rcmarple

This certainly helps explain the "payware lag" that developers have had to contend with to upgrade v11 acfs to the brave new world of v12. Imagine having someone work for months fixing lighting/flight model or whatever, only to find it changes again? 
 
*** Message to developers - I DON'T MIND PAYING FOR UPDATES - keep at it 🙂 ***

This certainly helps explain the "payware lag" that developers have had to contend with to upgrade v11 acfs to the brave new world of v12. Imagine having someone work for months fixing lighting/flight model or whatever, only to find it changes again? 
 
*** Message to developers - I DON'T MIND PAYING FOR UPDATES - keep at it 🙂 ***

This certainly helps explain the "payware lag" that developers have had to contend with to upgrade v11 acfs to the brave new world of v12. Imagine having someone work for months fixing lighting/flight model or whatever, only to find it changes again? 
 
*** Message to developers - I DON'T MIND PAYING FOR UPDATES - keep at it 🙂 ***

Saved me some dollars there - you're right, the original release looks to be way better so sticking with that. 👍

Hi Stephen,
 
I don't know if your "Best of the year award" is dedicated to payware only: if it's open to the freeware, there is the absolute gem DC-3/C-47 from Aeroworx.
 
I own the VSkyLab too and they provide both a slightly different view of the same airframe; really interesting to compare them.
And they are some nice dedicated painters as well.
 
And still about the "Best of the year award: Person of the year", they're multiple, at least regarding their activities in my scope:
Franz Falckenhaus (dedicated to the SMS's Beaver by providing top notch liveries, custom objects and a marvelous engine sound mod and now member of SMS); some painters like Leen de Jager, "monoblau", ...; Bertrand Augras who's upgrading some of the XPFR gems; Claudio Nicolotti from SimCoders; X-Trident guys for the support they provide to their users lately; I agree with you about Beti-X Bella Coola (and Stewart!).
The only downside, if there is any, could be the time to deliver products but, even, I still prefer a low pace in high quality than a quickly done product. 
 
Besides:
I'm worry about the PMDG DC-6's future. A really nice add-on in v10 but needs some love in v11. And no news from PMDG, AFAIK... tdg's sceneries are really great, I own WT3 too (as WT2) but still don't use it: with all the respect to the huge work provided by Greg Hofer, I'm still thinking that those kind of products should work by themselves without having to upgrade all the scenes. I know that the culprit is on the data side but we should have a tool generating the missing data (in the tdg's spirit: maybe not 100% accurate but 100% plausible, and fixable if we want accuracy) As always, thanks for your reviews.
 
Have a great New Year too Stephen, all the best.
 
Christophe.

Sorry to hear about the Mac calamity   and thanks for all your detailed reviews again - although you keep costing me money as I'm forced to buy them all...
 
Get yourself to the "fruity store" at Robina and I'm sure they'll turn it around for you as quickly as they can!

To all those who entered this contest, good luck! 
 
What is your favorite aircraft to add-on we reviewed in the past twelve months? 
I never created an account here before but I always read the reviews.  The review I chose was for my favorite aircraft: The 777 Worldliner. There are multiple reviews and previews here, but I enjoyed reading all of them. 
 
Why?
Reading a review is like getting your questions answered by a friend.
The review for this aircraft addresses [like every other review] not only the looks, the interior, and the exterior of the aircraft, but the function as well. 
The FMS, the features, ground services, and especially the experience flying it. 
When I read a review I don't want it to advertise the product too much, which is precisely what happens most of time, but I want to know how it handles, the features, the system, I want to learn the experience of someone who has flown it, who can honestly tell me whether or not I should purchase this, or download this. That is exactly what I get from X-Plane Reviews. Reliability. 
 
Flying the Boeing 777 Worldliner, my favorite aircraft in the real world and X-Plane. 

 
Congratulations on a successful first year!   

