The boys in the office are at it again and this time they have come out with the Saitek Pro Flight BIP Backlit Information Panel. Unlike the previous saitek pro flight offerings this panel is purely informational, there are no buttons, knobs or wheels to play with. Instead you now get a handy way to quickly assessing for and troubleshooting any potential flight problems with a quick glance of the Saitek Pro Flight BIP Backlit Information Panel.
Buy the Saitek Pro Flight Backlit Information Panel Cheap at Amazon!
Saitek have been releasing a lot of products that fill the gap between the average enthusiasts and the super hardcore lounge room cockpit modeller. Saitek have found a nice niche and there is basically no other competitor that offers any similar product for the low entry price point that saitek are now offering. Although a lot of the saitek panels are not true replicas of any one real life plane, their generic enough yet extremely useful panels stand on a good balance that gives us budding flight simmers a gentle entry into home cockpit building. Being able to hit switches and knobs on real panels really notches up the realism factor one up over continually having to reach for the keyboard or worse still, clicking around with the mouse.
Saitek Pro Flight BIP Backlit Information Panel Review
The Saitek Pro Flight BIP Backlit Information Panel is built to work with MS Flight Simulator X. You get a flight information panel that displays warning information on a back lit board using traffic light colors. The info panel itself can accommodate 24 separate command tiles, it is slightly rectangle in shape and allows you to glance quickly over an info panel and access the status of your plane quick and easily. The tiles are big and bright enough that when a command tile shines red, you know instantly something needs your attention. I find for example that having a gear command tile really useful. I always fly my planes in virtual cockpit mode, sometimes it isn’t so obvious if the gear is up or down. Having the info panel takes the guess work out of it all.
In the box you get an additional 27 little command tiles, these just pop in and out of each spot on the info panel so with 51 command tiles you get access to the most common flight commands and information.
The installation is a bit tricky, you expect installation drivers but you would be disappointed to realize that there doesn’t come any. Which can be a little confusing at first, however going on the the saitek website was an easy enough access to get access to the most up to date drivers. Unfortunately, as with all the Saitek Pro Flight panels, you need custom drivers in order for it to work with MS Flight Sim 2004 and X.
Review Conclusions
It works and its an information panel. You can easily mount the panel to any home cockpit, as it just take 4 screws otherwise you also get a backing frame so that you can pop it on your desk.
Its the only product of its type unfortunately in this price range. Not an essential purpose but if you fly civilian aircraft specifically, its an additional touch to the realism factor to bring your whole flight simming experience closer to the real thing.
The Good:
- It works
- Easy to change face plates
- Finally, a backlit caution panel
The Bad:
- No support for X Plane in sight
- Needs drivers
- Another usb device… You will need a powered usb hub
User Reviews
Check out what other users had to say…
Amazon Review
The BIP comes well-packaged. The instruction manual states to put in the install disk, though none were included in my package. However, I downloaded the 64-bit drivers from the Saitek website without issues. The BIP comes with 24 buttons pre-loaded into the face of the panel, with an extra 27 buttons in a separate box. Simply pull off the faceplace and insert the buttons you want, in whatever order you choose. [...] Read the rest of the review >
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