ORBX has released Volanta Premium

[scotchegg 4,186]

4 hours ago, swiesma said:

So you also have no Amazon Prime, no Netflix, no Navigraph?

 

Those offer a lot more content and are updated with new content regularly (every week for Netflix). Volanta offers very little at a price point which suggests a whole lot more. Sure, we can vote with our wallets and simply not buy, but it’s useful for Orbx to see how the community feels about this kind of direction for their pricing.

[bean_sprout 1,201]

Not sure exactly what this product does or what value it offers and I guess that is the first step to making a purchase.  lol

Regards

bs

[Chock 17,769]

2 hours ago, B777ER said:

So much for actually looking at the product and just going by the OP post. Majority of it is free and it tracks all your aircraft fleet by type and registration, all your flights (sortable by aircraft, month, etc...) including route flown, length, landing data, etc..., integrated aviation map for all of the US, Low and High airways for the whole world, NAT tracks (airways and NAT tracks if you have Navigraph subscription which many do), weather radar with like 6 different radar options and online map for Vatsim, IVAO and PilotEdge. All of that for free (save for Navigraph subscription for just two of the aforementioned features, rest are free). Some of you need to do a little research and not be lazy and merely go off the OP post. Wow..... 

I did do the research and did look at the product and if I'd found it compelling enough to use, I would have done so. I do in fact keep an eye on such things and if it changes in terms of functionality to offer something more attractive, I'll re-evalute the decision, but as yet, the conclusion for me boils down to: I don't use Vatsim, don't use PilotEdge, nor IVAO, I tend to fly in places other than the US so the integrated US map is neither here nor there to me and I already have low and high altitude data for the rest of the world from another source, I don't have a Navigraph subscription, I use other data sources for that too, so features linked to that are of no value to me.

This leaves very little of the free stuff in the product as something which couldn't be be found elsewhere and invariably better, for example the windy.com for the weather data, so it's not laziness as you suggest, nor is it a lack of research either, it's that the product is not worth a subscription to me and the free stuff isn't of much use to me personally.

Edited August 27, 2021 by Chock

[Sigwolf 222]

4 hours ago, Chock said:

I did do the research and did look at the product and if I'd found it compelling enough to use, I would have done so. I do in fact keep an eye on such things and if it changes in terms of functionality to offer something more attractive, I'll re-evalute the decision, but as yet, the conclusion for me boils down to: I don't use Vatsim, don't use PilotEdge, nor IVAO, I tend to fly in places other than the US so the integrated US map is neither here nor there to me and I already have low and high altitude data for the rest of the world from another source, I don't have a Navigraph subscription, I use other data sources for that too, so features linked to that are of no value to me.

This leaves very little of the free stuff in the product as something which couldn't be be found elsewhere and invariably better, for example the windy.com for the weather data, so it's not laziness as you suggest, nor is it a lack of research either, it's that the product is not worth a subscription to me and the free stuff isn't of much use to me personally.

How dare you use logic and reason!

 

...and well said.

[steve310002 1,198]

4 hours ago, Chock said:

it's that the product is not worth a subscription to me and the free stuff isn't of much use to me personally.

It pretty much sums it up. In a world with already a lot of quick fix subscriptions, you'd have really to stand out from the crowd to convince most sensible folk to consider adding yet another subscription.

Even if it has some benefitial points, it would need to be pretty impressive to convince the average or even hardcore simmer to subscribe.

[787flyer 633]

13 hours ago, B777ER said:

So much for actually looking at the product and just going by the OP post. Some of you need to do a little research and not be lazy and merely go off the OP post. Wow..... 

Your presumptions about me are totally wrong Eric. I for one, did read through all the features that Premium provides not just based on the thread here, but on Orbx's website as well as a a couple of other sim sites, so my research was complete before your post was even up. For me its not my cup of tea. The free version provides all that I need. And my opinion is the same that I prefer in general not to pay for subscriptions unless the feature set is something that really provides value to me.

