The Carenado Meridian is out!

[Holdit 551]

This really brings up an important point that I don't find funny. These Canenado guys pump out this kind of junk and it just kills the chances of a real developer ever releasing a good complete Meridian because it just sucks so much of the cash right out of this small market.

 

Excellent point.

Now that you mentioned it,  I've had a look at the Tomahawk.

 

The annoying thing is that the VC radio is coded to be tuned, but Alabeo "forgot"

to enable mouse clicks for the area in question.  They could fix this easily in the model if they wanted to.

 

Workaround...

 

Alabeo actually provides a 2d version of the ADF radio, but does not include it in the airplane panel.

 

SO, I've whipped up a clickspot on the VC ADF radio that pops up the 2d version.

Now, you can tune the popup ADF radio if you need to..

 

Send me a PM with your email address if you would like a copy  :smile:

 

Bert you are a gent. PM on the way...

[Novej757 83]

Just completed a few more test flights.  Can confirm that DTO does not work at all.   Pressing the button (even with the FPL page open and with the cursor on a flight plan waypoint) just gives a blank field to enter a waypoint manually (a la default FSX GPS).  Entering a waypoint here wipes the flight plan (again a la default FSX GPS).

 

FLC is the best deployment they've done so far. Works really well.

 

Again, as with their other offerings, it's the G1000 that let's an otherwise enjoyable aircraft addon down. I so wish they'd modelled an older Meridian and featured the Avidyne or Meggit systems.

 

The Avidyne and Meggit versions are slaved to GNS430/530s, and in many cases, GTN650s (plenty YouTube vids of non-G1000 Meridians with GTN650s).  I don't think a 750 fits in the panel, but at least if they'd gone the Avidyne or Meggit route, there could have been options for RXP or F1 GTN650.

 

All in all, despite quite enjoying it initially, I wouldn't recommended it - even for Meridian junkies like me.   It's just all let down by the G1000.

 

Hi thanks for your review.  I bought the Meridian as I too am a "Meridian junkie" as you put it.  I have one question that maybe you can help me with.  The Torque is only shown in percents how do you get it to display as ft/lbs  like it actually states on the gauge and all the performance tables.  Sorry I mainly fly the "heavy metal" so these little guys sometimes give me problems.  (that's what she said)  Anyways, if you can't change the display is there some kind of conversion factor you're supposed to do?  I'm just lost I have the C90GTX and its torques can be set exactly like the tables......

 

Overall I have to agree with your review, I was not happy that this wasn't already Navigraph ready like the Proline birds especially in this day and age.  The default FSX nav data is just....imo....TOO OLD.  I do think the FLC works really well but this thing is dead in the water without a more modern navigation database.   

[JYW 2,980]

Hi thanks for your review.  I bought the Meridian as I too am a "Meridian junkie" as you put it.  I have one question that maybe you can help me with.  The Torque is only shown in percents how do you get it to display as ft/lbs  like it actually states on the gauge and all the performance tables.  Sorry I mainly fly the "heavy metal" so these little guys sometimes give me problems.  (that's what she said)  Anyways, if you can't change the display is there some kind of conversion factor you're supposed to do?  I'm just lost I have the C90GTX and its torques can be set exactly like the tables......

 

Overall I have to agree with your review, I was not happy that this wasn't already Navigraph ready like the Proline birds especially in this day and age.  The default FSX nav data is just....imo....TOO OLD.  I do think the FLC works really well but this thing is dead in the water without a more modern navigation database.   

 

I don't think it's possible.  But I agree, every Meridian I've seen, shows the Torque in lbs/ft, so I'm not sure where Carenado have gotten the % thing from - especially when you can't get it above 85%! Perhaps the very latest models use %.    Or perhaps CAR just got it wrong.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

I hope you will rethink some of you comments.

