. I would hesitate to rate them, they were that close. Probably a tie between the 737-200 and DC-9, although the latter has that great working nav map in the DC-9. (They got the trim right in the 737.) The autopilot controls have a more sensible layout in the 737-200. The 727 has some minor niggles that should have been corrected long ago, but nothing that keeps me from flying and enjoying it. The only mods I have made are A2A Shockwave lights for the 727-100, reducing the static thrust and inlet area in the 737, and equipping all three with TSS engine sounds.