13 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

Oh yes, of course.  The Zibo is much more advanced than the FBW A320 at this point.

I think my main point in my original post though, was that MSFS is lowering the cost for us. I don't have to pay over $100 USD for a study level airliner when it releases.  That's a perk of using MSFS, if you ask me. The money we save from MSFS, we can spend on other things, like better hardware, peripherals, other add-ons, etc.

 

I think with respect to the Fenix A320, your point is spot on. To me, that bird was a bargain for that kind of quality. I don’t necessarily agree with respect to PMDG. They will sell you a stand alone 737 variant at a good price, but then you get gouged on the full set of variants, at least based upon what PMDG says they will charge for the remaining variants. However, in general your point is well taken.
 

Cheers, Pete

8 minutes ago, PilotPete99 said:

I think with respect to the Fenix A320, your point is spot on. To me, that bird was a bargain for that kind of quality. I don’t necessarily agree with respect to PMDG. They will sell you a stand alone 737 variant at a good price, but then you get gouged on the full set of variants, at least based upon what PMDG says they will charge for the remaining variants. However, in general your point is well taken.
 

Cheers, Pete

Oh yeah. The Fenix A320 is so much cheaper than the FSLabs A320.  And I believe the Fenix A320 is even giving sharklets as a free upgrade.  

The price of the FSLabs A320 for P3D is $150 USD: https://www.flightsimlabs.com/index.php/a3xx-master-series-a320-3/. The FSLabs Sharklets are $70 USD: https://www.flightsimlabs.com/index.php/a320-sl/.  The total comes to $220 USD for both. 

The Fenix A320 is 50 pounds, or about $60 USD at today's exchange rate.  $60 USD for the Fenix A320 + sharklets.  $220 USD for the FSLabs A320 + sharklets.

Yeah, I know who is getting the better deal, and who isn't 🤣🤣🤣

Edited July 30, 20223 yr by abrams_tank

46 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

As for the PMDG 737 series, if you only want one variant (ie. I only want the 800), it's much cheaper for people like me, that only want the one variant.

Just curious, what does the 800 variant offer?

5 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

Just curious, what does the 800 variant offer?

I don't work in the airline industry.  But from what I have researched, it's the most used variant among all the 600/700/800/900 variants of the 737 in the airline industry today.  So if you ride on a 737, it's more likely to be an 800, than the other 3 variants.  The 800 variant will probably come with the BBJ and Cargo version, I believe. From my understanding, the 600 does not have a BBJ or Cargo version.

Aside from the BBJ or Cargo version, if all you want is a passenger version of the 737 and you don't care much about the length, the distance, or other small details, the 600 is a good deal to get a study level 737 at a very cheap price.

My guess is, even with Fenix's low pricing of their A320, Randazzo is probably going to price the 800 between $60 to $70 USD. The 800 will be more expensive than the 600 (with luck, maybe Randazzo will price the 800 at $50 USD, but I doubt it, as much as I would love that).

Edited July 30, 20223 yr by abrams_tank

25 minutes ago, PilotPete99 said:

The fact that all of the 737 variants would cost more for MSFS vs. P3D is the only fair comparison. Otherwise, we would be comparing apples to oranges. 

Hmmm…how far do you want to go with this kind of a comparison?

Shall we add the cost of an academic license for P3D too? Then let’s not forget the cost of all those add ons to make it look vaguely like…something.

A quick search of the web finds the basic edition of MSFS2020 available for £41. Add on the 737-600 at £28 and the Milviz 310R from the market place and for just slightly over GBP£100 you’ve got a sim with authentic world wide scenery and a study level airliner and g.a. aircraft to explore it with.

I just bought the PMDG 737-600. Usually I buy planes from the marketplace, but for that price I figured it might be worth a try.
The 737 was a lot of fun in the other sims, it was one of my most flown, other than the Majestic Dash 8-Q400.

 

Edited July 30, 20223 yr by Alpine Scenery

Just now, DD_Arthur said:

Hmmm…how far do you want to go with this kind of a comparison?

