7 hours ago, DavidP said:

Seriously, all this handwringing over an EFB - how did aircraft fly without them?

It’s less about the EFB and more about modern aircraft and modern software development. I dare say most if not all ATP crews flying 737s have EFBs and it can’t be denied that EVERY modern Aircraft for MSFS (Aerosoft CRJ, Maddog MD-82, Fenix a320, and a host of other modern small to medium GA planes) has some form or fashion of a working EFB or Tablet  

So yes, an EFB is important to PMDG customers and PMDG knows it. I think they and RR are burning much more “Customer Satisfaction and Grace Capital” than the realize. Time will tell.

Edited December 24, 20223 yr by btacon

37 minutes ago, Pilot53 said:

its puts the airplane in class ahead of everything else with all of the minor details simulated to such accuracy.

Why do you talk about the Fenix A320 in a PMDG 737 thread?

The constant PMDG bashing just goes on and on.......

25 minutes ago, Kyuss said:

They gave Avsim exactly what they wanted for Christmas, more than the EFB, -900, and 777 combined - another PMDG bitching thread. 😄

🤣🤣

All I want is an EFB
No more ******** for all to see
Would make this plane for me
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

Edited December 24, 20223 yr by jarmstro

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

The constant PMDG bashing just goes on and on.......

Tbf, RSR makes it soooo easy.

15 minutes ago, B777ER said:

Tbf, RSR makes it soooo easy.

Unfortunately, you're absolutely right. I'm very much in the PMDG fan club, but they kind of do it to themselves. While they make good products, they've always been poor about communication and keeping up with the times. To the folks who get frustrated when they see others getting upset, I'd remind you that the common denominator here is PMDG. There's a reason why you don't see the same frequent reactions to other popular developers. Just saying.

Robert provides relatively frequent and detailed updates on the PMDG forum, and then gets hammered for writing a wall of text! The guy can't win with some of you.

4 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

The constant PMDG bashing just goes on and on.......

I fail to see how discussing - from the point of view of a paying customer - issues in a respectful manner qualifies as "bashing".

1 hour ago, Keirtt said:

been poor about communication and keeping up with the times.

I very much enjoy PMDG's products, and in fact right now am preparing a cargo flight in the 738-BCF, but I find these two things connected. They communicate a lot about their serious simulation products -- just read the little marketing blurbs they included with the MSFS version that appear on the loading screen -- but they really have been releasing the very same planes for years and years with little to no innovation. I know, bringing them from platform to platform requires development and innovation, but in the end, as an end user, I feel like I am using the very same 737 that I purchased in August of 2011. Sure, under the hood are great development technologies, but what I want is an EFB, a fully working electrical system that includes circuit breakers, windows that open, a cabin I can see as an actual cabin and not an airbrush representation of one; I want to enter the front door and walk from the that cabin to the cockpit -- really very basic things from a premium simulation product in 2023. And this last update where they have connected the cockpit and the cabin, but with no working cockpit door -- is a real example of this, it looks, quite simply, ridiculous in a product that is to be a premium offering -- to realistically simulate entering the cockpit from the cabin, "simply walk right through" the door:

• Rebuilt the cockpit/cabin collision models so as to unlock the ability to transition from cockpit to cabin using view position changing native to the simulator. Note: Cockpit door functionality will come in a future update that brings broader changes and improvements to the cabin area. For now simply walk right through it to move between the cabin and cockpit

If you are going to market yourself as a serious, premium simulation, and charge a good amount of money for doing so, with no upgrade paths, then you should at least stay current. Launching such a product with no EFB in 2022 when other similar offerings have one was borderline. Saying you are working on it and it will come soon, and then 9 months later not even have a preview does not leave a good impression. Maybe be more humble in their communications, they really are not at the forefront of simulation and have not been for some time, and some of the criticism would fade away.

All this said, it is a small point in the larger scheme of things. PMDG have contributed tremendously to simulation over the past two and a half decades and our hobby has been enriched from their contributions. 

Edited December 24, 20223 yr by Cognita

13 minutes ago, Cognita said:

but they really have been releasing the very same planes for years and years with little to no innovation.

Nail. On. Head.

Great post overall. Level headed, objective, calm, and collected.

13 hours ago, motishow said:

No tablet, no weather radar

Like Judy Garland said, "I don't care, I don't care..."

I can't fly the darn thing yet anyway, until they get the systems finalized and I can sit down uninterrupted  for a couple months with all of the tutorial videos and figure out what I just don't know and what really doesn't work.

I had hoped my FirstOfficerNext copilot or the AI guy would take care of some of the checklists, and all I'd have to do is punch it and engage the autopilot...

Anyway, Happy Christmas PMDG and Robert...it just keeps getting better...

35 minutes ago, Cognita said:

 

If you are going to market yourself as a serious, premium simulation, and charge a good amount of money for doing so, with no upgrade paths, then you should at least stay current. Launching such a product with no EFB in 2022 when other similar offerings have one was borderline. Saying you are working on it and it will come soon, and then 9 months later not even have a preview does not leave a good impression. Maybe be more humble in their communications, they really are not at the forefront of simulation and have not been for some time, and some of the criticism would fade away.

 

Sounds like the DC6 in depth tutorial videos, that never happened either. 

37 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

I fail to see how discussing - from the point of view of a paying customer - issues in a respectful manner qualifies as "bashing".

The usual suspects who slag off at RSR's writing style, pricing policy, development time frame and general mocking just to name a few items. It is hardly "discussing" ... 🙄

I flew airline jets for years without an EFB.  In reality.  Looking back, it's just astonishing that I lived this long.

Or, well, no it's not.  Because it matters very little to the flying of an airplane, and I kept myself fit enough that the lugging around of 50lbs of paper didn't destroy my back.  😁

An EFB in a sim is pointless.  It's just another window open on your screen that displays charts.  Navigraph (and other solutions) already do that.

You're staring at one big electronic display.  The whole thing is an EFB 😁.  What I want is fully AIRINC-424 compliant nav data; something that actually effects capability of the aircraft in the sim.