3rd-ed
Excellent bit of kit. Just like my TrackIR, I couldn't imagine playing without them now.
Hardware & Technical Can you guys recommend any rudder pedals?
- Thread starter Jake Savage
- Start date
3rd-ed
Excellent bit of kit. Just like my TrackIR, I couldn't imagine playing without them now.
Thats the guy. Someone will tell you how to get in touch with him, I went for Crosswinds
Please come back with a review once you get them.My VKB pedals are on the UPS truck and 'out for delivery'.
One advantage to being retired is that I'll have them hooked up and functional shortly thereafter...
Sadly they don't sell to the USA, and their US partner Stratojet is no longer their partner. So looks like I can't get them even if I wanted them.
Please come back with a review once you get them.
Sadly they don't sell to the USA, and their US partner Stratojet is no longer their partner. So looks like I can't get them even if I wanted them.
I'm in the USA, and bought mine at x-plane.org
Anyway, got them hooked up and working. Material and workmanship on these appear to be top notch. This from a hobby machinist/pistolsmith who knows a bit about metalworking. Once out of the box you have to connect the turnbuckles between the pedal assembly and the pivot arm of the mechanism and tighten a small (10mm?) nut. They even provide the wrench to do it with. Outstanding.
A couple of allen wrenches and a pair of small springs were also provided. I assume the springs are stronger versions of the pieces installed, for those who want a heavier feeling pedal? Other than the Quick Installation Guide, I received no manual with the pedals. I will eventually take a closer look at the mechanics of the pedals, but first I wanted to try them out. There also appears to be a hole on top of the center box marked 'tension' or some such. Can't remember at the moment, and I was in a hurry to get them under the desk.
Plugged them in, fired up the computer and ED and my Warthog stick didn't work. Ok, check under device manager and see that Windows doesn't see the stick. It does see the throttle and pedals though. Unplugged the stick's USB cord, reconnected it, and suddenly Winblows now sees my stick. Wonderful.
Back into ED and my stick configurations are gone. Sigh. Spend about 10 minutes trying to remember what I had assigned to what, and I appear to be back up and running. At this point I realize I'm not at my home station, I'm at a low security station with a number of ringed planets in the system, and I'm there in my Corvette. Oops... I wanted to get familiar with the new rig in something a lot cheaper to rebuy, but oh well, might as well jump in with both feet as they say. A little more than an hour later, I have 3.1 mil in bounties and my NPC pilot got promoted to Dangerous. As I headed back to the station to collect my bounties I realized that these pedals are of a perfect design for this game, or even flight sims in general where you are trying to manipulate rudder pedals under a desk. I basically had near zero adjustment time, which I can honestly say was not the case with my Thrustmaster rudder pedals. Instead of thrashing my feet back and forth to control yaw, I simply push down with the front of my foot on the pedal bar. My heel stays planted on the little raised platform at the back of the pedal assembly. I much prefer this motion to the more traditional motion required for most sim rudder pedals. I even prefer it to a twist stick (never thought I'd say that...)
For me, they are perfect.
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Thanks for the info.
I only looked on the VKB site where they said "However, the pedals is not for sale for the customers located in the United States and Canada. Please, contact Stratojet Inc, VKB partner in the USA, via http://gostratojet.com to order the item.", and that stratojet link says they don't sell them anymore. So I didn't bother looking further.
ok, silly question. Does this mean that the pedals don't have a push-pull pivot motion? You just push down, like a toe brake?
I'm probably completely misunderstanding, but it sounds like they don't pivot around the center (and the design kinda looks like this too).
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As much as I love internet shopping, and my amazon prime account, it's times like this that I wish there was a local store where I could try out products like this in person.
Please come back with a review once you get them.
Sadly they don't sell to the USA, and their US partner Stratojet is no longer their partner. So looks like I can't get them even if I wanted them.
VKB North America seem to be doing a better job anyway, Stratojet going bye-bye is probably the best thing for VKB in Nth America.
The action is "up/down", if you sit in an office chair type set up, they are hands down the best motion for use with that type of set up. The position of the pedals is also adjustable, so with the right adjustment, they can have a more "forward back" feel, though you'd probably need to do some low level modding if that were your plan. Honestly though, it's design works well for a more upright seating position, and that's the sort of situation I'd suggest them for.Thanks for the info.
I only looked on the VKB site where they said "However, the pedals is not for sale for the customers located in the United States and Canada. Please, contact Stratojet Inc, VKB partner in the USA, via http://gostratojet.com to order the item.", and that stratojet link says they don't sell them anymore. So I didn't bother looking further.
ok, silly question. Does this mean that the pedals don't have a push-pull pivot motion? You just push down, like a toe brake?