 

As a member here at AVSIM I have the right to make comments about various topics just like other members.  I disagree with most of the posts in this topic.  I make them and I stand by them.  You and everyone else here at AVSIM has the right to disagree or agree with a post or topic.  That's the way forums are.  Just because I'm an Admin here does not make me any more special than any of our membership.  I do not profess to be the expert in flight simulation.  If I cannot make my comments or you demand that I change my comments to something I disagree with is not very democratic.  It's a free society.  As long as I do not abuse or violate the AVSIM Terms of Service, I can say anything I want in disagreement with some of the comments here. 

 

This is the last I will say about this subject. 

[ryanbatc 12,835]

One thing's for sure.... lots of people buy their planes.  If you check out the face book page I always see tons of comments of people oogling over their planes.  I'm guessing the hard core user base on avsim makes up about 5 % of the FSX/P3D flightsim community.  There are many people who still have the box from FSX they got at Best Buy in 2007.  I bet many don't even know addons exist.

 

I disagree with Jim's first post about the aircraft in general (even though I don't own it) but agree with his last post here (post 64)...  everyone has a right to discuss their thoughts even if it is totally different than the status quo.  

 

Me, I still haven't purchased, and don't plan too for various reasons mostly covered here in this thread

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

This really brings up an important point that I don't find funny. These Canenado guys pump out this kind of junk and it just kills the chances of a real developer ever releasing a good complete Meridian because it just sucks so much of the cash right out of this small market.

 

I was pretty stunned when they came out with the King Air 350 jumping on what Milviz had been working so hard to produce right.  It's hard not to notice the mindset difference them and the other devs.  PMDG, Aerosoft, TFDi, Milviz, Eaglesoft...all quality devs that have produced remarkable stable products.  And then there's Carenado...no QA..upside down switches.

[Holdit 551]

Deleted. No point flogging a dead horse.

 

(Unless someone is into sadism, necrophilia and bestiality...)

[C525B 86]

I was pretty stunned when they came out with the King Air 350 jumping on what Milviz had been working so hard to produce right. It's hard not to notice the mindset difference them and the other devs. PMDG, Aerosoft, TFDi, Milviz, Eaglesoft...all quality devs that have produced remarkable stable products. And then there's Carenado...no QA..upside down switches.

 

Personally, I expected something of that order after the C90GTx...a King Air 250 or somesuch.  Carenado's always been pretty linear in their selection of projects.  One thing seems to build on another: Navajo--Chieftain, JetProp--Malibu, A36--Baron, etc.  I totally get what you're saying about MilViz, though.  It was pretty obvious how MV felt about the Carenado 350i "stealth release", given the speed with which they pulled the MV350 beta from sale.

 

Carenado does their own thing.  As Ryan B said, it seems like the FS community is really fragmented now.  Even if we (Avsim readers) all ganged up and voted with our money, it probably wouldn't make a dent because Carenado has embraced a segment with different priorities.  These are the guys that probably spend most of their time making artful sizzle videos to share on YouTube, and those guys don't really hang around here much.  More messing around, less real flying.  I'll pass on the Meridian, but I still buy Carenado add-ons because they offer something I can build on and enjoy for hours.  Tweaking has taken as much of my time as actual flying in FS.  I dug out the S550 and spent the last month tweaking, painting, cobbling together a sound pack to my taste and I've now flown it more than I ever did in the ~2 years since it was released.  Just got the CJ2 and will follow the same route, and probably the Cheyenne after that...whenever it comes.  I certainly would prefer a polished, finished version of the MV King Air, but FS is pure entertainment--and I'm plenty entertained--so it's nothing to get upset about.

 

Carenado has apparently set their course.  Our critiques have not been well-received by them for the last two years.  I think their goofs are as laughable as anyone does, but I also feel that a person savvy enough to be participating in this forum at the moment should really consider whether he/she can justly claim surprise or have anger that that the Meridian's G1000 is just like previous G1000 releases, or that there are backwards switches and model glitches in the initial release because these things are to be expected with Carenado.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

I disagree with Jim's first post about the aircraft in general (even though I don't own it) but agree with his last post here (post 64)... everyone has a right to discuss their thoughts even if it is totally different than the status quo.

