#3920537 - 03/05/14 11:38 AM
MFG Crosswind pedals review
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 44
klem
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 44
UK
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I have to say up-front, as some will know, that I 'won' these pedals in a give-away draw made on the ATAG Cliffs of Dover website for supporters of the DCS WWII 1944 Kickstarter project. That said, my opinions here are as objective as I can make them. There is no 'favouring' of the product in this review.
The following videos will give an overview of the pedals assembly and adjustment and will save a thousand words/photos here. It's enough to say here that assembly and adjustment are very easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu4V8YE9n80#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyoujTe0Rf4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS_H_pAr...6LyAysaXSbrfCNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVNSsj6a...ure=c4-overview
Packaging
The pedals were received in a cardboard carton and were protected internally by custom moulded polystyrene packaging comprising three main moulded blocks and two top connecting 'spars' taped into moulded recesses in the main blocks. Two corners of the carton had very minor crushing consistent with a long postal journey (Croatia to UK). The internal polystyrene packing 'spars' had cracked near one end but the close fitting carton/packaging arrangement kept all of the packaging in place and there was no visible damage to the pedals. The cracks may have happened during the packing process.
The packaging keeps all the assembly parts firmly in place and includes slots for the USB cable, the wall spacers, the spring/fittings, each in their own plastic bag and the spare Cam.
There are no assembly instructions as such but these are covered on Youtube videos referenced in paperwork enclosed in the carton. My personal opinion is that there is a need for a DVD containing those videos and the calibration software. I know software on most products is updated from time to time so perhaps a 'Check for Updates' button on the calibration window would be a good idea. MFG have told me that they prefer the on-line approach to accommodate any changes to software or instructions. This is a new product so one or two changes would not be unusual and at least one video is out of date in one very minor respect (quick adjustment of the spring tension) and is to be replaced.
Assembly
Assembly is easy to understand from the video and I decided to assemble the pedals with the 'stock' settings for pedal angles etc. although I soon changed the foot-plate angles from 20 degrees to 30 degrees.
The design allows the foot-plates to be mounted in either of two width locations and my preference is for the wider spacing which feels more realistic (see Saitek comparison below) with the pedals splayed out. Wall spacers are available but I do not use them due to the size of my desk and my distance from the wall.
Adjustments
Adjustments for foot-plate angle, wall distance, cam changes, brake tension, etc are very easy to make, are easily accessible and take only minutes. It is a clever design. Watch the videos linked above.
Connection
The electronics are easily dealt with. Two cables emerge from the from the centre part of the pedals cross-bar just in front of the main pivot, i.e. on the user's side. They have small plugs on the ends which are like the type used to connect fans etc to a motherboard. These are to be plugged into two matching sockets recessed into the base plate just below. On the far side of the pivot point at the centre-front of the base-plate is a USB socket also recessed into the base-plate and the supplied USB cable is used to connect the pedals to a PC USB socket. The recessing appears to provide protection for the plugs/sockets.
Setup
Setup is straightforward when following the video and after downloading the calibration software. There is also a video showing how to upgrade firmware should this ever become advantageous. The calibration must be done in MFG's own calibration software. It is as simple as opening the application, clicking a button for each of the three axes before moving the axis over it's full range and then clicking the button again. Here you can also adjust dead zones and noise filtering although the stock settings appear to be perfectly fine. The pedals do appear in Windows Devices 'Game Controllers' setup but it is best to calibrate them in the MFG application.
In use
The pedals are very nice to use although when I set the spring pressure so that the centering works nicely the extreme rudder movement is very, very, firm. Out of personal preference I fitted the spare Cam (engraved as #4, a simple task) which seems to lessen pressure a little at the extreme ends but is still firm (in a good way). Use of extreme rudder travel is only likely to be during ground handling and extreme maneuvers. The pedals are nicely spaced and feel comfortable underfoot. A key winning point for me is that movement through and around the centre point is very smooth due to the Cam and bearing design. Some other pedals use a more direct spring-centring method which 'stops' at the centre point (see Saitek comparison below) and requires a 'push off' from the centre position which can lead to over-correction for fine rudder adjustments. The Cam design is smoooooth through the centre and allows fine rudder control. Like the real thing, there is no centre 'stop'. Curve approaches, ball-centering, sideslips etc are a delight with these pedals.
Conclusions
The construction is sound and the whole design is innovative. The composite materials used and especially the extensive use of metal ball bearings and electronic sensors suggest long life, probably fault-free. The electronic position sensors used on all axes are essential in modern controls and give smooth accurate response. The sensor electronics is 12 bit for fine control output.
Four fixing holes are provided in the base and are very useful. I have a large MDF panel running from under my seat to the wall that my desk sits against to protect the floor from continuous movement of my chair castors and I have fixed the pedals to that. Again, an easy task but a smaller plate would do if you like your pedals firmly fixed down.
