and I'm curious what CV owners think, is it a good replication of RC flight?
It seems better then FMS to me.

I tried CV and didn't find it to be very realistic based on what I've heard about the way a heli reacts. One example is lifting off: with no cyclic input, the heli tended to move straight up or to the right, and the normal real-world behavior is for it to move left. I also didn't care for the graphics, especially when the heli was a moderate distance away. I was using the T-Rex model and the tail would essentially disappear against the backdrop, making it very difficult to determine its orientation.

I decided to ditch CV in favor of Phoenix. It's a much better sim from both a behavior standpoint and a graphics standpoint. Of course, it's also $160 from Tower Hobbies, but I ended up spending about $80 on CV by the time I bought a USB interface. I checked the forums before purchase and the feelings about Phoenix were universally positive.

A lot of people use Phoenix or RealFlight. Personally, I've been flying ClearView for about 8 months now which is also about how long I've been flying helis. I have found ClearView to be an accurate aid and a great compliment to real flying. No, they don't simulate ground effect, but I'm not working on flying in ground effect (why exactly would you?), I'm working on piro-flips and tic-tocs. It's as spot-on as I've known most any simulator to be. I used to fly FSOne as well, but I really don't see it being any more accurate than ClearView (though it certainly is more polished). Of course, any small helicopter will be hard to discern at distance in any simulator. I find the most helpful thing you can do if you're having trouble seeing something like a TREX is a) Enable Anti-Aliasing on your video card or b) fly a larger heli

Additionally, the guy that runs it has always been helpful and incredibly quick to respond to e-mails (by which I mean an average of 10 minutes), and the program sees an update almost every other month. You mentioned that you tried ClearView before? I'm curious how long ago that may have been as it has changed a lot since I purchased it last year.

Anyhow, if your budget is in that range and you just want to know if it can help you learn, I would say yes. No simulator is spot-on that's why they're called "simulators" but ClearView will certainly help you develop the muscle memory you'll need for the real thing while saving you some money to afford another battery or servo, etc.

Merely my $.02
- Chaz

Check this out! http://www.smartpropoplus.com/BlueAndGrey/default.asp

You would care about ground effect if you were a newbie like me, where just getting off the ground is an adventure. If you're an accomplished pilot, CV may be fine. It's all a matter of perspective. CV was frustrating the h*ll out of me; a sim is no good if you're too frustrated with it to use it, so I decided to switch. I'll clarify my previous comments by saying that I wouldn't recommend CV for a newbie based on personal experience.

Well, fair enough. The biggest thing with ground effect is just getting out of it. If you're having trouble getting off the ground, I would recommend getting up a bit higher. It's not like I don't remember being there - it used to scare the snot out of me - but you'll find it's a lot easier to start learning as soon as you force yourself a little higher.

Good find, soop! I hadn't seen that program, but it actually works quite well. It did take a bit of tinkering to get running, however.

Merely my opinion,
- Chaz

well, I've been using FMS but just bought CV a few days ago, I already have the USB sim cable and I am already past the getting into a hover stage, I am now toying with orientation and some FF.