All in all, I’m pretty happy with the H-1 especially at this price point (around USD $15.50 converted from EUR.) I could see myself going for a coast to coast in this. Ironically, after my misgivings about the engines being quiet in the videos, I can say they are quite loud in the addon. While not the best sound samples I’ve heard, they are definitely decent for the price without super grating loops (some noticeable looping at certain RPM maybe, but not enough to drive me nuts. Talk to me after I’ve flown across the US with it though and I might have different feelings
) Mostly the sounds just need some mixing, I think. They are very aggressive in the mid-range (guessing, I’m no sound engineer) and a bit lacking on the truly low end. Quality-wise, it feels like a pre-DC-3 AH product, so if you own any of those you know that they’re loud but not quite robust.
The interior looks great with an accurate layout. Handling is surprisingly tricky. Being such a powerful engine, it’s very feisty with a little power and can be tipped over pretty easily if you add too much power with brakes applied, or inversely apply too much brake. Takeoffs require a slow graduation of power and liberal pedal work.
Landings are a bit treacherous as at a certain speed (haven’t narrowed it down yet) it’ll really just sink like a brick with full flaps. I’m going to have to fly it more to get the hang of it. I’m still doubtful of the roll rate. It’s extremely responsive on the aileron axis. Again though, I have no idea if that’s accurate or not.
I don’t regret my purchase, though if the price point had been any higher, I might feel a tad underwhelmed, so I think the pricing is spot on for a debut payware. A nice job by HGC.
Edit to add: I love all of the period photos, maps, etc. in the cockpit. Very nice historical touch!
Edit 2: After some more flying and a longer trip, I can say that the audio looping on the engine does get to be pretty overbearing. It’s essentially a ~5 second loop of what sounds like wind hitting the windscreen. It makes a rhythmic sound that in Morse would be something like - - - . - . - over and over. This is at higher RPM settings that yield a 200-250kt cruise. At lower RPM settings it’s less noticeable, but it’s still there, just lower pitch and slowed. Hopefully that can be tweaked in the future. For now I’ll just use headphone simulation mode in this one.
Note also that this addon does not use Wwise sound other than some of the Bonanza’s defaults (kinematics, control surfaces, etc.) I understand Wwise is a steep learning curve, so I’m not knocking the HGC for not adopting it yet. What this also means is that the sound folder is a bunch of loose .wav files. Good thing about that is individual files can be tweaked if you want (obviously for your own use only.)