A subjective comparison with Saitek Pro Flight pedals
I have owned Saitek Pro Flight pedals for several years. They fall into what seems to me to be Saitek's policy of fairly high but still reasonable cost, targeting the average enthusiast with an acceptable product. They cost about 40% of the launch cost of the MFG Crosswind pedals but you get what you pay for. The Saiteks are certainly better than no pedals at all although the pedals always felt too close together and I have three other problems with them which the Crosswind pedals do not give me.
1. Movement through the centre position is sticky making very fine control around the centre difficult and especially unwelcome when centring the ball for an accurate shot or finely controlling a landing or maneouvre. This seems to be due to the centering mechanism where two lengths of plastic block come together to rest against each-other and form a centre 'stop'. Separating them requires slightly more pressure than other rudder movement which leads to juggling foot pressure around the centre. The Crosswind Cam and bearing design allow smooth transition through the centre point whilst still having a positive centre and fine control of the rudder through the centre is a delight.
2. The Saitek pedals are largely made from plastic, they squeak quite a lot, are prone to flexing under pressure and twice I have been very heavy-footed and caused the internal rails to jump off the internal nylon rollers that support fore and aft movement. The Crosswind composite material and extensive use of metal bearings eliminate these problems.
3. The Saitek potentiometer design is completely outdated, has a finite life and eventually will present noise problems with no parts support from Saitek. The Crosswind electronic sensor design should last a very long time and I suspect would be much easier to repair if ever the need arose.
To buy or not to buy?
During my working life I have been in technical sales for industrial process control systems then fire and security systems, undertaken fire detector design and manufacturing, then I spent 23 years in flight simulation support services and business management so I know something about products, design, manufacture and costing (but I don't claim to know all the answers!). Here I am reviewing as an every day simmer although I can see that this is a high-end product, priced as such, and probably aimed at Top Level enthusiasts and/or those happy to pay extra for their hobby. Still, here goes.... IMHO........
Saitek and CH pedals sell for around €120 to €145. Assuming the average guy is not going to pay huge amounts of money for gaming kit I think it would be hard to get him to double the price of CH/Saitek so the Crosswind pedals seem to be aimed at the real enthusiast market. If I assume the CH pedals are about the same standard as Saitek (I never owned CH) then I would expect to pay much more for Crosswind pedals because I genuinely believe them to be far superior in construction and performance. But how much is that worth? Certainly around €75 more which would take them to around €200 but I understand that price level may not be achievable with a new product. The Slaw pedals (reviewed elsewhere on the forum) have a similar price and presumably similar performance to the Crosswinds. €200 or £200 or $300 are just numbers but may be a psychological barrier for some. It was for me when I first read about them. However the pedals are a beautiful product which work very well and I can see that they may appear to be expensive compared to Saitek/CH but they are on another level and they are not the only pedals out there in that category.
Now that I am using the pedals I would say they are definitely worth every penny, or Euro-cent.
klem
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#3926999 - 03/19/14 04:22 PM
Re: MFG Crosswind pedals review
[Re: klem]
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 111
milan_croatia
Member
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Member
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 111
Split, Croatia
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Thanks for the review KLEM. Nice and fair :-) About the pricing. I wrote this in my development thread, but I'll write it again. As a simmer myself it was my personal wish to bring MFG Crosswinds for 200 eur to the market, but I failed. It is very hard to go down to that price level with a custom built product...in small batches :-( Again, as a simmer I didn't want to cut corners in quality to get the price down ...so ended up at 288 eur. In my opinion pedals are intended for anyone who will fly for years to come and want a solid pedals that will last. Concerning how much money we spend (I speak for myself too) in rather frequent PC upgrades and how much that all cost...than I belive price is not cheap, but on par with what you get. Compared to GPU, CPU or other components cost which will not last as long as pedals...huh...KLEM you said it right, it's just a psyhological barrier that we have. But, let's put all that money aside :-) I just wanted to notify everybody that my development thread is here on the forum for anyone who want to read... I'll link page 18 as it contain latest development, and I've published a new video on youtube yesterday http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3782056/18P.S. You'll see KLEM's custom engraved pedals there too
Last edited by milan_croatia; 03/19/14 04:24 PM.
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#3928073 - 03/21/14 05:00 PM
Re: MFG Crosswind pedals review
[Re: klem]
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,527
WileECoyote
Member
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Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,527
Argentina
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Ok, I give up. I have seen too many posts about these to keep delaying the purchase. I'm weak, what you're gonna do. Milan, is this still valid? (from your site):
As I produce more pedals I sell to people in order of contact dates...first in - first out.
- You send e-mail inquiry including :
- Full Name and surname
- Shipping adress
- your payment method
- your shipping option ( from table)
- Where did you find out about my my pedals - no obligation but please write :-)
- I respond with approximate date of pedals availability for you
- When your pedals are ready I send invoice according to your payment method
- I ship pedals in 2 days from date of payment
When you're feeling sad, just remember that somewhere in the world, there's someone pushing a door that says "pull".
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Exodus
by RedOneAlpha. 04/18/24 05:46 PM
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