Hello X-Plane Reviews! Congratulations on one year of great add-on reviews! Of all your reviews, I must say that my favorite review of your is the 747-8, mainly since it is one of my all time favorites. The author put in a great balance of information and visuals that give a the reader a great idea of they're buying along with the pros and cons. The first few paragraphs explaining the history of this graceful bird really gave me a sense of her long and storied history. It also made slightly sad realizing that this will be the final form of the Queen of the Skies. From there, the cockpit review and the start up procedure is simple, and easy to to follow with a good number of pictures to show you what you get to work with. What truly got me hooked though was the explanation for the FMS. I'm pretty awful at using any FMS, including the default one , but I could quite simply follow what was going on. The actual review of the flight was pretty much what I expected, but I was grateful that the author put a note about the frame rate hit. The night lighting was shown well, and I impressed with the way that SSG managed to implement it on such a big aircraft. In conclusion, your review persuaded me to get the aircraft, I was not disappointed. It was exactly like the review said. The accuracy of this review has convinced me to continue reading review from you guys and will surely tell other readers what they getting if they purchase this aircraft. Thanks for all your reviews, and happy birthday!

Hello!

Congrats on your 1st anniversary!
I'm new, not only to X-Plane Reviews but also to X-Plane itself. Last Flight Simulator there before was FSX, but I never was really serious (only some VFR Sight Seeings, mostly flying aimless through the world).

X-Plane Reviews was for a Beginner like me actually an invaluable aid, deciding for my first payware aircraft.

Although I decided at the end for another first aircraft, my favourite plane is actually the "". I loved it from the first glance and my mainsource for information was aside the Planemakers Website your review.
After reading your review I decided that I definitely need this, but also, that I maybe should have a bit more flying experience, before I try to fly the Albatross.
Together with the fact, that there isn't much more to find about the Albatross on the net while Carenado is a well known brand, I preferred the Carenado King Air B200 on my first purchase, but the Albatross is on top of my List and is for certain my next Plane after that.
 
- Arestris
 

REVIEW OF THE 727 - in review 
 
One of my favourite planes: the Boeing 727. And one of my favourite reviews too.


 
With excellent choice of graphics and easy-to-follow insights, this review covered all of the interesting angles.
A good mix of interior and exterior closeups kept me glued to the page and wanting to read more. I loved the fact that the review was in two parts.
Giving more details and insights was a great way to engage the 727 enthusiast - as it takes two parts at least to really discover this fantastic plane.
 
After reading the review, I was very satisfied. Simple to follow, engaging graphics and text makes for a great review.
 
Congratulations on your 1st X Plane Reviews anniversary. It's off to a great start!!
I'm looking forward to a review of the Boeing 777 as good as this.
 

Happy birthday X-plane reviews !
My favourite review you have ever done is the VMAX 777. That review is the best! The detail of it is incredible just like the time you put into studying and learning the aircraft to make the review. You outlined all of the aircraft's features, and all of it's capabilities and made me switch my favourite aircraft from the JARDesign a320neo to the 777. It has all the real 777's features and all of it's flight characteristics (at least from what I've seen on Youtube) you really nailed that one . Although I was an Airbus fan, the extreme detail of your review has won me over and I really want to spend time and experiencing for myself this great bird. I decided to enter this competition in the hope that I could possibly win the 777 and start making my wish of becoming a real 777 pilot a reality.
I am a junior with plans to become a pilot in a few years time.
Again, happy birthday and good work guys. Keep it up and take care.

Congratulations and I'll echo others comments - you know how to describe the nuances of each piece of work, call out the unique and special features and generally encourage us to part with our £££s and invest in the payware economy! You've also saved me a few quid by telling it how it is when developers can do better...
 
For me, the best review has been the I would never have played around with the auto-hover so much if you hadn't called this out in your review:

 
Like all your reviews, this has the "scene setting" info to get me interested, the install details, critique of the modelling detail, a walk through of how it flies and excellent screenshots of the included liveries - all your screenshots are fabulous and really add to the articles!
 
Well done on the first year and thanks for all the effort and time you're giving to all of us!

Congratulations and I'll echo others comments - you know how to describe the nuances of each piece of work, call out the unique and special features and generally encourage us to part with our £££s and invest in the payware economy! You've also saved me a few quid by telling it how it is when developers can do better...
 
