ATC: A quick comparison test

[Fiorentoni 4,383]

8 hours ago, guenseli said:

You do most probably not know what I have reported. I told you already that I'm still in several betatests and some since more then 10 years.
No, I do not change reporting bugs and suggestions to developers, or, as you call it "delivery".
Developers can decide if they take this and improve their product or if they ignore it and let the customers decide.

Perhaps you remeber the first Aerosoft Airbus (was it P3D or still FSX?) back then?
I have told them to not release during beta. They ignored and I left the beta and it ended it a very unsatisfied customer base. According to you I should have told them that everything is perfect!?

Guys, can we get on topic, please, now?!

He was most likely talking to/about tup61.

[AGuther 187]

Well, I did try both BATC and SI on a truly short flight from EDDS to EDNY and my conclusion is as follows:

• Phraseology of SI was better especially on getting clearance and it was pushier to ensure I'm doing it the right way
• time to detect my voice was faster in BATC, SI was undoubtedly too long
• overall guidance throughout the route was ok in both cases
• BATC was guiding me down to the runway including landing clearance
• SI stopped working starting with the approach telling me that IFR approaches are still in work --> that was an unpleasant surprise

BATC has also still a lot of flaws (i.e. not understanding the handoff frequency although read-back correctly, not being very flexible regarding commands etc.).

I will keep an eye on both tools how they develop further. Both tools are at the very beginning and so it's not that important where they are today, but more how they will be in say one year. The biggest drawback of SI is the price tag. It's very heavy on the price (it's a BATC license every month). I guess the price wouldn't be that bad if you'd get a OpenAI Plus or Copilot Pro license along (which are also expensive). A key point in the future will also be how both tools will bring traffic to their environment because that changes a lot for the immersion. From what I know up to now this is a part where BATC might have an advantage because people are working in their team having experience with the topic (FSLTL). But up to now we don't have this on any of the tools.

For now, I'm going with BATC primarily keeping a close eye also on SI.

Edited May 9 by AGuther

[Fiorentoni 4,383]

2 minutes ago, AGuther said:

Phraseology of SI was better especially on getting clearance and it was pushier to ensure I'm doing it the right way

Huh? SI does not care at all about your readbacks or what you are doing. You can even readback wrong frequencies and it won't care. That's intentional (confirmed by the dev on Discord, to prevent user frustration on faulty voice recognition). You can readback the clearance wrong or not read it back at all and SI won't care. It's ChatGPT at its finest, being a good dog. Why do you feel it's "pushier"? I have the complete opposite experience: BATC will check every single clearance readback item and will ask you again for one element if it was wrong (e.g. "Negative, squawk is 3350") and you have to readback that element alone.

[kevinfirth 1,418]

17 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

BATC will check every single clearance readback item and will ask you again for one element if it was wrong (e.g. "Negative, squawk is 3350") and you have to readback that element alone.

As will VoxATC

[Fiorentoni 4,383]

4 minutes ago, kevinfirth said:

As will VoxATC

Rightly so. That's a fundamental basic thing any ATC needs to do. I don't want to crash into a mountain or another aircraft just because I misunderstood (and readback) a wrong altitude instruction. It's really disconcerting that SI has deliberately chosen to not correct wrong readbacks and enforce instructions on them. It shows a lack of desire to model a serious ATC.

[Ron Lefebvre 127]

2 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

As will VoxATC

Before I spend money on BATC, is VOXatc imminent, 1 year away, 2 years away.

 

 

[qqwertz 800]

53 minutes ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

Before I spend money on BATC, is VOXatc imminent, 1 year away, 2 years away.

I just did my first flight with BATC yesterday and was seriously impressed. Not perfect at this stage, but for $30 it is a steal. I recommend getting it now. If VoxATC was released in a month, you won't have spent more than for a monthly subscription of SayIntentions or PilotEdge.

Besides, historically VoxATC had poor customer support for FSX/P3D. The program itself was brilliant, but more often than not didn't work for me, and I felt left hanging. I personally wouldn't buy it again unless this will change for the MSFS version.

Peter

[abrams_tank 7,474]

1 hour ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

Before I spend money on BATC, is VOXatc imminent, 1 year away, 2 years away.

What @qqwertz said. BeyondATC is only $30 USD. It's a very good deal. Even if something better than BeyondATC comes out, you will have only spent $30 USD.

Having said that, I am curious about how advanced VoxATC is for the voice to ATC component.  There have been very few videos showing how advanced VoxATC's voice to ATC component is, for their MSFS release.  That is the specialty and strength of BeyondATC, IMO.  VoxATC is also doing traffic injection, but I wonder how good their voice to ATC component is, if they are also doing traffic injection at the same time, that's spreading themselves thin before they release for MSFS.

BeyondATC's voice to ATC component is quite good (although it has some bugs), and my impression is, it's only rivaled by SayIntentions.AI at the moment (although I have not used SayIntentions.AI, I have only seen some videos of it).

Edited May 9 by abrams_tank

[rutrA 302]

That's right, gentlemen, it's only $30. You'll go out to dinner and spend more. I've been doing my 9th flight since BATC came out and I must admit that it's getting better with each update. I really don't regret a single dollar spent on this product.

[Dusk 25]

10 minutes ago, qqwertz said:

I just did my first flight with BATC yesterday and was seriously impressed. Not perfect at this stage, but for $30 it is a steal. I recommend getting it now. If VoxATC was released in a month, you won't have spent more than for a monthly subscription of SayIntentions or PilotEdge.

Besides, historically VoxATC had poor customer support for FSX/P3D. The program itself was brilliant, but more often than not didn't work for me, and I felt left hanging. I personally wouldn't buy it again unless this will change for the MSFS version.

Peter

 

7 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

What @qqwertz said. BeyondATC is only $30 USD. It's a very good deal. Even if something better than BeyondATC comes out, you will have only spent $30 USD.

 

And to add to both your comments the BATC discord is full of a very helpful group whom are quick to help with issues and make suggestions. The BATC developers are also listing to feedback and currently fixing issue at an incredible rate. Can't complain for $30.

[GCBraun 2,420]

BeyondATC is easily the best and most immersive ATC program that I've purchased. Yes, SI has the potential to be even better, but the prohibitive price is currently a blocker for many.

It has a great UI, seamless frequency switches, PNF comm support and very good voices/recognition. It still needs to improve when it comes to approach/vectoring, but that's what an EA is for. The devs are patching the software constantly and I have already noticed some improvement.

Even when things go wrong (usually on final approach), it is possible to quickly re-launch the App and start directly from the approach/landing phase.

Very happy with my purchase overall!

[tup61 1,641]

1 hour ago, qqwertz said:

I recommend getting it now.

I would if I could. There still isn't a payment option I can use. 

 

1 hour ago, rutrA said:

You'll go out to dinner and spend more.

A dinner is something I CAN actually spend money on LOL

[Bobsk8 12,864]

57 minutes ago, tup61 said:

I would if I could. There still isn't a payment option I can use. 

 

A dinner is something I CAN actually spend money on LOL

How can someone get along in 2024 without a credit card. That is really rare, I would think. 

[Langeveldt 292]

4 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

How can someone get along in 2024 without a credit card. That is really rare, I would think. 

Depends where you are in the world.  Some countries like the Netherlands really don't like credit cards.  The locals predominantly use local debit cards and it can be really difficult as a foreigner (although it's getting slightly better with things like Revolut).

 

Edited May 9 by Langeveldt

[Sethos 4,540]

Looks like OP had his account disabled 🤔