Gman109

I'm going to try and grab a 5k Pimax too, as I've had the Vive/Rift/Odyssey/Odyssey+/Vive Pro as well, only have the Odysseys left as i just sold my last remaining Rift as it's been sitting on a shelf as a "backup" in case I didn't like the Odysseys, but it's lack of use tells the tale on that score for me at least. Very interested in the Pimax5k, good advice from Hangsanb IMO, until you actually get a unit on your head and use it a while, all the Youtube videos and online reviews out there won't for certain tell you personally how much you're going to like a new VR headset unit, or how well it'll perform for your particular setup.

Until the new Rift comes out, the Odyssey + especially at this price = a great option. I was an early buyer of several Vives, Rifts, and both Odysseys. Sold the Vives as I found the Rift to be superior for cockpit games (only play one room scale game, Onward, and not that much). The first Odyssey was excellent for me, with a good enough PC/GPU, the added resolution was an improvement over the Rift, but the Rift was a bit more mature and was more comfortable. Just got the Odyssey Plus last Friday, due to upgrading my primary DCS PC to a 9900k/2080ti NVlinik setup, I'm just getting the new Plus VR unit going today. So far, it fits my face a lot better, not sure if that's just a placebo effect of the new toy so far or not, I'll post in the Odyssey Plus thread later tonight about my experience with it in DCS today. But, for $300 USD - it's a steal. With my Microsoft Canada student discount (I'm doing a single distance learning course and qualified, haha), I paid $584 CAD + Tax (free shipping/returns from Microsoft Canada's online store, shipping was fast, same business week). That's $442 USD, and the regular retail is $650CAD/$492USD. So, $300 is a pretty unreal price. I'm going to upgrade my other 2 Rifts to Odyssey Plus if I can get the $300 USD price here in Canada, instantly. I agree with HansangB, I think the new Rift "may" likely be our best option for VR in DCS, but until then, the Odyssey Plus at $300 is IMO the best route to take for new VR adopters, or even Rift users that want a bit better resolution (and will accept the few minor negatives that come from ASW/stuff/etc going from the Rift to the WMR units as described in this thread already. Thanks for the thread OneSlip, saved me about $300 as I was very likely going to grab a couple more Rift+ before Black Friday. I'll wait now for the sale.

Mine will be here tomorrow or Wed hopefully, ordered it last week from the Microsoft store here in Canada.

I found 2 of my GF on ebay (one was base only new in plastic), and one on the VKB site, but diligently checking several times a day, and ordering very quickly when a GF2RevB came in stock. I suspect it was a similar fluke for FlyBoyd.

Highly debatable. The MK108 may have a lower velocity, but the MG131 13mm with 300 rnds per gun certainly doesn't, and while there are just 2 of those, they are mounted right in the nose removing the need for a lot of harmonization, and like the P38, that centralized firepower makes up for a lot. Also, the 30mm Mk108 round was lethal if it hit, all it took was usually a single hit to destroy the average allied fighter, and 2 or 3 to drop even the 4 engine bombers. There is a YT video of a Mk108 30mm being tested on a Hurricane, look what that single round does in that vid (it blows the wing pretty much right off IIRC). The 6 50s had a lot of ammunition in the P51, well, the inner 2 guns in each wing did at least, but they still had the convergence issue like all wing mounted MG and cannon, while that nose centralized firepower in the 109 didn't. edit - found the video, it was a Spitfire not a Hurricane in the test, but that single round would have been all she wrote. Great comments in this thread, always interesting. One thing I like to consider is the amount of fuel on board the 51 and 109 if they ever met up for 1v1 fights. The P51 even without drop tanks carried a massive amount of gas in both wing tanks and that tank crammed in behind the seat pretty much. I'd bet the P51 had a lot better maneuverability, climb rate, nose pointability, turn rate and radius, when those fuselage tanks were empty and the wing tanks were down to about 1/2 full each or less, sort of "on the way home" amounts of fuel left. Both planes full internal fuel, the P51 probably had nearly 2x the range that the 109k4 did. Considering that and the P51's capability, it's pretty incredible. Read a lot of Luftwaffe pilots who said they much preferred the G10 (similar engine performance to the K4) with it's 20mm instead of the 30mm gun, as it was much more reliable, and that plane pointed around much better than the K4.

Pretty much a no go for Rift/Odyssey/Vive with that system and GPU in particular IMO.

