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Game Information
- Platform: Windows XP
- PEGI Rating: Unknown
- Media: Personal Computers
- Item Quantity: 1
Available Warranties for This Item
Frequently Bought Together
Technical Details
- For Pro Flight Yoke
- Take your flight-simulation experience up a notch with Saitek'sPro Flight Instrument Panel! The Pro Flight Instrument Panel features a stunning colour LCDscreen displaying the main cockpit instruments
- Saitek's ProFlight Instrument is compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator and makes the perfect addition toother products in the Pro Flight instrument range. Plus, you can choose from up to 6 instruments at the touchof a button to bring an extra level
- 1 year UK warranty
Product details
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Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
Saitek Pro Flight Instrument Panel is a compact color LCD screen which works with Flight Simulator software to display real time cockpit instrument information.
Product Description
Upgrade your flight simulation experience for Microsoft Flight Simulator X with the Saitek Pro Flight Instrument Panel. Choose between 6 different flight instruments at the touch of a button: Altimeter ? Attitude Indicator ? Airspeed Indicator ? Compass ? Turn and Slip indicator ? Vertical Speed.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
Lets face facts, you're not going to buy just 1 of these, but probably 6.
That adds up to a lot of $$$ regardless what your income is.
Thankfully i only bought 2 of these (thats all that was in stock)...let me explain...
First impressions out of box were:
*Packaged very well
*Units look very smart/impressive/well built
*The little silver desk stand is pretty useless, mine wouldnt stand up (without even having the usb cable connected) - but its a non issue since you're going to mount them on your yoke OR radio/switch panels anyway.
*The screws attaching the panel to the mounting bracket are BLACK. WHY??? The screws that come with the Switch/Radio panels are silver. Minor point, but detracts from building our complete saitek cockpit if we're mounting the FIP to the Switch/Radio panels...attention to detail Saitek.
So i mounted mine on top of yoke, installed the driver software.
Wont run connected to USB slots on the yoke (not enough power), so connect to mainboard usb slot.
Once we start flying:
Cant help notice that the graphics aren't particularly good. The numbers aren't easy to read and the needles (on VSI for example) are aliased badly, i.e. not smooth lines. The virtual cockpit instruments in FSX look much better than on these saitek dedicated devices.
The VSI is not scaled for the plane you are flying. i.e. the yellow and red lines are static. Therefore your cessna172's redline will be at something ridiculous like 300kts. So if you are flying at 100kts, the FSX cockpit needle might be pointing at 100kts down to the left, whilst the Saitek panel is pointing to 100kts to the right. Rather off putting. Surely it isn't rocket science to get the scale dynamically updated ? I guess Saitek expect us to do it ourselves with the SDK.
Even with just the two connected, there is lag between what they display, and what the FSX instruments show. A lag of possibly a couple of seconds, which is enough to get you 'killed' or at least make your flying somewhat erratic. A review by a 'homecockpitguy' on youtube also complained about this (he had all 6 hooked up).
I read the manual that came with the devices, and they mention being able to use these devices in client/server mode. i.e. Your main FSX machine is the server, and you physically connect the Saitek FIPs to another computer, which will receive what to display over your network.
So i tried this, and was pleased to see that even via wifi, the lag was gone for all instruments except the attitude indicator. The instructions for setting up client/server mode were very well explained, and it wasn't very hard.
But you have to ask yourself...do i have a spare computer to dedicate to driving these devices ? one with 6 usb ports ?
[Edit: after further playing, when using in c/s mode and u change the static pressure setting on the altimeter on the saitek FIP with the small dial - the change is reflected in FSX but the value on the saitek FIP LCD does not change ! If the FIP is connected directly to your FSX PC, the value updates on the saitek LCD and the PC cockpit...so there's at least one problem using client server mode]
What else? The 2 little red arrow buttons down the bottom are very small, hard to press when in flight. I guess if u have bought 6 of these devices, then you wont need to press these 2 buttons in flight though. These buttons flip between the 6 instruments the device simulates.
Now when the devices are powered, but you arent in FSX, the devices scroll through a slideshow of Saitek advertising. It's rather annoying that that when you ARE flying, and press the red arrows to choose which of the 6 instruments to show, that the advertising screen comes up as a 7th option. Noone wants to see this, it just kills the immersion.
I think you can change the advertising bitmaps to your own set of pictures, theyre just read from a folder on the comp at runtime...but cant think how it would b useful...it just scrolls through them continuously...u cant flick between them and keep one image on screen indefinately (say for checklist purposes, radio freqs at your fav airport).