Best not to presume in future, as it tends gets people hackles up! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kaosfere 3,115]

Y'know, I'm fine with folks who decide that the particular features offered by a given service are not worth the subscription cost.  I've looked at Volanta Premium, and that is the case for me, as well.  That is simply being an educated consumer.

However, the blanket negativity towards subscription services in general, as though they were some sort of moral outrage, is a little eyerolling.   Something like Volanta, or Netflix, or, you know... GMail has a constant recurring cost to run.  Companies don't offer these services for the good feelings they give, they expect to be remunerated for their expenses by their users.    And this can be done one of two ways:   by accepting money from their customers, or by selling their customers.

This is true for free services, too because you end up paying just as much for them.  The cost is either in your time and attention, as they throw ads in your face;   or in your personal information as they monitor your usage and sell information on you to third parties for their own uses.  Have you read the terms of the free services you use to see just what they're doing with your data?

Because ultimately, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.  Some people are fine with that, that's their choice.   But acting like it's outrageous, or a "ripoff",  to ask for money for providing an ongoing service to people is a bit curious.

Edited August 28, 2021 by kaosfere

[saifs 153]

Orbx has become very irritating these days. 

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

22 minutes ago, saifs said:

Orbx has become very irritating these days. 

I'd actually say the opposite.  Criticism of their products on their forum has always been a great way to get booted from their forums.  But they've also kept their prices in check...and, for the most part, they're high quality and beautiful.  I use Volanta 'free'...no plans to get the subscription right now but I'll consider it if there's some feature they have that I want.  At least, the state saving looks like a good idea.

[hanhamreds 592]

Making CTD issues a selling point - dear oh dear 😂

[Tomaz Drnovsek 440]

I am using the free version and I like it, it does what I need it to do. At first I did plan to use the Premium version but I changed my mind because there really isn't much added value to justify the subscription, no matter how low the price is. If there would be a one time purchase price, it would be an instant buy for me but the subscription model needs to provide much more then it does now. There aren't even all the functions available in MSFS.

[MadDog 353]

I normally try to stay away from these Avsim temper-tantrum threads; but this is insane.  The core features of Volanta are FREE.  FREE!

Youtube also offers a premium subscription for those that want it; but I have yet to read any 4 page rants about not using Youtube because they're charging folks who want to avoid commercials.

I use Volanta every day just for the (FREE) logbook features alone which let me seamlessly log flights between all major simulators.  The maps are great (you can zoom all the way down to taxiway-level detail if you're unfamiliar with an airport) and it's also really handy for determining what controllers are online at Vatsim.  Personally, I didn't find the premium features enticing enough to sign up for a subscription; but I didn't feel the need to announce it to the world either.  I think Orbx has provided us with a great application and I think it's a shame that some people are dragging their name through the mud for attempting to recover the costs on what continues to be a FREE service for the majority of us.

Give it a rest guys.

Edited August 28, 2021 by MadDog

[tull 290]

well said.....its bloody ridiculous how people go on on this forum, ridulous....bloodyhell....give it rest ..........absolutely

[Ricardo41 5,949]

A subscription here, a subscription there, next thing you know you need a subscription to keep track of all your subscriptions. 

The only subscription I have is to the New York Times, and I only got that during on of their promotional sales. Yeah, I'm cheap. Sue me. 

Seriously, I've been keeping track of my flights since FS9 with a simple Excel spread sheet. 

[Alvega 2,124]

On 8/27/2021 at 1:29 PM, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

The PM50 guys get this reaction as well for the gtn750, you only need to sub if you want to import METAR and Navigraph charts on the fly - but there are threads full of people that never use METAR and have no Navigraph (and hence only ever need the free gtn750)  loudly announcing they refuse to sub to the paid one.

Guess you need to check the differences between the free and the premium GTN 750 again.

You don't only need to sub if you want METAR and Navigraph charts, you also get traffic page, terrain page, weather radar, flightplan import and preview, airways, vcalc utility, user waypoints, map waypoint selection and more on the premium. I wouldn't have paid for the premium version (paid for 1 year, I don't like montly subs) if it was just for Navigraph charts and metar.