I'm probably completely misunderstanding, but it sounds like they don't pivot around the center (and the design kinda looks like this too).
Z...
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I'm in the USA, and bought mine at x-plane.org
Anyway, got them hooked up and working. Material and workmanship on these appear to be top notch. This from a hobby machinist/pistolsmith who knows a bit about metalworking. Once out of the box you have to connect the turnbuckles between the pedal assembly and the pivot arm of the mechanism and tighten a small (10mm?) nut. They even provide the wrench to do it with. Outstanding.
A couple of allen wrenches and a pair of small springs were also provided. I assume the springs are stronger versions of the pieces installed, for those who want a heavier feeling pedal? Other than the Quick Installation Guide, I received no manual with the pedals. I will eventually take a closer look at the mechanics of the pedals, but first I wanted to try them out. There also appears to be a hole on top of the center box marked 'tension' or some such. Can't remember at the moment, and I was in a hurry to get them under the desk.
Plugged them in, fired up the computer and ED and my Warthog stick didn't work. Ok, check under device manager and see that Windows doesn't see the stick. It does see the throttle and pedals though. Unplugged the stick's USB cord, reconnected it, and suddenly Winblows now sees my stick. Wonderful.
Back into ED and my stick configurations are gone. Sigh. Spend about 10 minutes trying to remember what I had assigned to what, and I appear to be back up and running. At this point I realize I'm not at my home station, I'm at a low security station with a number of ringed planets in the system, and I'm there in my Corvette. Oops... I wanted to get familiar with the new rig in something a lot cheaper to rebuy, but oh well, might as well jump in with both feet as they say. A little more than an hour later, I have 3.1 mil in bounties and my NPC pilot got promoted to Dangerous. As I headed back to the station to collect my bounties I realized that these pedals are of a perfect design for this game, or even flight sims in general where you are trying to manipulate rudder pedals under a desk. I basically had near zero adjustment time, which I can honestly say was not the case with my Thrustmaster rudder pedals. Instead of thrashing my feet back and forth to control yaw, I simply push down with the front of my foot on the pedal bar. My heel stays planted on the little raised platform at the back of the pedal assembly. I much prefer this motion to the more traditional motion required for most sim rudder pedals. I even prefer it to a twist stick (never thought I'd say that...)
For me, they are perfect.
On a side note - probably worth filing a bug report re the vanishing bindings. This is *really* annoying, and the fact that you need to go into windows and hunt through 10 layers of folders to find your binds file, and back it up is a joke. It should be something done "in game" in the controls section. New fancy features are nice and all, but the basics need serious attention...
As for the VKB - as mentioned before, I have the MKIII version, and they are fantastic, especially for the money. The only flaw is no toe pedals, but this is only a deal breaker for certain situations. Otherwise, they are top-tier accurate, feel nice, and are well made.
Honestly, I'd rather these without toe-brakes than any of the consumer grade offerings with toe-brakes (TM, CH, Saitek...).
Otherwise, as mentioned, I love my BRD F3's. Slaw, along with the Crosswinds, apart form the BRD F3's are probably the only true high end pedals (with toe brakes) worth considering - and they all seem to be built to last.
Z...
Holy cow that's a lot of pedals, do you have a pedal fetish?
I would love to get the new slaw rx pedals, but can't justify spending $600+ for an accessory like that.
The VKB really do look like a quality product, but I'm not sure I'd like the different motion. So used to the slide.
Ah well... probably just going to stay with my thrustmasters for now.
Spent another couple of evenings with the VKBs playing ED and really like the motion of them. I have a large office chair on a plastic floor protector and with the thrust master (or any other conventional pedal mechanism), I found that with my feet up on the pedals my chair moved around when working my legs back and forth. Really annoying. With the VKBs my heels stay on the floor, and I use the balls of my feet or toes if in socks to move the pedals up and down. Much more precise movements can be made with the latter method and I have pretty much decided to stick with that. More comfortable too. And now my chair doesn't move around anymore now that my feet aren't up off the floor.
And honestly, I find the rotating/vertical motion much more precise for keeping targets in my sights when flying sideways in my vette rather than having to move both of my legs back and forth to do the same on conventional pedals. I'm very happy.
I have wood flooring in my den and the VKBs will move around a bit under vigorous use, so I will go find one of those little rugs with the rubber backing to throw under them. Should fix that.
The bindings thing was interesting, but as I use the standard Warthog setup with some minor tweaks I was able to fix everything in a few minutes from memory. Pretty sure I don't have a config file saved away anyway as I never attempted that.
