graxxor

Oh S**T! The springs were rusted, too? I'm scared to open it up now. What the hell kind of cheap springs are they using that rust? Crazy. Also, the nuts on the top are really severely rusted, perhaps from my bare forearms laying over them occasionally this summer when I used a sub-keyboard during a game. They're so corroded that when I cleaned out all the rusty gunk from the hex "depression" in the centre with q-tips and alcohol I noticed they're all rounded off and the nut is visibly smaller than it was before... LOL. May need a pair of pliers to get these nuts off, the supplied Alan-key is clearly not going to work. Very disappointed with $700 worth of hardware. could have at least used stainless bolts and springs.

rusty bolts Hi there. it's been a while. I guess because the two T50s have been running flawlessly. I did notice, however, that all the hex nuts on the outer case are badly corroded (basic rust). Nothing else in my room suffers from this. Anyone else noticed that? I'm tempted to open them up and take a look inside to see if there's any rusty parts. Japan gets humid in the summer but I run with Aircon for about 8 hours a day. TIA

I beg your pardon, yes. But I thought that was a given ;-) I was merely referencing the parts that were in question.

The only plastic I can see in the whole device is the buttons and the headers for the circuitboard terminals. Everything else appears to be metal. Also, PM me if you're interested in a Pair of brand new desk mounts... I'm Tokyo based and those stands are HEAVY...

By the way, I found the desk mounts mount the joystick just too far from the screen for comfort, so I improvised. Couldn't get much simpler. Perfectly stable and just about the same height as my X65F. edit: The metal bracket behind the joystick is an adjustable, swinging arm rest.

For what it's worth, I got stuck with a 4000 yen ($35) import on dual stick and dual mount total cost about 1600 BYR

Cyph3r, cheers for the quick response as always!!! Right then: They're fixed... So I opened them up and performed surgery on them, with the blessing of the folks at Virpil. But let me point out that they immediately and unreservedly offered to take back the grips free of charge (all the way from Japan) and fix it themselves if I was not keen on the procedure. Excellent support. It turned out that, as the Virpil staff explained, both lower hats could be fixed with half a turn of a screw..... The switches were entirely fine and are now performing top notch with crisp, clean transitions... As for the upper, completely unresponsive hat, I noticed that the plastic shaft of the hat was shiny from the mould plastic, whereas all of the others were dull matte as if the had been finished off with some fine wet and dry. On measurement with my trusty micrometer, I noticed it was a touch thicker than the other three, working hat shafts. It looks like this hat had not gone through a final turning or reduction process to the correct width... or something.... So I filed the shaft down and polished it and the clicks are now well defined and crisp… I’ll consider my device fixed with a simple, 45 minute procedure… Proof of fine clickiness (turn up volume). ;-) https://www.dropbox.com/s/3jittf8giwjwwnd/fiexed.mov 1) Filed shaft down to create a slightly squarish profile with 600C 2) Fine tuned the thickness and smoothed with 1000C 3) Polished and finished with a nylon strap. Here are a few images from the surgery. I'm impressed with the grade of the wiring... No crappy stuff like my "Pro" flight pedals' wiring... No loose ends, all firmly glued down... Circuit board in the grip is as professional as the one in the base and it's solidly held down and very clearly labelled with removable plastic headers so no soldering needed. The wires are all clear of moving parts so there is no chance of rubbing or wear and tear damaging the wires. Impressive... In conclusion, I'm looking forward to their future products... They show great promise and with a little QA tweakage, I suspect they're going to be a major player in the high quality, dual stick market.

I'd rep you, BB, but my Rep is worth exactly one point less than yours, lol... Thanks for the response... Looks like you got lucky with the switches (or me unlucky) because mine are all over the place in terms of "clickiness." The push buttons seem fine, though. I wouldn't need to remove the cam to polish its face... Although it feels silky smooth to the touch, so I'm not entirely convinced the grindiness I'm feeling is the cam and not in the bearing. In any case, since I replaced the spring with the light blue one, the problem is virtually unnoticeable now... Also, need a week or to to wear in to their optimal condition, no doubt. The video showed taking the top off so that one could replace the springs which pop out from the top of the gimbal. As for the dust covers, I'm not too fussed, Nikon style 300mm lens pouches can be had for $3 from Aliexpress, so no biggie.

