I love flutes. I play flutes, I build flutes, and occasionally, I sell flutes.
flutes are a lot more versital than whistles and have a wider tonal pallet.
But whistles still sound cooler, and they are easier, and ornaments really pop. Whistles sound more dancin’ when you play them.
Whistles are the best. Except funk bass, which might be equal.
DIE. Now.
Slowly.
Now, or slowly… or begin dying slowly now? (I’ve already started, actually)
[edit]
You know, this thread’s topic had a very HC type feeling from the beginning, and I think it’s building steam. I hope it doesn’t leak into the rest of the forum.
We don’t need any threads about boners.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Heresy! That’s not true!
Having said that, I know what you mean.
ninjaaron for president …he says the truth !!
by the way …is a rec***er a flute or a whistle ?
-Whistles are great but don’t have the degree of expression afforded by
a lip-changeable embouchure-IMO. One of my favorite flute features is the ability to play first and second octaves at more even volumes than on the whistle. Some whistles can play fairly even volume in both octaves, but it seems to me flute is better for it.
Think of flute as an old woody surf wagon, useful, charming and evocative. The surfboard atop is the whistle- fast & exciting with delightful accents.
Both are sexy. 
Whistles and recorders are both fipple flutes. 
It seems to me that in Irish Trad at least whistles are like icing on a cake while fiddles, flutes, etc. are the cake. You can make a good cake without icing and, as a rule and you could probably only take so much icing without cake. Still, there is nothing that takes the place of good icing, is there?
There’s a certain goofy charm to soprano whistles in ITM that
can’t be duplicated. Of course, these are different instruments
with different strengths.
Ganache?
I find whistles to be a bit boring to play, compared to flutes. Too easy, too wimpy for my playing tastes. I think flutes are better than whistles(for me). I like whistles, I like playing them, but they’re just not…well…flutes! Listening is a little different, whistles are less boring when you’re not the one playing them. Flutes are still what I prefer though.
I think I have much more of a fluting technique inherently. . . whistle players can fly all ove the place in a spritely way. . . I am definitely not spritely.
I think apples are better than oranges, except in a Waldorf Salad of course.
I can’t play flute, but from a listening point of view both are cool.
Heathen. I love Whistles but Flutes are better.
Flutes are much, much sexier. 
There are tunes that sound absolutely perfect on the whistle. That perfection needs to spring beyond the confines of ITM.
It’s a daunting challenge to play flute at full ITM speed. Some can do it, but not many. Most flute players that I know switch to something else when the going gets rough (guitar, whistle).
Whistles, hrumph, pipes is where it’s at baby.
[runs back to the pipers forum]
It is a matter of your interpretation with your instument. The whistle is what it is. You do what you can with it and take it wherever you want.
If you think you can reach higher levels with a flute, fine. You should have bought a flute to begin with and saved yourself some $$.
I have an Irish flute. It sounds great, I wish I could play it better. But I would rather play a whistle. Why? I dont know and I dont care.