AeroGator

We will post up an update today (probably you will read it next morning in your time belt). NO it is not going to be yet another "wait please" update :) Originally all devices are shipped from our manufacturing base which (surprise!) is China.

Look I'm a bit anal about giving promises. We really expected the MCG to roll out in Aug-Spt, but it is only coming next week (yes, finally it is coming; 15th is Friday, so I'm saying 'next week'). I will write on MCG release and reasons it was delayed in a couple of days, so please stay tuned, if interested. Now, your question: no, it is more than just in the talks. We are very practical about it, and will push it ahead. There is a bunch of products we want to offer coming year, so what will come in what order, remains to be seen. But once again, no, it is not just talks.

In the talks, not in the works. All metal is impractical and from any point excessive. Most modern real plane grips are either composite, or all-plastic. The days of all-metal steampunk-style grips are disappearing in the mist of history. We did consider making all-metal grips for enthusiasts, but it turned out less than feasible.

Going Official Guys first of all, I personally understand your feelings and I would also be getting somewhat worn out waiting. This was an un-official part of the message. HOWEVER. We are NOT getting stuck in production and are NOT holding anything back. We are NOT playing possum suddenly going off radar for more than a month leaving you all in the dark. We are trying to be as open and frank as possible, and we appreciate your understanding (and we believe in friendly nature of your grumbling :huh: ). Now, MCGs are being produced at appointed factories as planned. VKB engineers in different countries are in the meantime wasting not a minute writing/testing/debugging the firmware/-s. Our HQ workshop is like an operation theater right before the lights are on. No screw-ups in the schedule so far. Patent paperwork is a pain though. It is not going to be a show breaker but still it can move the schedule a few days either way. Internet payment systems tend to be sweet to the buyers but are as bitchy as can be to the sellers. We take the funds on day 1, then we don't prove the goods are shipped by day 15 -> we're in deep kimchi. Been there once, don't wish to repeat the experience. We are also undergoing some tectonic company restructuring. It might not be visible from outside, and it is not meant to be, but as the result of this change we hope we will once and forever lay the end to "out of stock", "not available", "not in this (local) market", etc. situations. Takes time, costs dear, but after the initial turbulence ebbs down there's going to be regularly restocking storage facilities in Europe and USA, and more dealerships in more remote outposts. That's going to happen thanks to your support throughout all these years. Thank you all for understanding.

"By" Dec. - no, "In" Dec. - very likely. Everything is being made, all parts are being produced at different factories, and we're keeping patrolling them to see everything made well. As soon as enough parts are produced, we're going to start final assembling in our own facility.

Nope. All we could, we did. Now it is all being made at sub-contracted factories. All we can do is patrol the factories by regularly visiting them and giving kicks. That's exactly where Ilya is leaving for right this very moment, a PCB factory. Now all we (and you) can do is pray and wait. If all factories do their job well, then we will ship on time.

hint:extended compatibility kit....

Some clarity Good morning from the part of the world where morning comes first :) OK let me clarify something. - MaRS - Ma(gnetic) R(esistive)* S(ensor) - is a sort of proper name, same as Xerox or Hoover. VKB was the first game device maker who used this sort of sensors in their products, besides the very sensors were heavily customized for gaming needs, hence we gave them this name. - However there are many other types and sorts of magnetic sensors; we are in no way trying to appropriate other people's inventions. - So, every axis (analog) sensor we use is - quite correct - magnetic and therefore contactless. But not every such sensor can be called MaRS. Some sensors we use are made by ourselves, so we call them MaRS. Hats we use are made by world's top reputable manufacturers like Sony, not by ourselves. - Are there any contact sensors at all in our products? Yes, there are: buttons. (* - yes, resistive, not resonance. magnetic resonance is technology used in tomographic imaging, not in game devices) Now, MCG TM vs MCG: same electronics, different connectivity and functionality based on innate limitations of TM base. Their limitations, not ours. Hence, even our hats that are perfectly contactless magnetic will behave as buttons when mounted on TM base. But we still use hats, not buttons there because contactless sensors live longer.

F14 yes, F18 not planned. TM are going to make F18, no need to repeat what others do. Preorder - if you didn't preorder, you might get the grip from the 2nd shipment rather than 1st. But it is shipment, not batch. We will make enough MCGs to stock up our dealerships, so you will not have to wait for months till the 2nd batch rolls out. At most it will be a week or two till the 2nd shipment arrives. I said might because maybe you will be able to get it right away, it depends.

Nah, it is in Chinese wilderness, and it looks like this (Ilya is the one with the biggest balalaika):

So far, yes. (fingers cross) No, seriously. All orders for all parts are sent to factories. The final assembly and checking will be done by ourselves on our own premises, which is swept clean, washed and dried, and is now frighteningly quiet and empty. Everyone is waiting :)

A very popular mistake but still a mistake. :noexpression:

Problem is, speculating doesn't really help to speed it up. We hope it will. We are actually planning to focus on it as soon as the MCG is out. But. There are many more variables though than you can imagine. (and me, too)

I hate to disappoint you, but the only thing I can say is, Not any time soon. It is planned, and it will be released, but there are many higher prioritized products that we will focus on before getting to MCG-L. Technically it is not going to be a mirror flip of the MCG-R; so it's a mistake to think there is less to r-n-d for a left-hand version. Different internal layout, different molds, etc., etc. At this moment I can't even tell whether it is going to happen within 2018 or not. But it will happen eventually.

