FJS Q4XP

 The Q400 by FJS was one of the most hyped releases add-ons for 2021, it comes from a company that did a great job bringing the B727 and the B732 to X-Plane. The teasers showed a very detailed aircraft with details everywhere to make every simmer happy. Considering regional jets are not Xplane forte there was a lot to expect. In this review we'll try to cover what is good and what is not about the Q4XP trying to be as fair as possible considering a human is behind the keyboard and all humans have some biases.

Exterior Model.

The exterior model of the Q400 is really fantastic, every detail has been considered, landing gear, props, engines, nose, everything is very detailed, textures are really good and you can zoom in or virtually stand next to the plane and it will look as real as possible. I think this is the right "golden standard" for premium add-ons for XP and in this area FJS really meet the bar and they probably went a little further. 

There are no issues to fix, nothing is out of place or undone, nothing is incorrect or needing an improvement, as we said it is just as it has to be and we hope other companies take notice about it.

Interior Model.

To discuss the interior model we are going to split the discussion in two sections one about the cabin and then about the cockpit.

Cabin.

We are going to say it, the Q400 probably has the best cabin among all the XP add-ons up to this date. Every detail was modeled, seats, trays, overhead bins, they can be opened, closed, they have sound. Windows can of course be opened and closed. Lighting is also modeled including the lighting panel near the front door. The level of detail is extraordinary. This is a plane where you can take a seat in the cabin and enjoy the flight and it will be a comfy Q400 ride, something that is.... unheard of. 

Cockpit.

The cockpit is really detailed but it is not as detailed as the cabin, and I find this a little odd considering pilots spend most of their time in the cockpit and for some of them the cabin is not important. Maybe even for FJS the cabin is not important as the 727 has never gotten a cabin in all the years after its release. 

We are not saying the cockpit is not detailed, it is but as an example the sun-shades can't be moved or deployed, this could be seen as nitpicking but we are discussing a $80 plane that has a flushing toilet, in this humble reviewer opinion cockpit shades should be higher in the priority list than working toilets. 

Another detail is the absence of a working HUD, a system that is optional on the Q400 and not all operators have but was present in the Majestic Q400 probably the biggest reference for this version of the plane. The HUD may be coming later or it may be like the 727 cabin, something the developers decided to just not do. 

Instruments, buttons and everything in the cockpit is detailed and there's a working escape hatch and a working manual pump for the landing gear. Considering some glaring things undone the landing gear manual pump system feels odd.

The cockpit also features clipboards but nothing can be clipped to them, having the option to have charts in the clipboards even in the most basic way like a pdf or jpg file in some folder would have been a good touch.

And now I have to touch on a topic that I haven't seen covered in other reviews so far. How real the cockpit feels. After watching numerous videos of the real plane I think the work done with the Q400 cockpit could have been a lot better. Switches seem to be a tad too big in the overhead panel, maybe a little cartoonish and their animations are also kind of weird. Displays are non-reflective while in the real plane they are very glossy, reflections can be a subjective issue among simmers but there's not even an option to make the displays reflective. 

The fonts on the displays are also a tad bolder in the real plane and in all videos there's a noticeable green tint in the screens that is absent in the Q4XP. A green tint can be a camera issue but that can't happen in every single video of the plane. Displays were very dissapointing in how they were rendered, they don't look like the real plane. Lines and numbers in the navigation display are very thin and hard to read and the displays can't be popped out, this is a big no-no for cockpit builders or just simmers that may need to actually see the ND to make it useful.

Then there's a small issue about how the cockpit looks from the pilot's chair, the inclination of the instrument panel and the angles, they look like the real plane granted but there's something weird about them, we fiddled with camera settings for a long time and we haven't found exactly a perspective that will make the pilot view look as realistic as in the real plane, there's always some oddity. This is just very subjective so consider it only this writer's dilemma.

EFB

The Q400 sports a brand-new electronic flight bag named the J-Pad, a modern looking tablet where we can handle the plane options and also the pre-flight operations. 

We have some positive and some negative things to say about the EFB. So let's start with the good stuff.

The Q4XP is one of the first planes to feature a complete turnaround system, you can select the number of pax to load, fuel and cargo and start the loading, fuel will be loaded and  passengers will board the plane and you will see them seating in the plane map with their names and age. We haven't cross-checked if the boarding time is accurate but the process feels quite realistic. There won't be passengers in the cabin as in the Zibo, could have been another nice touch to the great Q4XP cabin.

