Carenado 180 or Aussim Warrior II & III

[cgioldy 0]

I'm looking to upgrade from my Dreamfleet Archer II that I have had for a few years now, and have been looking at what seems to be the top 2 choices for another Piper. I am a student pilot in real life and have been looking for a Piper Cherokee to use on my simulator other than my Archer. I have been torn by my top 2 choices which are the Carenado 180 and the Aussim Warrior II & III. I have searched and read as many threads as I could find and am still torn. I only want to buy one. The 2 most important features that I am mainly interested in are as follows:1) Eye Candy (I want a plane that looks as close to the real thing as possible, with primary importance on a really nice VC).2) Flight Dynamics (I know it's a simulator, but I would like it to perform as close to the real plane as possible).I would appreciate all comments that might help me make an intelligent decision.

[Dillon 2,197]

Carenado's option for sure... :-beerchug After spending weeks marveling at the 182RG, I'd highly recommend anything by these guys. I've owned their F33 since the days of FS2k2 and also own their Cessna Centurion. These guys are one of the best in the business for what they do (light GA aircraft). Flight Models, upgrades, everything is top notch... Carenado would be my choice hands down...

[1mikel151 71]

If you wait, Dreamfleet has a big 3 pack Piper project going on at the moment, should be pretty sweet and "scuttlebutt" is that it includes a new Archer!Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

[Guest dpc]

You won't go wrong with Carenado. Great 180. It is my default A/C. Dave---------------------------------------------------System Specs:Athlon64 3500+ ClawHammerECS NForce4 A-939 Mobo (1ghz FSB)2 Gigs OCZ Performance PC3200 Ram (Dual Channel)ATI Radeon X800Pro PCI-E 256MB (Catalyst 5.6 @ 550/540)SoundBlaster Live 24bitSaitek Cyborg EvoWinXP SP1

[Guest wildfire563]

I think your choice depends on your needs, The Archer is a 180, and the Warrior is a 160. They do fly somewhat differently. What are you training on and what do you plan to fly when you finish your training? How do you like to fly (i.e. radio or GPS navigation, etc.)?I own all three products. I am a partial owner of a '73 Cherokee Challenger 180 with 100 hours in type and 220 hours total. I have so far settled on flying the Dreamfleet Archer. To me flying it seems the smoothest and closest to flying my own aircraft, but, take into account that for various reasons I haven't flown in real life for several years. What I have done is created a panel that matches my own panel. To do that, I used gauges from both Dreamfleet and the Warrior II, because the Warrior II almost matches the equipment in my own plane. I also, since I can't afford a Garmin, prefer to use VOR/ADF navigation. So there is no GPS in my plane except for the pop-up default one I never use. If I want to use GPS, I hook up my IPAQ and use PocketFMS, which is what I use in my real plane for GPS.Both the Carenado and Aussim products are excellent. Considering the needs you listed, and I believe others may disagree with me, as far as the VC is concerned, I am partial to the Warrior. The Carenado product just feels a little old to me technology wise. Take into account that I use FS at 1920 x 1200 resolution, and the Carenado seems clunky to me as to me it appears optimized for lower resolutions. If I were to rebuild the cockpit of the Carenado at a higher resolution, I may change my mind, I haven't flown it enough to tell. But the Warrior cockpit seems more realistic and the plane can be totally flown from the VC and has more eye candy here, plus, I am partial to it because the Warrior II is closer to my own cockpit.My plan has been to model my cockpit in all three planes, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. As far as I can tell and from what I have researched, both planes have good flight dynamics comparable to their real world counterparts. The Warrior feels a little twitchy to me, especially with one of my joysticks, but with my yoke it seems fine, and from what I have read, the Warrior is a little twitchier than the Archer in real life (I haven't flown one myself).My recommendation, buy both and see what you like.But like I have said, given the equipment I really use, I seem to have settled on the Dreamfleet, though modified it a lot. The interior is not as nice as the other two (I've turned off those 2D views as I prefer to fly from VC), but with the upgrades I have made, it is functional for me and the plane just feels right when flying.I do hope to start flying in real life again soon, so maybe I'll have more info later.ThomasN15802

[neil0311 366]

