Digital Edge F1 Wheel

So is it REALLY worth 149 then??? Comments please :) (I have a GP1 at the moment - is it worth my time and money upgrading to Digital Edge F1) Thanks in anticipation, Tony.

I have just upgraded from a T1, My first impressions of the wheel are good. The feel is good and within the game it is very presise. I liked the way that it can be secured to the desk a big problem with T!. Overall I would say it is worth it just for the presise control that you gain in a game.

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>So is it REALLY worth 149 then??? >Comments please :) >(I have a GP1 at the moment - is it worth my time and money upgrading to >Digital Edge F1) >Thanks in anticipation, >Tony.

>So is it REALLY worth 149 then??? >Comments please :) >(I have a GP1 at the moment - is it worth my time and money upgrading to >Digital Edge F1) Tony, I have purchased one and have used it heavily for GP2, F1RS and CPR. It gets a lot of positivie press but I'll repeat below some personal observations on the negative side from an earlier thread (p.s. it's always a good idea to look through the previous messages on RAS before posting): 1. Latest versions don't have the dual axis switch 2. Inside the steering tube, the shaft is connected to the pot with a *** tube. My first wheel had this slipping all the time - losing calibration. Supplier replaced the wheel without question. 3. My latest wheel has had the nut on the steering pot come loose. As it was Xmas, i stipped and retightened the thing myself. 4. Pedal postioning is uncomfortable I find. There is an option to preload the pedals to a lower position but this worsens problem 5 below. 5. Pedals have a max of about 45deg travel. The pots are connected on a straight shaft so that they also only move 45 deg (unlike geared T2 pedals). This gives them little electrical travel under calibration and fine control is more difficult. Although totally unreliable, my T2 pedals were much more sensitive in this respect. Would I still but the wheel? I'm afraid the answer is no. A steel tube does not necessarily mean quality. There is a lot of lateral play in the wheel and both steering and pedal pots are difficult to replace and poorly implemented. It is a little better than my T2 but, as I paid 150 for it, I wish I had exercised patience and gone for a TSW. The only thing that stopped me was Trevor's ludicrous ordering method, ridiculous shpping costs to the UK and his inability to take Amex (or any other credit card). This may have changed by now. I would order one tomorrow if it had. Just my personal experiences - take them for what they're worth. Regards -- Neil Charlton [link lost in import] --

> I have just upgraded from a T1, My first impressions of the wheel are good. > The feel is good and within the game it is very presise. I liked the way > that it can be secured to the desk a big problem with T!. > Overall I would say it is worth it just for the presise control that you > gain in a game. I'd certainly agree that its worth the money (I also upgraded from a T1), but I found the fixing method to be ... er ... CRAP! There are 2 "quick-release" screws that attach to brass inserts in the base board, and on my wheel BOTH inserts came out of the board within 5 mins of playing :-( But I've done a DIY fixing now, which is much better: 1. Get a piece of MDF, roughly the depth of your desktop, and the width of your screen. 2. Cut MDF in to 2, such that 1 piece can be left under your Vid. 3. Mount wheel on "other" half of the MDF by one (or both) of the following methods: 3a. Mount AND GLUE brass inserts into MDF 3b***wheel to the board, by placing screws just outside wheel's base, and putting large washers on screws. 4 G-clamp "vid board" to desktop (that'll stay there permanently, under your vid) And finally, ( and this is the bit I'm most pleased with :-) ... Mount some "guitar case" type clips to allow you to clip the "wheel board" onto the "vid board" whenever you want to use the wheel. (by "guitar case clips" I mean the sort of thing that is used to hold guitar cases close: kinda hard to describe .... er ... there's a litle metal bit on one side, and on the other side there is a lever/hoop mechanism, the hoop goes over the little-metal-bit, and then you press down the level to tension the hoop. Works a treat!

-If this is the Digital Edge F1 Compact Sim you are talking about then its about 80 in Dixons. The DE Gp500 is about 280 and this is supposed to be the best wheel/pedal combo you can buy. peter hughes

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> >So is it REALLY worth 149 then??? > >Comments please :) > >(I have a GP1 at the moment - is it worth my time and money upgrading to > >Digital Edge F1) > >Thanks in anticipation, > >Tony. > -If this is the Digital Edge F1 Compact Sim you are talking about then its about > 80 in Dixons.

Yes 80 for the one with plastic pedals & no LED on the wheel unit - Rob The DE Gp500 is about 280 and this is supposed to be the best

Well.....after careful thought and consideration (and all of your comments!!!) i have decided "temporarily" to stick with the GP1 with a view to getting the pedals later. Thanks all for your comments.....much appreciated. Cheers, Tony. P.S. (p.s. it's always a good idea to look through the previous messages on RAS before posting): Neil...i've looked in here for the past 2 weeks on posts about the digital edge......how long does your isp keep its messages??? :))))

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>Well.....after careful thought and consideration (and all of your >comments!!!) i have decided "temporarily" to stick with the GP1 with a view >to getting the pedals later. >Thanks all for your comments.....much appreciated. >Cheers, >Tony. >P.S. >(p.s. it's always a good idea to look through the previous messages on RAS >before posting): >Neil...i've looked in here for the past 2 weeks on posts about the digital >edge......how long does your isp keep its messages??? :))))

Mine seems to keep text-only groups at least 4 weeks - binaries much less. Much of the discussion on this wheel came under thread headings which wouldn't be obvious. My comment was not meant as a flame - sorry if it sounded like it. Regards -- Neil Charlton http://www.charlt.demon.co.uk/ --

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>>Neil...i've looked in here for the past 2 weeks on posts about the digital >>edge......how long does your isp keep its messages??? :)))) >Mine seems to keep text-only groups at least 4 weeks - binaries much >less. Much of the discussion on this wheel came under thread headings >which wouldn't be obvious. My comment was not meant as a flame - sorry >if it sounded like it.

Another option, once your ISP drops the messages, is to use DejaNews (www.dejanews.com) to search through the archives. I'm not sure how far back they maintain the archive, but it's a heck of a long time, 6-12 months at least.

On Wed, 31 Dec 1997 01:14:01 -0000, "Tony Powell" >(p.s. it's always a good idea to look through the previous messages on RAS >before posting): >Neil...i've looked in here for the past 2 weeks on posts about the digital >edge......how long does your isp keep its messages??? :)))) Tony, There have been several threads that have included discussion about the F1 Sim / GP500 over the last few days, let alone weeks. Maybe they didn't explicitly say "Digital Edge", but when searching it usually helps to search around the subject ;-) BTW - for older messages, go to www.dejanews.com where you can find a searchable archive of messages going back several months. Cheers, Richard

Sorry to sound "abusive" in any way - this was NOT my intention. Pipex only seem to keep messages for a couple of days then thats it! Still...thanks for the dejanews info. Cheers (again!) Tony.