VKB Gladiator NXT premium Questions

[Pville_Piper]

So my mini stick is fried on the my TWCS throttle from Thrustmaster although I can still use the throttle for everything else. After looking around for a replacement and not finding any that wasn't overpriced or of questionable quality I started thinking about alternatives...

The VKB Gladiator NXT premium had a mini stick on and I'm thinking about keeping my throttle for now and changing out the joystick. I've been wanting more pushbuttons on the stick itself and was wondering how well the mini stick works. I've run across a few video's on the stick and it seems to be a really nice option. What's the general consensus about VKB and the Gladiator NXT?

 

[LifesAJourney]

I mapped my NXT's mini stick to thrusters and it works as I expected it to work. I find it really comfortable to use, the thumb movements are pretty precise, no problems with applying the thursters exactly like I want.

However, VKB changed the grease they use for NXTs recently. It became more sticky than before, so the grip movements are not as rapid as they used to be. It depends heavily on personal preferences but if you like lightweight, fast grip movements (like I do) you may find the stick too sluggish. The twist is also affected and, in my opinion, affected the most. I use my NXT as a throttle and I locked the twist so I'm ok with the stickiness on all axis. But I definitely couldn't use it in its factory configuration as a main stick.

VKB encourages to just re-grease the gimball and the twist in such case using something plastic-proof and less sticky. It requires some additional stuff to buy (unless you happen to have suitable grease) and some screwdriver action to perform but there are official manuals how to do it available on youtube and it's not a rocket science, fortunately.

 

[kit_far_traveller]

I just got two VKB Gladiator Premium sticks, a left and a right to configure for HOSAS. I am planning my key bindings right now and am super excited to try them out. My x52 was not that great and the calibration on the VKB is what I am most interested in. I did try the softer springs but the friction is pretty high out of the box. I will add to this thread after some flight time.

If anyone has key mappings it would be really awesome to see what you assigned. So many options with VKB. Oh! and I will be messing around with the configuration software to get the LEDs to change with modes.

 

[LifesAJourney]

I can see that dual-Kosmosima setup becomes more and more popular!

My current setup at the moment:

Spoiler

I have NXT for the left hand and GF for the right hand, so some buttons/axis/encoders are not available for both sticks. The setup evolves all the time, I feel like it's still not optimal, whatever it might mean.

BTW: springs have no impact on movement friction. It's all about the grease. If you find it too high, you need to re-grease the gimbal, I'm afraid.