ButtKicker or Haptic seat pad?

[AlpineGTA]

I'm thinking of adding one of the two to my setup but wondering which works best for immersion in VR. Has anybody had any experience of both and if so, which do you prefer and why? 

What are the differences in terms of the effects that they simulate? And how taxing is the software on the PC? Will the extra software running in the background zap some VR performance? If so, is one less demanding than the other? 

Another concern is I've heard some people complain of discomfort sitting on haptic seat pads. They can feel the motors or inducers. I imagine this is obviously not an issue with a ButtKicker.

Thanks for any insights.

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

both are great and a massive improvement.

the seat pad with individual shakers, even though they are less powerful, is better suited for effects with left/right feeling, for instance dropping ordnance from left or right wing. You can tell, with your eyes closed, from what wing the bomb fell off.

Ground rolling is also noticeable, feeling the bump first atht the knee area shakers, then your ass area.

Landing gear doors, main and nose, also feel different than a single "chunk".

Starting left and right engine, it´s noticeable. The main rotor of helicopters, very noticeable.

For these effects, the buttkicker response is more limited. However, it´s better suited for certain effects like touchdown, dropping countermeasures, damage received...

is budget a thing? if not, combine both and you will get the best of both worlds

do you play civilian aircraft or simracing? they both work great there.

if budget is a thing, you could get a HF8 seat pad for like $220. Plug and play, software is free.

Regarding comfort, yeah, it´s worse than no pad and your experience may vary. Maybe long sessions are not your thing.

Buy a pad now for black friday, and buttkicker for xmas lol

[AlpineGTA]

Some good feedback and interesting points about where you feel the effects coming from, thanks. So it sounds like the classic, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I hadn't considered getting both. Maybe I'll do that but not all at once - space it out to focus on getting one at a time working well.

I still have reservations though about how comfortable the seat sounds. And the resources they use up from the CPU, or is it negligible?

One other question: Is there noticeable lag between something happening and feeling it happen?

Thanks.  

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

15 minutes ago, AlpineGTA said:

Some good feedback and interesting points about where you feel the effects coming from, thanks. So it sounds like the classic, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I hadn't considered getting both. Maybe I'll do that but not all at once - space it out to focus on getting one at a time working well.

I still have reservations though about how comfortable the seat sounds. And the resources they use up from the CPU, or is it negligible?

One other question: Is there noticeable lag between something happening and feeling it happen?

Thanks.  

I would say, if you fly a lot of fs2020 or xplane, normal aircraft, a buttkicker is great, because you don´t have many "stereo" effects with that kind of flying, mostly no stores to drop lol.
But cars and military aircraft, if I had to choose one, it would be a seat pad.
I would buy a HF8 from amazon, sit for 30 mins, check you ass return or join the ass shaker club. Take full advantage of Amazon return policy.
Andre JetSeat is a great product, but these days it´s more expensive than HF8, and delivery and payment could be messy (things of Russia and real life geopolitical conflicts...) Can´t really compare with Amazon.
Other users report the HF8 thickness being a issue so they have to modify their pits to keep ergonomy. CPU usage is negligible. No delay either.

Time ago people visited my house to test VR and my pit with a seat pad. It was funny they began flying, with everything turned on. Then, after 4-5 mins, I quietly turned the seat pad OFF, well, you couldn´t believe their reactions, even after such short time, flying with the seat pad off was a massive turndown and the sim felt empty and numb for them.

I don´t know what else to say

[AlpineGTA]

Great feedback. Thank you. I mainly fly DCS 99% of the time with just the occasional MSFS.  

[corbu1]

I have both HF8 and Buttkickers in my setup. And I love them. Haptic feedback adds so much immersion, I can‘t think flying without anymore. 

[Panzerlang]

Which software are you guys using to have the NLR HF8 working in DCS?

[corbu1]

vor 7 Stunden schrieb Panzerlang:

Which software are you guys using to have the NLR HF8 working in DCS?

I personally use simshakers for aviators SSA. Allows my to run both the HF8 and the buttkicker basshakers with one software simultaneously.

[Panzerlang]

Does it work with SimHaptic?

[AlpineGTA]

I went and picked up an HF8 today. My local Micro Center had an open box one for $133 so I went and got it. I haven't even installed the NLR software, I just installed the SSA software and it's working fine. I've been going through all my modules testing them out. I'm not a fan of some of the effects, I'll have to do some fine tuning to my liking but it definitely adds immersion in VR. Firing guns and missiles feels great. With missiles you can really feel which side they shoot from. Pretty cool! It does make my backside numb after a while though. I'll have to work on a cover or something to improve the comfort.

[Ala12Rv-Tundra]

5 hours ago, AlpineGTA said:

I went and picked up an HF8 today. My local Micro Center had an open box one for $133 so I went and got it. I haven't even installed the NLR software, I just installed the SSA software and it's working fine. I've been going through all my modules testing them out. I'm not a fan of some of the effects, I'll have to do some fine tuning to my liking but it definitely adds immersion in VR. Firing guns and missiles feels great. With missiles you can really feel which side they shoot from. Pretty cool! It does make my backside numb after a while though. I'll have to work on a cover or something to improve the comfort.

I would say adjust engine effect first. It tends to dilute anything else if the setting is too high. Check also the option to reduce engine effect once airborne, it´s on"special settings" tab from SSA.

Secondly, things like F-16 flaps or F-14 wing sweep, tend to work A LOT inflight. Make sure they are low settings.

Export your setting to save them, the app will create a file for the config of all your modules, in case you have to reinstall or update.

And lastly, $133 absolute bargain, you are very lucky!

[AlpineGTA]

12 hours ago, Ala12Rv-Tundra said:

I would say adjust engine effect first. It tends to dilute anything else if the setting is too high. Check also the option to reduce engine effect once airborne, it´s on"special settings" tab from SSA.

Secondly, things like F-16 flaps or F-14 wing sweep, tend to work A LOT inflight. Make sure they are low settings.

Export your setting to save them, the app will create a file for the config of all your modules, in case you have to reinstall or update.

And lastly, $133 absolute bargain, you are very lucky!

Thanks for the tips. First thing I did was turn down the engine effect. I don't like the constant rumble whilst flying, especially on the warbirds. It does tend to dilute everything else.