Questions regarding F-14 stick production

[Wikikomoto]

Hello! I purchased the F-14 stick back when it released, (actually as a pre-order) and was very let-down with the build quality. I contacted customer support at the time, regarding the multiple technical issues with it, but ultimately ended up giving it to a friend. I have a feeling that maybe the first production run of this stick had a few flaws that had yet to be ironed out?

My question is, has the production of this stick changed at all? I'm still very interested in the stick for its form factor, and the F-14 is my most played aircraft in DCS. The stick itself was not the problem, but the faults in the weapon selector specifically, and I was also having some issues with the trigger. These problems seemed to be very minor design flaws related to manufacturing.

I noticed on the store page, that the stick pictured there is actually a bit different than the one I had purchased before.

Firstly, the weapon selector pictured actually has a metal "collar" on shaft below the "hat" on the top of the switch. Being that this was the component giving me the biggest issue, it looks to have been resolved at some point. Also, the weapon selector switch hat itself is painted red, where mine was flat black unpainted plastic.

Is this representative of the current production product? I am very interested in purchasing another F-14 stick from you guys. I still use the gunfighter mk. iii base, and its been the best stick base I've ever used. So I know you guys make great products. I've just never quite gotten that disappointing experience with my fragile F-14 stick out of my head.

I'd even be willing to pay more to have the little metal part added to the weapon selector, as pictured on the store page.

Actually, interestingly, I've just observed that the stick pictured on the Gunfighter Mk.III ‘F-14 Combat Edition’ store page has the "updated" design, but the stick on the basic 'F-14 Combat Grip (Stand-Alone)' page has the design much closer to the one I had purchased before. So I'm curious now as to which one is the actual production model.

Thank you!

[fallout9]

There were no major revisions for the F-14 grip, other than some software upgrades to make the Selector more responsive and grease added to the trigger and Selector.

[Wikikomoto]

Thank you for the reply! Then, which stick would i be getting if i purchased one? The ones shown in the photos for the standalone grip, or the ones in the photos used for the "Gunfighter Mk.III ‘F-14 Combat Edition’

As mentioned, the stick in the Gunfighter Mk.III ‘F-14 Combat Edition’ photos has a metal collar on the weapon selector, and the hat is painted red. Where as, the photos on the stand alone stick page do not have these features.

I assume the one with the metal collar exists, as it seems to be a real photo and not a mock-up. Is there some way to purchase this version?

Thank you so much!

[fallout9]

This is the current iteration of the F-14 grip.

[Wikikomoto]

Thank you again for the info!

One last question then, What is this stick thats pictured on the other page?

As seen here, it has a collar right where my last stick kept failing. So in my mind, this is an obvious fix to that problem. I'm wondering if there is any way for me to purchase this version of the stick?

[fallout9]

That's definitely not the current grip, could be a mockup.
Which way did it failed you? Wasn't smooth enough while moving positions?

[Wikikomoto]

It was physically getting caught on something, after only having the stick for about 3 days it broke clean off. (very minimal use) Also the trigger kept getting locked up in an odd way. I solved the trigger issue by simply swapping out the buffer.

Also, If i remember correctly, you could depress the top of the weapon selector, like it was a button. But only in some positions, And I wasn't sure if this was intended to be a button, or just an odd quirk of the design? Because it didn't actually register as an input.

I contacted support at the time and they didn't really help me, so I ended up just passing off the stick to a friend of mine. he just uses it as an offhand stick, it works well for him. But he has no use of the weapon selector to this day, as far as I'm aware.

Again, the mk.III base that I have has been one of the most rugged and reliable stick bases I've ever used, so it was quite upsetting to have this stick fail in such short order

[fallout9]

The selector's pin has a button on press while on the top position, then another press on the third position; there's no button on this position but if the pin is not pressed the it won't get into the forth position on the selector. It also need a press and push to leave the forth position and transition on the next position.