Off topic: 12:17 "The version they sent me had the extra D-Mas speakers. But I need to be clear, they're still nowhere close to what a mid range set of gaming headphones will deliver " 

I totally agree. I don't have the D-Mas and don't want them. I use Anker Liberty 4 NC buds ($70 amazon) which are way cheaper, better audio, and less fiddly to use than D-Mas off ear speakers. Comfort: I have walked away from the computer, and mowed the lawn before I realized I was still wearing them. I used to have a Reverb G2 which has the high grade Steam Valve Index off ear sound system. I disabled them and used the earbuds instead.

I have long been contemplating about a triple monitor setup too. I love VR, but for practicing instrument flight it's still too much a hassle and distraction to blindly fiddling around for physical knobs and switches. It also feels unnatural that your vision is in VR while your hands are in a different world. Finally, once the VR goggle is on, you're completely cut off from the surroundings. This can feel both immersive and isolating.

Overall, this youtube guy has the best of two worlds, a triple-monitor plus VR, and I think he's spot on the pros and cons of each. In the end, if I have to pick one, I'd still pick VR. 

Excellent video.  It ties in with something I've put up before, that IHMO triple monitors give you better interaction with the aircraft, while VR gives you better interaction with the outside world.

I have a three monitor setup and gave up on VR when my G2 died.  I've now bought a Quest 3 to see if I can use passthrough to get adequate interaction with the aircraft.

I'm surprised he didn't investigate pass-through further.

Another alternative would be a HOTAS setup, but for my GA flying that's too unprototypical.

1 hour ago, Malcolm Street said:

Another alternative would be a HOTAS setup, but for my GA flying that's too unprototypical.

This is primarily what I do in VR. I own a Virpil CM3 configured with spad.next I've setup the mode switch and rotary switch to basically control the entire glareshield of an aircraft even the radio panels. Then mapped some buttons for things like chaseplane, TOGA, etc etc.

It works out really well but ultimately I'm still using my mouse to interact with like the overhead and MCDU. It's not perfect but after pre-flight I'm pretty much.. HOTAS all the way. Though I do agree in some respect working in VR can be a bit cumbersome, a really good aircraft EFB is a lifesaver.

I do as much HOTAS as possible too, but if you want to practice instrument flight for real, you have to do a lot of "T"s ("Turn, Time, Twist, Throttle, Talk"). I can turn COM, NAV, OBS knobs blindly on my hardware setup when flying VR, but it's just not natural.

As a matter of fact, when I'm practicing IFR on FS20204, I most often do it on my single 2D screen. A triple monitor setup would be great.

I mostly fly small GA airplanes like C172 and Piper to complement my flights IRL. I purposefully do hand flying so using mouse frequently in VR is not an option. Flying big jets is likely different and more relaxed, so using mouse in VR probably be just fine. 

14 hours ago, Lucky38i said:

I own a Virpil CM3 configured with spad.next

I have spad and am still getting used to it to be honest... it is good an haven't experienced the loss of control settings that others have when MS do their thing...

Is it hard to map your own controls? To me it looks daunting... any tips for a newbie?