VIRPIL VFX Grip Review (F-14 Replica Grip)

[@brendenmock4493]

Ill add to jabbers review as i got a unit much farther down the line from jabbers review stick. 286 i think? or something to that effect. the quality would have seemed to improve down the line as one would hope. The buttons felt much better to me for the short time i got to use mine (more on that in a minute). Being able to use this with a warthog was THE biggest selling point for me, i was pretty uninterested and having to spend 500 dollars plus to replace my warthog which i love and know lovingly. At the time i picked mine up it was 200 bucks door to door which included priority international shipping to the US and got here in a pretty quick amount just about 5 business days. The hand grip is a little awkward as jabber mentioned, it feels like there isnt quiet enough space from the top of the weapons release to the wrist rest area and it sorta jams your hand together like someone grabbing your knuckles in a hand shake, not tightly but in a sorta uncomfortable way. Im not sure this is so much on virpils front as it is the tomcat stick, ive watched a fair few cockpit videos and ive noticed a couple of the F-14 drivers sticking their pinkeye out and when i do such it relieves that weird feeling on my hand, just my 2 cents on the subject. Now back to the Buttons, and the whole reason im writing this long winded paragraph on jabroins video. i got my grip on the 3rd of February, flew with it a solid 4 days tops, 1 day doing about a solid 3 hour flight during a Sunday sortie in the kitty. i went on vacation for a week and the stick went unused. i got home from vacation pull up jabbers discord and somebody was asking if the PH selector press works in the SW mode. Upon testing this out, my weapons selector stopped working. The device manager made it seem like the off button was in continual press and the snapping positions from GUN, SW and SP/PH become mushy like they were just gliding over there positions and never snapping in to place. BIG OOF, i contacted virpil support immediately first response took roughly a day, i traded 3 more back and fourths with the support ticket guy before being passed off to someone else. The second guy took a solid 2 days to reply (it was the weekend but im was pretty frustrated at this point given the small time frame my 200 dollar investment broke). His first email was nothing more then a tracking number and 0 instructions (again frustrations are mounting) i send him a message to which i got no reply for 3 days before i was finally given instructions and the necessary paper work to return the stick. so start to finish it took 13 days before i finally sent my stick back to be fixed. of course piss pour time of COVID-19 has no doubt delayed the return of my stick (probably). This is not to tell anyone off from Virpil for the most part im not against them and i honestly feel its probably a fluke mine grip broke. But do be warned it could very well happen to you.

[@Skipcarey]

Its been discovered that the wire inside is seperating (on the weapons select switch)go to their forums and someone took theirs apart an took pictures (this was Today 3/22/20)now my question to you is did virpil pay the shipping(as its not all cheap from the US $40.00 one way)to return the stick ? I just today 3/22/20 ordered mine and Im leary and may just cancel that order.

[@brendenmock4493]

Axe they did pay for the shipping (thankfully) I would have gone ballistic. Mine is pretty clearly more then just the wire. The whole mechanism is fooked. But that is interesting to note.

[@colderwar]

That's cured me of any desire to buy an F-14 grip from Virpil. Anything costing that amount of money should work flawlessly

[@SVgamer72]

I have had the VFX for about a week+ now and I love it. You review is 100% spot on. It’s definitely not for everyone. I am a DCS F-14 fanatic. I regret nothing. :)

[@Snugggg]

have you had any trouble with your thumb slider? I've had mine 4 days and the thumb slider has broken already

[@SVgamer72]

@@Snugggg no mine.is still good. Sorry to hear you have an issue. Hopefully support will come through with a fix.

[@Snugggg]

@@SVgamer72 thanks me too. Its a real shame as I love this stick apart from that.

[@flighttherapybullisticfpv133]

Ok, so I recently bought a winwing ORION Hotas and ive realized why Virpil alters the dimensions and angles of their grips.. If you take the winwing grip, which is basically a 1:1 hornet grip, you realize that the grip is meant for your hand to grip it from above, and too the right of the stick (think, the stick between your legs at knee level or just above). This makes is very ergonomic when you have it mounted between your legs, but for a desktop stick it is actually kind of uncomfortable, despite being a true F-18 stick design. Virpil, in their infinite wisdom, have altered the angles and proportions to make the stick comfortable from EITHER position, so it can be used as a desk mount or a sim mount and still be comfortable in the hand, with all the buttons easy to reach

[@shagrat47]

The thing about the „axis and button“ option with Virpil HW for DCS is, you can use, say the axis, in the F-14B and the button clicks in other modules. For example, I use the lever axis on the Mongoose-Stick as brake lever in the russian planes and the button option at 80% travel for the western aircraft’s paddle switch. Of course you can use just one or the other.

