Cargostorm

I started with a Pico 4 and upgraded to a Varjo Aero. Huge difference. Would never fly again with the Pico. Everything in the glass cockpit is crisp and sharp. Of course you cannot compare the resolution with a 4K monitor. It's always a tradeoff between visuals and performance (higher resolution being more demanding).

Is there a way to change the EFB checklists with the current ones from Airbus? Airbus changed the SOPs and checklists in 2022 and a 2024 release should have the latest ones on board.

I have both the Pico 4 and the Aero. My biggest complaint with the Pico was the resolution and the resulting blurry text in glass cockpits (with TAA). After the price drop of the Aero, I bought it and have it now in usefor several weeks. As mentioned above, the FOV of the Aero is not as large as on the PICO but the Aero wins in all other departments. You get used to the smaller FOV after a while. The image in the Aero is much sharper now, nearly as sharp as a monitor. Also the colours look better to my eyes. I am using two base stations with the Aero in order to cover all positions in the cockpit. With only one base station, tracking was lost at one point when turning to much to one side. As I use a headset in addition to the VR glasses, I do not not care that the Aero has no speakers or mic. I will keep the Aero and eventually sell the Pico4. It still has its merits as a standalone VR headset.

Does the USB cable at the same time also charge the Pico? Or do you need an other cable for that? I am just asking because I use the Pico with an USB cable for charging while I am connected via Wifi / Virtual Desktop to MSFS. I don't want to stop a flight just because Pico's battery is empty.

I have no comparison to the G2. The Pico 4 is my first VR glasses. I use it with an USB cable for charging (so no extra batteries are necessary for long flights). It connects via WiFi / Virtual Desktop to my PC without problems. Though I think it had been great to release the Pico 4 with a PCVR cable connection similar to the Neo 3. That was my mistake: Of course I have a 4090 (before that video card I had a 1080TI). I am sure the 5090 will be faster 😃 The Pico 4 is my first VR glasses. I agree with you that we need to know what is going on in all aspects that relate to flight simming. Most reviewers on Youtube just use MSFS as a game and fly some rounds, but they are usually not using their glasses for "real" flights with all bells and whistles or full VATSIM flights. Maybe we have to wait until more Pimax VR glasses are out to know better.

I am currently on Pico 4 / Virtual Desktop / OpenXR Toolkit on a PC 13900K / 4090TI. VR is really a game changer for me. However, I have to critize that the text on cockpit instruments, for example the labeling of the FMC touch keys in the PMDG B737, appears blurry if I look at it from the pilot position. Readability is only superb if I zoom in with the right mouse key or if I lean forward towards the instruments. Similarly if I look outside the window during the flight, objects on the ground appear blurry. Nearby objects are sharp. I know that this is an issue of VR in general, at least with the current VR technology. It would be great to have a better depth of field. Now there is a hype on the soon to be released Pimax Crystal. Youtube channels like MRTV and other praise the Pimax. But to be honest, I do not believe such influencer. It would be great to know from a community user whether the new Pimax Crystal or maybe the established Varjo Aero really improves the drawbacks mentioned above (sharpness / readability from distance) that I experience with the Pico 4. Cheers, Chris

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to your further tests. Have you placed your Wifi 5 router next to you, and is the router exclusively used by the Pico 4? Some people say that in such a situation there would be no benefit of USB tethering over a solid Wifi 5 connection (1200 MBit/s). It would be great if USB tethering would increase the depth of field in the VR cockpit. Especially in a glass cockpit, things get only really sharp if you lean forward towards the instruments. I have not yet found a setting that would increase the depth of field in VR using a Pico 4.