For me, the best review has been the I would never have played around with the auto-hover so much if you hadn't called this out in your review:

 
Like all your reviews, this has the "scene setting" info to get me interested, the install details, critique of the modelling detail, a walk through of how it flies and excellent screenshots of the included liveries - all your screenshots are fabulous and really add to the articles!
 
Well done on the first year and thanks for all the effort and time you're giving to all of us!

Happy 1st anniversary X-Plane Reviews and I hope there are many more to come, I’m relatively new to the world of X-Plane and my biggest challenge after purchasing the software was “now what”? With just so many aircraft and add-ons out there I just didn’t know where to start, I knew I wanted to spend my money on quality add-ons and soon discovered X-Plane Reviews.
 
I would like to say firstly thanks to Stephen for such detailed and in depth reviews, I can well imagine the time and effort it must take to prepare them, they’ve been a very useful guide in the purchasing of my add-ons thus far.
 
The metal beast that has commanded my attention thus far is of course FlightFactor’s Boeing 757 Pro, I love the level of detail that has gone into creating this product and its a joy to fly, the flight manuals are very detailed and it gives the user a greater understanding of the aircraft, to complete the package is the cumulative wear that can occur from flight to flight, and finally the ability to kill the chief flight attendant amuses the hell out of me because he’s always bothering me when I’m flying, all things considered the 757 is by far my favorite add-on that’s been reviewed here on X-Plane Reviews.     

X-Plane Reviews,
 
          Congratulations on your one year anniversary.  Though I am very new to this website, I have read a couple of your reviews, and I am impressed with their accuracy and exhaustive description of every detail.  This attention to detail is most evident in your review of the freeware A-4 Sky Hawk by Midnight7.  
 
         Personally, I think this is one of your most brilliant reviews because of its accurate description of the airplane's agile flight characteristics, and because of the amount of time you spent talking about the real aircraft's historical significance.  You describe the airplane as being so sensitive and agile that you could fly it with your "finger and thumb on the stick."  This nails the sensation you get while flying this plane.  Also, I appreciate that you gave us so much background information about the real airplane: its historic significance and role in naval aviation.  As an aspiring naval aviator, I love to find out as much as possible about a naval aircraft's history before I fly it in the sim.
 
        As an X-Plane enthusiast, I appreciate the time you spent reviewing this freeware aircraft.  I am grateful of the detail included in your description of one of my favorite airplanes available for the sim, and I look forward to reading more of your pay ware and freeware reviews.  When I read a X-Plane Reviews review, I know exactly what I am buying before I make my purchase.  
 
 
                                                                                                                                                              Sincerely,
                                                                                                                                                              Swimmer Pilot

Hi, so this is indeed my first post, but only because reading the reviews didn't require a account.
 
My favorite review was of Peters A320 series V6. Peter seems to be a bit unpopular because people tend to think his aircraft are somewhat outdated and not up to todays "demands". I don't think so, there rather seems to be the habit to add more and more eye candy to the aircraft. Some of them useful, others...not so much. One also has to keep in mind, that Peter is working alone most of the time.  Anyway, but you gave him a fair review, pointing out the pros and cons of this great addon. Some only seem to focus on of the above. So it's not always easy to get a objective review. I, for myself, always want to be pretty sure on what I spend my money. As a student, you have to think twice before spending 60$ or more. 
The review was documented with lots and lots of pictures, really showing the details of the Airbus. Which I found to be important, if one makes a purchase based on this review. After reading this review one should not be negatively surprised, because one definitely knows what to expect. I actually owned the A320 before you posted your review, so I was able to compare your experience with mine, flying his A320's and A321's for quite while now. What I liked as well was the fact, that you offered additional information about the two different types of engines available for the A320. This might not be necessary for a review, but a nice to have! What I cannot confirm where your frame rate problems of them being allover the place. Whats true however is that it is quite frame rate heavy, it has a bigger impact than the A320neo and the B757 on my system. But they are stable.
Also one last thing in general, I like that you do update reviews, like you did on the great B757. Another candidate for a follow up review could be the A320neo, now being in V2.2, V2.3 is in beta now. Might be worth a look, as you reviewed the V1.5.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my review.
Keep yours coming.
Regards

My Favorite Review (probably because I'm just a C206 freak) is the 
 
CT206H Turbo Stationair review.
Located Here: 
Awesome Detail, great layout and the amount of detail in the pictures. Very good! I really enjoyed reading the play-by-play of the flight. It was very well put together. 
I really appreciate it when you bring up every slightest detail in the product you are reviewing. I would have never known* that the GPS530 was in a different folder! 
Giving us the history of the aircraft, as well as specs,and many, many pictures just put icing on the cake.
 
