Phoenix, to buy or not to buy (that is the question)

[Dexter]

I have been looking at Phoenix and at £80 am thinking " I could get a lot of spares or best part of a new heli for that" . How important is a sim ?

[Mike W]

I have been looking at Phoenix and at £80 am thinking " I could get a lot of spares or best part of a new heli for that" . How important is a sim ?

VERY!!! ..After the first couple of crashes on the sim it has paid for itself .....Plus when you can't get out to fly you still can on the sim .. Oh and if ya look you can always find a second hand copy of it cheaper than the £80 it costs ... Thing is with it is it will hold alot of its resale value as well...

[cambs flyer]

Extremely!

Just read a few threads here.

[Tim Procter]

I have been looking at Phoenix and at £80 am thinking " I could get a lot of spares or best part of a new heli for that" .

£80 will buy you a new set of blades a main shaft and boom..

How important is a sim ?

Very important. How far do you think you would fly without knowing your stick inputs.

How are you going to practice your next manouvre if you havent tried it on the sim first.

Its not anywhere near 50/50 mate. You will crash.

Even the best pilots around including Lukas Riva go on the sim every day.

How good are you..

Question answered.

[HiltonSteve]

Its a no brainer.....BUY IT!!!!

I learnt on my own and without that piece of software i would have thrown the towel in a long time ago, either that or gone bankrupt!

[Balders]

I was in the same situation, asking myself the exact same question. Depending on heli, £80 won't buy you a huge pile of spares, possibly only a couple of "unlucky" crashes worth, so in terms of pure "investment" it's a good idea. On top of that, as has been said, you can practice new manoeuvres, practice on different heli's and also it's available to you whatever time you want, no weather/light/annoyed neighbour constraints.

I bought it and my heli hasn't even arrived yet

Don't forget you can even "play" online with others as does happen every now and then.

[heliward0]

VERY!!! ..After the first couple of crashes on the sim it has paid for itself .....Plus when you can't get out to fly you still can on the sim .. Oh and if ya look you can always find a second hand copy of it cheaper than the £80 it costs ... Thing is with it is it will hold alot of its resale value as well...

[Dexter]

Thanks all. I guess thats, that sorted then !!

[Sesame]

if you do buy a second hand copy make sure you get the dongle with it, as its useless without it.

but another vote here for the benefit of getting a sim, if it just saves you one potential crash youve saved your monies worth.

[steelie600]

buy it dont mess about my last crash on my knight cost mearly £300 in various parts. on crash on phoenix and its paid for itself

[inferno]

Even the best pilots around including Lukas Riva go on the sim every day.

Yip that git hogged the sim while i was queing at midland helis just after the masters... at least i didnt look crap by going on it first :P

Sim is a must, im actually having a bitch of a time duel booting xp again as ubuntu just doesnt like phoenix

[lbl25a]

A simulator is a must but it doesn't have to be Phoenix if you are worried about the cost. HeliSimRC is a pretty good simulator that is freeware and downloadable from the internet. You need a joystick input device rather than a transmitter. I use the Esky 0905A transmitter simulator.

I use both HeliSimRC and Phoenix and although Phoenix is undoubtedly a better simulator HeliSimRC has some advantages. With HeliSimRC you don't have to use a specially programmed transmitter and it will run on lower spec PCs. It also enables you to set up and store your own model parameters including different throttle and pitch curves. You can't store different throttle and pitch curves in Phoenix as these seem to be derived from the transmitter. HeliSimRC also has readouts showing the parameters at the time of a crash and nice comments such as "hit youself Ouch!".

It is worth a try if you have a suitable joystick.

[henry123]

buy it - the best investment i made

good luck

[heliTV]

buy it - the best investment i made

good luck

Couldn't agree more - buy it!!

[RaptorStudent]

Dont buy it............................................then crash