Review: Rowsfire’s B107 Boeing 737 overhead panel is pretty good, but with some weirdness

If you fly the PMDG 737 or the iFly 737 MAX and you’ve been waiting for a physical overhead panel that doesn’t cost more than a motorcycle, the Rowsfire B107 is basically the only real option right now. That monopoly on the market is both its biggest advantage and its biggest problem.

The B107 is currently priced at $659.99 USD, and it delivers something genuinely useful and satisfying: a metal-housed, backlit, MobiFlight-compatible overhead panel covering the core 737 systems, from APU and fuel pumps to pressurisation and anti-ice. For 737 fliers with the budget, that’s quite compelling.

But “it exists and mostly works” is a low bar for a $660 product, and the B107 doesn’t always clear the higher one. It’s actually a bit weird: it can be very cool, but then it reminds you of some strange decisions made by Rowsfire somewhere in the development process. Let’s get into it!

Assembly: 30 minutes of work

Before you can fly with the B107, you have to finish building it. Rowsfire ships the unit with a factory-applied protective film over the panel face, and to make removing that film easier, several components are left unassembled: the hexagonal switch nuts, the red and black switch guards, and the white switch caps. The idea is that you peel the film first, then attach everything cleanly.

This took me about 30 minutes. A bit of a nuisance, but not complicated. The hexagonal nuts are actually important. Without them the switches sit loosely and feel flimsy, but once properly secured they feel considerably more stable. Rowsfire describes the process as taking “a few minutes,” which is optimistic, but the logic behind it is at least sound.

One thing worth knowing before you reach for a wrench: the panel face scratches easily. Working around the switches with a metal tool requires care, and it’s easy to catch the acrylic surface if you’re not paying attention. Take your time, especially around the more densely packed switch areas.

At this price, the assembly requirement is still a bit surprising regardless of the reasoning. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s worth going in prepared rather than expecting a plug-and-play unboxing experience.

Mounting

The B107’s dimensions, 40.5 x 28.5 x 6 cm, make it compact enough for a desktop setup while still being large enough to feel substantial and close to the real thing. Most simmers will prop it up on a desk or use a VESA arm, which works well and lets you position it at whatever angle and distance suits your setup. Given the unit’s weight of 2.8 kg, make sure whatever support you use is rated for the load and secured properly.

For those building a more serious home cockpit, the B107 can also be mounted overhead, which is of course how the real 737 overhead panel sits relative to the pilots. That setup requires a frame or overhead structure, but for simmers going all-in on realism it’s a legitimate option, and the panel’s size and weight make it well-suited to it. The difference between reaching up to flip a switch and clicking it with a mouse is hard to overstate once you’ve experienced it.

There is no dedicated stand included in the box for those who want a simple desk prop without a VESA arm, which is a minor omission at this price. I use this one from Amazon.

Setup

Once assembled, getting the B107 running is relatively straightforward. The Rowsfire app handles most of the process and includes a useful debug feature that lets you confirm each switch and knob is triggering the correct function before loading into the sim. You’ll need to upload both the “firmware” and the “bridge” to get the unit communicating with MSFS.

The one issue I had worth documenting involves the FLT ALT and LAND ALT displays, the small built-in windows on the pressurisation panel that should show your dialled-in values. On my unit, these stayed at zero even though the knobs were correctly changing the values inside the sim. The fix requires editing the PMDG 737_Options.ini file. For those experiencing the same issue, the fix is easy: open that file and add the following block at the bottom:

[SDK]
EnableDataBroadcast=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.0=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.1=1

Once you’ve pasted those lines, hit Enter to leave one completely blank line at the very bottom of the file. Save the file, restart the sim, and the displays should come to life.

The software path also differs depending on which variant you fly. MobiFlight profiles currently work best with the PMDG 737-700, while the Rowsfire app is the better choice for the 737-800. Most PMDG users fly the 800, me included, so the app is the recommended starting point.

Build quality: better than the Airbus panels, but uneven

As stated before, the B107 measures 40.5 x 28.5 x 6 cm and weighs 2.8 kg, with a 4mm acrylic front panel, high-definition printing, a laminated protective surface, and an aluminum alloy frame.

Comparing it directly to Rowsfire’s Airbus A107, the B107 is a clear step up. The panel feels more substantial, the overall structure is sturdier, and the metal shell inspires more confidence. There are rough edges here and there, but the overall impression is of a more serious product than what came before.