It also felt less natural having to look down at these devices, rather than using my head (with trackir) to look at the virtual instruments in fsx.
I think thats all for now. Just want everyone to make an informed purchase, rather than buying 6 at a time without having tried them first.
Think: am i happy to use a seperate computer to drive these ? am i happy for these to block some of my view of the computer screen ? am i happy that their graphics arent as nice as the fsx instruments ? am i happy that they arent necessarily showing accurate information (i.e. laggy/delayed) ? am i happy having 6 extra cables running around the place?
if the answer to any of these is no, you're better off just using TrackIR...save yourself £600 and buy yourself a return trip to australia instead :)
That adds up to a lot of $$$ regardless what your income is.
Thankfully i only bought 2 of these (thats all that was in stock)...let me explain...
First impressions out of box were:
*Packaged very well
*Units look very smart/impressive/well built
*The little silver desk stand is pretty useless, mine wouldnt stand up (without even having the usb cable connected) - but its a non issue since you're going to mount them on your yoke OR radio/switch panels anyway.
*The screws attaching the panel to the mounting bracket are BLACK. WHY??? The screws that come with the Switch/Radio panels are silver. Minor point, but detracts from building our complete saitek cockpit if we're mounting the FIP to the Switch/Radio panels...attention to detail Saitek.
So i mounted mine on top of yoke, installed the driver software.
Wont run connected to USB slots on the yoke (not enough power), so connect to mainboard usb slot.
Once we start flying:
Cant help notice that the graphics aren't particularly good. The numbers aren't easy to read and the needles (on VSI for example) are aliased badly, i.e. not smooth lines. The virtual cockpit instruments in FSX look much better than on these saitek dedicated devices.
The VSI is not scaled for the plane you are flying. i.e. the yellow and red lines are static. Therefore your cessna172's redline will be at something ridiculous like 300kts. So if you are flying at 100kts, the FSX cockpit needle might be pointing at 100kts down to the left, whilst the Saitek panel is pointing to 100kts to the right. Rather off putting. Surely it isn't rocket science to get the scale dynamically updated ? I guess Saitek expect us to do it ourselves with the SDK.
Even with just the two connected, there is lag between what they display, and what the FSX instruments show. A lag of possibly a couple of seconds, which is enough to get you 'killed' or at least make your flying somewhat erratic. A review by a 'homecockpitguy' on youtube also complained about this (he had all 6 hooked up).
I read the manual that came with the devices, and they mention being able to use these devices in client/server mode. i.e. Your main FSX machine is the server, and you physically connect the Saitek FIPs to another computer, which will receive what to display over your network.
So i tried this, and was pleased to see that even via wifi, the lag was gone for all instruments except the attitude indicator. The instructions for setting up client/server mode were very well explained, and it wasn't very hard.
But you have to ask yourself...do i have a spare computer to dedicate to driving these devices ? one with 6 usb ports ?
[Edit: after further playing, when using in c/s mode and u change the static pressure setting on the altimeter on the saitek FIP with the small dial - the change is reflected in FSX but the value on the saitek FIP LCD does not change ! If the FIP is connected directly to your FSX PC, the value updates on the saitek LCD and the PC cockpit...so there's at least one problem using client server mode]
What else? The 2 little red arrow buttons down the bottom are very small, hard to press when in flight. I guess if u have bought 6 of these devices, then you wont need to press these 2 buttons in flight though. These buttons flip between the 6 instruments the device simulates.
Now when the devices are powered, but you arent in FSX, the devices scroll through a slideshow of Saitek advertising. It's rather annoying that that when you ARE flying, and press the red arrows to choose which of the 6 instruments to show, that the advertising screen comes up as a 7th option. Noone wants to see this, it just kills the immersion.
I think you can change the advertising bitmaps to your own set of pictures, theyre just read from a folder on the comp at runtime...but cant think how it would b useful...it just scrolls through them continuously...u cant flick between them and keep one image on screen indefinately (say for checklist purposes, radio freqs at your fav airport).
It also felt less natural having to look down at these devices, rather than using my head (with trackir) to look at the virtual instruments in fsx.
I think thats all for now. Just want everyone to make an informed purchase, rather than buying 6 at a time without having tried them first.
