39 minutes ago, Raller said:

Now that I know the old machine well I can buy the new 737 NGXu for $99 and the question is, is it worth the money or shall I keep flying the old NGX and wait for what really happens on the market when the MSFS comes out.

As you get 99USD discount for the MSFS2020 NG3 when you are buying the NGXu you won't loose any money.

2 hours ago, Raller said:

Interesting discussion and a lot of points to think about. But back to the topic: I bought the PMDG 737 NGX in June 2016 for $89, I am very satisfied with it. Was completely worth the money.

Now that I know the old machine well I can buy the new 737 NGXu for $99 and the question is, is it worth the money or shall I keep flying the old NGX and wait for what really happens on the market when the MSFS comes out.

Am i so impressed like i was 3 and a half years ago? Sets the NGXu new standards?

I'm with Patco on this: for me it was worth it. Breathed new life into a plane I already loved - now I love it even more. Whether you will find it worthwhile depends on how much you like the NGX. For me, it was my main addon plane for the last 1.5 years. I'm sure the NGXu will have as 'busy a time' as the NGX had on my machine!

10 hours ago, Raller said:

Now that I know the old machine well I can buy the new 737 NGXu for $99 and the question is, is it worth the money or shall I keep flying the old NGX and wait for what really happens on the market when the MSFS comes out.

Am i so impressed like i was 3 and a half years ago? Sets the NGXu new standards?

Why don't you take a look at the features list in the announcement thread over at the PMDG forums. It's a (long) list of new things which make the NGXu different from the NGX. Read through it and see if the changes and improvements are worth it for you.

Whilst I do not need the NGXu at this time, those reports of "over sensitive" ground nandling at low speeds would be enough to deter me from purchasing until I was confident that the issue had been resolved. As far as I am concerned, the ground handling of the existing NGX is excellent.

Edited November 12, 20196 yr by Christopher Low

The ground handling overall is much better. You can use a bit of thrust to get to a nice taxi speed and put the throttles in idle and it will hold that speed for a long time. It makes taxiing much less stressful. I'm also starting to get used to the touchiness as well. It takes a bit to develop the muscle memory for making very small inputs on the rudder axis. When you do it correctly, taxi handling has been improved overall. 

I'm updating my opinion. If you have the cash and like the old NGX, buy this one. I'm discovering a lot of new little features all over the place. I just took off out of BWI in the rain. The windshield effects totally transform the entire ground experience in the rain. I love it. I have no idea how I ever lived without the EFB. I'm not lost when I arrive anymore. Finding your assigned gate at an unfamiliar airport is always a good thing. Auto cruise!!! Yes! I can do a 4 hour flight in 2 hours (and I'm only letting it go to 4x) and other than seeing the scenery go by a little faster than usual it feels pretty transparent. You can now press a button and request en-route wind information as well as descent wind information. I always hated typing that info in by hand but if you skip it you've got a 50/50 chance of hitting your descent profile. It took too long and just wasn't any fun. Now it's a breeze and takes no time at all. 

There are a couple of little issues that really annoy me. You can't retract the gear using the mouse. It gets stuck at the center position so you have to press G to raise it. The transponder knobs for the last 2 digits seem to be reversed. The center knob on the right controls the 3rd digit while the outer knob changes the 4th. You can't set the flight number reminders on the FO's yoke. And a few other minor issues.

Has anyone managed to get the EFB TO performance calculations to produce the same N1 number as the FMS? For my current flight, the FMS said the N1 limit for a TO-1 takeoff would be 93.8, FMS is showing 94.1. I used "copy from FMS" to input the numbers, and manually input the same data as the FMS where nothing copied over. None of the 4 flights where I've tried matched. Oddly enough, the V speeds have always matched.

Edit: I forgot to mention. I neglected to turn on the windshield heat and the cockpit windows fogged up. lol... nice touch

Edited November 12, 20196 yr by MDFlier

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Whilst I do not need the NGXu at this time, those reports of "over sensitive" ground nandling at low speeds would be enough to deter me from purchasing until I was confident that the issue had been resolved. As far as I am concerned, the ground handling of the existing NGX is excellent.

From what I have read, the ground handling isn't really oversensitive, it's actually supposed to be more realistic. According to Robert Randazzo, the maneuverability of the aircraft in P3D (and FSX) on the ground is a function of its speed, meaning that even with full sideways deflection at 50mph you will turn only slightly because the sim will factor in your speed to decrease your output deflection angle despite your input. In the NGXu this as disabled, essentially, given you the full deflection possible at whatever groundspeed. Now you actually have to worry about braking and turning at slower speeds (especially 90 degree angles), as you stand a chance of flipping your plane! So, the ground handling is, by all means, probably a much better simulation than it ever was. However, I do think it needs some tweaking, as I've found that with even a tiny input the turning angle can be a tad too much making it a little hard to keep on center. I'm guessing they will remedy this, though. Should be easy enough...?