Both are very good. If you have the money, buy both. I'm not sorry I did. The photo realistic VC in the Carenado Cherokee may be a little more to some people's liking, and is a superb example of VC development. The flight model is near perfect when compared to the hershey bar Cherokee that I fly, but it does represent an older aircraft that is setup for VFR only. The Aussim Warrior is very good as well. You get both the panel for the Warrior II and III. The VC has excellent gauge clarity and refresh, but is not photo real and the windows don't have reflection. Absolutely everything is clickable and works, from the dome light to the vent window. I fly real Warriors and the flight model is also dead on. Avionics aren't the best (no DME in the Warrior II, default GPS in the III) and I've never seen a RXP retrofit for it. The developer has been talking on and on for months promising an update to the model and avionics, but he does a lot of promising and not much in the way of showing screen shots or discussing in his forum. I'm sure an update will come in time, but by then the Dreamfleet Pipers will be out and who cares then. :D

[cgioldy 0]

Thanks guys for all your help. Thomas, as far as your questions, I fly a PA28-161 Warrior and have been leaning towards the Aussim Warrior for those reasons, but I'm a little torn because from all the messages I have read, it seems like most people think that the flight dynamics are off a bit with jerky motions and that's why I am now leaning towards the Carenado. Who knows, maybe I just will buy them both.As far as navigation, I also prefer VOR/ADF but I also like using my Reality-XP Garmin 430 which is identical to the one I use in real life. Oh, BTW! Where have you guys seen that Dreamfleet will be coming out with a new Piper? I went on their site and can't seem to find anything.

[1mikel151 71]

"Oh, BTW! Where have you guys seen that Dreamfleet will becoming out with a new Piper? I went on their site and can'tseem to find anything."http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_post...&KW=DreamFleet1Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

[yellow5 0]

I have to represent for the Aussies! I own thier Piper Warrior II and III, and I have to say I am very impressed, and enjoy every minute of them. Like you, I trained to fly in the Piper Warrior, and when I saw this package come out... The nestalgia kicked in and I had to buy it. I repainted the aircraft to represent the club planes that I flew during my training. So if you want a Piper Warrior package that resembles the real thing, as close as you can get with a flight simulator this is the one. If you are looking for a Cherokee 180, then go Carenado. You won't go wrong with either company. Great products, great support! :DGood luck in your flight training... Keep the dirty side down... :DKev

[Guest DreamFleet]

"Oh, BTW! Where have you guys seen that Dreamfleet will becoming out with a new Piper? I went on their site and can'tseem to find anything."Oh really, did you look on the right side of our home page?We're not making a big "splash" yet, but...Click on my banner to go there. ;-)Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

[cgioldy 0]

Thanks for the link Michael and Kev for the well wishes.Lou, I totally missed that! You can bet that I will be one of the first to make that purchase. I have been waiting a long time for another great Piper product. Can't wait. :-jumpy Do you have timeline to completion or is it still in the early stages?

[SQUAWKIDENT 3]

Go for the Carenado 180.Aussim flight dynamics bear no resemblance to real life, cockpit is cartoonish and sounds are horrible IMHO.

[cgioldy 0]

I went with the Carenado 180 yesterday. The virtual cockpit is really good, and I see no need to use the 2D cockpit. As far as the flight dynamics, I have to get used to it. At first, I must say I was a little disappointed at the way it flies, but after a while I am starting to like it. I've only taken it up for about an hour so far, but I must say that it takes some getting used to from the way my Dreamfleet Archer II flies. I seem to have trouble trimming it correctly, and having some difficult seeing the runway when taking off and landing. Also seems a little sensitive when flaring. Anyone else have similar issues?As far as the sounds, they could be improved. I can hear the engine ok, but I can't really hear the gyros spinning when starting up.Thanks again,

[Guest delta_one]

i also agree that the aussim warrior update is a long time in the making, must be about 9 months now since the first news of it lol. other than that the bonus is that you get both an old warrior and a new warrior + different panels in the pack.:(

[MarvK 0]

This was my first payware aircraft. Bought it the first week after it was released, and it's still one of my favorite GA aircraft. It does take a little getting used to as far as flight dynamics go, but you'll soon begin to love it. Never had the DF Archer II so I can't compare. Besides, I'm hoping that DF will re-release the Archer with the upcoming Dakota package. (fingers crossed)As for trimming it for straight/level flight, After you reach your cruising altitude, set the elevator trim for a very slow climb, and then back off the throttle ever so slightly until you maintain level flight. And for trimming for straight flight, it will never truly fly straight, at least not for me anyways. But from what I've read from RWP's, with only a rudder trim and no aileron trim, the real 180 won't either. Constantly correcting left/right.Here's what I use for the panel.cfg file that seemed to help me alot with the forward view in the VC;VIEW_FORWARD_ZOOM=1.000VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=7.400, 0.000, -1.500 //4.500, 0.000, 0.000The numbers after the // are the original view settings.Oh, btw, good choice. ;-)Marv