You certainly don’t seem to be alone with regards to the G1000. I am quite curious to know, though, why are so many people down on the G1000?
I personally don’t have any complaints with it… at least not until I hear “the rest of the story”.
If we ignore the fact that the G1000 make every plane feel the same my biggest gripe is that the instruments are hard to read. The font probably works fine IRL but in the sim I find analog gauges to be way easier to read.
7 Likes
Ok. I understand that. I just thought that folks were not happy with it in comparison to other GPS models. Also, I use TAA 100% of the time, so I have no problems reading the instruments.
1 Like
First time posting. Here it goes (in order of preference)
1. A2A Comanche (for me, it´s still the best there is)
2. BKSQ Starship (outstanding)
3. BKSQ Bonanza Pro
4. BKSQ Piston Duke (my favourite to fly, but I still think the first 3 are better)
5. BKSQ Turbine Duke
6. COWS DA40 Series (the XLS version, by a mile)
7. CAS J3C Cub (I love everything about this tin can with wings, great job)
8. FFX Citation X (my favourite biz jet)
9. GF Wilga
10. BR JRF-6 Goose (Not as high fidelity as the others mentioned, but I just love to fly the ■■■■ thing)
5 Likes
Fs2024 only for me now 
-
PMDG 737 800, the NG series is my favorite 737 series because of how many routes I can fly with them
-
Fenix a319/ a321 Neo I pretty much skip flying the a320 now when I fly and either choose the 319 or a321
-
Leonardo MD 88, been enjoying the md88 a lot because it’s a different aircraft but still enjoyable to fly
-
Fs2024 BN2 Islander, I fly this way too much but the Islander is a very enjoyable aircraft
-
default Cessna 408 been enjoying the Cessna 408 because of its capabilities
-
default Beechcraft G36 been enjoying the 36 a lot because of its fast cruise ability
-
Cowan bell 222UT, the Bell 222 is fast and fun to fly because it’s got a good flight range
-
Flight fx Cessna citation X, this aircraft taught me the most about jet operations
-
flight fx Cirrus vision jet very fun to fly if you want a easy aircraft that doesn’t take too much to learn
-
Blackbox Shorts 330, very fun aircraft to fly (Just don’t forget to turn the Gust lock off
)
I’m surprised we can’t fly a Beechcraft B1900D, anything from LET or CASA Yet, or even the new Cessna 206 turbo, I’m seeing a lot of us orders for the 787 10 so I might have to check out the 787 series
3 Likes
Hard to read and the control dial for entering flight plans etc. is frustrating. I absolutely love the G3000 and G5000. I feel so at home with them. I feel they represent the best in human interface design for aircraft (to date). Although screens on screen is still a problem.
IRL or with good hardware, I reckon the G1000 would be better.
I’m on TAA too. It’s not fuzziness but everything being just a bit too small when I set my field of view how I like.
2 Likes
For me, my beef with the G1000 is the lack of touchscreen inputs, just a lot of knob spinning to type in letters/numbers, and to select menu items. Give me the GTN750 any day! (I have a small touchscreen monitor and use Pop Out Panel Manager, but even using a mouse is easier than knobs.)
4 Likes
They’re so good that I’ve ordered a LH grip for my VKB so I can fly it “properly” instead of with my yoke.
In addition to the positives you mentioned, COWS added other nice touches like adding engine and other flight control settings for various phases of flight. Much more useful info than the standard “as required” settings in most devs’ checklists. They’re certainly near the top of my “best value” category with only the Rans Coyote edging them very slightly.
1 Like
Wow I am ashamed that I forgot about the Coyote! Was always my go to weekend bush machine.
Think I’ll be flying her tonight and letting the cows rest inside on this cool Colorado evening.
1 Like
I have not flown any of the Diamond aircraft in real life so I cannot comment on those. In real life I did my initial PPL training in Cherokee 140s. Our club then got brand new C172s, on which I did the bulk of my training. To me the 172s always felt light and twitchy and a bit flimsy compared to the Cherokees. I would suspect the D40 should feel similar and probably lighter/more responsive than a 172.
Later on I owned a turbo Cessna 210. This obviously felt a LOT heavier and stable. Some years later I owned a Beech Debonair, which was essentially the first of the conventional tail F33 Bonanzas. Even though the max weight of the Debonair was a bit LESS than the 210, it just felt more solid and stable than the 210. This both on the ground on uneven surfaces and in the air. Not having flown an A36/G36 in real life, seeing as it was bigger and another 400 pounds or so heavier than the Debonair, I can only assume it feels similar and even more solid. The BS Bonanza feels very much how I remember my Debonair with just a bit more inertia.
So the comparison for me would be, based on my experience plus a couple of assumptions:
- DA40 expected to “feel” similar to a 172, if not lighter handling
- C210 lot heavier and stable than the 172. And you DEFINITELY feel it!
