I guess the title says it all. I’m thinking to buy one of the Black Square overhauls, but not sure which is best, or whether they are all of similar depth and quality. The choices seem to be:
I’m leaning towards twin engine and so either the Baron or the King Air, but would welcome any thoughts on the relative quality of these and depth of modelling.
Also, give AAU1, are there any issues using the defualt GNS530/430 in any of these?
Thanks in advance
All 4, bundled together at an attractive bulk discount would be an attractive offer … maybe like $79.99 ($20 each)
You can get the Baron into more places than the King Air, but the KA is a bit more mature ( although that’s not really a reason to avoid the Baron, I’m sure it’ll mature rapidly too ). Piston or Turbine is really the choice.
The KA seems to use Jaydee’s FM out of the box, I think he’s done one for the Baron which isn’t included. I’ve also edited both myself but there’s no real need other than taste for the KA. The default Baron FM is a bit painful.
I only have the King Air (so far), but you can’t go wrong with any of them. It comes down to personal preference, or maybe if you already have similar aircraft and want something different.
As I already have the FlySimWare C414, my next purchase will be the A36, that way I’ll have a piston single, piston twin, and a turboprop twin. I’ll get the Baron and Caravan later.
What type of flying do you do the most? If it’s short hops, mostly below 10k, including smaller airstrips, with a mix of VFR/IFR, then get the Baron. If it’s longer flights, in the flight levels, always IFR, to airports with instrument approaches, grab the King Air.
Saying that, I take my King Air into outback dirt strips all the time, it’s actually a very capable “bush” aircraft, it just doesn’t have the STOL capability of others, so needs a little extra runway length.
King Air hands down if you enjoy IFR. The main reason being it’s the only proper (no pun intended) twin turboprop in the sim and the default version has Frankenstein avionics. At least the other ones have G1000:s. The King Air also has the best flight model from what I’ve seen.
I got the Kingair, because I already had both single and twin aspirated engines GA, and a single turboprop. So I was missing a turboprop twin and the King Air was the logical choice.
Also I hear the flight model of the Baron is rather unrealistic and crude.
The King Air is said to be a notch more realistic there, but I have to flight test it still.
I own all four and I’m very happy with them all. If there was some four pack bundle as suggested by @N6722C it would be a no-brainer. As it is, they come in discounted packs of two, but they are not cheap. As long as you can get passed the fact that you can’t open the doors, they are all worth it.
There is really nothing like the analog Caravan and analog King Air, but I did have to convince myself on the Bonanza and Baron. The Arrows (I own them) compete with the Bonanza and the 310 (own) and 414 (don’t own) compete with the Baron.
But Black Square has done amazing work. There is a lot to do in the cockpit, you’ll never get bored. The Caravan and King Air were both updated just before they released the Bonanza and Baron.
As others have said, it all comes down to what type of flying you want to do, what type of airports you want to get into, etc.
Thanks for all the replies, really helpful.
Having started in the sim mainly GA/VFR because I’d never heard of anything else, and then graduating to airliners with the Fenix and PMDG 737, I’m thinking that it sounds like the King Air could be the way to go to have the option to go either VFR or IFR for longer flights.
I do all sorts of flights, and having really enjoyed the complexity of the airliners (not that i could say I’ve mastered that at all yet!) I was thinking that going back to do some GA flying in the default TBM that i first flew a lot would feel very dumbed down. Hence looking for something with more depth.
I think that with the above post, that you have made a perfect case for the KingAir. If you like systems and not just finnessing, it could be number one on your list. It is my favourite although I have all four and love the lot of them. I cannot imagine that you would regret it for a second.
If you want a twin TBM then it’s the King Air for sure. There isn’t anything else like a KA around, because there’s not actually anything built other than King Airs IRL anymore!
Maybe someone will do a little Jetstream one day, that’d be proper vintage.
I have got the Caravan and Kingair since the KA’s release and I very much prefer the Kingair. The Caravan just isn’t my type of plane I guess, maybe it’s the flightmodel, not sure. The Kingair is absolutely great but keep in mind that MSFS still doesn’t support proper Turboprop modelling. There’s not really a beta range although the engines don’t feel bad exactly. The torque doesn’t look correct either. Beside that, great plane.
Then I purchased the Bo and well… don’t know… It’s okay but I don’t find the same access to it as I had done to A2A’s Bonanza in P3D. I LOVED that addon, had several hundred hours in it but here, no idea. Maybe it’s the default and boring engine sound.
All of them share beautifully modelled gauges and a really good system depth although not comparable with something like Accusim. But for now I love my Kingair and it flies a lot on this PC.
Some random thoughts - turboprops aren’t as much fun to manage as piston planes, so I prefer the Baron in that regard. It’s like a newer C310R, which is still the best plane in the Sim.
The Caravan has great visibility. The King Air less so. Also, starting cold and dark in the KA will likely take you 20 to 30 minutes. The KA also has a funky autopilot which is a bit of a pain in VR as the buttons are down so low. I’m liking the piston Baron right now. Think I’ll pass on the Bonanza. Looks-wise, the KA is just a stunning $10m plane.
Wow, what on earth are you doing that takes 20-30 min? Even if you do every single systems check (first flight of the day only), such as autopilot, feather, overspeed governor etc etc, it should only take 5 min, 10 max.
Ah, to have the A2A Bonanza! THAT was my go-to in P3D v5. Unfortunately, v6 support has been dropped.
Jup, I flew it across North America, over the Pond to Europe and basically into every addon airport I had ib P3D 
I just loved that plane. I guess it had the most SEP hours in my P3D time right after the AT6 