I have or have used almost every simulator out there... my personal preference is Real Flight...(not the basic version) Real Flight just came out with an "improved" helicopter version.

Planes stink in Phoenix... just don't fly right.

One huge advantage of Real Flight is the incredible number of free planes available on the swap pages. You can modify the physics of any aircraft to change the flight characteristics. This is a huge advantage to RF.

I do not like using my flight radio with a simulator... no reason to wear it out and waste the life of the batteries.

You will find that you like what ever product you use, if you spend enough time understanding all the settings and features of the software. This can take a while.

I know that simulators have saved me a lot of planes. The sims have also eaten up a lot of my free time. Always nice to jump on-line and fly with other people on the internet.