iFly 737 impressions and refund

[dighost 25]

I just wanted to give my quick, non technical impression of the iFly 737-- and the reason why I requested a refund. I know that PMDG has an offering in the waiting, but decided to pull the trigger and buy the iFly NG because of its good FS9 reputation. The download and install were very quick, and I encountered no problems. The package comes with tutorials and manuals, with nothing lacking to get you up and going. There is also a livery and weight/fuel load tool (also allows for customization of each plane ie. winglets,engine variant,etc). No doubt much time went into this utility, and it is very easy to use. I should note that installing a new livery is somewhat of an inconvenience. You have to manually install the livery into the proper FSX folder, copy a config file, then run the iFly utility to install. Not a deal breaker, but seeing as how other packages allow for one click livery installs it's kind of puzzling.Getting into the plane, the view is pushed up to the panel. It has been documented here and on the iFly forum, so I won't cover it. I use a TrackIr, so it was easy to get into a proper view. The VC graphics look pretty good! I would say on par with the QW 757. The biggest disappointment was that many buttons while they made a click sound, did not provide an actual "sound". For example, the attendant call button emits a click but nothing else. Ditto for several others. Not deal breakers, but the immersion takes a hit. The speedbrake lever is not animated in the sense that you see it move-- instead it is off/on. Again not a deal breaker, but it's those small details that erode believability.The engine sound I thought was not very good. I was getting the "swooshing" surround sound that some of the lesser quality soundsets give. The ground handling of the plane is very nice and stable. Takeoff was uneventful, and while the 737 was sluggish (imho), it did fly with a feeling of inertia and stability. It's not a rocket like the 757, but climb performance was pretty good. No issues with the autopilot that I found-- although I didn't put everything to the test. The views overall were fairly poor (I think this has also been mentioned). The textures are brilliant in some spots, and poor in others (over the wing is terrible). I installed the Delta livery and there was some strange issue with the texture by the vertical stab. Selecting and adjusting the knobs is horrible and I know that is being addressed by iFly.Overall the iFly 737 is a great buy, at a fair price. It does what it is supposed to do and is hands down one of the finer addon planes you can purchase. That said, I requested a refund because the sum of the lost details really affected my ability to become immersed. If iFly addresses these concerns-- which I am positive about, then I would gladly purchase it again for keeps.

[mmann 72]

Out of curiosity will PMDG also offer a refund for those who download it and find it poor value for the dollar, or find it is too hard on the frame rates?Regards, Mike Mann

[skully 1,045]

Flight1 is going to get hammered on this deal. Saw this coming a mile away..I would not fault them for suspending the refund policy on this product until things settle down.

[Steve Halpern 176]

Flight1 is going to get hammered on this deal. Saw this coming a mile away..I would not fault them for suspending the refund policy on this product until things settle down.

Why would we ever suspend a refund policy? We are very satisified that this is a great release to build upon.Maybe I misunderstood what you mention.

[RudiJG1 172]

Why would we ever suspend a refund policy? We are very satisified that this is a great release to build upon.Maybe I misunderstood what you mention.

Totally agree, Steve, and thanks.

[slait 169]

You have 30 days on the refund policy. Why buy a plane, use it for a couple days and refund it immediately without giving the vendor a chance to address any of the issues? I guess I'm confused by that from the couple of reports I've read like this. Bought it, used it for ten minutes, didn't like it, returned it.These guys tend to address issues very quickly and efficiently and to not at least give them a chance to solve some post release issues is rather impulsive in my opinion unless you half intended on the return from the onset. Do what you feel you must, but for those reading threads like this, I would recommend a bit more patience and see what iFly can do for your concerns before jumping to the extreme.

[ahsmatt7 1,199]

You have 30 days on the refund policy. Why buy a plane, use it for a couple days and refund it immediately without giving the vendor a chance to address any of the issues? I guess I'm confused by that from the couple of reports I've read like this. Bought it, used it for ten minutes, didn't like it, returned it.These guys tend to address issues very quickly and efficiently and to not at least give them a chance to solve some post release issues is rather impulsive in my opinion unless you half intended on the return from the onset. Do what you feel you must, but for those reading threads like this, I would recommend a bit more patience and see what iFly can do for your concerns before jumping to the extreme.

It seems that these issues should have never gotten through to the end user. Like the OP stated, he would gladly buy it again if ifly fixes the issues. That to me seems like the OP sees these issues as issues that he should have never seen and therefore wants his money back....for the time being at least.

[duckbilled 310]

The engine sound I thought was not very good. I was getting the "swooshing" surround sound that some of the lesser quality soundsets give.