 When it comes to detail, you got it for your reviews! In the CT206H Review, you went all the way to awesome when you noted this:

That was a cool fact that I would have never known.
Carena
 
*Now I do not own the C206 since I have v9. But I am a C206 fan, and I wanted to look at it more for information purposes. I do, however own other Carenado Aircraft. 
 
I was impressed that you took careful note of the navigational details of the flight. Examples are:
 
"....and track North East until I was 17nm past to a final 180º track back to RWY 24 at 1200ft."
"Using the DIR (Direct) mode on the GNS530 put me on a direct course with the fix, and then when close to NEGEL I did another DIR direct back to EICK and RWY 35...."
 
Of course, the actual play-by-play was not vital information for us who do not fly that same route, but explaining the reasons why you did what you did, I found to be good information for owners of the aircraft to know to help them better know the GPS and IFR equipment of the airplane.
 
I found it quite adventurous reading the play-by-play of the review's flight. I do think that this review fits the bill for the best. It's a great review for a great plane.
 
Over all, I believe that this is my favorite review. I applaud you for the detail, adventure (of the flight) and the layout of the review.
 
Tha onli thang i fownd rong was that u speld "sumery*" rong.   
 
 
Thanks for the great reviews my friend!
 
Toby Rice
 
P.S.  I have seen some good posts on this thread. I hope mine (as from my heart as it is) is "up to snuff" for one of those addons you are offering. If I win, I will donate the aircraft to a pilot of an airline of
AeroFlight Alliance, through a contest.

My favorite review is the Final Frontier Scenery review.  The reason this is my favorite is because the reviewer understood my plight it felt like when he started off with Juneau (Juneau being where my wife is from an somewhere I am familiar with and enjoy flying around).  Every sim I have tried the fefault Juneau is usually way off.  Heck half the time I couldn't even find mesh scenerey that didn't incorrectly render the Juneau area.  So when I saw X-Plane had an nice Juneau scenery upgrade I began my migration to X-Plane 10 (Ever so slowly)  I hadn't bought the scenery however because I was worried that there would be issues with it or it would look too dated in X-Plane 10.  Then I found xplanereviews.com and boy was I glad I did.  You guys have single handily reviewed everything I had the slightest interest in an helped me make clear and informed decisions.  The final frontier review was just what I needed to jump head first into X-Plane finally after many many month of waffling and retreating back into the safe comfortable arms of the familiar.  So I reformatted my PC a week ago have only X-Plane installed as my civilian sim and started buying up add-ons.  The Final Frontier review is an excellent example of the work you guys do so well.  It is objective; it shows the clear issues (Such as the texture blurriness of the add-on) but also compares it across the spectrum to add-ons available elsewhere and explains to me as a consumer why this is the one I should spend my money on.
 
 

Choice of Review
Although I'm very new to this website (I was introduced via forums.x-plane.org).
I've had a quick look at the content and I've chosen the since it is the review that I can most relate to.
I've bought other products from this developer, and was considering this aircraft as a result.
 

Motivation for Choice
Speaking as a 13 year old wannabe pilot, one of the most exciting things about this article is how it
links the simulation to the real world with historical references. The down to earth nature of the review raises its credibility
and motivates me towards considering purchasing the 732.

The fact that Stephen Dutton has conducted a full documented flight also adds value.
His balance between opinion and fact is just right. eg."The chunky (and quite worn)
Pilot and Co-Pilot yokes do take up a lot of the panel view, removed you can now see the instrumentation clearer."

Good terminology, paints the picture, combined with vital information, exactly like you'd want it!
 
