So I finally decided it was time for a nice set of rudder pedals, after having used my
Saitek Combats for the last few years. After much reading and research, I decided to go with the MFG Crosswind Pedals by Milan. He has been making these for at least a couple of years now, and they seemed to have a very good following. In all the reading I have read on the forums regarding feedback from folks that have these pedals, I never saw any negatives posted. So in October, I placed my order. Ordering was very easy , and the communication from Milan was top notch from beginning to delivery.
I received the new pedals, Serial Number 1457 this past Thursday, but with the holiday and family was not able to open the box and delve into them until early this morning.
Packaging: Was very good, they shipped in a small plain box with lots of custom cut styrofoam inside to protect all the parts. I am sure these things in transit could easily take a lot of beating with no damage occurred to the pedals. Nothing fancy about the packaging, but very effective.
I removed them from the box, and the base assembly looks like this. Those two connectors are for the toe brakes, and they simply plug into the adapters in the base.
I opted for a couple of extra options, the Cam 5 Profile, and the Width Adjustment Plate.
Can Profiles: It came with Cam 4 and Cam 6, the Cam 5 is an additional profile available at a nominal charge. There may also be more cams in the future.
What is a Cam? Well think about a curve in a joystick and what it accomplishes, this is kind of the same type of thing for the physical feel of the pedals as they move throughout their travel. It came with Cam 6 installed, so I just left it in there. I really like it, very small amount of center detent, barely perceptible, and very easy to move.
In addition, the width adjustment plates allows one to mount the pedals themselves to the plates ( the plates amount to the pedal base), and have inner and outer mounting holes. This way one can choose to have their pedals either a little wider, or a little narrower, than the stock setup.
Also when mounting the pedals as stock directly to the base, you can adjust the amount of toe out in the pedals for comfort.
The width adjustment plates and extra cams:
Final Pedal Assembly. ( Note total assembly time was 15-20 minutes). Milan has videos posted on his website of the assembly and adjustment process, that are very clear and easy to follow.
Now you will see in the above picture, at the front the two wall spacers that come with the pedals that I have attached. In my case, I really did not need the wall spacers attached, I have a very deep desk and if I put the pedals all the way forward to where the spacers would butt up against my desk back, they would be too far forward. The rubber type grip pads though he has on the bottom of the pedals, seems to hold the pedals well on my hardwood floor. I have probably spent a couple of hours flying with them so far today, and have not had any movement issues. The pedal base also has holes already drilled for folks that want to really mount them to something.
Ok so after assembly, I hooked them up into my powered USB2 Hub. Windows 10 immediately recognized them as MFG Pedals. Now, Milan does NOT recommend calibrating within windows, instead download his Ver 2 of the calibration tool from his website. It is just a self executing tool, no software installation. Run the tool, calibrate the pedals and toe brakes , close the tool and you are done. Everything is saved in the pedals firmware. The new version of the calibration tool ( for the newer pedals firmware), also has some additional features he will get around to disclosing in the future. One can also set center and end dead-zones in the tool as well.
Materials: The hardware that comes with the pedals is very robust, nothing skimpy there. The material the pedals are made from , is a thermoset composite material with phenolic resin. Coming from the industry I am very familiar with it, and can tell you it is a very durable strong material, that in a gaming environment I can't see ever having a material problem with. It is some very stout stuff.
So after getting them hooked up and calibrated, I took them for a spin in DCS Black Shark. Wow, the smoothness and precision is incredible. With the installed Cam 6 profile, I could barely feel a slight detent around center, and could very easily move the pedals just a fraction left or right, almost seemed like just thinking about moving them started the movement.
Coming from the
Saitek Combats, where my feet were on the floor and the balls of the feet on the pedals, to these pedals where I rest my feet in them, I was a little concerned in how I would adjust. I very quickly adjusted and found them to be very comfortable, and a real joy to operate. The amount of adjustments one can do on them is quite extensive. Very customizable to personal feel.
I will probably play around with the width adjustment plates, and the other Cam profiles ( these are easily and quickly changed out) at some point, but right now I just want to fly and enjoy them! I flew a helicopter for a while in another sim, and it really helped in that regard. The smoothness is incredible.
I am very happy with my purchase, and I am sure I will have many years of enjoyment out of these new rudder pedals.
