Opinions on the ACE Interceptor Pedals?

[wilbur81]

Hey, All...

My trusty Saitek Combat Pro pedals are finally starting to give out after 10 faithful years of service. I'm starting to look at replacement options. Anyone with the Virpil ACE Interceptors want to chime in on how they like (dislike) them? I'm not going to pay $600 for the TM TPR's. I'm a fast-jet and occasional Mustang DCS'er, so no need for Chopper stuff. Additionally, the US website shows them on backorder...so not sure about turnaround time for them as I've never purchased anything from Virpil. Any insight will be appreciated.  

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Edited February 7, 2023 by wilbur81

[HC_Official]

I went from Saitek Combat Pro pedals to the MFG pedals I have now, and they are great

I have a fair amount of virpil stuff myself but went MFG for pedals

[71st_AH Rob]

I was looking at the MFG and Virpil to replace my two year old Saitek pedals which replaced my 3 yo Saitek pedals.  I  was looking for something a bit more durable and wanted the Virpil but was going to settle for the MFG when they went out of stock and Virpil had a sale so cost was similar.  The Ace Interceptors arrived today and first thing I did was test them out with the Spitfire, much better and made take-off, landing and aiming much easier.

I would highly recommend them.  The other advantage over MFG is you don't have to order a second $50 damper, the Ace pedals come with all the adjustments.  Pedals are heavy with rubber feet and don't slide around like my old Saiteks. Only drawback is that in NA they ship via UPS which can be painful, they did however negotiate a favourable rate and shipping was reasonable and brokerage was only $11 instead of the min of $60.

[HC_Official]

3 hours ago, 71st_AH Rob said:

 The other advantage over MFG is you don't have to order a second $50 damper, the Ace pedals come with all the adjustments.

I didn't realize the Virpils had a built in damper , is it easy to adjust it on the Virpil pedals ?

[Scott-S6]

25 minutes ago, HC_Official said:

I didn't realize the Virpils had a built in damper , is it easy to adjust it on the Virpil pedals ?

They don't have a damper.

The Virpil Torque pedals have a clutch which also acts as a damper.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Scott-S6

[Toge]

I have the Virpil ACE pedals, and also had old Saitek Pro Combat pedals before. The difference of course is like night and day, plastic imprecise toys vs the smooth precise professional experience you get with the Virpil pedals. Of course, I expect it to be similar with MFGs or TMs too, and can't compare to those as I've never tried them. But I'm very happy with the Virpil pedals, and can't find anything to improve or complain about.

They indeed don't come with a damper, but you can remove the spring without touching any tools, and install any basic hydraulic damper simply by screwing it on. I did that with a damper I bought from Amazon a while ago. No drilling or anything like that needed, it fit nicely to the existing screw holes that you can see in the picture (just had to buy some longer screws and nuts from a local hardware store).

Virpil stuff are so popular they rarely have anything directly in stock. When you order something, your order is placed in a queue and get your toys in the order they get them in stock. Sometimes this takes a couple of days, sometimes a few weeks, depending on what you order. You can get an idea of current lead times in their forums (https://forum.virpil.com/index.php?/topic/1946-new-ordering-process-live-community-discussion/), where people post what and when they've ordered something and when their order has been shipped.

[wilbur81]

Thanks, fellas! I went with the ACE Interceptors. TM way too expensive for me and I wasn't a fan of the 3D printed combat pedals on the MFGs. All the reviews on YT of the Virpil's look really positive and solid. They were on 'backorder,' so we'll see about wait time.

 

Thanks.  

Edited February 9, 2023 by wilbur81

[71st_AH Rob]

The Virpil Ace rudder pedals come with all of the cams and springs required to set up to your personal preference.  Indeed if you feel the need for a damper after exploring the built-in options you can install one simply.

Back order seems to be athe default these days as noted above. I purchased mine from the US store with no idea how long it would take.  After four weeks of no confirmation or estimate of when to expect them, I e-mailed support to ask how much longer and got a response within the hour that they were slammed by the Christmas sale (I purchased mine on first day of the sale) and they expected five weeks.  So I anticipated them arriving the week of 20 Feb and they arrived almost two weeks before that.

EU store seems a bit more responsive and I think they get stock faster. My only gripe has been UPS but that's another story.

Others on the Virpil forum gripe about poor communication, being told 'two weeks' continually but I think this is down to wishful thinking and language issues, I was only told five more weeks and they delivered within that estimate.

They expect to get waiting times down to two weeks again this month.

 

Edit: I should mention that the rudders were not well calibrated and the link included in the package took me to an out of date version of the VPC software that would not recognize the rudder.  Going to the Virpil US store site software download link got me to the updated version and I was able to calibrate them.

Edited February 9, 2023 by 71st_AH Rob

[FordPrefect]

I am late to this party, but owning the ACE Interceptors, all I can say is that you won't be disappointed, they are a great piece of equipment!

[wilbur81]

On 2/24/2023 at 7:19 AM, FordPrefect said:

I am late to this party, but owning the ACE Interceptors, all I can say is that you won't be disappointed, they are a great piece of equipment!

Speaking of "late to this party," how long did it take for your pedals to arrive after placing your order? Are you in the United States? Thanks in advance. 

Edited February 28, 2023 by wilbur81

[HC_Official]

a user has reported their toe break spring broke multiple times , best of luck

[Elf1606688794]

I haven't had any negative issues with my Virpil pedals. I like them better than my old CH pedals by several orders of magnitude.

 

On 2/24/2023 at 7:19 AM, FordPrefect said:

I am late to this party, but owning the ACE Interceptors, all I can say is that you won't be disappointed, they are a great piece of equipment!

Yeah, me too. 

 

On 2/28/2023 at 3:51 PM, wilbur81 said:

Speaking of "late to this party," how long did it take for your pedals to arrive after placing your order? Are you in the United States? Thanks in advance.

Yes I'm in the US. I ordered my Virpil gear in October of last year and all of my stuff shipped in just over a week but I probably finally got lucky for once in my life.

 

[wilbur81]

I ordered my pedals on February 7th and they arrived this week on March 28th. 

[Andrew u.k.]

Love mine. 

Added the damper mod, they're perfect. 

[Chops]

What is the width of the whole pedal unit?  (The distance from one side to the other).  My CH Pedals are about 13" across and I am looking for something that is of similar size.

[Guest]

The picture is taken from the official VIRPIL Controls store page.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Qsenox