[@SpypilotSR-71]

We need an F-14 throttle to justify the stick

[@sterni70]

throttletek.com/gf-14-throttle/

[@karlhungus545]

@Sam And for that price it should come with a mail-order bride...

[@TacticalPascale]

Great review again buddy. Very interesting to note it works with the Warthog base too.

[@Smokeyr67]

I wonder if the opposite is true, would the TM F/A 18 stick work with the Virgil base?

[@WillTimeAbility]

I like the points you talk about - this is a solid review. I have owned this for 3 months and in my opinion it's a very good grip for any DCS: Tomcat pilot. For me, the 3 buttons simply allow for "soft press" preparation before the actual action, the plug I pulled out too far as well went back into the grip after I opened it with no issues (as mine was not glued) and the paddle is not in the way of my fingers because I use all 3 for the squeeze. One can notice the 5% difference in shape between this and the original but the ergonomics is 100% Grumman.

[@Snugggg]

no glue on mine either. must have only been on the early version.

[@gungriffen]

As for ergonomics do you think it may have been that way because they wanted the pilot to make deliberate motions? I'm just saying a lot of the time the weapon select is on the dash and this is on the stick. I just wonder if that was a compromise. The pilot has they weapon select in his hands but it's going to be in a way that he'll never accidentally hit it.

[@Jabbers]

I don't think so, but j also don't really know

[@Sokol10]

5:20 Because this POV HAT is not the conventional 4 buttons HAT (e.g. Warthog) with diagonals decoded in firmware when 2 near buttons is pressed simultaneous, but an ALPS 8 way switch.

[@Snugggg]

for what its worth, I love mine. I pull the paddle with my middle finger and keep my ring and pinky where they are. works great. I had some issues early on and had to send mine back to get the DLC slider replaced. Virpil took care of it no problems and its back in action now. very happy.

[@rodwanolds1871]

I got around the lack of buttons by doing different shift states with the weapons switch. Gave me 4 functional hats and more if I want. I didn't realize you could rotate the stick though thanks for the tip.

[@irishpat64]

Right on Target!!! The pin connector issue is a Big Deal and needs a recall,My Pin connector in my WartHog base broke because of the issue.Also I cannot get the "Twist Axis" screw to lock in.

[@aDogboydave]

I have had this stick since Dec 2019. I have the same problem with the pigtail. It's not a game killer but it is an issue. I love the stick but I only got it because it's what they had in stock. I picked up a couple of the cougar MFD panels to make up for the lack of buttons. The stick does fit my hand and it feels good after it warms up. I would purchase it again but would rather have had a Constellation . It was my second choice but it certainly is a step up from anything else that I have ever used.

[@DCSTex]

I have the version without the twist and the connector moves freely up into the grip. If you don't need the twist, don't get it.

[@aDogboydave]

@@DCSTex Good point. Nice to know that. I bought the twist as it was all that is in stock. I don't even use it as I have rudder pedals . Good to know that if I have issues with it I can ask them to replace with a no twist unit.

[@aDogboydave]

Ironically, the only reason that I purchased this stick was that it was in stock and looked like it had enough buttons. I fly DCS, IL2 and Elite but lately I have been flying a lot of Flying Circus so the only button that is even mapped is the main trigger. I don't even use the gun switch most of the time.

[@gungriffen]

I wish instead of sending out review copies they had sent out test copies so they had a chance to fix these problems before mass production.

[@lukeyharriss6951]

Just got one, seems they fixed the issue with the coil and the buttons fee absolutely fine on mine.

[@SDsc0rch]

well done jabbers I like how you're using multiple camera angles

[@MrPhantom453]

Nice detailed review. Thanks Jabbers. Like the (semi) compatability with the Warhog base. I also like the features that they have tried to implement (e.g. brake axis for the paddle lever)

[@ChrisV25]

I had a problem with this stick mated to a TM base. TM bases are designed for sticks with fixed electronic connectors. This stick's connector dangles from a cable. I must not have returned enough slack up into the grip (there was so much resistance that I was getting nervous about causing damage to the cable) and when I screwed it down to the base, the pressure was so great that the electronics connector in the base broke away and was now free floating inside the base, ruining a $150 piece of kit :( EDIT: And Jabbers covers the exact issue that broke my base towards the end. :)

[@Phipanjo]

The diagonal feature on the 8 way hat is realised by software. Kinda observed the behaviour on the Constellation Alpha grip because I was also surprised how reliable the inputs are. Lookup in the virpil software how the hat is responding in comparison to windows joystick manager and it will click by yourself ;-)

[@Gthemaniac]

I love the look of this but what no video on you tube mentions if you order a virpil grip and have a problem as I have.I ordered the warbrd grip recieved it completely non functioning have spent almost 2 months trying to get some kind of tangible response from Virpil. Otherwise this grip was next on my list. But completely turned off by lack of support.