Shall we add the cost of an academic license for P3D too? Then let’s not forget the cost of all those add ons to make it look vaguely like…something.

A quick search of the web finds the basic edition of MSFS2020 available for £41. Add on the 737-600 at £28 and the Milviz 310R from the market place and for just slightly over GBP£100 you’ve got a sim with authentic world wide scenery and a study level airliner and g.a. aircraft to explore it with.

Actually, I would add the fact that PMDG justified a higher price specifically for P3D, because of other legal Boeing related issues. Obviously, MSFS out of the box is miles ahead of P3D. However, that shouldn’t have any impact on PMDG’s price structure.

Cheers, Pete

If I see how many hours I spent with PMDG aircraft in P3D - then even 500$ would still be cheap compared to a lot of other hobbies. 

1 hour ago, Stoopy said:

Thanks - time to get out the clippers I guess. 🤙

I figure that everyone has to do this at least once... It was the first thing I did when I retired 20 years ago.. Get the PMDG 737NG, print and read all the manuals, learn how to program the FMC and take it for a flight or two..

I guess I was not cut out to be an airline captain, I ended up flying the F33 Bonanza as my go-to plane..

Back then, there was a 50/50 split between ATP and GA types at Avsim, and that will likely be same in MSFS, I would imagine.

Makes for interesting discussions..

My view for what it is worth:  "Why drive a Greyhound bus, if you can drive an MG sports car, or a Range Rover..?  🙂

Edited July 30, 20223 yr by Bert Pieke

2 minutes ago, MySound said:

If I see how many hours I spent with PMDG aircraft in P3D - then even 500$ would still be cheap compared to a lot of other hobbies. 

I understand what you are saying, but I always found this type of argument a bit flawed. I have baseball gloves that I’ve been using for 20 years, but that doesn’t mean I would have paid $1,000 for a glove. Same with my hockey sticks, which at this point last me a long time. I still don’t pay much more than $100 for a stick.

Cheers, Pete

1 minute ago, PilotPete99 said:

I still don’t pay much more than $100 for a stick.

Seems like a lot of money for a bent broomstick.. 😉

$35 is a good price no matter how you look at it really, even just for 1 variant.
There are a lot of "toy planes" around that price in the marketplace.

 

 

Just now, Bert Pieke said:

Seems like a lot of money for a bent broomstick.. 😉

Lol! My sons play also, and now they wants sticks that cost $200+! Back when I started playing in the late 70’s I’d get a wooden stick for $12!

Cheers, Pete

1 minute ago, Alpine Scenery said:

$35 is a good price no matter how you look at it really, even just for 1 variant.
There are a lot of "toy planes" around that price in the marketplace.

 

 

It’s a great price for one variant, no doubt. But it’s the only variant that I expect will be at that price.

Cheers, Pete

15 minutes ago, PilotPete99 said:

I understand what you are saying, but I always found this type of argument a bit flawed. I have baseball gloves that I’ve been using for 20 years, but that doesn’t mean I would have paid $1,000 for a glove. Same with my hockey sticks, which at this point last me a long time. I still don’t pay much more than $100 for a stick.

Cheers, Pete

But it is what it is. How much fun and pleasure does it give you? 
And there is A LOT of work put into these addons. So 100$ still is a fair price. 
But as always in software engineering - people think it’s just some coding. 
 

And if you compare baseball gloves - another example: I just bought the M Performance rims for my new car - 4500€. And they just spin round like other rims. So…. Are they more complex than a PMDG 737 or a Fenix? Maybe not. 
Did it take longer to build them than a software addon? Maybe also not. 
So yeah. 
 

Or another example: we use IBM Websphere MQ at work just because one customers requires us to do so. This software does nothing but send JMS messages. And we pay around 15.000€ license costs per year. So what is 100$ for a complex addons? Right. Nothing. 
 

I personally pay people more for good work - just for the sake of supporting them and their next work. 

Edited July 30, 20223 yr by MySound