While the turnaround system is very nice the way you prepare for the flight on the EFB is weird, there are just too many sliders and there's no direct way to set fuel, load and compute flying time, alternate time, etc.  Flying a plane is a very sequential process and this EFB fails to simulate that sequential process accurately, it is just all over the place. 

Another strange detail is the absence of Avitab integration a plugin that is more or less standard in XP and has become the de-facto way to show charts and other useful information that pilots usually consult on a tablet when flying. If you are not integrating avitab then a way to display charts in the tablet is more or less obliged and the Q4XP does not have it. 

Systems.

The Q4XP aims to be a realistic simulation of the Q400, it has a lot of systems simulated, many of them with plenty of errors, there are some faults in the electrical system and also in the pressurization system, the autopilot has also some things reported. At the point of release this felt like one of those planes where most systems are simulated and most switches and buttons work but the way things work is on the lighter side of the simulation. It is a matter of taste if this is enough or not for a simmer so we leave to each own to judge, expect most things to work but don't try to get fancy because the simulation is just not that deep.

On release the plane had some missing systems that are really puzzling for a premium price add-on, it doesn't have a terrain radar, it doesn't have a weather radar, it doesn't have a TCAS system, the TCS (tactile control system) is not implemented and there is no HUD. Honestly if you ask me this is really unacceptable in a product priced as the Q4XP. The developers felt these systems were not critical for a release and have promised that weather, terrain and TCAS will be added in future releases. As consumers we have been burnt before by promises so we prefer to take things at face-value, and as-is today the Q4XP is not worth its price without these systems. 

FMS.

The Q400 features a very odd and interesting FMS called the UNS-1 and FJS went the whole way to implement the UNS completely for the Q4XP. The FMS features almost all the features in the real plane including fuel consumption, holds and vertical navigation. The UNS is one of the most interesting things in the plane because it is very different to the typical Boeing or Airbus FMSs that we are used to see, it is refreshing, different and even weird. It is a very welcoming thing to make the plane really interesting to learn. 

Having said that from release day to this review there have been plenty of updates of the UNS and most of them are linked to CTDs (crash to desktop bugs).  We have said every simmer has its tolerances and preferences and here this hits a nerve. We just don't tolerate add-ons crashing to desktop, bugs can happen, maybe things don't work as expected, maybe the AP doesn't take a turn but all of those won't make a whole flight fail and having to restart from scratch. The UNS was just too buggy for release and after all the reports about CTDs we are afraid to experiment with it, would you try a fancy holding after your 2 hours flight? It may work but if it crashes you have to start over, so maybe just work that heading bug and be on the safe side. This is the worst that can happen to an add-on, being afraid that it will crash. 

Failures, Options.

The Q4XP features a complete breakers panel where you can disable any system in the plane, for many people this is just another wonderful thing to have, dozens and dozens of working circuit breakers, it has to be great isn't it? We don't think so, there's not really a failure system in place and once the code is there to disable a system having random failures following the real plane odds was something that could have happened but didn't. 

There's no option to save or autosave flights either, for premium add-ons this is not good. Granted this is a regional jet so you are not flying for 12 hours to crash on approach but still saving situations is a nice thing to practice and also be on the safe side.

Sounds.

Sounds in the Q4XP are just awesome. Everything has a sound and everything sounds really very very nice. The engines are just fantastic both in the cockpit and exterior, they sound magnificent and have all the details you can expect in a premium add-on. The Q4XP is a plane where you won't have to spend money on a sound-pack, you can consider it included in the price. And let's be honest here if some add-ons need a $15 to $20 sound pack to be complete then the Q4XP is suddenly cheaper than what we thought. The sounds are just perfect. If we need to be critic it would have been nice to have some cabin announcements, listening to a turbulence warning while on the toilet would be just too much fun. 

Performance.

Oh boy... This is the achilles heel of the Q4XP. It is bad, very bad. In our benchmarks it was among the worst add-ons for XP in performance, it is very heavy on FPS and as a user there's just nothing to be done because the EFB does not have many things the user could configure. People with bad performance might be happy to sacrifice the cabin to be able to fly the plane but we don't have such an option. There's no lower resolution option for the model either. 

