5 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

I decided I wanted to get into airliner ops.  I'll get the PMDG Soon TM.  But that one I know how to use fairly well.

Past history aside, is there a clear winner to the FSLabs vs Fenix Airbus debate?

Any real airbus pilots on here who own both?

If not real advice, any super duper simmers on here care to explain why they might favor one or the other?

Hi Ryan,

I own both FSLabs and Fenix. They are both great add on; however, Fenix  in very intuitive and user friendly in terms setting things via EFB. Moreover, Fenix is visually more refined and polished. Therefore I personally stick with Fenix

2 hours ago, martinboehme said:

Yes, Airbuses, not "Airbi", because "omnibus" (which "Airbus" derives from) is already a dative plural, and not (as one might imagine merely from seeing the "-us" suffix) a second declension nominative singular.

Or at least that's what I presume Sir Humphrey Appleby would have responded...

Those were the days .. imagine Hacker (fundamentally decent) these days. He’d be eaten alive. 

DO NOT buy the fslabs.  It is an alpha product.  The flight model uses the old legacy model, turbulence doesn't effect it, it has a ton of bugs. Direct law is not simulated, alternate law is not simulated.  FMGC functions are missing.  The performance is horrible.  The visual model sucks.  I LOVED fslabs and really wanted this to be great, but it is really a waste of money and i wish I never bought it.  Who knows when and if it will ever be fixed.  

Both ...

You need to get the Fenix bus man no doubt!

Edited December 22, 2025Dec 22 by rick celik

Personally, I'm hoping they polish Fslabs a bit more for 2024. Since I have Toliss on my other sim, I'm in no rush, but I'm a big fan of FSlabs.

15 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

I decided I wanted to get into airliner ops.  I'll get the PMDG Soon TM.  But that one I know how to use fairly well.

Past history aside, is there a clear winner to the FSLabs vs Fenix Airbus debate?

Any real airbus pilots on here who own both?

If not real advice, any super duper simmers on here care to explain why they might favor one or the other?

I own both and they are both equally good products, I am not type rated on A320 But I do fly IRL as a CPL IR holder (excess of 700 hrs) and I find the flight dynamics reasonable between the both for desktop simulation. Fenix excels in visuals and sounds otherwise everything else they are broadly similar. Fslabs has one or two additional features like MEL which makes it bit more realistic. However Fslabs is tiny bit more performance/resource intensive on the system. It also depends on what variants you will be flying the most - For Fenix the base package is A320 and you can buy the A319/A321 as an expansion. Do note that for Fenix - You will require base package to install A319/A321.

Fslabs has got A321 neo on the market (includes LR variants) with LEAP engines, PW engines to be released as a free update at some point. A321 Ceo can also be obtained from them and it is a standalone product. 

To wrap this up - Both are equally good and well crafted product for desktop simulation, If I was you and I had the capacity then I would get both however in this case I would get Fenix for A320/A319/A321 and Fslabs for A321 Neo (That's what I currently own anyway 😀)

16 hours ago, micstatic said:

Just throwing this out there.  If interested would take a look at the RJ Professional or MD-80.  While I like fenix alot, the A320 is so automated that it gets old after a while.  CRJ also.  

thats why i would go with the FSLabs, because the MEL gives it a bit more then just ehe flying from A->B it gives you a bit more challange. but yeah the other Planes are another Level. Just looking forward to the Concord, that will be also a beast to master 🙂

Also consider the FBW A320neo if you want to get your hands dirty without paying - it's completely free.

For me, the ground handling (taxiing) in that aircraft is superior to any other aircraft in the simulator and the EFB is a work of art with a really intuitive flow to it.

13 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

Also consider the FBW A320neo if you want to get your hands dirty without paying - it's completely free.

For me, the ground handling (taxiing) in that aircraft is superior to any other aircraft in the simulator and the EFB is a work of art with a really intuitive flow to it.

Yeah that's a solid option to get started. As a non-regular airliner flyer it is good enough for me (or at least it was good enough to realize I didn't want to spend money in that direction).

1 hour ago, CAP1234 said:

PW engines to be released as a free update at some point.

Is there any update on this? Six months ago they were in testing, and now crickets.

14 hours ago, martinboehme said:

Yes, Airbuses, not "Airbi", because "omnibus" (which "Airbus" derives from) is already a dative plural, and not (as one might imagine merely from seeing the "-us" suffix) a second declension nominative singular.

LOLOLOL! That so reminds me of the Life of Brian and the Romans Go Home scene... brilliant!

Fenix have the NEOs coming some time in the new year.

1 hour ago, BrammyH said:

Is there any update on this?

No idea to be honest - last thing heard was it was in final stages of testing, that was around few months ago, since then nothing. 

What is the "Mel" that FSL apparently has and that Fenix doesn't?

And how does the FBW A320 compare system wise to Fenix and FSlabs?