 

And I respectfully agree with your right to disagree with my post as long as it is respectful and not name calling or abusive. 

 

I know everyone has their good and bad feelings about Carenado.  If you disagree with everything I said that's fine.  I just do not like to be ganged up by the haters of Carenado who post here regularly after posting some disagreements with some.  I don't think any of our members want to be ganged up on because they have some disagreements with some comments.  Everyone who is a member here at AVSIM has a right to post their objections to others comments as long as they are not abusive and violate our rules and Terms of Service.

 

For the record, I have no problems with any of the Carenado aircraft and maybe Lockheed Martin has no problems too as they have the Carenado A36 as one of their default aircraft in P3D (as well as aircraft from many other developers).  I intend to purchase the Carenado Meridian today.

 

If anyone has a problem with the Carenado Meridian and you find faults with it (the Carenado Meridian), by all means post your issues.  If you like the aircraft, post that too. This topic is about the Carenado Meridian.

 

Thanks to everyone for your cooperation.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

And I respectfully agree with your right to disagree with my post as long as it is respectful and not name calling or abusive.

I know everyone has their good and bad feelings about Carenado. If you disagree with everything I said that's fine. I just do not like to be ganged up by the haters of Carenado who post here regularly after posting some disagreements with some. I don't think any of our members want to be ganged up on because they have some disagreements with some comments. Everyone who is a member here at AVSIM has a right to post their objections to others comments as long as they are not abusive and violate our rules and Terms of Service.

For the record, I have no problems with any of the Carenado aircraft and maybe Lockheed Martin has no problems too as they have the Carenado A36 as one of their default aircraft in P3D (as well as aircraft from many other developers). I intend to purchase the Carenado Meridian today.

If anyone has a problem with the Carenado Meridian and you find faults with it (the Carenado Meridian), by all means post your issues. If you like the aircraft, post that too. This topic is about the Carenado Meridian.

Thanks to everyone for your cooperation.

 

Fair enough.  Yeah...back on topic.

[Donmo 6]

After reading five pages, I'm not sure what the real topic is anymore! I'm going to sit on the branch a little longer on this one. Translation - YES, I'll grab it for no other reason than to take screenshots, because, if there is one thing Carenado planes are good for, it is realistic screenshots. They are very good looking planes. I'm not going to comment more on Carenado or their business model, as that has been covered, good or bad, in the above posts.

 

Don

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

After reading five pages, I'm not sure what the real topic is anymore! I'm going to sit on the branch a little longer on this one. Translation - YES, I'll grab it for no other reason than to take screenshots, because, if there is one thing Carenado planes are good for, it is realistic screenshots. They are very good looking planes. I'm not going to comment more on Carenado or their business model, as that has been covered, good or bad, in the above posts.

Don

 

Yeah, I always, always ask myself when buying an airplane...what will I be able to use it for?  Screenshots is a reason and something I might do.  I might take a real world flight from A to B or just go fly it and feel the airplane.  It'd be difficult to fly a real world flight plan with this (no airways) but I could at least fly direct, maybe stick in a waypoint or two along the way.  I could fly SIDs and STARs so long as I manually handle the altitude restrictions, if any.  I probably wouldn't fly VATSIM or IVAO so much since you get a fair amount of "Proceed direct ______" which would wipe out your flightplan.  I have done a fair amount of puttering about in airplanes like this...VFR, out enjoying the day.  So, really, that's it. 

1. Great for screenshots
2. Great for puttering around VFR
3. Good for simple flight plans
4. Okay for SIDs and STARs
5. Not good for real world flight plans
6. Not good for flying online VATSIM nor IVAO.