From what we could test it seems CPU is the biggest bottleneck, if you have a fast CPU the plane will run fine. But with a modest CPU frames can get on the 20s and things become complicated. On the good side the plane is very smooth and does not have stutters, sometimes stuttering is even worst than bad performance but the Q4XP is only heavy on frames.

There are two things that could happen to improve this. One is to provide the users options to tune down the plane to a point where frames are ok. This may or may not be coming in future versions but there were a lot of complains about performance so hopefully the devs will listen. The second thing is to work on code optimization, the plane is just slow and in the XP performance meter the SASL plugin is hitting the CPU really hard. There should be something to be done better, faster in terms of coding. This second improvement is probably not something we could expect. 

Flying the Q4XP.

Flying the Q4XP is certainly an experience, and a great experience that is. The sounds of those engines while taxiing are terrific and when you line up on the runway and accelerate the immersion is just perfect, the takeoff is probably one of the best experiences in XP add-ons it is just the right combination between sounds and flight model. The plane flies very well, it is a joy to hand-fly. There are a couple of glitches that need to be fixed like the AP not disconnecting if power is not enough to mantain altitude so the plane will descend below the altitude indicated by the AP without notifying the pilot then the ILS capturing may or may not work very well but it is something the devs will get fixed we are not worried about that. 

On approach the Q400 is quite a particular bird, you can approach at about 200kts without much to worry about, even faster than bigger jet airplanes. When you are ready to capture the glideslope the landing gear and the flaps will introduce massive drag and the plane will slow down to vref without any problems. The drag of the flaps is really well represented if you add power with full flaps the plane will really baloon up. 

Landing the plane is a great experience too, if you cut the power it will just fall from the sky. So you just leave power setting until you are down on the runway and then as real Q400 pilots do you just use disc mode (beta) to slow down without needing to use reversers. FJS has implemented a particular way to handle the Q400 gated levers for props and power, you have a custom command that you can bind to a key or button that needs to be pressed to bypass the gates we certainly understand why this was done but we don't particularly like it, mainly because that is not how the real plane operates, there's no such button in the real Q400. What we would have liked is this system to be optional, either you use a button to pass gates or not leave the choice to the user and everybody will be happy. 

This Q400 is one of the most fun planes to fly in XP, challenging enough to be worth learning but not broken by any means, we are not real Q400 pilots but we certainly feel the real plane should be very close to this in terms of how it flies. 

Conclusions.

What a roller coaster this review has been, we went from best so far to unacceptable and back a few times. And this is exactly what we have, a plane that excels in many areas and is completely lacking in others, depending on how you weight each thing it can go from great to bust and that probably explains the polarizing opinions we have read about the plane. 

Sample Flight

Here's a sample regional flight from Nur Sultan to Almaty flying the Qazaq air Q400. The sounds are fantastic, enjoy how the engines sound, play special attention to the takeoff as it is really an awesome experience. As usual we have tried to follow real procedures as much as we can due to the limitation of not being real Q400 pilots. 

Should you buy it?

The answer is probably yes, because learning the UNS is really interesting, most systems work and the flying experience is great. You will probably get annoyed by some things that are not there yet or by a bug, maybe even a CTD, maybe your fps will plummet to 10s but there's nothing to be done about it. 

What it needs to be really great?

• Improvements in several systems.
• Bug free UNS, no more CTDs.
• Terrain radar (it is really baffling a plane is released without this)
• Weather radar (but we understand if waiting for XP12 is what you have in mind)
• TCAS.
• TCS mode, it is used in the real plane a LOT and is not simulated. (It's like CWS in Boeings)
• HUD, yes we know it is optional and some operators don't use it but it is a really nice thing to have.
• A better EFB.
• Avitab integration or  charts in the EFB.
• Cabin announcements. Just the perfect complement to a great cabin experience.
• A huge performance improvement. This should be a top priority.

Final Mark

We have a love-hate relationship with this plane. And we are very worried about how it will end. FJS has kind of abandoned the 727 and 732 projects with several issues never fixed like the 732 flight model or the 727 cabin. Will it happen again with the Q4XP? Are we going to be in 2025 saying it still doesn't have a HUD or a weather radar? We certainly hope it is not the case.  What we think is that if the things that are missing are addressed this plane has the potential to be one of the best add-ons for XP, maybe even the best one but we have to evaluate what we have today, what the company decided to release and it is a very difficult evaluation because we feel we are fighting agains variance here, any mark is going to be unfair one way or the other but we have reached a veredict.

B-