Think: am i happy to use a seperate computer to drive these ? am i happy for these to block some of my view of the computer screen ? am i happy that their graphics arent as nice as the fsx instruments ? am i happy that they arent necessarily showing accurate information (i.e. laggy/delayed) ? am i happy having 6 extra cables running around the place?
if the answer to any of these is no, you're better off just using TrackIR...save yourself £600 and buy yourself a return trip to australia instead :)
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
I was very apprehensive about purchasing this item, but after installing I was amazed by its performance. Adds so much to Flight Simulator. I will be ordering 1 a month for the next 5 months !
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Saitek Instrument Guage
5 Mar 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
I have purchased three of the Saitek Panel Guages. All of the devices work well and are in sync with MS FSX. They are somewhat CPU intensive, so one needs lots of CPU speed and memory. Their number one benefit is that they free the user to use the entre gaming screen for scenery. The gauges improve the feeling of realism considerably. Last point, they seem to be happiest using a single dedicated USB port.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Awesome...but no better than instrument only view in FSX
5 Sep 2009
I have the yoke and 3 lever throttle, the rudder pedals and 3 of the saitek Flight instrument panels and the Pro Flight Switch Panel. They work GREAT!
They are HIGHLY recommended.
I only have 2 complaints..sometimes all the panels don't get started at the same time (probably due to the USB power requirement) so I have to unplug them and replug them...but it's usually just 1 of the 6 devices.....mostly the yoke itself.
The other complaint is that there is no HSI option on the flight instrument panel...maybe in a driver upgrade.
These change the usablity of FSX from tedious to truly enjoyable!
They are HIGHLY recommended.
I only have 2 complaints..sometimes all the panels don't get started at the same time (probably due to the USB power requirement) so I have to unplug them and replug them...but it's usually just 1 of the 6 devices.....mostly the yoke itself.
The other complaint is that there is no HSI option on the flight instrument panel...maybe in a driver upgrade.
These change the usablity of FSX from tedious to truly enjoyable!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
This is a great addition to a flight sim
12 Dec 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
*****
MAJOR UPDATE 2/5/12
The Pro Flight Instrument Panel that I bought was getting a discolored area in the top corner of the screen, and was sent back.
Rather than getting a replacement I looked around for something that would cost less than $1,000. After all I ***WANTED*** 6 more of the little suckers.
My solution was to get a 9" USB monitor (DoubleSight DS-90U Monitor) to run "G.A. Panel" on. "G.A. Panel" (General Aviation) is an instrument program for FSX that is easily configurable for new or old light aircraft.
On top of that I also have a matching 9" TOUCHSCREEN monitor (9" USB Touch Monitor) that can be used to program/control the FSX GPS.
Had my original Pro Flight Instrument Panel not gone bad I would have kept it, and I can STILL recommend it. But the above is another, and MUCH cheaper, solution for a great flight sim setup.
======================================================================================
First a little bit about the unit itself:
OVERALL - 3 3/4" wide, 3 3/8" high, 3/4" deep. The plastic mount adds more depth, of course.
SCREEN - 3 3/8" diagonal. 2 3/4" wide, 2 1/16" high
INSTRUMENT BEING DISPLAYED - varies. Mostly about 2" in diameter, or less.
With the above dimensions you can find a few full-face pictures on the internet, shrink them down to the proper size, fold/cut to size, and see how they'll look.
The biggest difference is that THIS is a, full color, light emitting display. They can make a big difference in learning to fly.
My big concern, before buying one, was that the instrument images looked too small. Because the image is bright, though, I find the displays more than adequate. And I have poor eyesight.
There really is only one problem, and that's the price.
A complaint about Amazon - All reviews seem to start with those that have the most points. The problem with that system is that quit often those reviews are old and no longer accurate.
A case in point - the newest driver has ALL of the instruments shown on the Amazon web page. You don't have to search for, and download, anything more (officially).
Also of note is that some opinions in older reviews is misleading or based on misconceptions. Most good games will require fast computers and faster video cards. That's a given. But some people have no idea how airplane instruments work. The Pro Flight Instrument Panel IS NOT LAGGY! That's the way aircraft indicators work. Remember this - They tell you where the aircraft WAS and what it WAS doing, NOT what is happening NOW. Civilian stuff is like that. So if you want the very best, join the military.
If you run out of USB connections on your computer and don't have a powered hub to plug these things into DON'T BUY IT. Plug a lot of power hungry equipment into the back of the Saitek yoke (with power supply) and you can expect problems too.