[@Jabbers]

Sorry to here that, this review is not about Virpil as a company, but a review of the grip only. Hopefully you can resolve the issues you had with Virpil. Good luck.

[@JoakimFritz]

Great review. By 'great', I mean 'Damn Good'. I'd never realized how awkward the Tomcat stick-grip was ergonomically until 9:35 - not having handled one myself. Imagine having to weave your thumb around like that with gloves on, whilst flying the Tomcat during a stressful engagement...

[@bazej1080]

True, but this button was rarely being use IRL. It's only function was to release the bombs, probably only one time during the mission. And only if F-14 was being use as bomber. All A-A missiles and gun were operated with comfortable trigger.

[@Jabbers]

Didn't they drop bombs all the time in the D? It was dubbed the Bombcat after all :)

[@bazej1080]

@@Jabbers Correct, after the fall of the SU specialised Navy interceptor was not needed anymore so expensive F-14s were often used as bombers. It still required to simply push this button only one time in a mission, you didn't need to push it in a hurry, just one specific predictable moment. When F-14 was being designed bombing capabilities were of marginal importance so they designed the stick as they did. More modern F-15C/F/A-18C/AV-8B grip is a bit more ergonomic.

[@Jabbers]

Good points :)

[@MaxMnemonic]

@@Jabbers It's intentional, you have to put in conscious effort in order to press the pickle, everything in the design is made against accidental weapon release. Even the lock mechanism on the weapon-select switch. The same goes for "mushy" buttons, you not suppose to activate them the moment you press them, they should activate later when you make conscious decision to keep applying force.

[@CaseyBartley]

As a user of the MT50 CM, the pinky paddle should depress the button partway through, not at full pull of the lever. IF not that is a bad move by Virpil on this one.

[@Jabbers]

I think it's a physical button that gets triggered at the end of the paddle throw

[@CaseyBartley]

Does it have a tactile click? The MT59s does not, and is towards the middle of the pull. Makes it easy to use, better than the hog IMO. But that is MT50 CM v1, v2 might be different and more like the VFX.

[@TOMCATnbr]

The review I was waiting for. I will buy it for my cougar base after I bought the warthog throttle (I need more boutons with this stick)

[@wimwilms1424]

Thanks for this realistic review. It stands out of the whole Virpil hype, which already made me suspicious.

[@Sundowner111]

It seems the newer grips use more glue than the previous ones. Mine (S/N: 66) was glued only on the spine, and the amount of glue was manageable. The grip could be modable (the pinky and weapon release buttons can be easily replaced) but if one can't take it apart, because it is now glued shut, well, there is no point to it now.

[@cypher1o1]

Mine (S/N: 266 didn't have any glue and came apart pretty easy and yeah I seems the tube for the twist is to long for the wire to go back up being pushed but if you pull it apart there is plenty of room the pull up Mine the biggest problem I have is when I'm manuvering it likes to rotate and loosen from my warthog base wish there was rubber or something to supply grip between the base and the stick to stop twist.

[@Sundowner111]

@@cypher1o1 See, this is what I feared the most - the inconsistency. Mine, like I said, was glued only in one spot, Jabbers grip (and few others I've seen) was glued all the way around the clamshell. Mine has a rubber gasket at the bottom of the stock where it's connecting with the base!

[@gvii]

Well, it sure looks nicer than the one I'm making. Lol. But yeah, I think you're right. It's really ONLY for the people looking for the whole immersive F-14 experience. Though I'm not sure I like those buttons much. They look really mushy. The ones on the stick I'm building are mushy as heck too, but that's only because I'm not willing to spend a fortune on switches until I get the thing fully working. If you're spending a couple hundred just for a grip, I'd really want it to have solid, tactile buttons. It would be interesting to see a comparison with the VKB grip.

