Gianluca Garella

I have 2 leo bodnar on my 737 and they work great. I am not sure anyway if they are still available. Time ago i tried to connect to their website and couldn't go on to the basket. I thought they maybe left retail and concentrated on bigger projects. I was looking for a cap switch they had on stock and now they don't sell it anymore... :-(

Hi, I have a cockpit for the 737 and my suggestion is to avoid touch screens. It's true that maybe you can have flexibility if you want to use more aircrafts but I never seen one that would work flawlessly. Knobs and multifunction switches would be a pain to use with a touch screen. Time ago I considered a touch screen for the FMC, at the end I got an used flyenfravity and was a good choice, for me. If you plan to build yourself a simpit without having a real looking layout, you can always build a simple OVH with real switches/knobs/korrys and assign the different functions via FSUIPC. It's cheap to make and you could use it with different planes if you set different configurations for each plane. To flip a real switch or a knob is a much better feeling than trying to tap on a "little something" on a screen

Me too I can't get nowhere through some sections of their website. They went out of business but it seems soon they'll be back. This year according to the news they posted in january...

Hi, for PMDG offsets look here: http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/Offset_Mapping_PMDG737NGX.pdf I have an OVH made for IFLY 737 but the process to follow is the same. First of all a Leo Bodnar card is great for switches (inputs) but you cannot use it for outputs (read annunciators). If you want to have all in one (input and output) I have chosen flightdecksolution http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/components/interface-it/fds-sys4x-high-capacity-64in-128out-card/ It's pricey but you won't regret it at all. It comes with an easy to use software to connect easily all of your switches and annunciators. Fsuipc (registered version) is a must. you could still use your Bodnar card to connect other switches, I have 2 on my cockpit for example.

ASN is simply a completely new product. The difference IMO is huge. with ASN you can simply launch the program and forget about the rest. If you want you can also load a FP but I never felt that necessary as the weather is updated and injected automatically with many intermediate stations. I never realise when weather injection occurs, no stutters or hangs...and never had surprises when on final. You can access historic weather and the weather search feature is great if you look for specific conditions. Full overcast, fog and flying through the clouds are much better modeled. I use REX for textures but when it comes to weather ASN has no competitors. If I'm not wrong ASN is now on sale and (at least when I purchased) there was a discount for AS2012 users.

I suggest you to take time to read carefully the manual that comes with PMDG where FMC is explained in detail. It's difficult to understand your question as it seems to me you have not clear what is the FMC about. The approach you have to fly depends on several factors (weather, ATC and of course your fightplan...)

Come on, man....Have you ever tried to fly in a home cockpit? Xbox and and ps3 are ok for arcade games but if you really want to enjoy some sort of real simming how can you have fun using an xbox control? It would be the same bust as ms flight was.

With such a high budget you shouldn't have any problem going to top notch config. I would rather invest on CPU more than GPU. Any top middle class GPU it's more than enough. I don't have prepar3d but IMO is still developing and not yet mature. I read continuosly about updates, newer versions, is good that is a very active project, but on the other hand you will continue tweak and solve issues instead of flying. If you (as me) invested a lot in payware add-ons sceneries (and home cockpit) i would still wait.

Make a simple test to see who is the bottleneck on your system. Download free Cpuid perf monitor and CpuidGPU-Z for example. Check how CPU and GPU perform under stress. That helped me a lot when I had to decide.

Agree. I have a i7 920 @ 4.00 Ghz and a 660ti as graphic card. The graphic card is loaded at 65-70% under the heaviest conditions. I manage to get around 25-30+ at major payware airports/sceneries all maximized except for autogen. I only fly online so no AI traffic, for me only cars and boats (15%). Invest in a good CPU first, and do overclock, a middle range GPU it's enough.

oohh boy... I just bought it... two simple words: NO COMPARISON.... I'don't know why I waited so long...REX falls into archive.

I see ASN upgrade is on sale with a 30% discount...Now I'm tempted...

I used rex2 with ASN. Then after REX3 came out only REX. I want to wait for the new rex4 as they claim to bypass simconnect and claim to handle the weather in a different reliable way. I hope is true. You say practically everyone uses ASE for weather with rex textures. In your opinion why ASE is better than rex in handling weather? The only problem I get with rex is that from time to time there are some sudden wind shifts in cruise but they happen occasionaly and I can live with it. For the rest depicted weather is pretty as the one from the metar report. Do you have better exerience with ASN?

Ok, but the rex 4 weather program is still under development. I see they have almost ready weather architect (just to add some more name). When all what is tagged with rex 4 will come out, all at once, i will consider the purchase. I'm sure there will be the full whole package when rex4 weather program will be out.

I have REX and I like it. Anyway the udates are really complicated to manage. I don't have so much time to read 300 posts and search on the current version. I personally dislike softwares sold piece by piece. When the new REX4 will be out and sold together with soft clouds in only one complete package I will evenutally consider purchase. Overdrive, superdrive, superplus, extradrive or whatever they will call it.