As a private pilot of many years I have enjoyed reading Flying magazine, even before I started taking flying lessons. This magazine does a very good job covering the field from safety to flying various types of private aircraft. It is also interesting to read the personal experiences, both good and bad, submitted by readers of the magazine. I look forward to receiving each issue and recommend it to all private pilots.
Average aviation rag.
I have had this magazine for well over 20 years. It does a good job of reviewing new airplanes, however it concentrates on the high end planes, and gives a good, but small, coverage of the latest (month old) aviation news. It also gives some touchy feely articles on flying from the corporate, private, technical, and professional aspect.
I believe it is lacking in in-depth coverage of future systems, long term reviews of airplanes, and also, long term upgrades of older airplanes. When they do cover used airplanes, it is not in-depth like the new airplanes and they do not go into third party vendors for additional items as much as I would like.
Overall, it is a good magazine, not great. I would still recommend it for one year to see if you like it also.
PS - If you read it enough, I get the impression that they are overly conservative on safety yet in real life, I believe they fly normally.