Finally, you don't have to be a professional pilot, or licensed private pilot, to KNOW how to use this stuff. Does anyone really expect Saitek to make a manual comparable to The Instrument Flight Manual: The Instrument Rating & Beyond (The Flight Manuals Series), or actual flight school text books? True, some real pilots buy this stuff for many different reasons, and they DO know how to use it. But most of us buy these things for greater realism, and the simple fun of learning. That's part of the fun for me.
The point is that you need to understand, and learn, how to use the equipment that you buy.
REVIEW
(finally)
This item is almost all PRO (no pun intended). As I said the newest drivers have 12 instruments included, not 6 as on the web page. Some are for older aircraft, most are for modern aircraft, and one is almost a "glass" panel. The last (PFD: Primary Flight Display) is the only one close to being for commercial jets.
The main point of the instrument panels is that they are easy to read and always in the same place. When you're coming out of a turn and heading for the landing strip you don't really want to zoom in on the cockpit and try to read the altimeter and speed as you check on your glide slope. Are all of the adjustments made? Ok. NOW you can zoom out so you can look out the cockpit window.
Some on-screen instrument panels such as the Attitude Indicator, or the Turn/Slip Indicator have no numbers to read. A simple, short, glance tells the story.
A search online will provide a few more gauges as well as show you how to make modifications to the ones provided.
Did I say that the buttons on the left side are easy to re-program? Well they are.
I gave this item 5 stars because it really is good. If Saitek were to drop the price down to around $75 or $85 I think that they would sell thousands more than they're doing now.
This is the list of what I would like in descending order. But don't forget that you can switch the display if one or another looks more important to you.
1) 7 Instruments - Attitude Indicator, Heading Indicator, Turn/Slip Indicator, Vertical Speed Indicator, Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, and Horizontal Situation Indicator. (Cost about $910)
2) 4 Instruments - Vertical Speed Indicator, Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, and Horizontal Situation Indicator. (Cost about $520)
3) 2 Instruments - Horizontal Situation Indicator and PFD: Primary Flight Display. (Cost about $260)
Knowing that I want ALL of them, I have to say that the "Southern Cross Flight Panel" is a MUCH MUCH better deal at $999.
My intention is to get only one more Pro Flight Instrument Panel. But I'll probably order a Southern Cross Flight Panel after I can read some objective reviews. And who knows, with luck Amazon will be selling them by then.
The only problem that I ran into was about 30 - 40 minutes after loading the driver/software on to my Windows 7 (64bit) computer. The instrument display died. I restarted the computer and it hasn't had ANY more problems. It used to be almost mandatory for you to restart after loading drivers/software. That rule may still apply, it seems.
END NOTE
One complaint that I've seen is that it displays ads for Saitek stuff like yokes, throttles, and peddles. All stuff that you would buy long before you would buy one of these. An interesting side note is that you can delete all of the ads (except for the serial number screen which I think is hard wired in) and put in your own pictures. The actual display is 320 X 240. But if you just dump any size JPG into the folder it'll display properly. Almost, that is. Some pictures don't look their best unless you crop & resize it yourself. So right now I have it doing a slide show of various aircraft that I downloaded. When you start up FSX and switch to an instrument it'll stop doing the slide show.
MAJOR UPDATE 2/5/12
The Pro Flight Instrument Panel that I bought was getting a discolored area in the top corner of the screen, and was sent back.
Rather than getting a replacement I looked around for something that would cost less than $1,000. After all I ***WANTED*** 6 more of the little suckers.
My solution was to get a 9" USB monitor (DoubleSight DS-90U Monitor) to run "G.A. Panel" on. "G.A. Panel" (General Aviation) is an instrument program for FSX that is easily configurable for new or old light aircraft.
On top of that I also have a matching 9" TOUCHSCREEN monitor (9" USB Touch Monitor) that can be used to program/control the FSX GPS.
Had my original Pro Flight Instrument Panel not gone bad I would have kept it, and I can STILL recommend it. But the above is another, and MUCH cheaper, solution for a great flight sim setup.
======================================================================================
First a little bit about the unit itself:
OVERALL - 3 3/4" wide, 3 3/8" high, 3/4" deep. The plastic mount adds more depth, of course.
SCREEN - 3 3/8" diagonal. 2 3/4" wide, 2 1/16" high
INSTRUMENT BEING DISPLAYED - varies. Mostly about 2" in diameter, or less.
