Wnuk

I bought it on Monday. Along with the $99 cost, my LHS also gave me Hanger Pack 1 at no cost. He told me that Horizon told him to give it free along with the new price. I don't know if this is true or not as I know my LHS owner very well and he may have just given me a "bonus". Also, don't forget to d/l the latest 1.1 patch.

So far I am pleased with it. I fly both Fixed Wing & have been learning heli's for the last few months. No complaints about the graphics & it runs very smooth on my machine. It will be a good tool for learning new things and just having fun. I have always held off buying a sim as $200 was hard to get by my wife just for a "PC Game" as she called it. At $99, she had no complaints and neither do I

JeremySutton

Weak! I paid $20 for the additional pack and $10 for shipping, because it is a 35 minute drive to the hobby store that actually carries FSOne.

teookie

This to me sounds like it came from a low level employee who does little more than answer the phone and brew coffee. makes no business sense at all. I don't consider this a answer to the "why the price drop?" question. My two cents.

I made a trip about a week ago to my LHS and was floored when I saw the $99 sticker on FSOne. I asked if it was being cleared out and the fella behind the counter said "no, the price just dropped". He proceeded to tell me that realflight is better cause of better graphics, but they are so similar I can only see small differences between the two.

MikeL

My Feedback: (3)

If you're running Windows via Bootcamp, you've got a PC. There's no functional difference. I've run into one very obscure exception, but it has nothing to do with anything along the lines of a game, sim, or regular application.

I've already got Reflex and RF G2, but I think I'll pick of FS One later this fall. For $80 I can't really go wrong.

That's really the price these sims should have been at for quite a while, in my opinion. The market has broadened substantially in the last ten years. One would hope that competition would both lower prices and improve quality, both of which lead to greater market penetration. I think we're seeing the maturation of the RC sim market. How many people will have two or perhaps three sims, simply because they each do something slightly better than the other? A little variety can be a good thing. I think Horizon's price change will push the prices of other sims down, which is a good thing. As a consumer, there's absolutely nothing for me to lament when one company makes an effort to grab a much larger share of the market.

MSelig

I'd recommend the version w/ the controller because it's 'plug and play'. You can still use your own Tx w/ the full version.

The version without the controller ($20 less) takes more time to setup and figure out.

Michael

Wnuk

The default TRex is just awful. Have any of you tried to twek it and if so what did you to to improve it? It is just WAY too oversensitive.

shford

My Feedback: (27)

Since they marked it down, I bought just to see what it is like. I'll stick with ReaFlight. The physics are about the same, just more planes, etc. with Realflight. Also, seems less user freindly than Realflight.

JeremySutton

My FSOne and Hangar 9 Pack 1 have arrived. I will try to install Fusion on my Mac and then XP to load FSOne on my iMac. Fingers crossed.

I am a bit disappointed in the customer service as I have emailed support and sales twice now and it's been over a week and the only response I got was the automated email. Phone call is next in line.

malcolmm

Check the main FS One thread, someone did some extensive experimentation with the T-Rex to improve it. For me, the T-Rex was so broken even with fixes, I gave up on it and stuck with the glow 50 size heli, even though I own a T-Rex 450.

I find it interesting that no one from Horizon or the developers has posted anything here to clarify the situation with FS One. I would guess that they are either getting out of the flight sim business, or they have decided to release a new version (FS Two?). If they do release an FS Two, they better give a significant rebate for those who supported them buy buying FS One, particularily when it was $200.

JeremySutton

I emailed FSOne a link to this thread and pleaded for an answer to the BIG question over one week ago. I have heard nothing. I think you are right about either getting out or releasing FSOne v2.

Looking at the Apple iPhone, I hope they are smart in the release of their product as well. Some original iPhone owners were ticked at the price and Apple mailed them back a rebate check. Gotta think these through. Plus, with technology things, like flight sims, should be able to be cheaper I would think.

MikeL

My Feedback: (3)

What's to clarify about a new price point? I really don't get that. Sometimes we ask too many questions out of suspicion. Nobody would ask why something goes up in price.

Even if someone could reasonably create an explanation of leaving the market, I'd wonder. It doesn't follow. There aren't too many sims that give free updates to new versions out there. If I was to buy FS One today and they halted development tomorrow, that wouldn't bother me a bit. I wouldn't be getting v2.0 for free, anyway. Flight sims are not an investment in softwarethey're an investment in skills.

malcolmm

Companies don't drop the price of a product in half just because they feel like it. When Horizon drops the price of a product it usually means that they are releasing a new version, or they are dropping the product. For example the price of the Blade CP Pro dropped by about $100 (40%), a few weeks later they announced a new version.

So why do I care that they might release a new version, or drop the product entirely. Because FS One has only been out for around a year, and it is very much a work in progress. There have been some patches, but they don't fix or enhance what is lacking in the product.

I bought FS One mostly to learn to fly helicopters, and I heard the physics were the best. They may be the best for airplanes (not saying much), but they definitely aren't the best for helicopters. In fact, the physics (or helicopter modeling) took a big step backwards with the release of the Hanger 1 pack - check out the T-Rex 450 SA. Even the helicopter patch, which to me initially seemed to be an improvement turned out to be a bust. Since when is a Blade CP Pro more stable than a T-Rex 450?

