For those familiar with PMDG's 737's... A question or four:

[Jackson]

So, I don't fly airliners too much. Very rarely in fact. Plus I'll just say I think that aircraft that cost north of $60 are ridiculous. That aside, the 737-600 is MUCH cheaper at a slightly more appropriate price point.

1: Why is it cheaper?
2: Is it missing something?
3: Is it in any way 'less good'?

And most importantly:
4: Is it too complicated for a normal GA flyer to have fun with. I'm not entirely without knowledge of airliners and how they work, but I don't want to go through something overly complicated. I can make out fine with the default airliners as well as the Airbus 318 which I have already.

Don't laugh, here's my needs/wants. Mostly wants, let's be real...

I want something that has trans-Atlantic range and holds 30-50 people in comfort. Something larger than a Citation Longitude, but dramatically smaller than the 787. I know the Baby bus fits but hey, looking at options.

[Narf]

Originally posted by Jackson:

I want something that has trans-Atlantic range and holds 30-50 people in comfort. Something larger than a Citation Longitude, but dramatically smaller than the 787. I know the Baby bus fits but hey, looking at options.

Yeah no, they don't fit that at all. The only 737's that have been regularly operating transatlantic flights were 737 MAX, the old ones just don't have the range to make the distance between for example London and New York without refuelling partway, which entirely ruins their cost, or running their tanks irresponsibly and dangerously dry. And their relatively low cruise speed, small cabins designed for way lower flight times and low number of restrooms for the amount of passengers make them terrible choices for those distances.
Currently there are no 737s in regular transatlantic operations that I know of, unless you count Iceland which I think I remember having some 737s flying to NA.

[Jackson]

Thanks! I'm not looking for realism really, or flying realistic routes, but I don't like unlimited gas. So if the plane won't make it... it won't work for what I want.

[★Macman★]

I think the 737-600 has no visible Cabin (pretty sure the real ones do hehe).
I have all 4 Models and prefer the 800 but the 900 is also nice but the bigger they are the more quieter the Engines and less Turbulence. The 900 must also have a progressive ROTATION to avoid a Tail Strike but this is a Game which that just does not happen.

The 737 is pretty easy but about double the switches of the A32NX. Well worth getting the 800 as the all rounder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jKVaPV6ai8

[Jackson]

So it's cheaper because the cabin isn't modeled? I mean, I can see it taking less work because of that... But.. weird. I suppose a fair number of people might care about that though.

[Der Gouda Ganove]

I am not sure about this, but some time ago I´ve read somewhere that a lot of the cheaper planes are imports from microsoft flight simulator x, and use the old/legacy flight model, which is a bit less realistic.
The more expensive modules are often "study level" aircraft, which are made to be as realistic as possible, with every button in the cockpit serving a function.

[startrekmike]

I own both the -600 and -800. in terms of basic, underlying operation, they are largely identical. They have largely the same interior graphic assets and won't be all that different when it comes to player interaction.

The biggest difference is going to be the options available. If you look at the pricing, the 600 and 900 are the cheapest and that mostly seems to stem from the fact that they have the fewest variants included. The 600 just comes in one flavor (a passenger version) while the 900 has two (the 900 and 900ER). The 700 and 800 both come with passenger, cargo, and business jet versions and each version has different characteristics. How much those extra versions are worth to a individual on a subjective level isn't really something I will bother discussing but the 700 and 800 cost more because you get more versions. It is that simple.

To answer your question about versions "missing something". No. that isn't really how it works. The lower pricing of the 600 seems to come down to two factors. The first is that it offers a lower-price on-ramp for newer audiences. You won't get a great version of the 737 and you won't have a whole lot of versatility but you get to experience the baseline 737 operations experience. The second is that the 600 just isn't going to be as popular with the core audience. It isn't widely used in comparison to the 700 and 800. In effect. the 600 becomes something of a "loss leader" to get new players started in hopes that they eventually move on to the other versions of their choice.

Now let's talk about complexity. To be blunt. The 737 isn't hard to learn but it does require some effort on the player's part regardless. If you can read a checklist, you can start the plane and do your thing. The big thing will be flight planning. I haven't really even bothered trying to do a more simplified, non-realistic route so I can't really speak to how basic it can be but the plane will largely fly itself with proper input of a flight plan and proper autopilot management. It isn't that anything is exactly hard to learn. There is just a good chunk of stuff to learn.

If the price wasn't enough of a indication, PMDG is targeting audiences who really want to get into the proper procedures. That cost that you find arbitrarily unreasonable is the price required to be able to do that in a way that isn't really possible with cheaper addons.

