By Maximillion Needels

Flight Simulators have been out for many years and as computer technology has grown so has the realism of flight simulators. Last April at the Weak Signals annual Toledo R/C Expo, a new version of the Reflex flight simulator known as the "Reflex XTR" was unveiled. There was a buzz around the working demonstration as modelers stood by in hopes to take a turn at the sticks. I was one of them.

What I was witnessing was amazing to say the lest. Gone were the cartoon like flying fields, gone were the nonrealistic sounds of electronic buzzes used in other flight simulators of the past. As I watched other flyers test out the Reflex XTR, I couldn’t get over the photo realistic field backgrounds. The planes pictured were amazing in their own right. I watched as little puffs of smoke emanated from the exhaust muffler. Heard the Doppler effect of the motor as the plane flew left and right, closer and farther away. I just knew I had to have one of these!!!

A quick call to Pat at Riders Hobby and I found myself with the first copy sold in this area. Pat always seems to be able to get hold of things he knows will be popular and this was no exception. Pat has recently purchased Hobby Stop West at its new location on 1210 Sylvania Ave., Toledo, OH from George the nephew of the late Lester. George has decided to pursue new interest and we wish him well! Pat is the man to see if you want anything R/C. He will work hard to EARN your business!

There are about 18 different fixed wing aircraft to chose form. Kyosho’s AT-6 Texan, Curtis P-40 Warhawk, Flip 3D, Tiger Moth, Trainer 40 and several versions of the Katana Gas plane just to name a few. There are also about 17 different helicopters or variations of helicopters to choose form. You are not just limited to these aircraft though. You can jump on-line and download dozens of different planes and helicopters made by Reflex or other modelers like yourself. This is one of the nice features of the Reflex XTR. With a digital camera you can take pictures of your own plane and import it in to the simulator itself. You can also take pictures of your flying field and do the same. With the seemingly endless amount of custom setting you can change, you should be able to set your plane up to mimic your real planes flight characteristics almost perfectly! How’s that for flexibility!

After radio calibration I chose several planes to fly. One was the trainer 40, Katana Gas, and the Flip 3D. I was amazed at how realistic the plains felt. Even the ground handling felt real. Many of the other plane simulators I’ve flown seem overly easy to fly. Though some Reflex planes did suffer form this problem, a few changes to the weight, power ration ect. and the realism just jumped out! I then downloaded several airplanes off the web. Two Foam Shock Flyers (the Extra and Super Star), a Tribute Biplane, and a 90size Funtana just to name a few. The Shock Flyers were planes submitted by modelers, and as an owner of the Super Star Shocky I was excited to try them out. I loaded them in, and away I went. I was a little disappointed by the Extra Shocky and wasn’t sure if the Reflex simulator was really capable of allowing modelers to create realistic airplanes. WAS I WRONG!!!! I loaded the Super Star Shocky, I can’t even describe the feeling of flying it around. It was almost dead perfect!! Obviously the modeler who submitted this rendition of the Shocky took the time needed to program the flight options.

I was also taken back by the flying field graphics, it looks so much like Reckers field, there is a slue of different resolutions that you can run, I chose a panoramic view of 6120 x 2048 and screen resolution of 1024 x 768 x 16 color’s as a test. the graphics suffered a little compared to what I had seen at the Toledo Expo, but defiantly far better than any other simulator on the market.

I then tried all the same models on computers system two. What a difference as far as graphics was concerned. I went to a panoramic view of 8160 x 3060 with a screen resolution of 1600 x 1024 x 32 colors. The details of the trees, grass, sky were phenomenal. The plane exhibited no jerkiness and was still a joy to fly. Ether of these machines will give you a great simulator to learn on. Computer one may not show all of the tiniest details but it does not lack in performance and looks.

The Reflex XTR simulator has more features then can be counted easily! Besides regular flight training the XTR includes Hover and Torque roll training as well. In this mode the plane starts located right in front of you, about 4 feet off the ground. You can start off easily changing the training mode to control different control surfaces. Start out with just throttle if you wish and then move on to throttle and elevator, throttle and rudder, throttle, elevator and rudder and when your ready throttle, elevator, rudder, and ailerons all at the same time.

I found the Reflex XTR a great simulator at a reasonable price. I like the fact that using my radio gives me a better feel compared to what I consider the light, almost cheep feeling that comes with some of the other radio boxs included with simulators. I love the fact that I can go in to my own radio functions and add expo or dual rates, raise or lower landing gear from my switches, (which helps me to learn my radio better) and more. Since the radio uses power to operate while using XTR (not near as much as if you were on the actual flight line) I believe my batteries will be in much better shape after winter, having been cycled naturally form time to time. If you get a chance to try one, you might buy one.