Slick Fork Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 (edited) Happy days, my Mongoose and deskmounts arrived today! Finally got everything setup and wanted to share my thoughts so far... I ordered 2 deskmounts + the T50CM Flightstick. Order was placed Dec 14, and arrived today (January 19th) Shipping notification came through on Jan 4th. So ~ 3 weeks for processing and 2 weeks for actual delivery. The processing still baffles me a little bit, but it is Christmas so I'll cut them some slack. Canada Post provided tracking information throughout the whole journey. It actually only arrived in Canada on Tuesday so getting to Alberta was pretty quick. Unpacking - I would've liked to have seen it ship in one box instead of two taped together but it made it here and only looks mildly beat up. Everything inside the boxes was packed very well, no damage to anything inside - it all looks great. This is the "old" setup - Saitek X55 sitting on my desk: Virpil on just a base for comparison The New setup! So my initial thoughts. Desk mounts: I have one with the TM mounting plate. My X55 is too wide for it but with some zip ties it'll work until I make a better adaptor. If I could make one recommendation here I'd ask them to drill holes so at least two of the X55 mounting holes line up with something. Wouldn't cost any extra and I'd imagine there are a fair number of Saitek flyers that will upgrade eventually... THe other deskmount of course has the VPC base. I was surprised at how far out it puts me from the desk, I'll have to do some rearranging and maybe move the monitors up a little bit. I get why they had to do it, just caught me off guard. Build quality on the desk mounts is superb. They look good, feel sturdy, I'm happy. THe base: Base appears to be heavy and solid. I haven't opened it up yet, don't know if I will in the near future or not but the gimbal moves perfectly in it. My only complaint on the base so far would be the length of the USB cable. It could use another 2 feet in length. Extensions: I ordered the extension kit. For my purposes I think I would've been just fine with the 100mm so the 50 and 75 will gather some dust I think. Extensions are machined metal and feel and look fantastic. Supplied connectors look to be good quality as well. Grip: Grip is high quality plastic, feels great in my hand. It's actually much smaller than I expected. Ergonomics are good, all buttons within easy reach and I don't have huge hands. Buttons provide nice tactile feedback, same for two of the hats. My bottom hat however provides nice feedback up and left and no feedback down and right. The buttons register as pushes so at least it's working. Will send an email to support in the morning. Second trigger - I'm not sure what to do with this, it gets in the way if you don't flip it back up - anyone have suggestions as to what to map it to? I also find the button press a little soft on this one. Wheelbrake lever & button 19. Haven't had a chance to use the brake lever axis yet. My first impression is that it's soft. I think it could use a stiffer spring. Looking at the VPC configurator it appears button 19 lights up at a 50% pull. To me it feels too soon, but maybe I'll get used to it with some time. Feel: So once I had everything kind of setup I fired up DCS and took my Mirage for a rip. MAN THIS THING FEELS GREAT TO FLY. My gunnery was immediately and noticeably improved, same with fine control on landing. This on a stick I'm not used to yet!! I am REALLY impressed. Overall: I am pretty happy with this, if I can get the issue with that bottom hat sorted without too much brain damage I will say I'm thrilled! I left my X55 stick plugged in for comparison and there is none. I was flying last night thinking "This isn't so bad, maybe I should've saved my money" No such regret now! On top of the obvious improvement in the stick, having a center mount with extension makes an incredible difference from a desktop stick. It's more comfortable, accurate, and just plain feels more natural. Hope that helps anybody considering the stick! Edited January 19, 2018 by Slick Fork Screwed up the photo links - fixed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudel_chw Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Great review, as a TM user I wonder if the Virpil does came with software, or its axes and buttons are just configured within DCS? For work: iMac mid-2010 of 27" - Core i7 870 - 6 GB DDR3 1333 MHz - ATI HD5670 - SSD 256 GB - HDD 2 TB - macOS High Sierra For Gaming: 34" Monitor - Ryzen 3600X - 32 GB DDR4 2400 - nVidia GTX1070ti - SSD 1.25 TB - HDD 10 TB - Win10 Pro - TM HOTAS Cougar - Oculus Rift CV1 Mobile: iPad Pro 12.9" of 256 GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dburne Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Yes very nice review thanks for sharing! I use the flip down trigger for cannons, and my regular trigger for machine guns. Don B EVGA Z390 Dark MB | i9 9900k CPU @ 5.1 GHz | Gigabyte 4090 OC | 64 GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 MHz CL16 | Corsair H150i Pro Cooler |Virpil CM3 Stick w/ Alpha Prime Grip 200mm ext| Virpil CM3 