EDIT: Oh, and I've already bookmarked the VKB North America site so I can check out their new stick offerings when they come out...
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Holy cow that's a lot of pedals, do you have a pedal fetish?
I would love to get the new slaw rx pedals, but can't justify spending $600+ for an accessory like that.
The VKB really do look like a quality product, but I'm not sure I'd like the different motion. So used to the slide.
Ah well... probably just going to stay with my thrustmasters for now.
Try the Baur BRD-F3
Closer to ~$350 Can also have a "modern" pedal, too.
Z...
Awesome, thanks for the link!
The reason I like the new slaws so much is because I rest my heels on the floor, and just keep the balls of my feet and toes on the pedals, which looks to be exactly how the slaws are to be used.
These BRD's look to have a variety of pedal options which could suit my setup.
Though just like the slaws, I need to wire money to some dude in russia. Not something I'm entirely comfortable with...
Ok, so I've just spent a few hours buried in a russian forum (http://avia-sim.ru/) at the mercy of google translate. [wacky]
Baur BRD has quite a few varieties and options, but holy cow, figuring it all out... head hurts.
They definitely look like a solid quality product, and he seems super reasonable. Unless I miscalculated, it would only cost me about $160 (not including shipping). Of course this is assuming the prices listed in his 6 month old forum posts are still accurate. (and assuming I'm interpreting things correctly)
Anyway, thanks Zeeman. If nothing else, you gave me a good way to kill some time on a slow friday afternoon.
Baur BRD has quite a few varieties and options, but holy cow, figuring it all out... head hurts.
They definitely look like a solid quality product, and he seems super reasonable. Unless I miscalculated, it would only cost me about $160 (not including shipping). Of course this is assuming the prices listed in his 6 month old forum posts are still accurate. (and assuming I'm interpreting things correctly)
Anyway, thanks Zeeman. If nothing else, you gave me a good way to kill some time on a slow friday afternoon.
Awesome, thanks for the link!
The reason I like the new slaws so much is because I rest my heels on the floor, and just keep the balls of my feet and toes on the pedals, which looks to be exactly how the slaws are to be used.
These BRD's look to have a variety of pedal options which could suit my setup.
Though just like the slaws, I need to wire money to some dude in russia. Not something I'm entirely comfortable with...
I've done it myself, as have many other - the guy has a top shelf reputation. He answers his emails usually within minutes, at worst, 16 hours. He is well known on many of the flight sim forums, and he has people from all over the world (US, Aus, New Zealand, all over Europe).
He takes his business seriously, and always shoots straight. I've never had better business dealings with anyone. Let me know if you need his contact details.
Ok, so I've just spent a few hours buried in a russian forum (http://avia-sim.ru/) at the mercy of google translate. [wacky]
Baur BRD has quite a few varieties and options, but holy cow, figuring it all out... head hurts.
They definitely look like a solid quality product, and he seems super reasonable. Unless I miscalculated, it would only cost me about $160 (not including shipping). Of course this is assuming the prices listed in his 6 month old forum posts are still accurate. (and assuming I'm interpreting things correctly)
Anyway, thanks Zeeman. If nothing else, you gave me a good way to kill some time on a slow friday afternoon.
No worries - best to get the price directly from him - depending on the version (I went with the F3's with all the bells and whistles - ie. all the pedal options), my F3's were in the $350 region - that was shipped, from memory. Though Id id order tham not assembled, as I enjoy the process of putting stuff like this together. It also saves $50.
Anyway, it's certainly worth taking a look at them. He also sells some amazing looking joystick gimbal/bases set-ups.
...
The bindings thing was interesting, but as I use the standard Warthog setup with some minor tweaks I was able to fix everything in a few minutes from memory. Pretty sure I don't have a config file saved away anyway as I never attempted that.
...
As soon as you make an adjustment, it becomes a "custom.binds" file. Worth searching for and backing up the folder it's in - as in, the whole folder, not just the binds file.
Z...
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I'm considering going with the BRD MS1 "Kamov":
They just look like they'd fit exactly how I use my pedals.
Maybe these are a cheaper model because they don't have the toe brake or fancy foot rests. Which is fine by me. I've found I never use the toe brake functionality. I only use the pedals for yaw.
Anyway, I've registered of the forum, and am awaiting approval on my account. After that I'll contact him and see where this goes...
Those are nice, actually!
I'm happy to pm you his email - save you a bit of time.
Z...
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I'll keep my pro flight rudder pedals. thank you very much.