New VKB stick

[MORAY37]

Would be nice if VKB had a throttle to go with it, probably end up going the way you went. Like that throttle? Was looking at Virpil but nothing I was looking at was available, made decision easy.

I tried to get the Virpil throttle for 3 or 4 months;  I was not lucky enough to order fast enough.....they have serious supply issues, tbh.  I wanted the throttle for sure, and would have likely bought pedals and stick from them (and mounts) but after 5 or 6 times getting up at weird hours to simply ATTEMPT to purchase their products when the online store dropped them (I got to the payment screen one time...then it sold out, lol)... I gave up.  Then I saw an engineer do a full product tear-down of a virpil stick, thrustmaster and a VKB side by side....../( I was not impressed with seeing masking tape holding wires in place in a joystick that sells for 500 USD)  And I went with what I got. VKB makes a quality product, from all I've seen.

 I do like the TM Warthog throttle a lot.  Dell had them on sale about a month ago.

I really like the VKB mounts...they are very solid and stable when clamped to the desk. The rudder pedals are solid, so I'm happy.  Of course, the wallet is lighter, but I haven't treated myself in years.  All of my VKB orders took about 1 week to transit to my door, as well.

[Gman]

Moray, can you link that review?  I'm interested to see it/read it.

I've got 6 Virpil sticks total, 3 throttles of theirs, and 1 set  of their pedals - never seen masking tape in any of mine, and I've disassembled all of them several times to change out cams/springs/etc.  That includes their first T50 model.  I also have several VKB sticks (Gunfighter 2/3 and their space stick as well). 

IMO the best setup is either a Virpil or TM throttle, and either a Virpil Warbrd base with a TM stick,  or a VKB Gunfighter.

I have Virpil's and Monster mounts a plenty, but haven't tried out VKBs.  I wish they'd come out before I bought my Monster mounts.

Virpil is trying out so new things regarding ordering, and it absolutely has been a PITA to get anything from them.  VKB wasn't any different for along time as well, despite having a lot of stock in recent months, it had been just as hard to get a VKB product other than pedals for a year+.

I've always had good luck ordering from Viripl, only got skunked once and that was ISP related on my end.  Just have what you want in your wish list, keep hitting F5 every 30 seconds or so about 15 minutes prior to when they say they are opening up sales (or 30min earlier to be sure).  You'll get an "add to cart" button on the wish list page which will put everything in stock into your cart, and as of now those items can't be sold out from under you IF they're in your cart.  Having payment method saved makes it much faster on the draw as well.

[MORAY37]

Moray, can you link that review?  I'm interested to see it/read it.

I've got 6 Virpil sticks total, 3 throttles of theirs, and 1 set  of their pedals - never seen masking tape in any of mine, and I've disassembled all of them several times to change out cams/springs/etc.  That includes their first T50 model.  I also have several VKB sticks (Gunfighter 2/3 and their space stick as well). 

IMO the best setup is either a Virpil or TM throttle, and either a Virpil Warbrd base with a TM stick,  or a VKB Gunfighter.

I have Virpil's and Monster mounts a plenty, but haven't tried out VKBs.  I wish they'd come out before I bought my Monster mounts.

Virpil is trying out so new things regarding ordering, and it absolutely has been a PITA to get anything from them.  VKB wasn't any different for along time as well, despite having a lot of stock in recent months, it had been just as hard to get a VKB product other than pedals for a year+.

I've always had good luck ordering from Viripl, only got skunked once and that was ISP related on my end.  Just have what you want in your wish list, keep hitting F5 every 30 seconds or so about 15 minutes prior to when they say they are opening up sales (or 30min earlier to be sure).  You'll get an "add to cart" button on the wish list page which will put everything in stock into your cart, and as of now those items can't be sold out from under you IF they're in your cart.  Having payment method saved makes it much faster on the draw as well.

Cheers Gman.....

So I think I found the engineer review that I used, going through my notes it makes the most sense....there were a lot of late night research sessions figuring out which control system I wanted to buy.... The stick that had tape inside of it was a Thrustmaster, I was a bit mistaken.  The rest of the review did a side by side of the three top contenders (Virpil T50, VKB GF and TM) in high end flight sim sticks. You can read his detailed conclusions should you choose.

http://jaytheskepticalengineer.com/fathering-and-hobbies/flight-simming/flight-sim-gear-reviews/vkb-gunfighter-mcg-pro-mk-ii/

I read that virpil has made it so that the cart effectively locks that product to you now, until you pay.  That is a new addition to their ordering process, that was unfortunately late for me.  I honestly tried to get those products for months, getting online at the exact times the store was restocked and such.  Like I said, I only got to the pay window once with product.... which was sold out by the time I put in the details.  Every other time I could not even get product in the cart.... refreshing the screen every 10 seconds or so.... so frustrating. 

Cheers

[Gman]

Yep, due to not having their webstore ordering system working as well as it should, they lost a LOT of potential customers like yourself, who ended up buying other products instead.  Their forum is filled with posts similar to your experience, and it's a shame.  They are a pretty new company, dealing with suppliers in China as well as a lot of various other issues that all new small businesses go through.  Their demand massively outpaced supply, IMO I think they may have been a bit surprised at the size of the market - who knows, but at least they are reacting to what's being said by many frustrated simmers, and trying to correct for it.

I know Jay - Aurelius on EDs forums, I contributed a few times to his articles/reviews.  Really nice guy.

I'm going to try out this new VKB stick as well, going to order a couple of their mounts for my Gunfighters (I have Monster plates for these, but all my Monster mounts are full with Virpil and Realsimulator sticks right now), and I'll get their new stick in that order.  VKBs Gunfighter is truly incredible, one area IMO where they surpass everyone else including Virpil is their connection mechanism from stick to base.  I realize why Virpil went the way they did, to be easily compatible with TM sticks, but VKBs system is so much more solid and less prone to things like bent pins/etc.  Only downside is to get a TM stick adapter from VKB is nearly impossible, I have one, and have been trying to get another for 1.5 years with zero luck/stock so far.  -edit - heh, I decided to check their website today for the adapter after posting this, and they actually have them in stock. Anyone wanting this should grab it fast, as I said, they've been out of stock for many, many months now.