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VKB Gunfighter Base Standalone - When Available?

AeroGator

By AeroGator
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AeroGator

AeroGator

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello Pilots, we've been receiving increasingly many questions on the topic.

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT!

 

  • YES I double confirm we are going to sell the bases separately.
     
  • NO I double confirm I will not disclose the date we will do it.
     
  • WHY?? - indeed, a fully legitimate question.
     
  • BECAUSE there is still a solid chance of force majeure, and although we were lucky and wise making timely provisions at the very first signs of coming trouble in January, let's not forget the virus is still at large, and supply chains can be interrupted any moment.
     
  • 1 Sept - As for right now, I believe it is safe to say we will roll standalone bases out before the kids go to school. If there is no major disturbance, maybe earlier. In case of trouble, maybe a bit (not a lot) later.

There will be no update on this release until the dealers have green light from us, and the standalone bases appear in their shops.

 

Please don't nudge the cook: it won't bring the steak earlier! We want to serve you the bases no less than you want to put your hands on them.

 

To make waiting less boring, let me tell you that there will be TM-optimized bases (adapter+pre-flashed FW) coming at the same time with "normal" ones. Also, there will be no "just base, without a blackbox" option: all bases will have blackboxes as part of the set.

 

Enjoy your time flying, and please stay tuned!


Edited by AeroGator

>

Best Regards from VKB Lair,

AeroGator

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Davee

Davee

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hello Pilots, we've been receiving increasingly many questions on the topic.

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT!

 

  • YES I double confirm we are going to sell the bases separately.
     
  • NO I double confirm I will not disclose the date we will do it.
     
  • WHY?? - indeed, a fully legitimate question.
     
  • BECAUSE there is still a solid chance of force majeure, and although we were lucky and wise making timely provisions at the very first signs of coming trouble in January, let's not forget the virus is still at large, and supply chains can be interrupted any moment.
     
  • 1 Sept - As for right now, I believe it is safe to say we will roll standalone bases out before the kids go to school. If there is no major disturbance, maybe earlier. In case of trouble, maybe a bit (not a lot) later.

There will be no update on this release until the dealers have green light from us, and the standalone bases appear in their shops.

 

Please don't nudge the cook: it won't bring the steak earlier! We want to serve you the bases no less than you want to put your hands on them.

 

To make waiting less boring, let me tell you that there will be TM-optimized bases (adapter+pre-flashed FW) coming at the same time with "normal" ones. Also, there will be no "just base, without a blackbox" option: all bases will have blackboxes as part of the set.

 

Enjoy your time flying, and please stay tuned!

 

 

Good news!

A clarification please: by TM-Optimized base do you mean to connect to the large original TM Stick Ring? I have the VKB early TM stick modification to mount to the existing VKB Gunfighter MkIII base. If it is the large TM ring adapter, will there be a retrofit package to change existing gunfighter bases to use it?

 

or . . . . it is the base with the existing GF adapter assembly sold as a combination?

 

Thanks for the information and any feedback.

Cats . . .


Edited by Catseye
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CybrSlydr

CybrSlydr

Posted
Posted

 

(I know Z-axis rotation for rudder is lame, but I'd love to find that in my stocking, hung by the chimney with care...)

 

Never understood why people hate on z-axis rotation so much. I love it and am disappointed so few sticks utilize it (or that it's apparently a stick function rather than a base function...).

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streakeagle

streakeagle

Posted
Posted

I love to have the z-axis available, but lockable. I don't normally need it, but there are two situations that come to mind:

 

1) Rudder pedals unavailable. I upgraded to TPR pedals and still have my old Saitek Pro pedals, but it is nice to know if I have a failure, I can resort to the stick axis. Also, if I was traveling, it would make sense to use the z-axis rather than lug a cumbersome set of rudder pedals around. The stick and throttle would already be bulky and heavy enough.

 

2) Other sims that could use the extra axis, particularly battlemech type sims where it makes sense to map the torso rotation to the stick. Older battlemech games can only see one device, so rudder pedals and throttle are not available, the z-axis becomes critical.

 

As it stands, I have my VKB grips with a Z-axis configured to support 5 buttons. The extreme left and right buttons pulse repeatedly. This is great for paging through the knee pad with normal single page flip to the left or right of center and rapid page flipping at the extremes. The center button goes unused.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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jaylw314

jaylw314

Posted
Posted
I love to have the z-axis available, but lockable. I don't normally need it, but there are two situations that come to mind:

 

1) Rudder pedals unavailable. I upgraded to TPR pedals and still have my old Saitek Pro pedals, but it is nice to know if I have a failure, I can resort to the stick axis. Also, if I was traveling, it would make sense to use the z-axis rather than lug a cumbersome set of rudder pedals around. The stick and throttle would already be bulky and heavy enough.

 

2) Other sims that could use the extra axis, particularly battlemech type sims where it makes sense to map the torso rotation to the stick. Older battlemech games can only see one device, so rudder pedals and throttle are not available, the z-axis becomes critical.

