HD Carenado C208B Grand Caravan

[Robert Shepherd]

Hey guys...

Looks like this title is on sale (among other Carenado titles) for $17.76 down from $42.83! ... I'm considering it!

Does anyone else here have this? Comments??? This would be my first Carenado purchase...

Thanks!

[Harold Henderson]

Almost all the Carenado's are excellent. The 208 is one of the good ones. The B200 is flyable but needs a patch on the flight model. It's very twitchy -- not as stable as I would have expected it to be. But, they are good about patching their planes.

The Cessna 185F (with the optional patch) and the F33A Bonanza are two of my most favorite of their products.

[Theodore Martin]

That's interesting. I was looking at the C208 and the 182 tonight but thought I would wait before pulling the trigger to get some input. Well you guys just solved my problem and will be "hitting the buy button" soon.

Also considering the Saitek Pro yoke and throttle combo which is on sell for $149.

[Robert Shepherd]

Harold - Thank you... I value your input on payware for obvious reasons. When I get paid the C208B will be in my hangar...

Ted - I have the Saitak X52 Pro combo... Love 'em. I've always had the Saitek HOTAS systems back when you had to connect your input devices to your serial port on your sound card! LOL...

[Harold Henderson]

The B200 is flyable but needs a patch on the flight model.

Did you get the SP2 for the B200?

Yes, still a little too unstable - particularly in landing config/speed.

[Theodore Martin]

Got the 208B, installed it, and done a couple of flights. It's GREAT so far. Purchased the 185F Bush last night and plan to install today.

Like Sergio, I really like the Carenado a/c but their documentation is very lacking.

[Robert Shepherd]

Well I did it... I bought the C208B + the Cargomaster Expansion Pack.

First Impressions; VERY cool... I need to read a manual though! LOL... From what I read online the manuals are located in either the FSX -> Carenado folder or the Simobjects -> airplanes -> Carenado folder.

Engine sounds are awesome, but I do detect a slight loop break in there. I also opened the pilots door with the handle, but apparently to close it again you need to hit SHIFT-E. I couldn't find a clickspot to close it. Another BIG thing I noticed (There's an optional patch on their website to fix this, but I haven't had time to apply it yet), is that if you pull the throttle to idle the plane will slow DRASTICALLY as if you hit the speedbrakes! This is a known issue and supposedly that patch fixes it. Will try it tonight.

Any insight/tips/clues on the GPS/autopilot function before I dig into the manual? (I did find a website link from Carenado's knowledgebase to free FSX AIRAC updates as apparently it uses the default FSX navaids).

[Harold Henderson]

... if you pull the throttle to idle the plane will slow DRASTICALLY as if you hit the speedbrakes! This is a known issue and supposedly that patch fixes it. Will try it tonight...

Yes. You definitely want to apply that patch and it does fix the issue.