Now before I get to the point of this article, I want to point out a company called SimFlyer. I announced this company back in December on 2012 and I have the feeling that info fell mostly on def ears. But just for the record, here is their site again here:
In regards to how active SimFlyer is at the moment is anyone's guess. But they do serve an alternative to RealityXP's Garmin GNX, GMX, and GPX systems as well as an offering of PFD and EFIS systems to boot. So check it out.
Now on to the point.
MindStar Aviation is a 3rd party FS avionics company similar to RXP offering internal implementations of advanced external avionics units to your VC offering full internal functionality. Many of you are aware of their offerings including their G1000 unit, but many of you may not be aware that the company is currently working on their own Garmin GNS430 and GNS530 avionics systems due for release this year.
Why will you want it?
The Mindstar GPS package will allow you to install any combination of the 2 Garmin GPS units, including crossfill (the two GPS units will talk to each other, something you couldn't get with RXP without paying an extra fee), and the nav data can be updated monthly with an annual AIRAC subscription (the same AIRAC data used in the G1000). The cost of this package will be $50 USD. LPV approaches will be available later this year in an update.
Have a look at the following links for further information:
or
Hope this helps. Thanks to JayZee for the info!
19 comments:
Will it have WAAS or approaches available.
Will it have WAAS or approaches available.
Yes, LPV approaches, which are WAAS-based, will be available later this year.
Also, know that Mindstar primarily creates these gauges for the commercial aviation marketplace (e.g. RedBird simulators, etc), so the GNS430/530 to be released to the flight sim community are already being used for actual training in commercial simulators.
I currently use the G1000 in the MilViz C310 and it is awesome. And now that the AIRAC can be updated monthly, it's that much better. I do a lot of flying on Pilot Edge and having a current AIRAC is good thing.
why in the world would anybody that already has rxp units but that stuff? especially simflyer wich is essentially default stuff with a pretty skin...
as for mindstar i'd LOVE to buy their stuff..but no paypal no purchase
This sounds really exciting Todd.
Do you know if Mindstar will be focusing any effort into trying to allow the linkages for 3D virtual cockpits to display the Mindstar GNS units in place of the current Reality XP units, so that say developers like RealAir, Carenado etc which currently have 3D knob options might be able to retrospectively update their aircraft for use with Mindstar in the same fashion as they allow Reality XP at the moment?
That sounds really good from from MindStar. Keep on going !
I bought the Simflyers GNS-SX a few years ago and it doesnt even offers the half functionality that RXP use to have. Very disappointing: no AIRAC and just a diffrent frontend to the default-GPS.
But anyway: RXP isnt dead at all, last user-made AIRAC was from April 2013 (inofficial, but with permission from Garmin Ltd, course it is an addition to their 16-Bit Garmin-Simulator where the RXP is based on).
Graeme, from what I know, the Mindstar GNS430/530 units can be used in the VC, as long as the aircraft developer uses the the proper gauge dimensions and allows their default GPS units to be swapped out with Mindstar's unit.
Don't expect anything from Carenado, however, as they don't even have a panel configuration for the Mindstar G1000 to be used in any of their G1000-equipped aircraft. I even emailed Carenado requesting a compatible panel for the C182T and they essentially said "No, we're not interested, stop bugging us." So, I don't support Carenado for that reason. There's nothing Mindstar can do if a developer doesn't care to play nicely.
SeaGoblin, why don't you contact the Mindstar people directly and request that PayPal be an option? It's not an unreasonable request. Being that most of their work is commercial, it is likely Paypal is never needed or requested. Any time I have contacted the developers via email, they have responded to me in 24 hours (48 hours at most). They're support is very professional.
RXP made nice GPS units, no doubt, and the update you mentioned is nice. But that's an update about every 2 years. And for some, that's adequate, I won't argue that. But the absence of the developer from the RXP forums without a word to the customer is in poor taste. Even the CEO of Aerosoft commented that RXP never replied to their communications about their interest in implementing RXP gauges into the new Twotter. So Twotter flyers are stuck using the default GPS units for now. Hopefully Aerosoft will get on the phone with Mindstar.
The other thing to remember, with Mindstar, you get both the GNS430 and GNS530, the ability to place any combination of two of those units in a panel, and crossfill. With RXP that's $150 - $200 (even more if you use P3D). Mindstar's package is $50, whether you use FSX or P3D (and I don't know about FS9 - the G1000 is FS9 compatible). Plus $40 annually for RealNav monthly AIRAC updates, if you choose to do that.
well i DID put a request into their forums about 2 years ago for a paypal purchase method..nothing came out of it and when asking again beginning of this year all i got was a "nope"...its a shame cause i'd really really like to try their G1000 unit
I already commented that: there are no developers anymore on RXP since years, and there is no support needed at all. But Aerosoft decided to integrate the GPS into their gauges, so it could not be replaced. It wouldnt help for MindStar, either: why should they invest time (and money) to develope a transparent gauge for just one vendor thats not needed for any other addon for free ? So, I am sure we can expect the same reaction by the Twotter developers on MindStar as well.
Thanks Todd. Hopefully this might help sway Mathjis and Finn at Aerosoft on making a free radio style panel version for their twin otter like MilViz had for the 310 as well.
He seemed to be really against it when asked about on the Reality XP side of things, but it'd be great for when this GNS set gets released by Mindstar as well.
also...that navdata provider for mindstar's stuff only takes credit cards too..another case of no paypal no purchase..why wont they use navigraph/aerosoft data anyway?
Contact them via email. The forums were hacked and are down indefinitely. It wasn't a technical support forum anyway. These guys prefer you contacting them directly.
OK, I emailed them for you and they said they will likely be implementing PayPal for their products and the Nav subscription. So, there you go.
The database is commercial level. Just look at the fees commercial users have to pay for the same thing the home user gets. By the way, I talked to the guys at Mindstar and they are very likely going to include PayPal as an option.
For me, not having a WAAS capable GPS add-on for P3D V2 is a real blocker for moving permanently onto the new platform. If you want full and current IFR functionality without flying heavies then it's a must.
I suppose that the Flight1 B200 will eventually have a P3D V2 installer, and that could work for me. But I would really like to be able to plug a GNS 530 WAAS (fully implemented) into a smaller aircraft as well, just like I can with RXP and RealAir products on FSX (e.g. Duke)
This is a real gap for the P3D platform as far as I am concerned...
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