Note
Due to the quality of add ons and reviews here, I will be visiting this site often as long as I still fly on X-Plane
(likely a long time, as I am starting gliding training this year!). Also, the community here is just superb, so far I feel very at home here and
I admire how much effort the managers of the site put into communicating with the brilliant community they've created.
 
Summary
· Stephens review of the 732 offers an excellent balance of information, and personal opinion
· Immersive and thorough review
· Helpful when comparing products
· Adding confidence to the consumer
· Supplying advice/feedback to the seller/developer
· Overall positive contribution to the X-Plane Community.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Max

Nice work all around. While I've enjoyed your wide range of reviews, I'll say my favorite is the AB412, for one reason: The 412 is on my list for my next purchase. Your reviews have shaped several of my buying decisions. Thanks.

Hi X-PlaneReviews, congratulations on your 1st anniversary celebrating a year of great reviews. My favorite review… I would put my favorite as the 757 review, very well-done, but because I don't own the 757 in my hangar, my favorite review has to be the Carenado C208B Caravan/Cargomaster reviews. Awesome review, it made a great impression of the aircraft on me, after reading I went to buy a copy of my own. Keep up the good work X-PlaneReviews, and if I win I hope to win the 757!

Happy 1st Anniversary X-Plane Reviews!!! I might be a new member here but i've reading your reviews since last year. I really like all your reviews, so it was very hard just to pick one. But in the end i decided to go for your Aircraft review of FlightFactor Boeing 757RR-200, Cause It really is just mindblowing your review is 100% accurate describing this add-on. The Details in the 757 is just gorgeous, I enjoy looking at every detail of this 757. I also like how it handles it is a very nice and fun aircraft to fly. I also like how its nit really complicated and very user friendly. I really think all the measurements in this add-on is perfect. As soon as the FlightFactor B757RR-200 I was really excited as it was one of my 4 Favourite Aircraft. Since it was a new release I need to get reviews first before bought it, I could not find a very Detailed review till i found your review. As soon as I red the review over and over again I decided to go on and buy the add-on. Your review is different. Its more reader Friendly, It made me easier to understand for I'm still a learner to Xplane. Your reviews are very 'light' but has very deep and detailed information users should know. I like how you Divide the parts by sharing your first Impressions and share people who and what is FlightFactor. Pictures!!! Your Pictures are top notch shows the detail of the aircraft form beginning to the end. Your exterior and interior Pictures of the Aircraft is quite a lot so it gives the user lots of pictures to see before they buy the add-on. I also enjoy reading cause you tell us how the plane works so we sure know when we own the add-on. When I first tested my FlightFactor B757RR-200 I did not regret it at all thanks to your review I was sure to buy this add-on. I really like your Conclusion it gives the readers mind a confident and ready feeling when buying the add-on. X-Plane is a great game with your reviews its even better. Thank you for all your Reviews! Two Thumbs Up! Wish you all the best for xplanereviews.com and Happy Birthday!!! Hope I can be one of the 3. Thanks. 

My favorite aircraft review was for the B200 King Air. I had been eagerly awaiting the B200 having once flown a full motion B350 sim before. I was hoping that the file would be an accurate modeling of its flight dynamics and the details in the review gave a great impression of how it flies. I love how the details of the review are presented in the context of a multi-leg flight. It gets all the details in there, but gives I nice narrative to keep it interesting. The thing that I loved most about the B200 review in particular was the not only the history of the development of the B200, but the history of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It was a neat bit of history that gave the aircraft a mission other than the executive hamburger run. It was also great how that mission lead into the context of the review flights.
 
Thanks to the descriptions of the review, I purchased the aircraft. The review accurately captured the nuances of the aircraft and it's my favorite turboprop in X-Plane. The aircraft hits a great sweet spot in my hangar. I love that I can get in and out of nearly any airport with it, but still be fast enough that I don't get bored with long stretches of en route flight. It doesn't require nearly as much setup time as the CRJ that I also fly regularly, but still offers enough performance and complexity to be a handful and keep me engaged. On top of all that it's an absolutely gorgeous model with great cockpit ambiance.
 
Congratulations on one year of great reviews!