[JimmiG 244]

Personally I don't care that much about the depth of the simulation, as I mostly do basic VFR flying, and that's what Carenado's aircraft have always been best at. But when simple switches with obvious functions don't work, it becomes an issue for me, because it's downright disrespectful to your customers. Why should I pay nearly $40 for your product when you couldn't even spend 5 minutes to make sure that basic stuff like light switches  and other simple toggle switches work?

 

I'm sure the Meridian will evolve over time to become more functional, either through official patches or via third party fixes, but to release it in this state..

[Novej757 83]

(FLAME SUIT ON, FIRE HYDRANT ON, SMOKEY THE BEAR BY MY SIDE AND TOM CRUISE PROTECTING ME FROM THE INVISIBLE FLAMES)........Here goes........

 

Other than the things I mentioned above,  I actually really like the Meridian..........(Gives the audience time to jeer and boo)..........

 

 

Ok so before you guys go all Internet Negan on me, just give me a chance to explain.  I primarily fly the "heavy metal" as you call it.  I'm a by the checklists, by the actual routes flown, with passenger safety and comfort all by the book type of flyer.....The 777-300ER and I know eachother real well.  So you'll  have to forgive me with my acceptance of this little guy when others clearly are very angry with Carenado as a whole.  Trust me I get where that comes from.  However, I will say this, the Meridian is by no means the most disappointing aircraft I've recently purchased..... Oh no, that distinction belongs to a certain 717 that may have needed a little more TLC before its release.   In fact after the flight I took last night, I personally feel there's not much that Carenado would need to fix to make her really really good.....IMO.

 

First of all my two biggest issues I mentioned in my last post with Mr JYW.  Clearly, Carenado copied the performance tables from the real Meridian manual, that's cool.  However, it quotes all the torques in ft/lbs not Percent.  Secondly, a 2006 (DEFAULT) navigation database is just two old in this day and age of Navigraph, F1Garmin, and NavData.  However, so far these are the two biggest issues that (FOR ME) take away from an otherwise very positive experience with this plane.

 

Guys, see I have wanted a Meridian for FSX for years  The WSSimulation just didn't cut it.  Unlike JYW, I preferred the G1000 variant (yeah it needs some work),  I didn't appreciate how this was originally marketed as the M500 but considering I have talked to actual pilots who had 500 TPs that thought they were M500s (Look for the blue button and autopilot ABOVE the MFD) I can understand the mistake, which they fixed by release.  I wanted it to have a working weather radar (its a joke but it lights up when its wet outside and generally changes color with the intensity of what I'm flying through).  I wanted it to fly like nothing else I'd ever really flown in FSX and this (for me) is where this plane excels.  NOTE: I'm in no way an expert to compare the FDE to real world Meridian handling capabiliites.   Yeah from what I'm told some switches are backwards but most still work......Not so sure about PROP HEAT.  Not sure whats going on with the window shade that stays down when the door is open.  Yes Direct To is non existent but you know what, I can just as easily open my active flight plan (in flight) scroll down to what ever point I need, enter a new waypoint there, activate it and the system maintains everything in the plan after it and flys DIRECTLY to the new point I inserted.   I hate how the 3d MCU inner FMS knob will turn constantly (never stopping) if you place your mouse over it when the TRIP page is selected on the MFD (So I just use the 2d one when manipulating that page).......  Yeah should I have to do all this extra stuff, heck no, Carenado needs to fix their mess.  But I see it this way, just like in real life you can get a multi million dollar plane from the factory or fresh out of maintenance and run into serious issues that THEY CAUSED your first flight out.  We all want the REAL PILOT experience but most want their sim planes to be flawless (or at least be able to control when the failures occur or if they do at all.)  That's not exactly how the real experience always plays out......Ask the NTSB.  Not to mention all my go to planes for the full experience tend to be double or nearly triple the cost of the Meridian.