I used a 55" LG OLED for PC gaming last year. Burn in was noticeable after a time, you just can't get away from it with a Win OS, you'll have to be on the desktop/etc long enough over time for burn in to happen. Switched to an LG Nano Cell 65" instead, been running it all day, like 20 hours a day probably, on a PC desktop and for some gaming, and no burn in at all, still works like new after 6 months now. It's the best option IMO for using a TV for PC gaming until the nVidia 65" Gsync screens become available in a few months, and those will be 3x the cost I'm sure of the LG Nano Cell tvs, if not more. OLED looked great for PC gaming, and great at everything else too. Still use it for Netflix, best TV under $2000 is the LG Oled 55" IMO, so long as you aren't using it for PC gaming (burn in risk).

I too was expecting $100 USD, and would have paid it x3 for all our gaming systems, and for a couple of friends in need as well. As Rrhode and others have pointed out, the current discounted price is an extremely good deal when comparing the F14A/B/2 Campaigns/etc to other products on the market in the simulation genre, and other games in general. The time, research, etc, should all be rewarded, as should future support. Complaints on price are ridiculous IMO. Also, just an FYI, Heatblur contributed a substantial donation to Cap from The Reapers on his GoFundMe for his cancer treatment situation. VERY generous, and I won't forget, Heatblur would have had my support regardless of such action, but now, I'll do whatever I can to positively inform other sim pilots in other games about the F14 for DCS.

Wise choice IMO - I have all of the throttles available, and all of the past ones pretty much, and for the $ I think that the TM TWCS is superior to the CH throttle, it's closest and most similar competitor, and is much less expensive (relatively) as well. The TM WH throttle is great, but you can buy 3 or even 4 TWCS for the same price when you catch the TWCS on sale (the Warthog throttle never goes on sale from what I can tell).

I have a large hotas collection, including several TM WH/Cougars, 2 VKB GF first gens, 1 VBK GF revB new gen, 2 T50, etc etc. It's a very close match between the 2 best options the VKB GF and the Mongoose T50 IMO. I did a quick vid I'll be updating this week with much better quality, lighting, and info/opinion on the 2 sticks a couple months back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHGMo5SntuQ&t=3s

CH in fact made a fantastic FFB stick, it has a Combatstick handle and a large FFB motorized base. I have one, I'll post pics of it tomorrow. Been out of production for 15 years I'd guess, I bought mine back in 1999. Back in those days quite a few sims supported it, I haven't used it in a long, long time, just sits on the collection display table, but I too think that CH could bring back FFB as an option with a new line of gaming sticks/etc.

Agreed ^^^. Until the VKB Gunfighter 2 revB came along, I used my CH Fighterstick as my primary PvP stick for Aces High 3, played that game competitively for 20 years now, and the light and easy motion of the CH stick was perfect for the constant fighting in AH3 for me. The VKB GF2 can be made even lighter, and I'm using it instead now, but it took 20 years for a stick to come along to supplant my trusty CH stick(s), and it only cost 4x as much (hah). Even with the issues I and others mentioned regarding QC/QA, I'd recommend a CH setup without hesitation, for the bang/$ ratio, it's incredibly hard to beat. Purchasing a VKB GF2 and VKB pedals cost me 2.5x as much as a CH setup (FighterStick, pedals, throttle), and the VKB setup comes sans throttle for now. Even a TM Warthog costs well over $625 CAD up here after tax/shipping, a full CH setup can be had for $150 CAD less easily, and again, comes with a unit the TM setup doesn't (pedals in this case). I wish CH would update their stuff - I feel their gimbal system is unique and fantastic still, making a metal stick based on say the F22/F35/whatever, a newer throttle shape as well, as well as an updated pedal - they'd sell, I believe that all the way.

Back around 2007 IIRC CH Products "sold out" to another company. Another sim pilot I've known at another game for 20 years now worked there, and has mentioned in the past that their quality and consistency has dropped considerably since then. I agree with him, and he obviously has much more info/knowledge regarding this - I've owned many full CH sets over the years, both of their pedal types, several Fighter and Combatsticks of both USB and gameport types, etc etc. The 2 sets I've purchases post "sell out" have an obvious drop in quality if you pull the units apart, it's like drunk children in a sweat shop assembled them and did the wiring/etc compared to the pre 2007 units. A TON more complaints across various forums can be read since then too. Still, overall, CH still makes a good product, it's just not as great or consistent as it once was IMO.

