SPLASH2BANDIT Posted February 26, 2023 Posted February 26, 2023 Is it any good? I primarily fly the F-14 but also do fly a few other aircraft, does it just work for the F-14 or is it usable for others?
Lt_Jaeger Posted February 26, 2023 Posted February 26, 2023 It's great. I fly the F-14 almost exclusively and the VKB Grip is king. For other airplanes or might lack enough buttons (at least for all the diddle diddle out there) but for like F-5, Huey and stuff, it is just fine. I fly warbirds also with it, because I'm too lazy to change grips.
Obic Posted March 18, 2023 Posted March 18, 2023 It Amazing for immersion Personally, I would've paid a extra 50$ just to have a metal version of it without any twist non-sence. While the plastic is not bad & the ergonomic is good, it's also not that great. People can say what they want but CH product had & still have the best industrial grade plastic & switches I've ever seen on a entry level stick.
zcaa0g Posted March 18, 2023 Posted March 18, 2023 1 hour ago, Obic said: It Amazing for immersion Personally, I would've paid a extra 50$ just to have a metal version of it without any twist non-sence. While the plastic is not bad & the ergonomic is good, it's also not that great. People can say what they want but CH product had & still have the best industrial grade plastic & switches I've ever seen on a entry level stick. The VKB F-14 doesn't have a locking mechanism for the twist, so it doesn't move? Granted, I prefer it not have a twist option in the first place, but I am curious.
Lt_Jaeger Posted March 18, 2023 Posted March 18, 2023 7 minutes ago, zcaa0g said: The VKB F-14 doesn't have a locking mechanism for the twist, so it doesn't move? Granted, I prefer it not have a twist option in the first place, but I am curious. It has. You put in a screw and no more twist. 1
Obic Posted March 19, 2023 Posted March 19, 2023 I know that but mechanically, I think it's flimsy. There's still minimal amount of twist from the stick if you have hard enough springs
Waxer Posted June 24, 2023 Posted June 24, 2023 I am a huge F-14 fan. My favourite module in DCS and favourite aircraft period. I have the VKB F-14 grip and I have been disappointed by it. Also own VKB Ultimate which I think is excellent and Thrustmaster A-10C and F/A-18C grip which are also excellent. As @Obic points out, the VKB F-14 grip is really flimsy. It creaks and groins as you push buttons and move it around on a base. This takes away from immersion when using it. Also the main A2A trigger as a really horrible spongey feel. It has one of those cheap membrane buttons with a donut shaped rubber spacer that makes it feel like a cheap keyboard (anyone remember ZX-81 computers... like that). In contrast the way that Thrustmaster engineered the trigger on the F/A-18C grip shows how it should be done with increasing resistance as you start to pull the trigger to a crisp breakpoint where you activate "trigger stage 2". Having said all that in criticism, something they did a good effort on is the all important weapon selector button so unique to the F-14. That works quite well and is more accurate than Virpil's design from what I remember of reviews when these grips came out. The particular difference is how the push / slide from "weapons safe" to "gun select" works. Works on the VKB as on the real aircraft. I like the DLC axis control on the VKB too. The anti slip texture is nice also. There is zero interoperability between the F-14 grip and other aircraft really. This makes it a niche purchase for F-14 fans like me. I just wish VKB had done a better job on it. As they proved with the soviet Ultimate grip, they are capable of it. I suppose they did not put the resources into doing it properly for such a niche aircraft as the F-14. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
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