Let's talk about fun Fenix, Leonardo or PMDG

[Aglos77 168]

First sorry fo my bad english...

We often focus on other aspects than what I think should be the main thing, fun. I know that everyone has fun in their own way but maybe this will help more than one undecided person.... 

Which of the three study level Airliners do you find the most fun and why?a

Thank you !!

Edited June 23, 2022 by Aglos77

[Bobsk8 12,578]

The FENIX A 320, without a doubt, is the best flying tubeliner I have ever flown in a flight sim. 

[lwt1971 7,347]

Yup agree with Bob... if you're not particular about specific airliner types and ops, then the Fenix A320 is the best out there for MSFS currently. It is also the one that has taken the most advantage of the MSFS platform from visuals inside and out, to spatial soundscapes, to flight dynamics, systems, etc. But if you're very particular about flying the "more manual way" in Boeings rather than "fly by wire", then the PMDG 737 is for you (IMO it only lacks in interior visuals vs the Fenix, LNAV not as good, and also has no EFB currently but that's all being fixed for free soon).  If you like old school flying then it's the MD80, but the visual modeling/texturing is not up to current MSFS standards, don't know if they've stated they'll improve that but they surely must be planning for it.

I'd say get the Fenix now for the narrow-body/short-haul experience, and then later after the November MSFS release of the 40th anniv edition see how you like the free iniBuilds A310 in terms of widebody/long-haul ops. And based on that if you still want a more modern widebody then consider the PMDG 777 which will likely release in 4Q22 or 1Q23. Also by Sep/Oct if you want to expand the narrow-body experience then consider the PMDG 737-800 which by then will have all the improvements that brings it fully to current MSFS standards.

Edited June 23, 2022 by lwt1971

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

Would like to add another one to the mix (although it might not be as 'study level' as the other three) and that would be the 146! That one is excellent and even more 'Tubeliner Unplugged'.. 😉

 

[Car147 2,276]

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy all three (Fenix,PMDG, and the Maddog) And so far love them all. They all bring different aspects to the sim, if i want to do short and regional i will use the Bae 146, ( The CRJ will hopefully get more use when it's issues are sorted out, supposedly there's a update soon)) The complexity of the Maddog is proving to be a nice challenge as i learn more each day, and the system depth is fantastic.

The Fenix really opened some eye's as to what's capable in this sim, and should be congratulated on what they have produced for the price point. And finally the PMDG 737, loving it, when i want to be more hands on, both the 737 and Maddog are my go to aircraft.

[kakihara123 144]

For me fun lies in the pure realism. Not that I cannot have fun in the hornet in vr, but I don't like pretending. I want to have to care about what I do and have to feel the consequences if I do it wrong. If I can redline a plane all the time without anything happening my immersion simply vanishes. So the Fenix is the obvious answer. 

Edited June 23, 2022 by kakihara123

[JBDB-MD80 1,470]

Leonardo Maddog, followed by the Fenix.

Edited June 23, 2022 by jbdbow1970

[Cognita 1,054]

I have to say I have been almost trying to pull myself away from the Fenix A320 for the past month and have not been able to do so. I am not sure what it is, a combination of a well thought through simulation experience -- the EFB, the fact that the jetway just connects when you begin boarding, etc, and an excellent simulation of the flight of a heavy airliner -- I find myself feeling like I am moving through the flows of all phases of flight. I know there are some things still to be worked out but it is as others have said a stunning simulation and I am confident we will get more updates to make it even better.

I really thought I would be flying the 737 all summer, even bought MDW as a home base for my Southwest operations, and I don't think I have done a single Southwest flight, every time I end up back at ORD working for American.

[RichUK 474]

Fenix 100%

[Bobsk8 12,578]

9 minutes ago, Cognita said:

I have to say I have been almost trying to pull myself away from the Fenix A320 for the past month and have not been able to do so. I am not sure what it is, a combination of a well thought through simulation experience -- the EFB, the fact that the jetway just connects when you begin boarding, etc, and an excellent simulation of the flight of a heavy airliner -- I find myself feeling like I am moving through the flows of all phases of flight. I know there are some things still to be worked out but it is as others have said a stunning simulation and I am confident we will get more updates to make it even better.

I really thought I would be flying the 737 all summer, even bought MDW as a home base for my Southwest operations, and I don't think I have done a single Southwest flight, every time I end up back at ORD working for American.

I have not flown another aircraft in MSFS since I got the Fenix....

[OzWhitey 3,353]

I own all 3.

All great planes - or, more correctly, the Fenix is a great plane, and the MD-82 and 737 are very good planes.

Controversially - and nobody has been more of a Fenix fan than me along the journey - if you looked at my flight time stats for the month, it would be 1% Maddog, 5% Fenix and 94% PMDG 737.

 

[Bobsk8 12,578]

Something I really like about the Fenix, is their Discord page. There are constant posts on that page both on  the Chat and Support thread, where questions are asked by pilots , and answered by other pilots, moderators and sometimes by the developer. Since there are so many things to learn about this aircraft, just visiting there a couple of times a day, and I find out information that would be difficult to quickly find anywhere else, just by reading the questions and replies. For instance, I asked the other day about changing the arrival runway in the MCDU, after you had already programmed a different runway, and the wind and active runway had changed. I tried everything, and could not figure out how to do this. I posted this problem on the Support Thread, thinking it was a bug, and within 5 minutes someone gave me the answer, and this is after I had searched for an hour on google trying to find out where I was going wrong. I don't know of any other flight sim aircraft that has that amount of feedback for the user. 

[chapstick 2,757]

18 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Something I really like about the Fenix, is their Discord page. There are constant posts on that page both on  the Chat and Support thread, where questions are asked by pilots , and answered by other pilots, moderators and sometimes by the developer. Since there are so many things to learn about this aircraft, just visiting there a couple of times a day, and I find out information that would be difficult to quickly find anywhere else, just by reading the questions and replies. For instance, I asked the other day about changing the arrival runway in the MCDU, after you had already programmed a different runway, and the wind and active runway had changed. I tried everything, and could not figure out how to do this. I posted this problem on the Support Thread, thinking it was a bug, and within 5 minutes someone gave me the answer, and this is after I had searched for an hour on google trying to find out where I was going wrong. I don't know of any other flight sim aircraft that has that amount of feedback for the user. 

It's too bad the actual Fenix devs have gone silent over these last three weeks. It's a pretty good product right now, but what Fenix does next is the real test, because they've pushed all the difficult items to post-release and their roadmap is vague. 

[Bobsk8 12,578]

2 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

It's too bad the actual Fenix devs have gone silent over these last three weeks. It's a pretty good product right now, but what Fenix does next is the real test, because they've pushed all the difficult items to post-release and their roadmap is vague. 

They are on Discord constantly, working on some bugs and taking input for features users would like to be added. Don't know of any other developer that is so active talking with users. 

[lwt1971 7,347]

@Aglos77 maybe edit your title to change "Phoenix" to "Fenix" :), before the edit time window expires.