VKB TECS: MODULARITY FULL AHEAD

[TrueWeevie]

I can be patient, the only thing is that when this releases, I will need to know the differences between the "spacesim" and the "flightsim" version.
The worst case scenario would be seeing the flightsim version release with no information on a possible upcoming spacesim version and then having the dilemna : do I buy this one while it's available or do I wait for the other one without knowing how it will differ, entailing the risk of the spacesim version being less suitable for the intended purpose... and the flightsim version being already sold out at this time.

The differences I believe will be in the grips and those should be swappable. The worst thing you'll have to face is buying the space-sim grips when they come out, if you prefer them, and a spare set of grips that you might be able to sell on.

[katoman1932]

I have just received my VKB Gunfighter and because of its AMAZING build and quality control I have decided NOT to purchase the Virpil throttle and will patiently await VKB's iteration. At age 90 my prayer is that it will be released and available to me in the USA before I find myself in the hands of the Lord! I can certainly live with using my keyboard for HOTAS demands.

[Kerbal_Jebediah]

I agree wholeheartedly. Any info is better than pure silence aka ignoring impatient childish future customers (yes that's what we are, I know )

Personally a :

a) «Sorry, we understand your impatience, we are still working on it. More info to come when we have news to share»

... would be okayish for me.

Although this :

b) «We are closing on a final product, will try to share some more info soon, in a few days (or weeks / or months / or before the end of the year / or years, depending on the actual progress).»

... would be better.

But a :

c) «We are making good progress, have finished phase #xxxx# and are now entering the #yyyy# phase. Our prediction is an availability window of [estimate]. We will try to keep you in the loop»

... would be AWESOME .

Right now, I'm just wondering if the complete silence means bad news or not.

I 100% agree, this is literally all we want and it would shut us all up. At least an estimate give or take a couple of months?

[Kerbal_Jebediah]

Would it be possible to even just have an estimate with a margin of 3 months? I really don't want to remain throttle-less like all the other people who have decided to wait for TECS since it was first announced.

[TrueWeevie]

Well, VKB is a commercial entity, they're here to make money (luckily for us they also refuse to make anything other than excellent kit!) so that has to be factored into their decisions.

So, whilst pissing their customers off by getting an estimate off would be a concern that might be ameliorated by a looser estimate there are other factors to consider.

VKB are in competition with other commercial entities and release estimates can be commercially valuable information; timing of releases and having the element of surprise in relation to your competitors is something every commercial entity considers.

The scarcity of kit isn't going away any time soon, so if you were to buy a TWCS to tide you over, you'd almost certainly be able to move it on with barely any loss to your pocket when the TECS is released. You could probably say the same thing about a CM3 too, if you wanted something a bit more solid whilst you wait for TECS.

[Zyll]

I do not think there is a viable excuse of a business model that announces a launch is imminent, and then goes 13 pages on a thread without any updates.

I have been excited about TECS since its announcement in December 2017. Then the next official statement was in February 2021 and it sounded like production was happening soon.

You may as well not announce things until the plan is known, then there's no expectations.

[pavsko]

Yeah, from the standpoint of us, customers, the long silence after the initial announcement is not a very pleasant nor fair marketing strategy. Personally, I would really appreciate a more friendly attitude with warmer and more frequent info.

Unfortunately, we have to admit, they can afford to do it that way because they know their products are damn good and that nearly all of us buy the TECS anyway at the end... There is nothing they can lose. Those few exceptions of impatient pilots who buy products of other brands do not change their final business success. So, I am afraid, I think we can do nothing now except waiting

[tahru]

I know there is a lot of work in product design and manufacturing that can drag on indefinitely. I am cool with that. I just wish there was a mailing list, so I don't' have to keep checking this forum. Even subscribing for forum updates is mostly people asking for information, which feels like spam after a while. I will eventually tire of it.

[miniDev]

Those few exceptions of impatient pilots who buy products of other brands do not change their final business success. So, I am afraid, I think we can do nothing now except waiting

I'm not sure that there's only a few impatient customers that do end up buying something else.
I've seen several reddit posts searching for an available throttles options. Those that end up mentioning the TECS always states something like «release date is a big unknown, so it's off the list». It's not that they are impatient, it's just that they don't see the point of waiting for a product with no estimated release date when there are a lot of good products already available.

I'm myself a bit less impatient now because my custom button box (8 buttons, 5 two positions toggle switches, 5 momentary three way switches) is almost done.
After that I plan to upgrade my TWCS : make a new base for it with a bunch of buttons, rotary encoders and switches. And if I end up finishing that one before the TECS releases, I'm not sure I'll want to buy it

[Lombra]

There's not going to be an ETA. They've been clear on their stance on that. This post was the update everyone was waiting for.

Don't know why people are so desperate for empty promises. I'd prefer they keep their mouth shut until they can actually deliver.

[howell_kilian]

Sign me up, I'll take one too. Please.

[CaptainKellog]

Hello everyone,

First post, please forgive me if this was answered already.

Does anyone know if the "base model" TECS with mechanical detents will include interchangeable detents please?

It would be great to have one detent set for fighter jets (idle and afterburner), and one for space sims (single center detent for zero throttle).

Any info is greatly appreciated!

[TrueWeevie]

I was about to reply with a confident "yes" but I thought I ought to go back and read the announcement again to make sure and it turns out, nothing is specifically mentioned.

To be fair, I doubt if the detents are fixed, as that would put the base model significantly behind the CM3 in functionality.

It would hardly be a novel or difficult thing to have mechanical detents that you can change the position of 'mechanically' and assuming the production version of the base has a decent number of controls on it as VKB claim in the announcement, for $200 VKB would have a throttle that would compete very well with the CM3 at a significantly reduced price. Ifg that is financially doable I'd guess that's got to be what VKB are aiming at with the $200 version.

Whether it's a set of 'replaceable external parts' kind of thing that can be easily swapped out like the CM3 or something internal, still adjustable but requiring more effort (say like changing cams on a Gunfighter base) we won't know until VKB tell us.

[milo1973]

Here's a thought: Gunfighter is already at Mk.III, the T-rudder is ak Mk.IV, and the improvements are not insignificant (though not fundamental either, GF at least is upgradeable). So it may be worth tempering your enthusiasm for a Mk.1 product, no matter how long it takes to show up.

Not that I doubt VKBs fine engineering competence (of which I have first-hand experience), however any good engineer will tell you, one always have something to learn, from having a few hundred units in the field.

[TrueWeevie]

Here's a thought: Gunfighter is already at Mk.III, the T-rudder is ak Mk.IV, and the improvements are not insignificant (though not fundamental either, GF at least is upgradeable). So it may be worth tempering your enthusiasm for a Mk.1 product, no matter how long it takes to show up.

Not that I doubt VKBs fine engineering competence (of which I have first-hand experience), however any good engineer will tell you, one always have something to learn, from having a few hundred units in the field.

Well this is a point but who do you think those few hundred early adopters, who will be inadvertently building the snag list will be?

It'll be the suckers on this thread (me included)

I'll be honest, none of us knows how the electronic detents (which lets face it are probably going to be the real 'version 1' thing here) will work but if there's going to be shakedown test issues it'll be there I'd guess.

Eh, currently my financial situation might actually save me from being a version 1 tester but then, the Rail version won't be out first anyway so who knows