Throttle | VPC Rotor TCS Base w/ Alpha-L Grip| Point Control V2|Varjo Aero| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dburne Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Great review, as a TM user I wonder if the Virpil does came with software, or its axes and buttons are just configured within DCS? They have software in development. It is available now but kind of like a beta, to be used primarily for flashing firmware and calibrating the stick. Supposedly eventually it will have this functionality. I myself prefer to just do my assignments within the DCS controller menu. Don B EVGA Z390 Dark MB | i9 9900k CPU @ 5.1 GHz | Gigabyte 4090 OC | 64 GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 MHz CL16 | Corsair H150i Pro Cooler |Virpil CM3 Stick w/ Alpha Prime Grip 200mm ext| Virpil CM3 Throttle | VPC Rotor TCS Base w/ Alpha-L Grip| Point Control V2|Varjo Aero| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudel_chw Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 I myself prefer to just do my assignments within the DCS controller menu. Yes, but DCS has its limitations, with the Hotas' software I can for example get one command on a short press, and a different one on a long one, or a press doing one thing (for example, extending the airbrakes) and the button release doing another (close the airbrake). Anyway, I hope they eventually develop a software worthy of such a beautiful hardware :) For work: iMac mid-2010 of 27" - Core i7 870 - 6 GB DDR3 1333 MHz - ATI HD5670 - SSD 256 GB - HDD 2 TB - macOS High Sierra For Gaming: 34" Monitor - Ryzen 3600X - 32 GB DDR4 2400 - nVidia GTX1070ti - SSD 1.25 TB - HDD 10 TB - Win10 Pro - TM HOTAS Cougar - Oculus Rift CV1 Mobile: iPad Pro 12.9" of 256 GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dburne Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Yes, but DCS has its limitations, with the Hotas' software I can for example get one command on a short press, and a different one on a long one, or a press doing one thing (for example, extending the airbrakes) and the button release doing another (close the airbrake). Anyway, I hope they eventually develop a software worthy of such a beautiful hardware :) Yes it would be nice and has been stated they are, just not been much news on that front for a while. Don B EVGA Z390 Dark MB | i9 9900k CPU @ 5.1 GHz | Gigabyte 4090 OC | 64 GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 MHz CL16 | Corsair H150i Pro Cooler |Virpil CM3 Stick w/ Alpha Prime Grip 200mm ext| Virpil CM3 Throttle | VPC Rotor TCS Base w/ Alpha-L Grip| Point Control V2|Varjo Aero| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uther Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Good review! Mine is due to be delivered today as well. Ordered 28th December, dispatched 12th Jan, it sat in customs in Minsk until the 16th and arrived in the UK two days later! Hoping it all works... i5 4690k / MSI Gaming 5 / 2 x 8 GB Crucial Ballistix ram / Zotac AMP! 980Ti / 2 x 250 SSDs Flight Controls:Virpil VPC MoogoosT-50 / MFG Crosswinds / GVL Throttle / Oculus Rift CV1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedbird5 Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Hi SlickFork, can you tell me the maximum vertical distance achievable for the deskmounts from the top of your table to the top of the VPC MongoosT-50 Base. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Fork Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 Hi SlickFork, can you tell me the maximum vertical distance achievable for the deskmounts from the top of your table to the top of the VPC MongoosT-50 Base. . PM'd you, but for anyone wondering the distance is ~30cm from top of the table to top of the T-50 base on the lowest "rung" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordite Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Slick Fork, did you get charged duties, and if so, what was the percentage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedbird5 Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Hi Slick, Please see attached image - See red arrow. Is yours positioned at the bottom rung as the guy in this photo ? If not, how many extra mm do you think that is? His video can be found here: He speaks Russian, but if you turn on CC, there are English subs. Regards, Speed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Fork Posted March 4, 2018 Author Share Posted March 4, 2018 No, mine is one higher than this guys. Difference is probably 20-25mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Fork Posted March 4, 2018 Author Share Posted March 4, 2018 Slick Fork, did you get charged duties, and if so, what was the percentage? I fully expected to, but so far no customs bill has shown up and I've had it for a month and a half so I'm thinking I'm in the clear at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedbird5 Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 No, mine is one higher than this guys. Difference is probably 20-25mm OK Thanks, that helps some more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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