 

Once I got past all these things, I found that I really enjoyed my KPHX to KBJC flight last night (though typing in EVERY wapoint blew).  FLC worked wonderful for me, I climbed up to FL270 by maintaining NG versus Torque since that percentage reading has me all confused.  Being a high and fast flyer I rarely get to enjoy the view outside.....Not in the Meridian.  She flys high enough to get over most weather and fast enough (if that's what you want to call it) to not feel like your in a cessna 152 watching a flock of Canadian Geese outpace you.  Under Auto's control she flys very smooth and boy did I enjoy the view.  Its sad but this was the first time I could really enjoy my Orbx scenery.  I like how you have to constantly set the rudder trim when flying manually especially on a windy approach.  I feel like in ways she may test my "skills" even more than my 777-300ER  (which itself can be quite a handful in gusty conditions).  Its just a different experience,  in a plane that LOOKS amazing (I think that's the one thing we can all agree on).

 

I have a weak 3.2 AMD processor that I call Weaksauce.  Yet in flight I was seeing fps of 35-45  which for Weaksauce is OUTSTANDING.............NOW its important that I point out, I always fly Carenado G1000s with the copilot PFD off at least on takeoff and approach....(I fly my Phenom 300 and Meridian single pilot anyways).  For me the left screw to turn off the copilot PFD doesn't yet work like the Phenom though (Question, can you even turn off one of these screens on the real G1000s during flight?)  So I just "turned it off" in the panel.cfg.  Oh I also added the Carenado C90GTX GPWS callouts to my Meridian too as she doesn't have any "from the factory."

 

Overall, I will say I'm happy-ish with my purchase....FOR ME I will be even happier once the Navigraph extension gets released though I will NOT be happy I have to pay another $10 for it.  I would say if you're on the fence wait until they do one of their 50% off sales to get the Meridian.  Hopefully by then some of these bugs will be fixed.  Lastly, know what you're getting.  If you just can't live with every switch not working exactly as it must then this plane isn't for you.  If your a Meridian junkie who knows the plane in and out and want that fully simulated.......this plane is not for you.  However, if you are a Meridian junkie who is willing to overlook issues because you really love the Meridian (like me) well.............I can't help you LOL.  For all the rest of you.....well judging by whats been posted so far you've pretty much already made up your mind

[Holdit 551]

(FLAME SUIT ON, FIRE HYDRANT ON, SMOKEY THE BEAR BY MY SIDE AND TOM CRUISE PROTECTING ME FROM THE INVISIBLE FLAMES)........Here goes........

 

There's no need for the flame suit. :smile:  That was a very good post, and I don't believe anyone is saying that liking Carenado products is in any way wrong. There's a lot to like about them. The looks...the FPS friendliness...the variety...the...yeah I'll say it, the regularity (although that may be a double-edged blade).

 

For the record, I don't have a problem with Carenado themselves....I have a problem with their quality control and their support. In fact, that's the only thing wrong with them..except maybe their aircraft are becoming a little overpriced for what they are. If I use harsh terms about their approach to quality, it's because they've earned it. Nevertheless, I remain willing to be converted to a Carenado fan. Just not the way things are now...

 

Again, for the record, I don't want to see Carenado shut down, fail or go away. With the departure of RealAir, we're not exactly hip-deep in GA aircraft developers. What I would like to see, though, is a bit of a decrease in output so that there can be an increase in quality (and that's assuming that output vs. quality is a zero-sum game). I don't want to see everyone stop buying Carenado and force them out of business, however, I dont think it would do any harm if the quality issues caused enough of a dip in revenues for them to take a fresh look at their approach to quality assurance and product support. For some people that seems to qualify as having some kind of vendetta. Oh well...

 

This isn't about lack of systems depth either; not every developer can be A2A or PMDG...nor do they need to be. RealAir didn't go as deep as A2A, but had a great reputation - because their aircraft worked as they were meant to. Quality Wings, in their 757 and BAe 146/Avro RJ, went for a simplified approach, but they, like RealAir, are still respected. Again, because what they claim to work, works. There's no great magic to it.