[@HeartbreakOne1337]

Hey, can you make a video to show your diy stick and tell something about the procedure? Would love to see that m8

[@gvii]

@@HeartbreakOne1337 I'm still farting around with a few things on it, mostly how I want to do the paddle switch. I also haven't decided what I'm going to use as axis sensors yet, I have about 10 different options I'm considering at the moment. When it's finally finished and operational, I might do a video. But for now, I have a couple of posts on the HotasDIY reddit. My latest is here www.reddit.com/r/HotasDIY/comments/f65aql/f14_still_chugging_along/ And yes, I know it's in Nerf colors, Lol....

[@HeartbreakOne1337]

@@gvii thx for your answer, looks like its going to be great!

[@coachwill]

Thanks for the info on the stick. I literally broke my Warthog stick that I have had since 2010 last week and have been waiting for a replacement one. So now I have a Warthog base but didn't want to spend a few hundred dollars more on a Virpil base and stick. In the future could you please do some details on the usage of the stick with the Warthog base? I am seriously thinking about buying this stick today and seeing if it arrives before my Warthog replacement arrives.

[@dalebachman2892]

I saw a video that might be on KZbin but the video was of the second Tomcat built on a test flight in which the F-14 crashed. Fortunately, The crew ejected safely but during the video... The pilot does say that the geometry of the stick was terrible so ergonomics was not a big thing at Grumman at that time.

[@R1door]

A propos I am using this one with the Virpil 20cm curved extension, centre mounted in between my legs on a warthog base, twisted a bit to conform to your hand it feels very natural and I guess since your hand is a bit lower almost at knee height the awkward thumb action is nullified... but yes, this review is spot on! This grip serves a specific purpose only...

[@Jabbers]

I have the 200cm extension to, probably just my small hands lol

[@R1door]

Jabbers “ladies!” 😆👍

[@BobGnarley.]

10:07 It's crazy to me that pilots could have to deal with lackluster ergonomics - you would think surely this is one of the more inexpensive and higher priority things to be dealt with considering the importance in real situations. apparently not!

[@TheRealOriginalDiegoM]

So how do F-14 pilots switch between the ACM modes?

[@Jabbers]

It's on the throttle

[@vanguard9067]

Very well done!

[@Asgar1205]

me: *watching* Jabbers: muchy buttons me: *looks at footage, looks at my warthog* so same as what i already got xD

[@ApoTroll]

Not being able to open it, seems like a huge isse. What if a button breaks after some years and you are looking to fix it?

[@tonyascaso6254]

Great review! Thank you!

[@nin8672]

I have a question - will the Stick extension kit 200 mm for the F-14 Combat Grip also be compatible with the worthog base?

[@Jabbers]

I don't see why not but you should ask virpil directly

[@Deagle367]

Have you tried to use a blow dryer on heat to soften the glue, that may work? Just placed my order a few days ago and good to know not to pull the cable all the way out.

[@ericandi]

I would much rather have a stick with a boat load of buttons, hats, sticks, dials, etc. than a perfect replica of any airplane’s stick. I bought the Virpil Constellation because it’s a great stick and has a boat load of HOTAS controls. The fact that it’s not a perfect replica of any airplane, doesn’t bother me. I mostly fly the F/A-18 in DCS and the Constellation works beautifully.

[@jamesShannonBussey]

Does the twist axis work with the Warthog Base?

[@airvideo1airvideo889]

It would be nice to see the weapon switch work by thumb.

[@CaseyBartley]

(EDIT: I didn't realize you could get this without the twist, changes my opinion on the grip). Twist axis not having enough room for the cable makes sense. I have the Delta grip (LH for space games) and it has plenty of room for the cable and doesn't have the issue you were seeing with this one. It's taller, though. I was in the vocal minority on NOT having a twist axis for this particular grip in the discord discussions while it was being designed. The "space sim" crowd was VERY vocal about this particular grip getting a twist. Had it not gotten the twist, or been made a little taller (another thing the space sim guys were completely hammering Virpil at the time was for shorter grips for desktop use only), this grip would have been a complete slam dunk, button sloppy issues aside IMO. As a mostly WW2 sim pilot, and occasional F14 sim pilot, I would actually have loved to get this grip. But I am glad I did not. Although the cord issue wouldn't have matter for me as I use center stick extensions. Still, it's overdesigned for it's task.

[@yesverygood7437]

is the vkb f-14 a better purchase?

[@Jabbers]

Still reviewing

[@navyao]

Jabbers, thanks for making this vid. Dumb question, but what type of screwdriver did you use for the twist access screw, I have nothing that fits. Thanks in advance for your reply.

[@Jabbers]

I believe it was an Alan wrench

[@navyao]

@@Jabbers, ah! Makes sense. Thanks much!

