NXT to EVO Upgrade Kit in Europe

[Xtremist]

Nope, they weren't available at all. I checked it about every hour.

[Juicebag85]

It is available now.

https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/g ... grade-kit/

[Alighierian]

I figured it was delayed when it didn't show up Friday. Ah well, it's available now, and soon my stick will be even nicer for helo flight.

[Grumble]

I received my gimbal upgrade kit this week (only 2 days after ordering!) and I am very impressed and pleased with it. It was easy to install the upgrade by following the video guide exactly. I paused and rewound it a few times to make sure I was getting it just right, but after 15 minutes I was all done.

Adjustment of the 'dry' clutches (they are in fact greased, with what feels like the usual Nyogel 774 or similar) is easy with the baseplate off, but subsequent tweaks were a little more time consuming due to having to remove the base plate and the reinforcing plate that links it to the SEM. I don't believe the NXT EVO baseplate has holes in it for easy adjustment of the clutches, but I will be modifying my baseplate with three holes to allow for this, with some grommets added to keep the dust out.

I reset the stick to default in the usercfg software as directed in the video and then did the 'Find and Autoconfigure.' There was a slight hiccup at this stage as the stick was suddenly not recognised by the software or my pc, but unplugging it and restarting the pc and software again had it working correctly. I think this was probably a user error rather than a software or hardware issue. I finally reset the curves to my previous settings on the pitch, yaw and roll axes to calm down the snappy response and allow a good range of stick movement for small inputs.

In use, the new bearings and clutches in the gimbal feel very good indeed - they are very smooth and well damped, just as I'd hoped and it certainly feels like a good step up compared to the original NXT setup. I didn't think there was anything very much wrong with the old gimbal, but testing them one after the other you can clearly feel the EVO gimbal is better. My main reasons for changing it were the ability to adjust the damping and keep it set without having to occasionally re-grease it, and the optional ability to lock out the roll axis or remove the springs entirely, to give it a wider range of use for different aircraft and games.

In short, I feel it's an excellent upgrade and good value for money too. It's not an essential by any means, but if you're thinking about upgrading you will definitely notice a big difference. Well done to VKB, and thank you for making the kit available like this.