Now to the most important thing. You want to be able to do transatlantic flights. The -600 isn't going to be able to do that. Passenger versions of the 737 are not really designed to do that and just don't have the range. This is where the 700 and 800 come in. The passenger and cargo configurations of any 737 won't do non-stop transatlantic flights but the business jet versions can do them pretty comfortably. If you want to do a transatlantic flight in a PMDG 737, you need the 700 or 800 version.

Hopefully that answers your questions.

[Jackson]

Thank you! That answers is great detail and I appreciate it. Basically I want to treat the plane like a large privately owned business jet. I want to fly realistically (I don't mind learning a start up procedure for example), I just don't want to fly real world airline flights.

Having multiple models of the aircraft does explain the price difference and makes sense to me.

I know the -600 is a rare model and I find that more appealing actually.

I wiki'd the range, and it said 3700ish miles or 3200 nm. I figured that'd be enough to cross the Atlantic but I also know aircraft don't always get what paper says they're supposed to get.

You've answered everything thoroughly tho, thanks! My largest concern was if it was a cut down model because I've seen videos of the larger ones and know they're quite good.

[Detective Dan]

I will answer the first three questions very easily.

It's the exact same as the other planes. It only has a passenger variant, hence the lower price. Only other differences is how far they can fly and how many people it can carry.

the 700, 800 and 900 have cargo and private jet BBJ versions (where appropriate). You are paying for 1 plane on the 600 as opposed to 2-3 on the others. It's about 25-30 bucks an airframe.

Pricing has nothing to do with real life popularity of the 600 (or lack thereof). Nor does complexity or systems depth change between variants.

As far as jumping from props to jets, theres not much more different in terms of fundamentally flying the plane. As long as you remember the systems are more advanced than a 172 and the plane weighs a whole heck of a lot more, it's pretty easy to learn if you already have an understanding of flying planes. There are a plethora of youtube videos ranging from 5 minute how-tos to hour long full walkthroughs. I recommend getting your feet wet with the FlyByWire A320N mod if you're new to tubeliners. It's free and airbuses are arguably easier to fly.

[Jackson]

Thanks for your input!

I'm not new to airliners per se, I just don't prefer them. I can fly the 747 and 787 but they're just so huge and I want something smaller that's Boeing.

I find the Private Jet versions appealing of the 700/800. What kind of difference is there to make them what they are? The cabins are modeled differently? Or does it go beyond that.

[startrekmike]

Originally posted by Jackson:

Thanks for your input!

I'm not new to airliners per se, I just don't prefer them. I can fly the 747 and 787 but they're just so huge and I want something smaller that's Boeing.

I find the Private Jet versions appealing of the 700/800. What kind of difference is there to make them what they are? The cabins are modeled differently? Or does it go beyond that.

Range will be the biggest factor. The business jet versions don't carry as much passenger/cargo weight so they can go a lot further. They can easily do long-haul style flights without breaking a sweat.

It might be useful to look up the 737 BBJ1 (the -700) and the BBJ2 (the -800). When you compare them to the cargo or passenger equivalents, you will see the massive range difference.

[Jackson]

I did, thanks much! the -700 is probably the one I'd want.

[aseinsha]

600 is only one model, just the passenger, its a much shorter airplane and in RL it doesn't even fly anymore I think SAS retried their last and... JANET might be using one but not sure.

700 is the 2nd most popular version in RL and you get 3 different version when you buy the 700 package cargo, bbj, and passenger.

800 is most popular in RL and you get 4 versions, 2 Cargo (Boeing and Bedek converted cargos, bbj2, and passenger.

900 you get passenger and ER version.

higher the number the longer the airplane and potentially more powerful engines.

800 is the most complete package.

600 is the cheapest and its a fun rocket plane but you get one passenger variant.

[Jackson]

Thanks for your input. It's becoming a bit more clear to me. If there's a less popular plane, there's a good chance I'll enjoy it more, but for my purposes I wanted a business plane - not realizing one was modeled. I can't see myself spending $70, but I think the -700 is the one I'd want.

I wish the base game had given us a smaller Boeing : / But I do understand them picking Airbus since the two large planes are Boeing.

[CdnRod]

I have the 600 and I love it. I fly it all the time. I could not justify the way higher price of the others versions. Flight plans for PMDG 737 won't load into the FMC as they do in the included airliners in FS, so I use SimBrief (free) to do that. Very easy once you get used to it especially since PMDG has finally updated the 737 with a cockpit tablet. PMDG does include some documentation including a step by step introductory flight. There is a leaning curve but then if it was all easy peasy there is no challenge. I find with FS there is always so much to learn and that I enjoy.