 

As it stands, I have my VKB grips with a Z-axis configured to support 5 buttons. The extreme left and right buttons pulse repeatedly. This is great for paging through the knee pad with normal single page flip to the left or right of center and rapid page flipping at the extremes. The center button goes unused.

 

I have rudder pedals, and I don't need the extra axis, so I program the twist axis to be two extra buttons, like prev and next waypoint in FC3 aircraft.

Edit: Hah! I didn't read your comment carefully enough, you're doing the same sort of thing!

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AeroGator

AeroGator

Posted
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Posted

All those interested in VKB bases standalone are welcome to write to sales (at) vkb-sim dot pro with your details (at least location; they may ask you more Qs like what VKB grips you currently possess but I can't tell you for sure as I'm not with the sales team). We do sell bases as promised. We just don't put them openly on shelves for some certain reasons.

:joystick:

>

Best Regards from VKB Lair,

AeroGator

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MTFDarkEagle

MTFDarkEagle

Posted
Posted

Sorry... but I have to #facepalm...

 

Send a message out into the world saying you're going to sell them seperately, with an estimated timeline -> Great! Especially the TMWH based base for me personally.

But, months later (after total silence and only several requests for *any* update, be it positive or negative) it appears one has to contact the sales dept seperately to get one, because it's not shown on the website because "certain reasons"?

 

Creeping timeline I can understand. But the (total) silence and lack of any mention on the webstore I can't. Maybe it's just me, but why the hell not advertise it?

 

Don't you want to sell your products? I understand it's a niche market... But if you advertise all your products and options, together with any necessary disclaimer regarding delivery times, .... , why wouldn't you?

 

Or am I missing something?

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streakeagle

streakeagle

Posted
Posted

Clearly, they make more money if they sell a complete black box/base/grip combo. It is in their interest to make it easiest to do just that. But, there are some people who simply won't pay for that but still want to use whatever grip(s) they happen to have with a new or extra base. They have decided not to miss out on these type of sales, but they aren't going to showcase that fact so they can get more money from complete setup sales by people who might only want the base, but not knowing that path exists, bite the bullet and buy the whole stick combo.

 

On paper, that probably looks like the optimum solution. But I much prefer a straight forward approach: either sell or don't sell a product. Why on earth would you hide the fact that you are selling what someone wants and either risk losing the customer or forcing him to buy extra things he doesn't want because he is ignorant of the hidden product? If they like what they get, they will probably come back for more. Whereas, if a customer feels cheated/tricked, that customer may not ever buy anything at all.

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[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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MTFDarkEagle

MTFDarkEagle

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, streakeagle said:

On paper, that probably looks like the optimum solution. But I much prefer a straight forward approach: either sell or don't sell a product. Why on earth would you hide the fact that you are selling what someone wants and either risk losing the customer or forcing him to buy extra things he doesn't want because he is ignorant of the hidden product? If they like what they get, they will probably come back for more. Whereas, if a customer feels cheated/tricked, that customer may not ever buy anything at all.

This -> +1


Edited by MTFDarkEagle

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tugais

tugais

Posted
Posted
On 12/18/2020 at 1:40 AM, streakeagle said:

On paper, that probably looks like the optimum solution. But I much prefer a straight forward approach: either sell or don't sell a product. Why on earth would you hide the fact that you are selling what someone wants and either risk losing the customer or forcing him to buy extra things he doesn't want because he is ignorant of the hidden product? If they like what they get, they will probably come back for more. Whereas, if a customer feels cheated/tricked, that customer may not ever buy anything at all.

 

This is exactly what happened to me. I bought several VKB products since I went back to sim 3/4 years ago and intended to stick with the brand until I needed recently a new base for another grip. I thought that VKB was not selling bases anymore and had to go with Virpil. How was I supposed to know that I had to write an email to get a stand alone base ? That's conter-intuitive as it can be. What an odd practice for a business.

3rd Wing | 55th Black Alligators * BA-33

Εις ανηρ ουδεις ανηρ

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Hellbat

Hellbat

Posted
Posted (edited)

I wrote to the sales team regarding an order including a standalone Gunfighter Mk.III base and was directed to place my order on the European website, which does not offer the standalone bases (as far as I can tell).  Either this offer is no longer active or not everyone in the sales team is briefed with dealing with such requests.


Edited by Hellbat
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AeroGator

AeroGator

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On 2/11/2021 at 8:51 PM, Hellbat said:

I wrote to the sales team regarding an order including a standalone Gunfighter Mk.III base and was directed to place my order on the European website, which does not offer the standalone bases (as far as I can tell).  Either this offer is no longer active or not everyone in the sales team is briefed with dealing with such requests.

 

We were (still are) on holidays. In a few days I will talk to the sales. PM me with your email address (from which you wrote to them), and I will ask them to revisit your request. Standalone bases are still a valid offer.

>

Best Regards from VKB Lair,

AeroGator

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