- Debonair feels a lot more stable than the 210. It just had an undefinable feeling of solidity, stability and quality
- I would assume the G36 would be similar and likely even more so
Long story to say yes, based on the progression steps above, I fully expect the D40 to feel very different while in my experience, the G36 might be a tad “heavy” in its handling, but I think it feels quite accurately modeled.
FWIW
4 Likes
Want to add it to your “two”?
Outstanding!
It appears like the simulator flight modeling then is quite representative of the real life differences.
That’s very reassuring.
Thank you for your both informative and informed reply!
1 Like
Not for this month as I haven’t flown it since Nov of last year.
I took a break after building my new system. Slowly getting back into flying
1 Like
SA315B Lama Toag’s Hanger; Incredible piece of development work…
Cessna Longitude. Working Title, what a development team these are outstanding IMHO
Kodiak 100 . SWS another top draw developer sad to see it dropping in the chart…
CJ4. Working Title
A350 InBuilds Due credit to InBuilds for bringing this into MSFS..
A320 Fenix Developer par excellence
Grumman Albatross Amazing Developer
looking forward to adding the Tollis-Aerosoft A340-600 to the list which will be a paradigm shift in respect of how inertia is developed and modelled in 2024…
1 Like
I love the Kodiak as well, but there still seems to be a few niggling issues in 24. I suspect that once they finish their full 2024 update, it will start climbing again.
1 Like
Some changes in the order for me.
- Black Square Starship - Was always amazed by it, but could never befriend it. Still not a fan of how it looks from some angles… but it really grew on me, and no other BKSQ plane has so many, so deeply simulated systems. Getting failures in this is a pure joy because of all of the backups that you can play around with.
- Black Square Baron Professional - my current long-tour plane. Love pretty much everything apart from the outside sounds and missing ownership features. The sounds might be accurate, but my ears simply don’t like them Also, has the most convenient, refined and complete avionics system for radio navigation I have ever used.
- Justflight Bae 146 - The only reason why I’m not flying it more is that I can’t buy one in FS Economy. Pretty much the perfect plane. Amazing simulation depth, tonnes of character, immersive interior, crazy good soundscape, great hand flying, state saving, failures and lots of historical real life applications around the world.
- A2A Aerostar - was my go to long-tour plane, but sadly it’s just not making it for me during the winter, will have to wait for summer time or me switching to the Southern Hemisphere. That saying, it still feels the most alive of all of the high performance GA planes I own, which is just slightly diminished by the mediocre sound design of the whole package.
- Black Bird Cessna 310 - Came back to it lately, it’s like the perfect mix of A2A and Black Square, with the plane being both well-equipped (full anti-ice, VS and ALT hold modes) and having a very deep ownership and wear and tear feeling. Sadly it’s just not fully on par anymore when it comes to engine simulation.
- COWS Diamond DA42 - I’m always smiling when flying this one. The uniqueness, the “soaring” feel in the air, the amazing view and perfect soundscape all make it a wonderful experience.
- PMDG Boeing 737-800 - I agree with some of the critique, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s by far the best Boeing I have ever flown in any sim. And I really enjoy flying Boeings.
- CowanSim S76 - Still my favorite helicopter. No ugly glass cockpits and super advanced stabilization that almost doesn’t make it feel like a helicopter anymore, but at the same time with enough avionics and features to allow it to handle any job.
- Flysimware Cessna 414 - the amazing soundscape, great atmosphere inside and the unique custom instruments make it my favorite “simple” plane (no failures, no state saving, no ownership)
- GotFriends Wilga - Need to go back to it fast, because I just read that you can actually remove frost from the windshield with the wipers, and it does potentially suffer from shock cooling. Perfect time to test it out
6 Likes
I haven’t actually flown either plane, however, given the design philosophy of the two, I would imagine, yes, the Bonanza is going to feel more like an SUV, compared to the sports car aspect of the Diamonds. I should probably check the specs to be sure, but, in looking at them, the Bonanza has a thicker more draggy airfoil and more frontal area, and I imagine a heavier wing loading than the Diamonds. Kind of like comparing a Hurricane and a Spitfire.
1 Like
Then try using a touchscreen with just a touch of turbulence (like… every-day flying), and you’ll find touchscreens as a single pilot in a small plane are an exercise in frustration…
“Doh!" “I didn’t mean to touch that! Darn it, now I can’t even see the screen because I accidentally changed the brightness instead of pressing the button I wanted”
The few times I’ve flown with a touchscreen I hated it. I much prefer the 530’s and 430’s I see more often.
Of course, in the sim, you’re right, it’s the opposite. Spinning a knob in real life is a breeze and super fast for changing values to what you want. In the sim, it’s definitely an exercise in frustration instead. I have contemplated getting some of those knobby things for my “simpit” (Currently a logitech extreme3D pro and CHP throttle and pedals) to make it a heck of a lot easier.
4 Likes
Looks like this is another area where simulators don’t quite match up with real life.
Your example also reminded me of a fairly recent complaint of many new car owners today regarding the replacement of the simpler, more intuitive heating and AC controls with touch screen buttons.
4 Likes