Its an Analogue version of an existing Asobo Garmin based plane.
A LOT of time and effort went into making it.
Its not perfect, or study level, but it is a very different variant on the existing plane.
If it something you want, and have some spare cash, its may be considered to be a reasonable price for what it is.
Personally, it looks GOOD enough to try and play with, but the real question is – as MSFS improves, will the developer continue to support it to take advantages of new features in MSFS, or will it just stagnate, and eventually just get abandoned in the Hangar. ?
The JF Hype is just want it is – Advertising & Promotional Hype… fair enough.
Sound good, but does not bear close scrutiny.
I say, **well done to the Developer in making this variant for those that want it ** … and look forward to seeing more of their work.,
I personally love what I have seen. The only reason I am holding off for now is that there is a Local Legend and a Famous Flyer right around the corner and I am trying to spread out my spending. Haha. I also tend to look for sales. On top of that, the Islander 2.0 is imminent, SU10 next week, Floatiak soon after, ATRs on their way. A lot to occupy my time.
I’ll say this: the KNS-80 unit is enough to keep me intrigued. Virtual VORs and the necessary “programming” to use it sound very cool!
No idea how accurate the flight model is but i like it and i also like the performance on high altitude (this thing packs a punch). Love the pax/passenger comfort feature and keeping an eye on the temperature all the time. Many new 3rd party GAs have that but for some reason i particularly enjoy doing it with this one.
I just wish they did a more “aggressive” approach with the sounds, as they sound too vanilla to me (which is technically and literally the case lol).
personally, i really like the add-on. here are a handful of things to consider that i have observed:
the ability to change the panel layout on the fly is really nice. i love being able to use the GTN750 in this plane and i like the gauges over the stock glass that comes with the standard version. there’s also a functioning weather radar built in now too.
i like the random failures that have been built into the plane. the other day i was flying along and noticed my left fuel gauge was reading zero. i looked over and sure enough, a cb had popped. i pushed it back in and was back in business. the fact that this kind of stuff can happen isn’t for everyone but i find myself gravitating towards planes with this functionality the longer i spend time in the sim.
the performance was a little hot when the add-on released but the dev patched it within about a week. the plane feels good to fly and doesn’t seem to do anything i wouldn’t expect. i have read that some of the engine values don’t match the perfomance specs exactly. i don’t notice it. if that’s your thing, you might not be happy.
i have all the stock liveries working just fine. i don’t recall what i had to do to make that work but if i did it, you can.
ground handling. again, i think it’s fine. maybe there’s a caravan pilot out there who would disagree but for me, without irl experience in this plane it works just like i think it should and doesn’t feel out of bounds.
they added sounds for all the switches and thing you get to click. they didn’t do anything (that i can tell) to the stock engine sounds. again, imo the stock engine sounds on this plane were quite good.
happy to answer any other specific questions but suffice it to say i am very happy with this add-on and will be grabbing the king air mod as soon as it’s available.
i am assuming you ask yourself this question with every single add-on you purchase, correct? (edit: sorry, this sounds snappier than i meant it to - i ask myself this question as well so i wasn’t trying to pick on you).
the dev released a patch based on direct feedback within a week of the original release. is that going to be it for this add-on? maybe. i’d like to think not but i guess we all take our chances, right? to be fair, they’re off to a decent start with regards to support but like anything else, time will tell.
I agree wholeheartedly with all your points. To me, it makes the Caravan feel like a more well rounded and complete package.
Does it fly exactly to the numbers? I don’t know, but I enjoy flying it, so it doesn’t matter that much to me: I’m sure it’s in the right ball park.
Will definitely get the King Air package too - can you imagine what an improvement that will be over the default?
Also worth considering: to my knowledgeable there are no other third party addons in the works for these planes, so in my opinion these are as good as you’re going to get for a good while.
I do, and a few Devs have now let me down so badly, that I will probably never purchase another product from them.
What does not help them, are developers like pms50 ( GNS530 / GTN750), whose product & especially his Technical support, is an example that all other Devs should strive for.
I think this is an important point. Other than sure seller airliners like the A320 or miscommunications like the Porter, I’m pretty sure 3rd party devs will be very reluctant to recreate the stock planes. As much I’d like to see a Thranda Caravan in MSFS I wouldn’t recommend the devs to go down that route.
This reimplementation of the cockpit and primary systems is a perfect alternative for me. Asobo/MS’s external models cannot be beat, but FM, systems and the endless G1000s are a little dull. I’d really like to see the same treatment to other stock planes and especially the Ju52’s systems.
the only stuff l regret is some kns80 feature not being 100% reliable to the AP, l mean yeah tryed to follow a virtual VOR l had set on the kns80 , wasn’t able to stay on track with Nav mode, l had the hsi showing the virtual vor as expected (with switch set to rnav on HSI source ) but l was like in rol mode, so finally handle using the hdg to follow and reach my virtual vor, the rnav ENR mode on kns80 can just be used for information purpose ,look like it s the same with VOR parralle mode (havn’t tried it alot yet), as mentionned in the analog manual
" (NOTE: Unfortunately, it is not possible to drive the stock MSFS autopilot system with a custom
navigation source without implementing a whole new autopilot (to the best of my knowledge). It
is recommended that you simply steer the autopilot via the heading bug with reference to the
RNAV course deviation shown on the CDI.) " maybe in futur it ll be possible ,
Waiting the amphibian caravan to show his nose, l know analog is already on starting block <3 hope black square ll don’t deceive me.
About flight model l m more enthousiast with Jaydee s mod and liveries are not that hard to convert , just the manual isn’t explaining well & correctly the process, better use structure from a existent flightsim.to analog livery as example than trying to follow the black square guide
same here. the good news is, i can tell you with relative certainty that the money you spend on flight simming is better for your health than the money you spend at kfc. so there’s that
However spending money on flight sims can be just like buying KFC where it tastes good at the time but then you regret it later vowing never to buy KFC again but then you do it again just to remind yourself why you vowed to never do it again🤷♂️
I updated my Improvement Mod (small fix) and included 2 optional panel color mods (gray and black). Also I finished my version of the Guide/Checklist/Procedures.
I’m curious - Is it a technical challenge to change the panel screws to black like the upper gauges? Not nit picking but they are light and low res in the default craft. Being dark would keep them from looking fake.
On top of that, the Islander 2.0 is imminent, SU10 next week, Floatiak soon after, ATRs on their way. A lot to occupy my time.
