Advice on simulators

[GABuckeye]

I need some advice on simulators. I am just staring out in this hobby and I love it. I have been flying some 2 channel airplanes and want to advance to 3 or 4 channels. I have a Blade Cx which I can fly pretty well. I have 2 young kids and I cant get out often enough to fly anywhere than inside my cul de sac. I have been thinking of buying a simulator but I need advice on which one to buy and if you can learn how to fly with them. It would seem it would be a money saver and reduce damages on my future plane when I decide to buay a 3 channel. So I would be very appriciative of any advice on this
Thanks

[sniderea]

I started with G3 and after 6 months of learning basics, resold the simulator on ebay for almost as much as I paid. It saved a lot of money in crashed planes. I'm not sure you can go wrong with any of commercial simulators and even FMS will help you and the kids learn basic flying.

[mantraguy]

As another newcomer to this, I've spent a lot of time using FMS. If you can, invest in a cable that will allow you to use your tx with the simulator. FMS is good, but I just got RealFlight G3.5 and it's much more realistic, factoring in wind speed and direction etc. I'm still waiting for the rain to stop so I can attempt my first 'real' flight but I think the simulator has given me a good level of skill on which to base my 'real life' flying.

[Mark Wood]

Welcome to RCGroups, GABuckeye! :)

There's LOTS of great information in the Simulators (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=172) forum. Have a ball!

mw