Advantages of the InterLink-X
Jim mentioned convenience, and that's certainly part of it. I'd like to expand on that a bit. (This is off the top of my head so I may be omitting something obvious and/or noteworthy.) Here are some advantages of the InterLink-X:
- 10 channels - This is enough to control all available functionality on all stock RF8 models. I'm talking about things like flaps, smoke, throttle hold, camera tilt, retracts, and flight modes. If you have fewer than 8 channels on your radio, you'll have to make some choices about which things you'd like to be able to access via switches and knobs and which you can accept relegating to a keyboard shortcut (I'm referring here to something we call Virtual Channels).
- UI controls - The InterLink-X has buttons which allow you to open/close and navigate certain menus, enabling you to do things like change aircraft/airports without having to set down the controller.
- Reset/Rewind - In RF8 this can be bound to a channel on your radio, which is a new option! But then it takes up a whole channel that could otherwise be used for flying. And a switch or knob is not as natural a method of using this feature as the button on the InterLink (a quick press resets and holding it down rewinds).
- Always ready to go - The InterLink never needs charging and won't wear down your battery. Further, it's always at your computer, not in your field box.
- Wear and tear - Over the lifetime of your radio, it is easy for me to think it would accrue more sim hours than real-world flying time at 10-20 minutes a pop.
Some of these might seem like little things. They probably all add up to someone using the simulator more often, though, which is a good thing.
Support for using your own radio is obviously a core RealFlight feature. I don't want to downplay it too much! It works, and if you're happy using the sim that way, that's great! Far be it from me to tell someone they're doing it wrong. We do hear from a number of people, though, who
thought that's what they wanted, and only realized later that they actually preferred using the InterLink. So I want to share that perspective plus the above data points to better help people make their own educated decisions.
If you're going to use your own radio with RealFlight, please, please, please do yourself (and us) a favor and read the Radio Interface Help document we've written on that topic! It will help you understand the options before you and get the most out of your experience. For example, did you know that you can opt to use your own rates and expo settings while still using RealFlight's built-in software radio for all other functionality like channel mixing? This is the best option for most people. The Radio Interface Help document is a .pdf available from RealFlight's Help menu. (If you happen to have a Tactic TTX600 or 610, there are additional documents with information specific to those models.)
