What would you pay?

[Daddy O]

So imagine you were surfing the web, or flipping thru a magazine and you saw a pre-built flight simulator that you just had to have. The question is: What is the maximum ammount you would realistically spend for a simulator? (or how much would your wife let you spend?)

120 degree field of view (3x 32" monitors)
customizable instrument panel
radio, autopilot & switch panels
yoke-throttle quadrant-pedals or stick-throttle-pedals
force feedback seat (you actually feel the engine rumble)
headset with 2 month PilotEdge trial
Powered by 2 PCs and XP10
cup holder (of course!)
not a tabletop sim--you actually climb into this unit

[arb65912]

I would spend up to $10, 000.... my wife would allow $100.....

Seriously, I have no idea, I guess up to $200.

[Steven Winslow]

Where did you see it and what are they asking?

[Keith Smith]

My guess is Adam is thinking of putting this together.

[Daddy O]

This is sort of an informal price-point study. I believe there is room in the decadent American market for serious gaming platforms. FLight simulators would only be the starting point.

So how much cash would you realisticfally shell out for a pre-built simulator (the kind of simulator that you could post on the internet for bragging rights.)

[arb65912]

I just looked at my first reply and I said $200, it was a typo.
From your description and taking into the consideration the price of listed features, I would say up to $4000.

[Daddy O]

anyone else have input on this?

[Steven Winslow]

Well, you can see that I HAVE googled and searched and I have lusted after the stuff at the links below. If you want to put it together yourself, you can save a little over $12,000. For the complete sim, you're looking at just under $30,000....if you put it together yourself. And that doesn't include the computers or displays.......

http://www.simkits.com/product.php?prodid=1826

http://www.simkits.com/product.php?prodid=614

So, how much would I be willing to pay for what you propose? Between $6000 and $9000. I've actually located a Piper Cherokee fuselage that I want to build a home cockpit in. I've also got information on a 747 sim cockpit being auctioned in Washington state, if anyone is interested.

[DrZGard]

I use a Cirrus II Category II BATD from Precision Flight Controls with a PFC430 control head for the Garmin 430/530 from Reality XP. I have been very pleased with the quality of the hardware, realistic feel and ability to complete flights from startup to shutdown without ever touching the mouse or keyboard. I use a 25.5" moniter and TrackIR for some (not all) of the aircraft. I have seriously considered going to a smaller moniter for the instruments and then using the TripleHead2Go for a wrap around outside view.

PFC Cirrus II Cat II sim

resize PFC.jpg (198.53 KiB) Viewed 11103 times

[arb65912]

Personally, if I had $30,000 to spend, I would get my PPL ( $7500) and had the money left for about 170 , 1 hr flights in real PA 28 but it is just a personal preference, I am sure some guys out there would not be able to fly in real life so simulator would be the only option.
Sorry for getting a bit off topic.
Steve, the prices from the links above are unbelievable ... one has to have few spare bucks.