Oooooooooooooopssssssss Ooops, a giant misunderstanding here.:doh: First, Buckeye wrote about some other product in "our" thread, and I somehow presumed he was talking about our future product. Especially when he said, I wrote to them (which I took as to us, ourselves). "Their" reply looked quite similar to a reply I always give in similar situations, so I also presumed it was my reply to him... We are of course receiving a lot of suggestions, and not all of them we can accept, and not all of them we can review in detail. Sometimes the suggestions are about something we are already planning to implement. So as you guys probably know we are not really opening a big discussion before the product is officially announced, and its picture and basic specs published. Till then, I only reply like "thanks, we will look into it". (and we do). Once again, I was barking at the wrong tree, sorry. Hope, the right trees don't feel insulted ;) They exist in drawings, more or less final, and will be announced early next year. Would be earlier, but we've got behind the schedule with the MCG and want to get back on track before giving more promises we might have troubles keeping. However, we're pretty sure our mounts will be a hit.

Well, you didn't expect us to turn into an enthusiastic ball of fire, or did you... We collect all suggestions and I think by now practice has shown convincingly enough that we consider customers' opinion. Not every idea goes into production. But every one gets looked into. That's all I can say on this subj.

Some history @LeCuvier, thank you for your healthy and balanced attitude. There is something I would like to add though. I know we should be modest and talk little about our history ;) but it doesn't hurt to refresh our memory every now and then. VKB is not anything young and hardly even small now. VKB has been around since 2004. It is worth reminding that we were the ones who introduced contactless sensors to the gaming word back in 2004. Our Gladiator is the world's first - and so far the only one - mass production joystick with contactless sensors on all 3 axes including twist. By the way, we were also the first company who brought cams to mass-produced gaming devices. It would perhaps be correct to say that we have been setting standards that were consequently widely copied: all these novelties are now being picked up and used by multiple "young and small" companies (which we don't mind, as we are happy to serve the gaming community). Currently, with branches in 5 countries (China, Russia, Holland, USA, and South Korea), advanced technology (we're making our own metal molds for casting plastic parts), highest production quality and unparalleled attention to details, as well as (as we believe) best in the world research and development team we are also breaking out of the definition of a "small" company. We are entering a new stage that will allow us to stop shortages once and forever, as we're planning to keep storages on 3 continents. Talking about management, I am always happy to hear out a true and real story of a customer who has had problems with it. Please don't hesitate to tell me if you have. :sly:

OK now I understand. There was an issue with one batch. Indeed, the spring we got from the supplier was of a slightly bigger diameter. Our guys assembled and packed the whole batch before we realized there was a problem. It was impossible to unpack, disassemble, replace the springs, and do the same in reverse order again simply because we were pushed by time to ship the orders out. So we added spare springs to every parcel; those spare springs are a bit smaller but have the same specs. In 99% of the cases replacing the springs would solve the problem once forever. This is about the scratching sound. There might also be resonating sound, even when the springs are not touching any other parts. You can fight this by moving the eye of the spring a bit up or down the stand. Alternatively, we recommend pulling shrink tube over the spring and slightly shrinking them (not as much as to jam the spring movements but enough to touch the spring coils).

Please refer me to your posts at VKB forum. Please don't forget to state your username there and topics you wrote to. Thank you.

Does the strange sound remain after you replace springs? Try replacing them (just for the sake of experiment, even if you're happy with the springs you currently have) and use pedals for some short time. Is the sound still audible?

Just don't think that if 2 guys told you it was 15 degrees, then you will get 30!.. :lol:

I will try to answer at least some points. - For the pedals, you can use a special pedal utility; configurator is a bit of overkill. You can find the utility here.

+/- 15 degrees :) Ooops, I was late!

Good for you. However you might have heard something not right. Or it was lost in translation. Now here is what is coming "from the top": see my posting above. Thank you for your opinion on the fonts I used. I prefer to use them regardless.

There have been talks on the forum/-s and offline about how the twists are going to come, and whether or not they are going to be standard on new generation grips. There've been speculations on this point, but no clarity. Perhaps I'm a bit late, but better late than never. So let me clarify it officially: ALL new generation grips are TWIST-READY. In other words, twist mechanism can be just popped on and used right away. However, TWIST MECHANISM IS NOT STANDARD on any grips (neither regular, nor pro). Twist mechanism is an option that, when it is finally released, will be offered as a separate device, for a reasonable price. Right at the moment we are in process of patenting the twist mechanism, and for obvious reasons it will be released after we obtain the papers proving our rights.