11 minutes ago, Benjamin J said:

Now you actually have to worry about braking and turning at slower speeds (especially 90 degree angles), as you stand a chance of flipping your plane! 

Now that would be a 'tad' unrealistic.

5 minutes ago, FDEdev said:

Now that would be a 'tad' unrealistic.

I guess I shouldn't have been so literal.

Obviously the wings will protect you from doing an actual flip, but it seems to me that if you were to taxi at high speed and do a hard right, you will lose balance and at the vary least bend the outer edge of the wing. Were this a real plane, of course. Not sure to what extent the NGXu will be damaged...

IRL with too a too fast and too large steering input, airliners tend to do this  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoGeKdNxH4U   instead of tilting 😉  

 

Edited November 12, 20196 yr by FDEdev

PMDG will release two updates this week, in one there will be options added to adjust the nose wheel steering for personal needs resp. to different hardware.

There is also a small technical limitation by the P3D core engine regarding very low taxi speeds PMDG came across, they are checking how to overcome this limits.

1 hour ago, MDFlier said:

The ground handling overall is much better. You can use a bit of thrust to get to a nice taxi speed and put the throttles in idle and it will hold that speed for a long time. It makes taxiing much less stressful. I'm also starting to get used to the touchiness as well. It takes a bit to develop the muscle memory for making very small inputs on the rudder axis. When you do it correctly, taxi handling has been improved overall. 

I'm updating my opinion. If you have the cash and like the old NGX, buy this one. I'm discovering a lot of new little features all over the place. I just took off out of BWI in the rain. The windshield effects totally transform the entire ground experience in the rain. I love it. I have no idea how I ever lived without the EFB. I'm not lost when I arrive anymore. Finding your assigned gate at an unfamiliar airport is always a good thing. Auto cruise!!! Yes! I can do a 4 hour flight in 2 hours (and I'm only letting it go to 4x) and other than seeing the scenery go by a little faster than usual it feels pretty transparent. You can now press a button and request en-route wind information as well as descent wind information. I always hated typing that info in by hand but if you skip it you've got a 50/50 chance of hitting your descent profile. It took too long and just wasn't any fun. Now it's a breeze and takes no time at all. 

There are a couple of little issues that really annoy me. You can't retract the gear using the mouse. It gets stuck at the center position so you have to press G to raise it. The transponder knobs for the last 2 digits seem to be reversed. The center knob on the right controls the 3rd digit while the outer knob changes the 4th. You can't set the flight number reminders on the FO's yoke. And a few other minor issues.

Has anyone managed to get the EFB TO performance calculations to produce the same N1 number as the FMS? For my current flight, the FMS said the N1 limit for a TO-1 takeoff would be 93.8, FMS is showing 94.1. I used "copy from FMS" to input the numbers, and manually input the same data as the FMS where nothing copied over. None of the 4 flights where I've tried matched. Oddly enough, the V speeds have always matched.

Edit: I forgot to mention. I neglected to turn on the windshield heat and the cockpit windows fogged up. lol... nice touch

What is auto-cruise exactly?

In the older version I use 4x time compression while using the autopilot and it works fine.

You right click on the chronograph button and it turns the clock digits green so that you can tell it's active. It is basically an automated way of doing what you are doing, BUT it will automatically dial the sim rate back so that the airplane can properly maneuver. Ever notice that if you go over 4x that the plane can move off the course line and then start making large corrections back and forth overshooting it's intended course while trying to get back on track? Auto cruise fixes that. It'll slow down, let the plane make the turn, and then speed up again. 

You can actually walk away and not worry about the plane losing it's mind.

7 minutes ago, MDFlier said:

You can actually walk away and not worry about the plane losing it's mind.

If only this could be implemented for real ops! 😅

S.

13 minutes ago, MDFlier said:

You right click on the chronograph button and it turns the clock digits green so that you can tell it's active. It is basically an automated way of doing what you are doing, BUT it will automatically dial the sim rate back so that the airplane can properly maneuver. Ever notice that if you go over 4x that the plane can move off the course line and then start making large corrections back and forth overshooting it's intended course while trying to get back on track? Auto cruise fixes that. It'll slow down, let the plane make the turn, and then speed up again. 

You can actually walk away and not worry about the plane losing it's mind.

Nice I guess I never go over 4x so did not notice this behaviour.

I usually don't go over this value so I don't lose the AI traffic which which I believe disappears faster then 4x

3 minutes ago, Shomron said:

I usually don't go over this value so I don't lose the AI traffic which which I believe disappears faster then 4x

Correct..

S.