Most of the switches and knobs feel really satisfying to operate. There’s a reassuring click to the toggles, the rotary knobs turn with good resistance, and the spring-loaded switches that return to centre do so with the kind of snap you’d want. It’s the kind of feeling that makes you reach for the panel rather than the mouse, which is ultimately the whole point.

The problem is the inconsistency. Some knobs are moulded in decent plastic with no visible print lines. A couple others, most notably the crossfeed knob, are clearly 3D-printed, with all the surface texture that implies. On a panel where most components are trying to look the part, one knob that obviously isn’t is a jarring detail. It’s just weird and out of place. The landing light switch is similarly a generic toggle with no Boeing-specific styling. It works, but on a panel that sells itself on replication, it’s a clear shortcut.

There are also functional concerns with the knobs beyond aesthetics. They have no definitive hard stop at either end of their rotation range, which means applying slightly more force than usual can push a knob past its intended limit and knock it out of alignment with the markings on the panel face. It’s not something that happens during normal use, but it’s a wear mechanism that could cause long-term reliability problems if it occurs frequently. The panel brightness knob has its own quirk, rotating continuously with no mechanical end point.

The amber annunciators are noticeably dim compared to the rest of the panel’s lighting. The blue indicators are well-illuminated and readable in normal room light, but the amber ones require a darker environment to read.

In the sim

This is where the B107 earns its place on the desk. With the software configured correctly and the fix applied on my PMDG 737-800, the panel is genuinely satisfying to use. The response time between a physical input and the sim reacting may not be quite immediate, but the delay is small and well within what I’d consider acceptable for this type of hardware.

Working through a cold and dark startup is where the B107 really comes into its own. Flipping the battery on, cycling through the fuel pumps one by one, and hearing the APU spool up while the EGT needle climbs in real time, all of it through physical switches rather than mouse clicks, is truly cool and immersive.

The EGT gauge is a highlight. It’s a functional analog needle that tracks APU exhaust gas temperature as the APU spools up and cools down. This feature was originally planned as a Pro-exclusive addition but Rowsfire moved it into the standard package in response to community feedback. It’s a great detail that makes the difference between a panel that feels like hardware and one that feels genuinely connected to the aircraft.

The fuel pump annunciators light up correctly during engine start. The anti-ice indicators respond when you toggle the switches. The pressurisation knobs update the sim values in real time, and once the ini fix is applied for the PMDG 737-800, the physical FLT ALT and LAND ALT displays track correctly too. The exterior lighting switches, the dome light, the equipment cooling toggles, and the IRS alignment selectors all communicate with the PMDG as expected.

One small compromise: the wiper selector controls both wipers simultaneously. The real 737 has independent selectors for each side, but in practice this is unlikely to bother most simmers.

Overall, the immersion factor is real. Reaching up to the overhead for engine start, fuel management, and anti-ice rather than clicking with a mouse is exactly what this product exists for, and it delivers on that promise.

Verdict

In the end, I can’t help but feel a bit torn on this one.

On one hand, the B107 is genuinely satisfying in a way that’s hard to quantify until you’ve used it. The cool factor is real, the immersion during startup and flight operations is real, and the fact that it exists at all is something the 737 community has been asking for years. When everything is working and you’re reaching up to flip physical switches through a full cold and dark, it’s exactly what a product like this should be.

On the other hand, I keep coming back to the same thought: most of the B107’s shortcomings are not hard problems. The unfinished assembly, the dim amber annunciators, the 3D-printed crossfeed knob, the knobs with no hard stops, these are not fundamental engineering challenges. They are real oversights. A second production run could address this without much effort. Which is encouraging in one sense, and a little frustrating in another, because they really should have been addressed in this one.

Rowsfire’s Airbus panels followed a similar pattern, requiring multiple revisions before reaching a form that reviewers could recommend without caveats. The B107 feels like it’s on the same trajectory. Version two of this panel, if Rowsfire applies the lessons from the feedback that’s now coming in, could be very good indeed.

For now, if you’re a committed 737 flyer and you understand what you’re buying, the B107 is worth it. Go in with your eyes open, budget 30 minutes for assembly, and enjoy what it does well. It’s pretty cool!

MSFS Addons is reader-supported. If you purchase the B107 using the code MSFSADDONS at checkout, you’ll receive 12% off the listed price. We earn a small commission on purchases made through our link, at no extra cost to you. This does not influence our review of the product.

Price: $659.99 USD (currently 10% off at $593.99) | Free worldwide shipping, tax included | 30-day return and exchange | Available from: rowsfire.com