Buyer's remorse after purchasing planes

Discussion Hub Aircraft
,
1

Hello, I am looking for more people who feel the same I do, especially after purchasing airplanes. I am somebody who likes it all: bush, small GA, big GA, business jets, turboprops, small airliners, medium airliners, big airliners. On the other hand, I don’t have that much time (work, kid, wife, you understand) and it’s also not like money grows on the tree in our yard.

There have been a few purchases I regret quite a bit and therefore I am reluctant to buy something new which is a shame since the hobby can be so good. Planes I regret: the Blackbox Shorts, the SWS PC-12, the Carenado 182RG, the ATR, the FSR Sting S4, the Ini A300, the vision jet, the DC-6. Even the A2A Comanche a little bit, the plane is brilliant but it turns out I am not that much into old Piper’s. I enjoyed my C310R more than the Comanche because I loved the plane itself.

Reasons for regret differ per plane but in summary I can say a ‘try before you buy’ would have saved me a lot. It’s tricky, especially being new in this world, to judge planes by just youtube videos and forum posts. But the long list of regret above has diminished my enjoyed of the sim, mostly because of sunk cost fallacy.

Planes I still want:
DA42. I think it’s the most beautiful GA plane there is, but I am not buying it because I already have the Comanche which has the same mission. I do wish I bought the DA42 instead because it’s closer to me.

TBM850. Same mission as Vision and Honda jet which I both have, but I’d love a turboprop with steam gauges and complex systems. It looks amazing. I also have their King Air and it’s fantastic. I realised this week I missed a rare sale and I feel like an idiot.

PMDG 737-700, -800 and -900. My fav airline is Alaska airlines and with these I can do realistic ops. But I can’t decide which and there are some things about PMDG I really don’t appreciate (communication, saying ‘sale’ when it isn’t a sale, pricing of their 737 family (bundle please!)).

MD-11. The KLM and especially Martinair MD-11 are beautiful and very close to me. Also it’s still a frequent flyer for PANC, my fav airport.

Learjet 35A. Looks absolutely beautiful and a joy to fly. But I already have the Hondajet and too many other things to buy in the sim.

Airport wise it’s a bit different. I buy where I know I want to fly, which is US W-half, Alaska and a bit of Europe. I don’t feel buyers remorse because I know what I’m getting and I know I’ll be using it. That said, there’s still a ton of airports I want so money wise it’s not helping me at all.

Way too long a post, sorry! I guess I needed to get this off my chest. If anyone experienced anything similar, please let me know how you dealt with it. I’ll take any tips!

1 Like
2

Having too many airplanes makes it difficult to remember how to fly them all! I also regret my SWS PC-12 and ATR buys. They are both OK but I like others better. I do like the Vision Jet though. Bottom-line: not buying anything until MSFS24 comes out.

11 Likes
3

You list some really great aircraft!

Comanche, Sting S4 & Vision Jet are all top ten aircraft for me.

I think the more important question for me is how can we make you fall in love with these aircraft again? :heart:

There was an excellent full article in Pilot magazine recently about the S4 and after reading that I just wanted to fly the Sting all the time!

Watching real life videos of these aircraft on YouTube or reading their POH/ procedures/ reading about real life trips always makes me want to get back in them.

6 Likes
4

If I can’t get a refund I delete them and move on. There are enough excellent addons which I would have gladly paid more for anyway, so I still think I’m on top over all.

The Comanche and the DA-42 are about as different as you can get so at least get that one as you really are missing out otherwise.

1 Like
5

It sounds like your remorse is more tied to not having enough time than to the quality of the planes you wish you hadn’t purchased.

Also, why would you buy the Comanche in the first case if you don’t like Piper aircraft?

2 Likes
6

You’re right. Time is essential in this.

The Comanche is not a good example, I shouldn’t have mentioned it. it’s a brilliant airplane that I enjoy flying. It was very expensive though from my pov, and given how little time I have and how much other planes I have or want it’s confusing me if I did right. For example, the Comanche is too slow to do for example Anchorage to Fairbanks (personal favourite flight), but it also can’t land on any of the many small bush strips I have in Alaska.

1 Like
7

Thats why I dont buy any aicraft - No demo, no purchase.

2 Likes
8

Hmm.. for me the 222B from CowanSim. The texturing of the cockpit is just too bad. I saw it on the reviews at youtube but decided to try my luck and… well turns out I didn’t have much of it.

I do like the chopper-model though, just lacks immersion too much this way.

1 Like
9

I’m personally very selective about the aircraft I purchase. I watch a lot of reviews before I make a decision, and I scrutinize so much that when I finally do buy something, I’m already sure it’s top of the line and worth it. Haven’t had buyers remorse yet.

