How much have you spent on simming?

[ScottyB]

Gidday again guys,

I was just thinking before, I wonder how much some people spend on their simming. Obviously it's a near never ending opportunity to break the bank (and #### off the wife for you older guys ).

But some of you I see have countless payware addons! How the hell do you do it? Flight simming must be a massive hobby for you. Dedication I think! I was speaking to a guy a few days ago who has spent upwards of 10k, and that's just a high spec pc with hundreds of payware addons.

I know this could be personal, so don't feel obliged to state how much you have devoted to the simming world, but I thought it'd be interesting to know.

I have spent around $300 - but will be nudging $2k soon when I get my new PC!

Cheers,
ScottyB

[connor]

I've only spent about $150 on it so far, but that number is more than likely to grow.

[Charl]

It's an interesting thought...FS is not a very expensive hobby, when compared to say, Drift Racing.
Over time, $190 every month in the piggybank will see you at the cutting edge.
Unfortunately a big part of that expense always comes in a lump up front, for that dream machine.

[ScottyB]

When you look at it like that Charl, you are right. It isn't too bad...unless you want a home 737NG cockpit! haha

[brad63]

Just on my current setup with addons not including old redundant PCs Im pushin the 6k mark so far.
Sounds a lot but this set up should do me for 4-5 years total (touch wood).
So I prob spend/save approx $100 a month on my only hobby.
Overall not a lot in comparison to some of my motorcycling/car racing buddies
who could spend that just on tyres and fuel in one season much to the disdain of their
WAGs.Im single so my money is my own.

[Ian Warren]

I could give you a list of the many companies from Alphasim to Vertigo Studios , no point adding it up , dont have a month for that .

[deeknow]

QUOTE (brad63 @ Jul 31 2011,12:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So I prob spend/save approx $100 a month on my only hobby.
Overall not a lot in comparison to some of my motorcycling/car racing buddies

Mmmm, I'm on a similar budget, hate to think of the total over the years to be honest.
To make matters worse I also own a couple of motorbikes

[dbcunnz]

On asking my bank manager he told me it was a very sensitive area to be delving into and that if I was to have the bill handed to me now for the whole lot that has been paid out over the last 15 or so years for my flight simming I would probably have to declare myself bankrupt

[Adamski]

I must admit, I daren't total it all up. My only consolation is that around 3/4 of my add-ons have been picked up in the sales.

I still think, though, that compared to going out for a meal, to the cinema or whatever - it's pretty cheap. But then how do you justify a $2500 PC when a $500 notebook would do

We've all been conned, to a certain extent, as I think basic FS(X) without all its addons is a pretty spartan affair. Would we buy it if it cost $800 (ie. base price + a few add-ons)?

The freeware scene throws out the odd gem, but it's taken a long time for that to happen. eg. The MiG-21 ... only just now. Not forgetting the Cresco!!

When I reinstalled FSX just lately, I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my registration info. I was going to put a "cost" field in there so I could calculate the total ... easy as it was, I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

[Kahu]

I thought I was spending a lot on FS, but I have just started rally racing in a EVO 3 and this new hobby makes FS a very cheap hobby E.g new PC $2000 new car $25000

PS. anyone good at painting and panel beating

[morrisman1]

Excluding the computer, that wasn't built for the sole purpose of flight sim, I've probably spent around $500 on it, getting the logitech g940 and some aircraft.

[victor_alpha_charlie]

Ignoring my troll thread before apart from computer ($1600) probably no more than $200 in the last 12 months. I try to spend as little as possible as I don't really have enough time to get my money's worth on FS. Biggest purchase was my Saitek Cyborg Evo a couple of years back.

[AlisterC]

Back when I was single, and new the the hobby, I would spend about $50NZ a week on addons, and I did that for about 3 or 4 months. Then, I decided on a few things I liked, and thus slowed down the purchasing- maybe one new thing every month or two. Then I met a girl, and international travel was required, it slowed down further.
Now days I will likely buy something every three or four months on average. But, I know what I like now, and I rarely just buy something for the sake of it. I don't see the point of buying something and flying it once. So it's got to get great reviews, and be something I will appreciate for many hours before I'd consider it. Those sort of addons don't come along so often.
Total lifetime expenditure over the last 8 years of simming? Not counting hardware, maybe $1200-$1500 max? pretty cheap for 4000-5000 hours flying in my last 8 years. As said above, there are much more expensive hobbies out there.
I would rather be home on a Saturday night simming with a new $40 addon, than out boozing away $200 in a bar..

[happytraveller]

QUOTE (Adamski @ Aug 5 2011,4:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I must admit, I daren't total it all up. My only consolation is that around 3/4 of my add-ons have been picked up in the sales.

I still think, though, that compared to going out for a meal, to the cinema or whatever - it's pretty cheap. But then how do you justify a $2500 PC when a $500 notebook would do

We've all been conned, to a certain extent, as I think basic FS(X) without all its addons is a pretty spartan affair. Would we buy it if it cost $800 (ie. base price + a few add-ons)?

The freeware scene throws out the odd gem, but it's taken a long time for that to happen. eg. The MiG-21 ... only just now. Not forgetting the Cresco!!

When I reinstalled FSX just lately, I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my registration info. I was going to put a "cost" field in there so I could calculate the total ... easy as it was, I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

Adamski has two very good points there. Nobody would buy FSX if the price tag was $800 or more. Also it IS hard to justify $2500 on a computer that does the same job almost as a notebook. I dare not add up how much I have spent, especially as I have bought a new computer recently mainly for FSX. It is better not to know.

smooth landings.

[Adamski]

QUOTE (happytraveller @ Aug 1 2011,2:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have bought a new computer recently mainly for FSX. It is better not to know.

Or rather ... better for S.W.M.B.O. not to know

[TVACGCEO]

The only cost incurred for my simming addiction is 1 Ifly 737 and 2 built a new computer as my old FSX comp went up. Now I have nzff back in my browser and bookmarks.

[Shamrock55]

I remember buying Microsoft Fligth Simulator 5.0 on floppy for approx 100 pounds and then upgraded to the amazing 5.1 a few months later on CDROM! Since then i've gone through at least 6 PCs off different specs and its always been the same story-the only reason i really needed to upgrade the PC was for flight sim

I've never been a big spender with aircraft addons as there are so many great freeware ones out there but i think my first was a program called Flightshop that let you design planes for the first time with FS5. I then had a 737 that came with a VHS tape and manual, pretty sure that was expensive at the time. Then the PMDG 2002 version of the NGX caught my eye and i've bought mainly PMDG, REX, ORBX and the good old VLC landclasses since then so all in all probably $1000 for software. Not that much really for over 15 years of enjoyable gaming.

I'm lucky to get nice demo models of joysticks and yokes so havent had to spend much there

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Kahu @ Jul 31 2011,9:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

PS. anyone good at painting and panel beating

Goddang it .. BUGGER .. new broken car , now that would really rip my shorts , not in the automotive industry so cant help in panels

[deeknow]

QUOTE (Kahu @ Jul 31 2011,8:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

PS. anyone good at painting and panel beating

Hehe, Maybe you should be asking.. "anyone good at driving?"

[Dontcopy]

Wayyy to much, but Flight simming has also created a new hobby for me, Computer building and tweaking LOL