Apologies for the generic-ness of this post 😄  I just enjoy reading people's views.

A month ago, I was a hardcore GA only flyer in MSFS2024.  That's been the case for about 4 years. I just lost interest in airliner flying and instead enjoyed realistic simulation of GA aircraft, similar to the real world GA flying I do.

.... but something happened a couple of weeks ago.  The spark was re-ignited!   I now can't get excited about GA flying and I am absolutely loving being back into the airliner flying that I enjoyed from 2004 - 2021.    

I'm loving the Fenix A319, A320 & A321, PMDG 737 2024, PMDG 777F, Ini A300, TFDi MD-11s and even the humble AS CRJ V2. I initially hated the FSS 727 but I've now found that I really enjoy the standard freighter (still hate the upgraded avionics of the Super 27 package as hardly any AP commands are binded to default commands, and there's no AAO script for the Super 27 avionics version!)

But my real favourite of the moment in the Ini A340, which I absolutely love!  It's so fun and immersive and full of character.  I have to stick to the EIS2 version with flights <2.5 hours, but if I do this, I've had no WASM freezes for 2 weeks (lots of flights!).

Anyway, my current addiction leads me to want something new, to treat myself this Friday evening.  There's not a lot left to choose from. I've discounted the Maddog as I'm just not interested in it.

That leaves the iFly 737 Max.

So what are the views of people who own it?   I don't really need comparisons with the PMDG as they are different models and I would use the iFly on that basis.

For the iFly:

- What is the sound like?

- What is the FDE like?

- What is PC performance like?

Thank you! 

1) Sounds are great, the engine start up sound is orgasmic.

2) What does FDE mean?

3) Performance is good, slightly worse than the PMDG 737 and better than Fenix & ini.

Personally have parked it until it gets the long waited updated with an EFB out of this century, WX radar and the high density cabin, because the PMDG 737 is just more polished.
 

It's excellent.

The sounds are by Boris so enough said there, incredibly immersive soundset.

The visual model and texturing is better than PMDG.

The flight model is on par or better than PMDG.

The systems modelling is very good, easily has everything you need modelled accurately enough to follow SOP.

It's a shame it's not yet an FS2024 native model - though it is compatible and I haven't had any issues with it. A big update is coming, not sure when though.

Performance is just about on par with PMDG, maybe slightly less but probably because it's not a native 2024 model, and doesn't utilise the updated LOD techniques, for example.

I would highly recommend it.

Edited February 6Feb 6 by Tom Wright

1 minute ago, Fiorentoni said:

1) Sounds are great, the engine start up sound is orgasmic.

2) What does FDE mean?

3) Performance is good, slightly worse than the PMDG 737 and better than Fenix & ini.

I can only confirm all three assessments.😎

12 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

1) Sounds are great, the engine start up sound is orgasmic.

2) What does FDE mean?

3) Performance is good, slightly worse than the PMDG 737 and better than Fenix & ini

Thanks - I'm liking what I'm hearing so far!

FDE - Flight Dynamics (or to me, how the hand-flying characteristics feel) 👍

3 minutes ago, JYW said:

FDE - Flight Dynamics (or to me, how the hand-flying characteristics feel) 👍

Ah. Absolutely great. It's fun.

Edited February 6Feb 6 by MaGer1965

Sounds are top-tier; I mean I feel like I'm at work lol.  I agree with the performance assessment: it might be slightly heavier than the PMDG but it is better than the Fenix.

But the flight model, now - I cannot adequately express how good it is.  If you like doing some hand flying (and good on you; it's annoying how simmers seem to think airline pilots never fly lol), you'll really enjoy the iFly.

9 minutes ago, Stearmandriver said:

Sounds are top-tier; I mean I feel like I'm at work lol.  I agree with the performance assessment: it might be slightly heavier than the PMDG but it is better than the Fenix.

But the flight model, now - I cannot adequately express how good it is.  If you like doing some hand flying (and good on you; it's annoying how simmers seem to think airline pilots never fly lol), you'll really enjoy the iFly.

I'm sold.

It's in my cart.

