FENIX & PMDG

[PapaRomeo 40]

Hi all.
Help me a little here, thanks.

We all know I will be getting both, but which one should I start with?
Which one is the most beginner friendly, and have an easy flightplan import function?

A little input to guide my way.

And they can both only be purchased at developer webside?
The amount of websides I use for flightsim is taking over, LOL.

Best regards.

[CFIJose 5,485]

PMDG 737-700 BBJ 😀

[Farlis 2,288]

13 minutes ago, DJJose said:

PMDG 737-700 BBJ 😀

Is NOT the most beginner friendly and has NOT an easy flightplan function. 

You have to do setup an external program, export the flightplan from simbrief into that and than load it in the FMS. That is much easier with the Fenix.

 

Also AIrbus has a much more user friendly approach to its operation in general. The airplane thinks way more for itself than the 737.

[Nyxx 6,993]

PM/DM your email and i will send you my walk throughts for both aircaft, then you can see what suits you best.

They are Totaly diffrent from each other in the since one has more depth but also is more automated. The NG is more old school. If I was only buying one it would be the Fenix with out a dought. I will fly the A320 about 85% of the time now and the rest will be the NG. 

Dont try to learn both at the same time. 🤪

Edited May 20, 2022 by Nyxx

[iFlySimX 751]

I would say Fenix...That EFB is just amazing and really helps.

[ckyliu 1,749]

I'd say the A320 is easier, the overhead layout is far  more logical and ergonomic vs a 737 stuck in the 1960s. The A320 is a lot more automated (e.g. it turns the packs off for engine start automatically, the pressurisation controller gets your vertical profile from the FMGS, the ADIRS(IRU) gets your position from GPS to align itself) and when things go wrong it walks you through it, whereas the 737 doesn't even have a centralised warning system.

However the Fenix does suffer from a chronic lack of documentation and I'm not aware of there being any tutorials suitable for newbies yet. Not sure what documentation is like for PMDG, in the FSX days they use to give you nice walk through written tutorials, then they started deferring to the Boeing documentation for P3D that was a bit onerous, now I don't know what PMDG give you.

Edited May 20, 2022 by ckyliu

[Bobsk8 12,754]

28 minutes ago, ckyliu said:

I'd say the A320 is easier, the overhead layout is far  more logical and ergonomic vs a 737 stuck in the 1960s. The A320 is a lot more automated (e.g. it turns the packs off for engine start automatically, the pressurisation controller gets your vertical profile from the FMGS, the ADIRS(IRU) gets your position from GPS to align itself) and when things go wrong it walks you through it, whereas the 737 doesn't even have a centralised warning system.

However the Fenix does suffer from a chronic lack of documentation and I'm not aware of there being any tutorials suitable for newbies yet. Not sure what documentation is like for PMDG, in the FSX days they use to give you nice walk through written tutorials, then they started deferring to the Boeing documentation for P3D that was a bit onerous, now I don't know what PMDG give you.

I se the flyby wire airbus has all kinds of documentation on their website. Wouldn't that work? https://docs.flybywiresim.com/

[iFlySimX 751]

2 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I se the flyby wire airbus has all kinds of documentation on their website. Wouldn't that work? https://docs.flybywiresim.com/

Great idea, I'm sure some of it would!

[ckyliu 1,749]

Should do, only things specific to the simulation would differ or be missing such as click-spots, shortcut keys and simulation menus for failures and ground services. There are some advanced features of the Fenix that might not be covered in other products, but for starting out FBW documentation should be okay.

The ancillary stuff would all be different too like importing flight plans and the load manager. In the case of the Fenix, the EFB.

Edited May 20, 2022 by ckyliu

[CFIJose 5,485]

If the OP has the CPU/GPU that can handle the Fenix and loves to learn, he can't go wrong with either bird as a 1st choice. My only concern is the one thing that many have been complaining about. Performance! FPS! Smoothness! You know, what really matters.

What's the sense of buying an aircraft that will not run smoothly on most computers. Just sayin'.

[ckyliu 1,749]

I really feel the performance thing has been overstated. I found it heavy on my system initially, but once I turned down the cockpit display rendering quality and got them drawn by the CPU, it went back to being like any other bird. YMMV.

On a side note, if you are just starting out with complex airliners why not try the FBW A320? It's free to try and quite in-depth now by all accounts.

Edited May 20, 2022 by ckyliu

[roi1862 602]

1 minute ago, ckyliu said:

I really feel the performance thing has been overstated. I found it heavy on my system initially, but once I turned down the cockpit display rendering quality and got them drawn by the CPU, it went back to being like any other bird. YMMV.

Do you compare to be as the PMDG at this point ? And you think you might be able to show us rendering quality differences ? 

[Drumcode 1,893]

Just get both if the financial spend is not an issue and get it over with.

[ckyliu 1,749]

The issue with buying both is trying to learn two complicated airliners at the same time is incredibly confusing. Need to master one first really. I sometimes get confused switching between types I am experienced on.

@roi1862 I don't have a licence for the PMDG MFS 737 so I am unable to comment. My comparisons are drawn from default aircraft but I am Vsync'd at 30 fps. The Fenix A320 is certainly more taxing, but I think some of the bigger differences people are posting between PMDG NG3 and Fenix are caused by their Fenix rendering settings (specifically not choosing CPU rendering of displays when GPU limited)

Edited May 20, 2022 by ckyliu

[tangerine 148]

PMDG: Good

Fenix: Better..plain simple.
 

EFB and Rain Effects on Fenix... it seems Michelangelo was not that inspired on his last masterpiece.