[@biggus3348]

Good review. I'll likely still be buying it at some point just because I really want the DLC axis control and I'm already deep in the PS/2 - Gardena hose connector family of joysticks. How does the weight compare to the Warthog top end? It took me a long time to get used to the sense of inertia with the WarBRD and it isn't noticeable to me as much now, but I can't say I'm not hoping that the VFX is a touch lighter.

[@Jabbers]

It is lighter, but I'd have to weigh them to tell you by how much

[@biggus3348]

@@Jabbers No sweat. Lighter would be good for me, even if it is a small amount.

[@DuyNguyen-hu6xr]

Great Review that goes over the pluses and minuses of this grip. It never really felt right to hold until I turned the grip so that my wrist would be straight when holding. Another great feature of this stick is that via VPC software you can hard-program the weapon-select lever to add 3 extra shift states. Since the twist, brake lever and DLC access have hard-coded physical button functions you can easily map them in the VPC software for a total of 64 button logical buttons. One long-term use issue with the stick is that virpil used hard hot-glue and thick wires for the weapon-selector push-button. With enough shifts of the weapon selctor the wire breaks and many VFX owners lost functionality of their weapon selector push-button. I literally had to open up the unit, remove the hot-glue and then replace the thick wires with thin flexible ones to avoid future breakage :(

[@colinsmith2672]

Which F14 grip would your recommend more? The one by VKB or this one by Virpil? You had me sold at "switching to guns".

[@Jabbers]

I have a video on the VKB, personally I like the VKB a bit more

[@Gthemaniac]

Then again maybe not on my list with some of the things you mentioned. Does the twist function work on the warthog base? Just curious

[@SVgamer72]

Gthemaniac The WH base is limited to two axis (X, Y) and 19 buttons. It won’t see any additional axis or buttons found on a Virpil grip.

[@Gthemaniac]

@@SVgamer72 Thank you for the info

[@SirBabafingo]

This stick is for DCS F-14 only, don't buy it at all if you are gonna use it for other aviation stuff. That is the whole point of this video :)

[@xairacobrax2393]

Hasan Yiğit Özbahçe what about using it for F4, F86, WWII birds?

[@Cougar139tweak]

1:17 Thank you!!!!

[@Empinada]

Whatever happened to that wvr series you were working on?

[@Jabbers]

Same as everything I wanna work on, life gets in the way :(

[@alexanderbeck5998]

Can you do another Rio Pit video?

[@Jabbers]

I have several

[@ironeaglesflight]

"I prefer a stif button...." and then there way silence :D

[@xdiver01]

Thanks for the review, I bought mine very first day but I really didn´t like it, I expected TM F-18 quality.

[@karlhungus545]

Double the price of the Warthog (which I don't own yet...still have my X45 until it dies). Virpil looks good, but is it worth DOUBLE!?

[@JamesW81]

If you want the feeling of flying the F-14 I'd say yes. I'm in process of buying parts for new PC so that I can play DCS on high/max settings and buying this grip with the mongoose base... And pedals . And a throttle if they bring one out.

[@R1door]

This is the kind of grip if you want to “anytime (insert Tom the Cat logo here) baby” and that’s it 😆

[@victorvaida4272]

The cartoon cat is actually named Felix.

[@gotindrachenhart]

Cold war jet man, ergonomics weren't as important as splashing migs ;) If you told one of those guys something about carpal tunnel back then they'd probably tell you to go see a GYN then hop in their corvette lol

[@FluufyPvPTM]

the f14 is so much easier to learn compare to the f18

[@wg4112]

Other way around, f14 is hard to learn, f18s easy

[@Angus_Gibson]

Clicked SO fast!

[@ShadeAKAhayate]

Try VKB, these should be much better...

[@Jabbers]

VKB did send me one for review, so expect a video on that as well

[@ShadeAKAhayate]

@@Jabbers n1ce! Waiting for one, very curious about their devices.

[@CrpMag]

Jabbers don’t want to be an impatient ass, but how long do you think? My X-52 broke and I need to decide on a grip.

[@Rahj2001]

My issue with VKB sticks is they are not compatible with Virpil bases. Alas..i will be getting both sticks...i dont really like VKB bases but ill have to get one. 😒

[@brendenmock4493]

I beat it to this.

[@iranash1797]

The twist is garbage IMHO, but I still love this stick. I also like the lever and having to grab it with all my fingers it feels right to me

[@mmarsh1972]

virpil

[@FluufyPvPTM]

It probably cost like 500£

[@Skipcarey]

VKB is about $450.00 US

[@tonyHern865]

it looks very cheap.