Thank you!

I would say it's 2 thumbs up. I haven't flown it much lately because I got spoiled flying the 2020 version and when it was brought into 2024 some systems were left out. Waiting on the native 2024 version, but the current version is great. I see no difference in performance with it to Fenix or PMDG or INI A350.

Some screenshots:

Some video for sound and performance metrics:

Absolutely worth every penny.

 

I enjoy flying her....very well put-together package.  Devs are great to work with and listen to feedback from rated pilots and other contributors to the project. @Jviation and I made numerous suggestions to enhance the textures which were considered and frequently incorporated.  His environment maps grace my paints in the livery manager (we collaborated on the project, and he graciously let me add his Ev maps that we're way better than mine to enhance my liveries.) 😊

 

The iFly 737 Max is the best Max available for MSFS 2024. Here is an interesting fact. The owner of Flight1 is Jim Rhoads who is a Commercial Pilot who has a multi engine and instrument rating. So he knows a thing or two about real flying.

Here is another fun fact. Jim Rhoads has another company that makes FAA approved simulators (AATD). A Cirrus SR20, 22 and 22T and Piper PA 28 for use by flight schools.

I think the PMDG feels more like the real full motion, level D simulators in terms of weight. The iFly is a little more lighter and twitchier feeling.

Having said that, this is splitting hairs. The iFly really hand flies nicely. I did a VFR hand fly into Juneau. One of the hardest US airports for airliners to land at. Lots of fun.
 

 

Edited February 7Feb 7 by alanw2005

Thanks for the views folks.

I love it.   Not just average it's good...  I really love it.

The engine sounds of the LEAPs are stunning.  I personally prefer the hand flying characteristics a little more than the PMDGs.  But that's splitting hairs.

There's only one thing I'm not sure of;  I've put my Simbrief details in and it's successfully importing my Simbrief flight plan route.   But I can't figure out if it's possible to import the Simbrief fuel and payload.   It seemed to pull my cost index and ZFW but it wasn't importing my fuel.   

One possible reason for that may have been that I was playing around with the manual fuel loading in the EFB, before importing from Simbrief..... so maybe I somehow 'locked' it to the manual fuel I had set.  I struggled a little with fuel in general with the iFly.   I was able to add fuel to the left and right fuel tanks but the plane loaded with more fuel in the centre tank than I wanted, and I could not find a way to remove fuel from that tank.   I kept setting 0 fuel in the centre tank but then when I was pressing 'Set' in the EFB, it wasn't removing the 6.2 tons of fuel that was in the centre tank.  The only way I could eventually remove that centre tank fuel, was in the stock MSFS 2024 EFB.   

This was all just on my first flight and I'm sure I'll find my way around with a bit more use.    

I don't know why I was so late to the party with this model (I didn't own it for MS2020 either).  It's a keeper and I'll enjoy alternating my 737 'shifts' between the iFly and the PMDG. 

Edited February 7Feb 7 by JYW

11 hours ago, JYW said:

A month ago, I was a hardcore GA only flyer in MSFS2024.  That's been the case for about 4 years. I just lost interest in airliner flying and instead enjoyed realistic simulation of GA aircraft, similar to the real world GA flying I do.

.... but something happened a couple of weeks ago.  The spark was re-ignited!   I now can't get excited about GA flying and I am absolutely loving being back into the airliner flying that I enjoyed from 2004 - 2021.

This is fascinating...admission...🙂...indeed...

17 years an airliner fan, then, 4 years a GA fan, and now back again to be an airliner fan...🙂...with a ton of top-tier airliners already in the hangar and looking for more...

Only, do not tell that to (respected) @ryanbatc here, who has been always a GA fan as far back as I remember, but recently (briefly) experimented with Airliner (Fenix A320), got disenchanted after a few flights, and said that his heart belongs to GA, "I don't think airliner flying is for me..."... 🙂...

Aren't we all different in what we like and when...? But that's what makes it all interesting...I presume...

Enjoy the iFly MAX, if you get it, @JYW. 

Great AC in all respects !!

One off the best out there..

cheers 😉