I'm going to buy a new helicopter to fuel my ever growing rotorary interest, and I've narrowed it down to a general price range and have a couple of ideas.

I already have the Dodosim 206 and the FSHeli.ch SA315B, both very realistic helicopters, and I'm looking to keep a similar level of realism.

I'm looking at a $40-50 price range, but could go a little higher if such a helicopter existed that costs more.

Looking now at three aircraft;

-HD AS350B3
-Nemeth EC135
-Nemeth EC120B (the new FSX version)

I'm again open to other aircraft, so long as they've got a rotor stuck on them somewhere or another  . Keep in mind I'm a VFR heli pilot so autopilots are of no use to me at the moment.

Thanks for your feedback!

Well, the Dodo that you already have is as realistic as it gets.

I would personally avoid the EC-120. It seems to be mostly a heavily modified portover of the 2004 version.

I own the EC-135, and have found it to be a very nice helicopter, but the radios stopped working with the latest patch, so users are forced to either use the old version or hodgepodge together the non-panel updates from the patch to the new version.

I am unfamiliar with the HD AS350B3.

As far as other recommendations goes:
The only others things I can really suggest are the CERA  Sim aircraft or one of the other Nemeth offerings, such as the BO-105. (Plenty of repaints available for it)

Also just to note, Nemeth Designs product support has been extremely lacking for the past few months, and I would not expect help with any issues unless another user just happened to discover a workaround.

Good luck in your search.

It's been a while, but I think part of the patch was for the visual model, but I'd say 85 to 90% of it is for the panel.

Again, it seems as if Nemeth support has gone downhill to a great extent in the past months, and I would personally suggest checking out some freeware helicopters before buying another one. Don't just buy one to buy one, read reviews of your choices and find out what you would like best. Research, research, research.

The CeraSim Bell 412 is very nice as well.

The VC on the 212 and 412 are simply beautiful! Most knobs, buttons, and switches are fully functional, as you would find in the real thing. The startup procedure is very realistic. If you are not a real helicopter pilot, the startup can take some practice, since it is a larger, twin engine helicopter. But it is pretty fun. Here's some screenshots of the interior on the 212, as well as some exterior shots:

-Brandon