You have excellent specs (4090, 13900KF) that would allow to use MSFS in VR. Instead of upgrading the monitor, I would buy VR glasses. Same costs. The whole immersion is so much better in VR. To be honest, if you have ever experienced VR on a high end PC you will rarely fly on a monitor again. If you nevertheless go the 4k monitor route, you also need a head tracker like TrackIR for serious flying. The monitor should have G-Sync. TAA is most recommended in 2D. In VR I would use DLSS/Quality if FPS are an issue. MSFS does not require a lot of addons to improve the immersion. But FSRealistic is one that adds feel and sound to it (e.g taxi roll, touchdown). And buy Multicrew Experience if you are into serious airliner flying. My specs/software: 13900/4090 FSUIPC/SPADnext for the controllers Navigraph FSRealistic Addon-Linker Allinone tablet (great for VR) FSTL Traffic Multicrew Experience (which will add a copilot for handling flows and switches or for checklist reading; great if you fly airliners.) VR: Pico4 Virtual Desktop SteamVR OpenXR Toolkit Also consider to join a ATC network like VATSIM, which makes the whole flying experience much more realistic. Good luck Chris

Actually, I have just tested it and I have to correct myself. If you see the double images you are in VR mode in MSFS but have not launched SteamVR.

If you see two side images, you are not in VR in MSFS - only in SteamVR. You have to press your VR toggle button that you have assigned in MSFS. Actually I found the order of starting programs is not that crucial (I use Pico 4, Virtual Desktop, SteamVR, OpenXR Toolkit): 1. I start MSFS in 2D, do everything in the menu to set up the flight, load flight plan etc., and then push the "Fly now" buttons. 2. I then start the Virtual Desktop Software on my PC (13900K, 4090 GPU) if not already started. 3. I then take my pico 4 and start the "Virtual Deskop" App in there. 4. I then can push my VR toggle button to join the VR mode in MSFS. SteamVR will start automatically. It never failed this way. What I personally did as well: - I disenganged my controllers in VD settings (Do not track controllers) in order to use my mouse in the virtual cockpit. - I use OpenXR Toolkit to change image quality/performance. - Also make sure that in the SteamVR settings, your runtime engine is "SteamVR runtime". Virtual Desktop will work for PCVR only with the SteamVR runtime engine. By pushing the left controller outer button twice, I can go back to the Virtual Desktop (seen in the Pico) if I wish. The VD setting window will appear if you push that button once. You get used to it quickly as a second nature. I startet my VR experience just at the beginning of this year and to be honest I never flew in 2D again. Good luck! Chris

https://www.flightsimulator.me/all-in-one-v2-0-0/all-in-one-v2-0-0 Great tool. It has Navigraph, Vatsim, Ivao, LittleNavMap integration and much more. You can place the EFB anywhere in the VR cockpit.

I use PFPX and WX2PFPX for flight planning with airliners, and LittleNavmap for planning with general aviation aircrafts. For performance calcuations, I still use TOPCAT because it features many different aircrafts and is still remarkably accurate for calculating takeoff or landing performance. In fact, I just bought a new PC, and PFPX/TOPCAT will be re-installed. There will be no new version though as the developers stopped their work on these apps.

Thanks, Pierre. If you replace the 2nd GTN530, how do you adjust COM2 and NAV2 frequencies?

Hi, does anybody use Roland's wx gauge to replace the Avidyne unit in the Carenado B200? It would be great if somebody could give me the correct numbers for the panel.cfg. I figured out the below sub-optimal values, but I can only see the upper part of the weather radar. For some reason, if I try to make a smaller value for the y position, the clickspots of the gauge are gone. [Vcockpit05] Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,1024 visible=0 pixel_size=1024,1024 texture=$Panel_5 //gauge00=EX500_B200!EX500_config, 0, 0, 1, 1 //gauge01=EX500_B200!EX500_3D, 0,512, 513, 411 //gauge02=B200KA!ToggleCARG500, 64,512, 448, 64 gauge00=RolASNRadar!ORadGauge, 78, 670, 350, 251, sweep|beam|icing gauge01=EFISB200!EFIS_3D, 0, 0, 512,512 gauge02=GAUGEB200EFIS!Gauge_EFIS84_EHSI_3D, 512, 0, 512,512 gauge03=B200KA!ToggleEFIS, 0, 0, 512, 512 gauge04=B200KA!ToggleAUTOPILOT, 512, 0, 512, 512 gauge05=GAUGEB200!Gauge_VSI_DIGITAL, 514, 513, 320,320 Cheers, Chris

This is what I do all the time if P3D is updated. I have customised autogen files that I backup and then I overwrite the ones in the autogen folder after the update. If you are not running out of VAS, 64bit is not needed, which is rarely the case. Since version 3, the problems with OOMs are solved for most people. So it is more a hype that is build up.