With the above dimensions you can find a few full-face pictures on the internet, shrink them down to the proper size, fold/cut to size, and see how they'll look.
The biggest difference is that THIS is a, full color, light emitting display. They can make a big difference in learning to fly.
My big concern, before buying one, was that the instrument images looked too small. Because the image is bright, though, I find the displays more than adequate. And I have poor eyesight.
There really is only one problem, and that's the price.
A complaint about Amazon - All reviews seem to start with those that have the most points. The problem with that system is that quit often those reviews are old and no longer accurate.
A case in point - the newest driver has ALL of the instruments shown on the Amazon web page. You don't have to search for, and download, anything more (officially).
Also of note is that some opinions in older reviews is misleading or based on misconceptions. Most good games will require fast computers and faster video cards. That's a given. But some people have no idea how airplane instruments work. The Pro Flight Instrument Panel IS NOT LAGGY! That's the way aircraft indicators work. Remember this - They tell you where the aircraft WAS and what it WAS doing, NOT what is happening NOW. Civilian stuff is like that. So if you want the very best, join the military.
If you run out of USB connections on your computer and don't have a powered hub to plug these things into DON'T BUY IT. Plug a lot of power hungry equipment into the back of the Saitek yoke (with power supply) and you can expect problems too.
Finally, you don't have to be a professional pilot, or licensed private pilot, to KNOW how to use this stuff. Does anyone really expect Saitek to make a manual comparable to The Instrument Flight Manual: The Instrument Rating & Beyond (The Flight Manuals Series), or actual flight school text books? True, some real pilots buy this stuff for many different reasons, and they DO know how to use it. But most of us buy these things for greater realism, and the simple fun of learning. That's part of the fun for me.
The point is that you need to understand, and learn, how to use the equipment that you buy.
REVIEW
(finally)
This item is almost all PRO (no pun intended). As I said the newest drivers have 12 instruments included, not 6 as on the web page. Some are for older aircraft, most are for modern aircraft, and one is almost a "glass" panel. The last (PFD: Primary Flight Display) is the only one close to being for commercial jets.
The main point of the instrument panels is that they are easy to read and always in the same place. When you're coming out of a turn and heading for the landing strip you don't really want to zoom in on the cockpit and try to read the altimeter and speed as you check on your glide slope. Are all of the adjustments made? Ok. NOW you can zoom out so you can look out the cockpit window.
Some on-screen instrument panels such as the Attitude Indicator, or the Turn/Slip Indicator have no numbers to read. A simple, short, glance tells the story.
A search online will provide a few more gauges as well as show you how to make modifications to the ones provided.
Did I say that the buttons on the left side are easy to re-program? Well they are.
I gave this item 5 stars because it really is good. If Saitek were to drop the price down to around $75 or $85 I think that they would sell thousands more than they're doing now.
This is the list of what I would like in descending order. But don't forget that you can switch the display if one or another looks more important to you.
1) 7 Instruments - Attitude Indicator, Heading Indicator, Turn/Slip Indicator, Vertical Speed Indicator, Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, and Horizontal Situation Indicator. (Cost about $910)
2) 4 Instruments - Vertical Speed Indicator, Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, and Horizontal Situation Indicator. (Cost about $520)
3) 2 Instruments - Horizontal Situation Indicator and PFD: Primary Flight Display. (Cost about $260)
Knowing that I want ALL of them, I have to say that the "Southern Cross Flight Panel" is a MUCH MUCH better deal at $999.
My intention is to get only one more Pro Flight Instrument Panel. But I'll probably order a Southern Cross Flight Panel after I can read some objective reviews. And who knows, with luck Amazon will be selling them by then.
The only problem that I ran into was about 30 - 40 minutes after loading the driver/software on to my Windows 7 (64bit) computer. The instrument display died. I restarted the computer and it hasn't had ANY more problems. It used to be almost mandatory for you to restart after loading drivers/software. That rule may still apply, it seems.
END NOTE
One complaint that I've seen is that it displays ads for Saitek stuff like yokes, throttles, and peddles. All stuff that you would buy long before you would buy one of these. An interesting side note is that you can delete all of the ads (except for the serial number screen which I think is hard wired in) and put in your own pictures. The actual display is 320 X 240. But if you just dump any size JPG into the folder it'll display properly. Almost, that is. Some pictures don't look their best unless you crop & resize it yourself. So right now I have it doing a slide show of various aircraft that I downloaded. When you start up FSX and switch to an instrument it'll stop doing the slide show.
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