All PMDG 737s
Pmdg 777
Fenix a320
Tfdi md11
JF arrows
Kodiak 100
Milviz Corsair
JF T1 Hawk
Hjet

I’m kicking around the tecnam p2012 as it’s on sale right now and appears to be a high quality plane based on reviews and YouTube videos

1 Like
10

For me, it’s the LearJet. I bought it in its early release version and haven’t flown it once.
I have so many planes now that I’ve begun a “weeding out” process. Those with flaws (less realistic flight model, lack-luster interior, unappealing design, bad cockpit positioning, shallow systems modeling, etc.) I archive for another day. I fly only those 10 or so that are near perfect for my needs.

Of course, I may pull a plane out of the archives once in a while for test run.

3 Likes
11

The only plane I really wish I hadn’t bought is the Maule M-7. Shame because Maules are my favorite bush plane and thought having one in a sim as beautiful as MSFS2020 would be amazing. But the flight modeling on that thing is pretty shocking. It’s peculiar in the air and downright psychotic on the ground. That one went in the bin. I can’t really think of anything else I regret buying, even if I’ve since moved on from flying it because better or more interesting planes have come along. It costs more to go see a movie these days than most add on aircraft so even if I only fly it for a few hours, it’s still worth it to me.

2 Likes
12

Just lump all of your simming money spent, as any other “hobby”.. one, ongoing cost. Say, like golfing..

Greens fees, a cart and a few beers at the 19th hole, is more expensive than a MSFS model.. and with the add-on; you can enjoy it over and over..

8 Likes
13

I regret purchasing the Blackbox Shorts package as well, even though I did so after the price reduction. I did one flight and never touched it again, because the cockpit visuals are so bad that they kill any enjoyment and immersion. It doesn’t look like a real airplane.

The iniBuilds Skyvan has shown what it could (and should) have looked like. Even the Carenado Shorts for FSX/P3D (!) looks heaps better than the Blackbox one.

3 Likes
14

I’m way too impulsive when it comes to buying planes.
The biggest problem for me is that I’m also pretty OCD about mapping as much as possible in SPAD before I really take to the skies.

Some planes are easy to map. Some are pretty complex (and even obtuse) and I end up spending a week or more not flying them. At that point I typically move on to a new plane, coming back to others after a while.

As of today, the only two I regret buying are the Fokker F28, just because my system can’t handle it. And the Tiger Moth. A simple aircraft that befuddled me in SPAD.

I’m hopeful that my new yet-to-be-built AM5 systme will finally let me use the F28. And SPAD is much more capable than it was the last time I messed with the Tiger Moth. I’ll revisit it at some point.

1 Like
15

And like golf, I revisit the triumphs (175 yard 5 iron shot under a tree limb, over water, 1 foot from the pin) and the nightmares (a 10 on an easy par 4.) :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Or just a terrible day, where I regretted spending $80 for the privilege of hacking up a beautiful course.

3 Likes
16

I have too many planes at this point, and there have been a few with issues that haven’t even been called out by reviewers, but that are important to me. There have been some crowd-favorite popular planes that I just don’t use much anymore, and others where I felt I should have known better.

At this point I’m trying my best to “take my time” before purchasing…give things at least 2 weeks to settle down, see what more than a few reviewers have to say, and go from there. Maybe wait for one patch to be released if the dev is new or has a track record of “needing” a patch. I also need to do better about evaluating what I have that may be in the same class of aircraft and ask “why can’t I just use that?”

I am curious though, what was the issue with the Carenado 182RG? They released a few patches a couple months after release and I still think it’s their strongest, most realistic product from their library right now. It doesn’t have the A2A-level depth or failures (and honestly I think A2A and other companies overdo it on failures and issues…if these aircraft had that many problems in real life then they would have been grounded permanently), but as someone who used to fly a 172RG, I find the Carenado product to be very, very well done.

4 Likes
17

I’m a plane wh*re. Of course i’m going to buy a plane just to say i have it.

That said, the only plane i “regret” buying is the CS777 like when it came out. I was younger, desperate. I have grown as a person in my virtual and real life as a result

2 Likes
18

I totally agree with that no demo no buy , have already been disappointed .
Maybe this could be called a wish list

2 Likes
19

I know that feeling though I have very few payware aircraft. I know I don’t spend enough time with the sim to learn to fly that many aircraft.

My first rule (for myself) is: never buy anything that has been just released. There is a pattern. First few days after the release you can read so many WOWs and OOHs. After a week or two starts the critisism from the users. Honeymoon with the new aircraft is gone and views are more realistic.

Which purchases I regret? Turbo Arrow and Twin Otter.

20

I acquire a lot of planes for the experience of virtually flying something I might never see in real life. For the cost of an aircraft in MSFS, I don’t think you could buy the fuel to idle the real thing on the ground for ten minutes, much less take one in the air.

From that perspective, I have a number of hangar queens but not too many regrets. Probably my most expensive regrets are the PC-12 and the Blackbox Shorts. I really wanted to like the PC-12, and it’s a fine aircraft, but I flew it once and hangared it in favor of the TBM-850. The Shorts I found far too sterile, though I do like the type and take the Skyvan out regularly.

2 Likes