I received my Virpil Throttle 3 weeks ago. It wasn't easy, it took three(?) tries to figure out what was going wrong. It was worth it, justified my time spent in research and perseverance through a frustrating experience. IF I didn't feel I needed one for VR, it would not have been justified. I didn't want to depend on Voice Attack for quick response times.
1st issue was that I disable cookies as a policy. Thought I fixed that by allowing Virpil, but no, must always enable cookies from "Unvisited Sites". I almost bailed right there, but dang that's a nice looking Throttle.
Without registering on the site, all attempts still fail even when they were "in stock" momentarily. Seriously, MOMENTARILAY. This ain't Logitech mass producing Saitek inventory.
So I registered.
Got the email, "We're instock."
Clicked the add to cart. The little icon showed 1 item in the cart.
Tried to go to the cart, but hadn't enabled all those cookie permissions this time. It failed and by the time I caught my mistake, "OUT OF STOCK."
Now I thought I knew what I needed to do.
Next time I got the 'In stock' email, the first thing I did was enable those cursed cookies in FireFox. All except the "Cross-site and social media trackers."
Clicked add to cart or whatever, went to the cart and completed the purchase. But NO.
The procedure hung!
I couldn't figure out what was happening!
Suddenly my cell phone started buzzing, annoyed, I almost ignored it.
My bank was telling me that a suspicious transaction was taking place and I should text a code to my bank (thankfully the link was in the message).
I didn't hesitate, bam, done and went back to check the results.
The transaction moved on the 'Thank you for your purchase' or whatever.
A bit later I got an email from my bank essentially saying the same thing. If I'd had to wait for that email, and clearing with the bank, I've no doubt I'd have missed out on the purchase again.
Then came the waiting. At $371 USD, I'd just spent a 'ton' of money by my reckoning and I wanted to see some action. Frankly, I was also experiencing some buyer's remorse. It didn't happen quite the way I wanted.
It took a day or two after the item 'shipped' before the tracking number showed movement. I guess it's to be expected in the middle of a pandemic.
Finally FedEx started responding.
What I didn't know at the time was that my bank still had to do the exchange rate business. As a side note, I think the bank ripped me off with the fee. Somehow, the transaction had something to do with Amzn.com. I guess they have their fingers into everything.
Anyway, the confirmation was 8 May and I have an email stating the status as complete on 15 May. I guess I've had the throttle for 3 weeks.
Not everyone is going to think they need to spend almost $400 on a game controller, but I can comfortably state that the tech and quality of this hardware justifies the expense, even if a gaming hobby can't justify it.
I still haven't felt the need to install the eprom/driver. A good third of the features are as yet unused but I've downloaded the driver to future proof my investment.
I will admit I went with a VKB Kosmosima Premium (SCG) Space Combat Edition Joystick because it's so close to the CH FighterStick USB grip I'm used to in VR.
Now, you've heard from Mayhem and me about what we went through trying to purchase from Virpil. Having the Throttle on my desk, I would go through it again if I had it to do over. Also, Virpil is the only manufacturer that supplies a high quality controller base that also accepts some high end joystick grips. I think Thrustmaster grips are one of them, but you must do your own research and comparison. I've seen several YouTube videos praising the Virpil base and the Thrustmaster joystick grip combo.
To Mayhem, my experience isn't that much different to your's. I hope you can stick with it if you see value in the effort.