is the majestic dash 8 still worth it?

[CFIJose 5,485]

1 hour ago, ryanbatcund said:

But it's for an outdated sim.

10 days left.

[cowpatz 243]

On 8/8/2020 at 10:09 AM, Chock said:

It is the best add-on aeroplane for FSX or P3D bar none, and also probably the best value as well. You will not be disappointed.

Big call there Chock. The Q400 is good but what about the Maddog?

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

2 hours ago, cowpatz said:

Big call there Chock. The Q400 is good but what about the Maddog?

Well Steve, I think it's a great call. I hope I don't have to point out that neither aircraft is part of my company's work.

The Majestic Dash 8 Q400 and Leonardo MaddogX are the two best aircraft ever developed for desktop flight simulation, however overall it's incredibly difficult to place one ahead of the other if for no other reason than they are two radically different aircraft types. One might eek out the other in any given category but then the other will do the same in a different category.

I've spent an enormous amount of time with both products and in testing I've taken a harder look than most people would and I just could not rank one above the other, nor would I want to be without either aircraft in my line up.

Best wishes!

 

 

 

[cowpatz 243]

I fully agree with you.

[regis9 4,014]

If pressed I don’t know if I could pick a favourite between the Maddog, Q400 and FSLabs Airbus.  I love all of my children equally! 😉

[lambourne 211]

You say you've bought a lot of top-end addons in the past but haven't really learnt to fly them properly... what would you get out of the Q400 that you wouldn't get out of those?

Comparing it to the Aerosoft A32x series, it's much more hands on to fly. There's no automated first officer to do all the hard work for you and you'll need to be alert to tuning navaids and setting up systems before and during a flight. If learnings the ins and outs of addons in depth isn't your thing, I worry you might be disappointed with the Majestic Dash-8.

[ryanbatc 12,855]

16 hours ago, DJJose said:

10 days left.

yeaaaaaaa......

[Chock 17,769]

15 hours ago, cowpatz said:

Big call there Chock. The Q400 is good but what about the Maddog?

Why I say it is the best, is for a few significant reasons. Chief among these are:

Extremely competitive pricing: With even more flexibility in offering three different levels of price and detail - although personally, I'd recommend the Pro version, since for another 20 quid, it is pretty much complete in comparison to the chopped-down Pilot version - the Majestic Dash 8 is a Rolls Royce sim at a Ford Fiesta price. Training version is perhaps overkill for the average simmer, but this is useful if you are a techie on the real aeroplane, since it even simulates maintenance procedures, which places it it almost in a league of its own. Even with all this on offer, the most costly version is still a good 40 quid cheaper than most other 'fancy' add-ons. Frankly, it's a steal.

Flight simmer flexibility: Being a regional turboprop, the Q400 is suited to shorter flights, which is good for flight simmers since the cruise is the 'boring bit' and the take off and landing - the interesting bits - therefore come quicker, meaning more operational skill building in less time. That said, it can do fairly long flights since it has a range of about 1,100 miles. It has STOL capabilities, meaning there is a good variety of airports you can operate it at and it is fast for a regional prop as well, to the point where it's almost as good as a jet in terms of travel times, especially over shorter route. All of this makes it perhaps the most flexible study-sim aeroplane you can get for FSX or P3D.

Super-realism: It's one of the few add-on aeroplanes which gives you working circuit breakers in addition to all the other stuff, and of note too, is the extremely realistic nav systems simulation, which makes complex modern procedures a realistic possibility for flight simmers.

A great sim product: Graphics, GUI and Sound are up with the best and it comes with a plethora of liveries as well.

All-weather capability: With a HUD on all but the cheapest Pilot version, it can be manually landed in even the worst weather.

Realistic handling: Both on the ground when being steered with the tiller, and in the air on windy approaches, the thing handles very much like the real thing, and this is something which people who fly the real thing will readily confirm.

It's all of this which convinces me that it is the best flight sim airliner you can get for FSX or P3D. This doesn't mean I don't like (or own) some other fancy add-on airliners, but if I could only have one, it would be the Majestic Dash 8.

 

[Boeingnut 72]

The original incarnation of this product was the Dash 8 -300. The developer released it in beta to the simming community in the days of FS2002. He was designing it as a training tool for KLM and Lufthansa airlines. I believe the more expensive "Training" version of this software is still marketed towards airlines. So if you like by the book procedures and the learning curve that comes with this product, it's a very challenging and satisfying addon!!

[jimcarrel 688]

On 8/8/2020 at 12:12 PM, jozeff said:

Hi, thanks for the info!

 

I'm a bit hesitant to buy the airline2sim videos because I understand the producer is indeed disappeared. I read on another forum that people couldn't login to see their videos and that Ben has not replied his email for more than a year....

Why should I get the pro version of the dash?

 

Cheers

Jozeff

 

I believe the Pro version is the only one with the external 125Mhz flight model - faster response with axis'

[Noell 115]

Jozeff -  I have the Majestic Q400 and found the Airline2Sim videos to be a great way to become familiar with the aircraft. Well worth the price IMO. Also, just checked and I had no problem logging in to my account. Not sure if you are aware of this but once you've bought their  videos you can download them and watch them whenever you want without having to login.

Another excellent guide to the Q400 can be found here:

https://www.mudspike.com/chucks-guides-p3d-majestic-q400/

 

..Lloyd

 

[theophile 2]

Best flightsim plane of them all,and I own them all:PMDG,Flightsimlabs,Maddog,A2A and many more.

Some simple Carenado aircraft sometimes crash my sim,the dash8 never has.It runs in the mid 50

fps on my average system,and this is P3Dv4.5 in Ultra settings,with  Active Sky and Little Navmap running

concurrently.I simply cannot say a bad thing about this software,it is simply amazing.I would say:if you buy

only 1 sim aircraft to experience  professional line flying,buy the Majestic Dash 8.And yes, the extra

20 dollars for the Pro version is certainly worth it.

 

[Doug47 574]

On 8/8/2020 at 2:47 PM, ryanbatcund said:But it's for an outdated sim.  I'll definitely consider purchasing for the new sim though!

If you made a list of of the top 10 all time best add-ons, they’re all in so called ‘outdated sims’. 
 

I had a pilot friend flying small turboprops wanting to get into a major airline. He had the date for his sim check (767)and had the procedures of what he was to fly. 
   He asked me what was the most realistic 767 airplane. The Level-D 767 of course.  He installed it - in FS2004 mind you - and learnt the layout, flew the procedures etc. 
  He flew the real sim and after I asked him if the add-on was kinda sort of maybe a little bit close? He said it was near identical. Often within 1-knot in airspeed. Other areas not quite as close but not far of it. 
   And yes he did make it into the major airline. And I inherited the add-on. 
I’ll take a quality add-on regardless of the sim it’s in. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

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