I would bet they just ported over the FS9 sounds to FSX rather than creating an entire new sound pack for FSX. That's what happens and many port overs suffer from the same problem.

[Chock 17,769]

If someone wants to return it, that's fair enough, it is the deal under which it is sold. It seems to me though, that some of these might have been user issues, for example the speed brake not being animated and not seeing it move - mine certainly does. Similarly, I don't think adding repaints is especially tricky, in fact I have already done a repaint of it and it was no more difficult to add it than any other I've ever done, just slightly different. As far as sounds go, I can pretty much guarantee everyone who keeps it would probably add the TSS CFM56-7B sound set anyway.Al

[ohsirus 241]

Remember one opinion does not justify a policy change. I think his review was fair and addressed issues that affected him. The fact that FLight1 offers you the option of try before you commit to buy should be commended. I bought the FS9 version and was frustrated at it initially, but I gave it more time than the OP did and it became my favorite bird to fly. I jumped from flying the Queen expecting to just slid in and know everything and got my fingers slapped. I really think the OP should have given a little more time testing before passing final judgement.

[ErnieAlston 33]

You have 30 days on the refund policy. Why buy a plane, use it for a couple days and refund it immediately without giving the vendor a chance to address any of the issues? I guess I'm confused by that from the couple of reports I've read like this. Bought it, used it for ten minutes, didn't like it, returned it.

I don't get it either. If you have 30 days why not hang on to it for a couple of weeksand see if it grows on you.Not all products give off good first impressions.Regards.Ernie.

[Chock 17,769]

I think if it is installed, then they ask you to uninstall it, but I don't think it would stop working if you didn't. I don't know that for sure because I've never actually returned anything to Flight 1, but I had a buddy who returned their ATR-72 (after I'd recommended it to him ironically, and he ended up buying the PMDG J-41), and I seem to recall him saying that was how it worked, he did uninstall it because it wasn't performing properly on his system for some reason which we could not figure out. I could be wrong about this though, since it was about two years ago, and I might have misunderstood him.If that is so then I guess you could be cheeky and keep it installed, but that would in fact then be stealing, so I'd not recommend doing so, especially since stealing from a company that has your credit card details is probably not a great idea LOL.Al

[vc10man 732]

You have 30 days on the refund policy. Why buy a plane, use it for a couple days and refund it immediately without giving the vendor a chance to address any of the issues? I guess I'm confused by that from the couple of reports I've read like this. Bought it, used it for ten minutes, didn't like it, returned it.These guys tend to address issues very quickly and efficiently and to not at least give them a chance to solve some post release issues is rather impulsive in my opinion unless you half intended on the return from the onset. Do what you feel you must, but for those reading threads like this, I would recommend a bit more patience and see what iFly can do for your concerns before jumping to the extreme.

I could not agree more with you. I've bought it,and yes, I too have found one or two issues,but rather than rushing back for a refund,I will try and resolve those issues through their Forums, or over here. Someone always has a solution, and I'm sure that the guys at Flight1 will in the course of time endeavour to resolve all if not most issues.That will do me.It is not as if my flightsimming will come to a sudden stop.I have other aircraft in the hangar to keep me occupied.And all said and done, owning the Level-D 767, I have always found Flight1 support to be up there as compared to some I have had to deal and got nowhere.

[Gazzareth 808]

The PMDG will have many problems too & probably run at a poorer fps knowing their track history. No way PMDG will give anyone a refund.

True, that is a massive plus for the iFly model. At least people can try it and see if they like the systems and fps without fear of ending up with something that is useless to them..G

[dighost 25]

I believe the serial key is deactivated. In any case you digitally sign that you have deleted the program completely-- which I complied with. Flight1 has always been good, and I have purchased many products from them-- so I am guilt free in taking advantage of requesting a refund.On to the meat of your message...Nitpicking? Perhaps, but it's just business. If you create a product, you expect to be paid "X" amount of dollars. In return, I expect to receive "X" amount of satisfaction. A restaurant that I like may be a hole in the wall to you. So to insinuate that I am being a diva over a product is baseless. As to why I refunded the program so quickly? Well, what better way to signal the developer that they have work to address. Would keeping the program installed and waiting for a patch (that may or may not address the problem) be better? I don't think so.Cheap? No, I am not cheap and thankfully am able to afford to purchase add-ons when they come out. I have just about all of them-- many I use, others uninstalled forever. For 99% of them, I can appreciate the hard work the developer put in to them. I wish every one of them-- with the exception of Ariane the best of luck.Don't take my review for word though, as I hope everyone is able to try the iFly themselves.