UCM Stronghold - Adapter Plates - Phone Holder - Cup Holder

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Aquitaine
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UCM Stronghold - Adapter Plates - Phone Holder - Cup Holder

Postby Aquitaine » Thu Feb 23, 2023 5:20

Hi,

Just made the jump from some old Saitek HOTAS gear to the Gladiator NXT Evo and Evo Omni with a pair of UCM Stronghold (Cadet + an extra S) mounts and have a few comments about the setup process and the videos.

Firstly, these things feel great and the mounts are solid. I prefer them to my old X56 Monstertech mounts already, which had a bad habit of falling off the desk and denting my floor. These things aren't going anywhere and are easier to adjust. In terms of the quality of the product doing what it's supposed to do, my initial impressions are 'wow, I'm glad I bought these!'

Setup:

The actual base + grip setup was very easy and as idiotproof as one could imagine, given the number of combinations of stuff the design has to account for. Base + grip setup took a couple minutes for each one.

The software setup video is a little out of date and refers to a 'find and auto configure' button that seems to have been replaced with an automated step that occurs when it prompts you whether you want to configure the device. This makes the actual setup even easier than what's in the video, but probably best to keep things current so you're not asking people to do something that no longer needs doing (and can't be done anyway, as best I can tell).

The Stronghold mounts were a different story. The primary setup process was not difficult -- the video does a pretty good job of walking you through assembling everything. It leaves several things out, though, and it doesn't provide certain details that it ought to provide, even if the sim market is obviously on the sophisticated side and can probably figure it out. This is in the spirit of making the mount setup as idiotproof as the actual HOTAS setup and I hope it's constructive. Just about all of this falls under the umbrella of 'don't make me think.'

If the grip + base setup took me 5 minutes for two, the UCM Stronghold setup took me a few hours. Possibly this is because I'm dumb, but I'm still the customer so making things easier for dumb me will make things easier for everyone.

1. Some of the bags have labels and some do not. Label all the bags. This goes for the grip + base, too. Or if you can't label them for some reason, include a packing list with pictures that identify each bag. Yes, I can eventually figure out what most of the baggies are for, but in some cases I had to search this forum and I really shouldn't have to be searching the Internet to find out what you put in the box.

2. Nowhere in the videos or the quick install reference page does it indicate how (or with which parts) you're meant to install the Gladiator adapter plate to the UCM-S, or mount the Gladiator base to the adapter plate. I ended up mixing and matching leftover screws and nuts because I didn't have four of anything that fit exactly, so no doubt I did it incorrectly, but if you leave it to me to make it up I'm gonna make it up in some ingenious and thoroughly dumb fashion. Could you put up a short video that is just mounting the adapter plate to the UCM-S and then the gladiator to the plate?

3. Several steps lay out exactly which little pieces you need (e.g. M5 16 + washer + spring washer + nut) but I noticed that the video always has the M5 screws using the black rubber spacers, which aren't mentioned. I followed the instructions exactly the first time through and ended up with a mount where the screws were scraping the metal. I figured out I was supposed to just know that you should use those black rubber spacers everywhere you can, but if you're going to have a step in the instructions that says 'USE THESE FOUR THINGS' it should either be 'USE THESE FIVE THINGS' or else put a little piece at the beginning that says 'anytime you have an M5 screw, use the black rubber thingy'

4. The video specifies the specific order for M5 + washer + spring washer + nut, but ... it doesn't say which side of the screw each one goes on! This is certainly obvious to some people and again, it's not hard to figure out, but if I've never used a spring washer in my life I don't necessarily know whether it goes on the screw head side or above the nut.

5. There's no video or instructions of any kind for the keyboard, phone, or drink mount on the UCM-S. There's a forum thread where somebody helpfully posted a few pictures on installing the phone mount. If you're selling 'em, it'd be a good idea to support them! They're obviously pretty easy to install and (some) of the bags are labeled, so that's good, but better still to finish the job.

Protip: The Elgato Stream Deck fits perfectly in the phone holder and is a neat addition! Maybe a cross marketing opportunity, 'cause I need to push a bunch of buttons more often than I need to make a phone call while I'm flying (a spaceship || a 747).

Anyway, these look really nice and I'm impressed with the quality. I think all of the above have easy fixes and would help a lot! Thanks!

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fallout9
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Re: UCM Stronghold - Adapter Plates - Phone Holder - Cup Holder

Postby fallout9 » Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:19

Thank you for the constructive criticism and for your time to put it together. This would help us to deliver a better customer experience.


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