That's correct, when I had a similar problem having bent a pin a bit while trying to attach various TM/Virpil/VKB sticks on various bases, tech support at Virpil showed me how one can pull the plug on the base of the Mongoose stick out about a couple CM or so, even a bit more, in order to facilitate plugging it accurately into the base of...whatever base. Then once the plugs are connected gently line up the stick to its now extended plug and wiring back together, and then spin the outer connecting hub/whatever you want to call it.

Ok, thanks for the advice, that's sort of what I figured, just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing out on some resource or other. Between Youtube vids/Wags updates/etc/etc I'll compile my own list of sources to do my best to stay up to date.

I've noticed that the doc in the F18C folder of the DCS install is still dated back a couple months, and while Chuck's guide is much more up to date, about a month old, it's still missing a lot of the new features that have come out with recent updates. How do other players keep up to date on all the recent updates and new features in terms of docs or a manual? Is going through every single thread on the forum the only way I can catch up on the last 2 months of Hornet features and changes? Any other options here anyone can suggest? 1st world problems or what, but I still want to learn everything I can, and not miss any new features that have come out. Is following Wags pinned update threads at the top of this forum list the best option, or is there some other place I should look as well? Great job ED/DCS, such a fantastic module, I can't believe how quickly you're updating and releasing new features for the Hornet - other modules as well.

I have 2 T50s, and 2 VKB GF sticks (had 3 VKB GFs, but sold the RevbMk2 as I had 2 already and one was just sitting). There are positive attributes to both makers, and few if any negatives other than cost obviously for some. I could never pick a "winner", so I just have a couple of each, hah. I've posted and made a couple short vids on the differences/comparison between all the major Hotas out there right now.

I initially reacted like some others "why should I bother as I have all these modules already". It IS for newer players, I'll buy it anyway, sounds like some good features for all users. What I'm truly excited about is the dedicated server work. Been after this for a LONG time. What a great year ED/DCS is having, props to all of you involved with this company, never would have dreamed things would be this great.

Hrrm, interesting. Never thought of trying Steam DCS over standalone, I may give that a whirl and see the results. Heh, after switching everything over to stand alone, it'd be Murphy's Law to have to switch back, and par for the course. My Rift is also collecting dust (we have 2 others, lots of PC gaming stations at our places for the kidlets, wifee, and me). Going to replace the 2 remaining Rifts with Odysseys, luckily 2 of my newphews are in school and I'll get the student discount from Microsoft, as I doubt I'll find another used one for as good a deal as I did my current Odyssey. Regarding Ebay, I may sell my 2 remaining Rifts, donated one to another simmer that desperately wanted one but is out of work right now, my good deed for this year. If anyone knows anybody around these parts in need of excellent condition Rifts, I'll have 2 for sale shortly, and please shoot them/me a PM.

Same here, although today with flat shadows on - no stutters at all. Seems a bit random, I too suspect it's memory management issues. This is with my 8700k/32Ram/1080ti system, and my 6850(Broadwell E)/32/TitanXP performs identically pretty much. It's a work in progress still, but IMO you made a great decision both getting back into gaming, and getting the Odyssey. We had 3 Vives, 3 Rifts - sold the Vives, Rifts are far superior for sit down/cockpit gaming IMO. Now, selling the 2 remaining Rifts as the single Odyssey gets fought over by the 3 youngsters on our gaming stations on the weekends. I'll be running 3 (maybe even 4) Odysseys by next week. That's how much better I think they are over the Rift - and the Rift is fantastic.

Sold.

Hey Kirin (fellow AH 109 pilot of yore). IMO the Odyssey is very close to the Rift, far better than the Vive in terms of reprojection. When I get back home from travelling for the holiday I'll post more details, but reprojection issues is not something that I find to be an issue at all with the Odyssey, I haven't had any of the stutters others have had with shadows enabled either, not yet anyway.

Great deal - I just bought a set used for a good deal here in Canada, if I was in the USA I'd be getting cracking on this deal before they sell out. And I agree, the Odyssey is fantastic, a step up from the Rift and Vive for certain in my opinion.

My question too, if the answer is yes, I'll be buying some asap myself. So long as you're able to manipulate the cockpit controls/buttons, I'm in, as I have dozens of hotas including multiple sets of the newest VKB/Virpil stuff, and I have no interest using gloves to control the stick/throttle, even traveling. I do have a high interest in using them for every other control though, so I'm really looking forward to a DCS player's opinion on this.

Congrats Vlerkies, been following this as I had similar issues once with my 3rd Warthog's throttle. I know that feeling when all of a sudden you see green checks instead of red xs, and everything works again.