Got my Dual T50s up and running and here are my first impressions of their physical condition. Haven’t had time for playtedting yet. Shipping: 12-14 days became 39 days to arrive. I live in the centre of Tokyo where amazon delivers within 2 hours sometimes, so the delays were on their end. 36 days. In fairness I was offered A refund. Packaging: Packaging was good quality and tight. No play or bits and bobs floating around. Base and Gimbal: Bases are solid and very well built. They arrived in pristine condition, not a single scratch or burr... They were lighter than I imagined, due to aluminium construction. The gimbals actions were ok, however the gimbal of the right hand joystick is slightly rougher than the left one. Moreover, there is some sort of very slight discontinuity in the gradient of the cam, perhaps imperfect machining. I asked for them to install the softest springs since I'm not using extensions but alas, they came with standard springs. It took about an hour to replace both gimbals' springs... I wanted to replace the cams, too, but was entirely unable to undo the screws which had been locktited in place so I left them in. Still with the softest springs, responsiveness increased markedly and the slight roughness in the right hand gimbal abated. Internally, the extreme build quality is apparent... VERY nice gimbal construction... These things are 100% metal. No faffing with massaging balls with dodgy lube (!). The electronics are custom built and firmly mounted with a very tidy little circuit board. Grip: Coming from the Saitek X65F, I was surprised that neither the material of the grips themselves nor the actions of the switches were quite up to the standard of that joystick.... Before you do a double WTSF, SAITEK???!?!?!111 Please read a review of the Saitek X65F... It was an incredible, all metal construction force joystick, superbly over engineered and perhaps the ONLY high quality joystick Saitek ever made. Incredible. Don't get me wrong, the quality is still very high, but just not THAT high. If you come from a metal grip, you won't help but think.... Hmmm... That's very... plasticky. One thing they did very well though is the ergonomics... There are two adjustable hand-rests available and within minutes, I was comfortably reaching even the most remote hat and switch on the grip. Both left and right felt like they were made for my hands. Hats and Switches: This is my biggest gripe. The buttons were fine, but the hats... Oh dear... firstly, while I know that appearance isn’t important (CH look terrible but last years) they just look... cheap. Maybe it’s the grey colour, who knows but again, coming from the gorgeous Saitek X65F, they are a big step down. But importantly, and not just cosmetically, of the six hats (between the two joysticks) three of them had faulty actions. Top centre hat on LH joystick has no left or right feedback and response was intermittent. https://www.dropbox.com/s/bojiw4l4ll...%2049.mov?dl=0 Bottom centre hat on RH joystick had a faulty left action. Need to REALLY press hard to get a response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/yq2zsu1mxu...%2027.mov?dl=0 The bottom centre hat on LH joystick was also very heavy in the LH direct, but not quite as serious as the right. Once I have time to play with them a bit, I'll keep you informed of how things pan out. Have put in a request for replacement parts. Software: There is none. Nada. Although I found reference to some beta software somewhere and also a passage stating that you’ll Fsck things up if you use windows calibration, so I’m leaving them alone for the time being. Other: Also, although someone on this thread said they got a set of dust covers for their trouble, I didn’t. In conclusion. The gimbal is A- grade (knocked off points for very slight oddness in the one cam. The grip Gets s B+. It’s just feels too light (although not flimsy) and is let down badly by substandard switches. Overall, considering the reviews I’ve seen, I’m a touch disappointed but will very gladly change my opinion if their after sales service lives up to its reputation.

My Dual T-50s arrived to but I'm not getting on with the Virpil mounts... They are solid as a rock and will outlast me, no questions asked.. However, they put the joysticks just too far from the screen. I have to have the chair so far back that I can barely reach the keyboard on the desk without leaning forward... They're a whole 18 inches back from the previous placement I have just realised that with a small mod, I could screw the mounting bracket with the two top and two bottom holes directly into my wooden desk. (It's old and was free, so I don't care about holes if I have to move them.) I'll let you know if it works.

Don, thanks... @cyph3r In the photo you sent me showing the thumb button and mount, I notice it was plugged into a two pin header on a circuit board in the grip. I also notice that this in-grip circuit board has plenty of space but no connection pads for extra headers, unlike the gimble circuit board which looks eminently expandable. For those who don’t, know, I’m looking to replace the thumb button with a 4 or 5 way hat. So Is there any way to pass a cable from the grip through to the circuit board in the base without too much modification? Is the grip sealed or is there a gap that the cable can be fed through (I notice that the warthog compatible DIN connector is free floating and not inset which means there is a chance that an extra four core hat switch cable could squeeze through, no? TIA.

Was 14 days the time from ordering or the time once shipped?

Looks interesting but for me a key feature is the thumb rest hat. I know it’s ambidextrous, so it can’t be helped. But if it’s “entry level” then people who haven’t built up a muscle memory should be fine with it.

It’s currently being dispatched from the international terminal. They said EMS... is that Air or Sea shipping, I wonder.

Finally. My monthlong wait is almost over. Confirmation that my VirPil Dual Stick Nobbifier bundle is on it’s way to my door as we speak! Can’t wait. Now wondering whether or not to do an unboxing.

I can vouch for displaylag.com which has informed my choice since I bought a disastrous Philips 4K which had over 70ms of Lag! Don’t confuse “response time” with “display lag” and you’ll be fine.

All axes? So the analogue hats are MaRS, too?

Does anyone know what brand or type of analogue hat they are using in the DCG pro? Are they magnetic or hall effect devices or simple potentiometers?

So how would you rate the T50? Are u using extensions?

Agreed. I'm generally patient and will be willing to wait until spring or early summer for a solid device that works with as little lag/distortion, as near to 90Hz as possible.

Cheers! Thanks for the props! Still flying the Golden Phallus? What VPC/VKB setup are you using? I plunked for the Noobifier discounted dual stick VPL bundle... Couldn't resist the discount... Will seriously need to mod the thumb buttons into a 4 way hat, though... I was stupid enough to miss that rather important point.

7 days? Not going to happen.. I ordered VPC dual stick on the 20th of October... Several delays meant that the shipping was pushed back to 20th November... Well, it seems that they missed the 20th as well, so it's actually about a month for them to ship... still totally stoked about getting one though.

Looks like the desk mounts are coming on Monday. Too bad they couldn’t quite make it today. Oh well, what’s a few more days, anyway? Total time from order to shipping: exactly one month. 20th October ordered, shipping on Monday 20th Nov. Considering how small the company is, and how popular they seem to be, I’m not really surprised.

I ordered a pair of L/R joysticks on the 20th of October... They are apparently waiting for the desk mounts (which are coming at the end of the week).

Has anyone managed to swap the thumb button for a hat? Would that be a doable mod? I haven’t seen a photo of the inside of the grip with the switches. I’ll be using Virpil’s base.