Even if Horizon doesn't release a new version or drop the product, the price drop would probably result in there being less money for product support.

Malcolm

MikeL

My Feedback: (3)

Such a negative view.

Software is a different sort of business. Inventory costs are low, as are carrying costs. There's no dire need to flush the channel.

Along the lines of software being a different sort of business, marketshare matters. The sim market has matured.

malcolmm

Yes, my overall view of FS One is negative - so what? I believe it's also a realistic view.

I'm in the software business, so I know how it works.

I believe the $100 FS One product includes the controller, which obvioulsy doesn't cost a lot (mine already feels like it's falling apart, it makes some very odd noises), but it is hardware, and it adds substantially to the price of the product.

Anyways, I hope you are right, maybe FS One has decided to compete on price.

Malcolm

MikeL

My Feedback: (3)

I meant a negative view on the price decrease.

teookie

I just got FS-One and I LIKE IT.

Who cares why the price came down, it's only $100 now!!!

raptorflyr

My Feedback: (20)

I've got both FS One and Realflight 3.5. For the money, I like the FS One. In my opinion, the flight model seems more realistic. It is nice to see that Horizon is willing to adjust the price to help bring more people into the hobby, rather than continue to charge a higher price.

I sometimes "volunteer" at a local hobby shop. A different perspective might be that Horizon is sacrificing the simulators with little margin so that they can "encourage" people to try and buy their products such as the Hangar 9 airplane line. The fact is most beginners scare away from simulators at $200 + and the $40 FMS Packaged stuff is not realistic. At $100, I think we'll get a lot more people interested in the hobby and willing to spend the money on the software.

To me, Horizon is simply trying to put the nails to Great planes. They've reduced this price drastically and they have phenominal deals such as the receiver give-aways for 2.4 users, while Futaba options for 2.4 are limited and expensive.

The only benefit I think Realflight has is that it has been around longer and they've continued to improve the model and we know support is there for the long-run. I also like the fact that you can share aircraft, which I do not think is possible with FS1.

If I was a marketing guy over at Great Planes, I would be sweating this pricing strategy.

I have heard that there's another add-on pack for FS1 in the works. It would be great to see some of the current H9 and Eflite products added.

Time Pilot

At $100, seems like a good deal. I was wondering, does FS One has a flight failure feature where you can choose what failures occur and how often that might happen? I know G4 has this feature.

I experienced my second non-virtual inflight aileron failure tonight. Somehow I miraculously managed to grease an inverted landing (GWS Formosa). These are the kinds of things I'd like to practice on a sim.... (Recovering from inflight failures, NOT greasing inverted landings! ).

iliveonthemoon

I wish we got the same price cut here in the UK. it's still about £150 (nearly $300!!) here []

gjchester

Same thoughts here, I just bought FS One for the F22 raptor, as mines sat at home as it's a bit fast for me to risk, £70 delivered (£55 for fs one with controller, £15 delivery) from the US on fleabay. Still over £150 in the LHS and whilst I'd rather buy from them I'm not spending twice as much again for the same product.

Once I get to grips with the raptor I'll probably sell it on and at this rate won't lost out by much.

RattlerII

I couldn't agree more since this was my exact experience. As a modeler who has been away from the hobby for many many years I purchased FS One so that I could prepare to begin flying again. Since it was only $99 it was clearly the best all around choice in sims. I have taken the flight training, flown the trainers, and practiced some more advanced skills. FS One has proven to be excellent in every respect. Now I am interested in several Hanger 9 models and will certainly spend more money at Horizon.

Every technology product goes down in price over time. The fact that Hanger 9 chose to be the price leader has given them a real competitive advantage and it will certainly lock in many new customers - from raw beginners to those beginning all over again like me.


Question: Where can I get more aircraft models to add to FS One? Links please.

FrankFuss

Nice try. You wait for a FS One update for more aircraft, or you can use the scaling feature to scale the existing aircraft to a different size.

rcdude-K

My guess is one of two reasons for the price drop.
1. Real flight has been around longer and FS1 had to figure out a way to gain more of the market share, and half the price was the way to go.
OR
2. they got wind that real flight was was releasing a stripped down version called REAL FLIGHT BASIC at 99.00 and they had to do something that would maintain their share of the market. At this price point of 99.00, FSone seems to have more features over RF BASIC and would be the better deal.

Myself, I have been agonizing over which one to buy and have not bought one yet. At 99.00 for FS1 and 99.00 for RF Basic, I could almost afford to buy both.

By the way RF basic does not work with expansion packs and is not upgradeable.

But there is a hack in an issue of RC heli that tells how to get your spektrum radio to work wirelessly with RF. It takes advantage of the module from Spektrum that interfaces with FS1.

I also noticed that RF 3.5 was at about 119.00 at my LHS.

johndou

FSOne is no longer being produced. The reason for the price drop back in June/July of last year was to reduce/eliminate their inventories before people caught on. It appears that Phoenix is now Hangar 9's simulator of choice ... Check out the thread "FS One by Hangar 9"