Honeycomb Aeronautical Charlie rudder pedals

I don’t know if I’d call them vaporware - demonstrators exist! :smiley: I would suspect that Honeycomb are just juggling all the supply chain issues.

I’m a giant nerd, so I want my pedals to match my yoke and throttle. :rofl:

matching is my main reason for waiting as long as I have. I am getting desperate though, my old pedals we held together by rubber bands and haven’t worked very well for a year, now the little tab that I had been attaching the rubber bands to is broken and I can’t fix it this time so at the moment I have nothing.

I wish they would just communicate; I have scoured their website and there is no news or announcements or information about future products.

I think that’s a bit of a website holdover from when Virpil switched from only being able to order when fresh stock was released. (which was a painful lottery)

Good places to ask this question are the Virpil forums itself or r/hotas

Personally I’ve ordered things from Virpil that were flagged as “backorder” and they shipped as if they were waiting on a shelf.
(But then again I’ve also had long waits for stuff, especially when it’s newly released and they are still building them. My CM3 throttle was pre-ordered…and there were some delays.

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Thanks for the info, I think I’m going to give it a shot. I have heard good things about their products.

Yes. I have had a great time with my Virpil gear. Upgrading from the mainstream consumer brands was a night/day experience. I wouldn’t go back.

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Pre-order placed. Expected launch date 28th October 2022. (Australia)

Guess what, now it’s changed to 25 Nov 2022, Patience, sigh

Edit;
And further down to late March 2023.……

I pulled the trigger on a Virpil Ace now that they have opened their US store. Placed order on Saturday 8/13, order closed on Friday 8/19 (which as best I can tell means that it was ready for shipping). Shipped UPS on Monday 8/22 and is on schedule (per UPS) to deliver to my house in AZ Thursday 8/25. If all goes well, I’ll have them tomorrow - just in time to go out of town for a week :grimacing:

I ordered from the US store which had just opened and got 5% off and shipping was only $10 so I paid less than waiting for the Honeycomb. Since I had no rudder pedals I decided that X-Box connectivity was less important since I won’t be replacing my yoke anytime soon. Can’t wait to try them out.

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I could have existed without seeing their website. (empties wallet…) :wink:

That looks like some good quality gear! I couldn’t tell if the sticks and stuff were metal or plastic. Some things looked like metal, but I couldn’t find specifics. Then again, I’m tired. >.<

And they will try to raise them further as long as they can get away with it.

If you ask me, they have kept supply low artificially from the beginning with the Alpha and Bravo to keep up demand.

Also I cannot see myself paying 350,-$ for mass produced rudder pedals.

In my eyes they are far less crucial to the process of flying than a yoke or throttle, and far less sophisticated in technology. Still they are significantly more expensive. For the same price I get about 4 Thrustmaster pedals. They most likely aren’t as pretty or well made, but they’ve been getting the job done for many years, and they are small enough to be pushed aside quickly when not needed.

While I don’t have any Virpil gear as I understand they tend to use metal where it matters. Virpil’s stick bases are all metal (sans electronics ofc). Virpil’s joystick extensions are metal. Virpil’s stick grips have plastic shell/frame with some metal parts.

It’s worth emphasizing on the latter point that this is largely a good thing, a joystick grip does not need to be metal from wear and tear point of view and what that metal is doing is (particularly when on top of an extension) is adding extra top weight. My VKB SCG + VKB’s 20cm extension weights something like 600 grams combined and most of that is in the extension. VKB’s MCG Ultimate (with metal grip shell) would weight over a kilogram with the same extension, Thrustmaster’s Warthog grip weights around 700-800 grams by itself. Consequently I don’t need to worry much about stick centering improperly due to too weak springs, and can run fairly light springs for fingertip controllability towards the middle (with need to put some wrist/arm in when I hit the extremes where the cam produced progressive resistance becomes more stiff). It’s not even adding to realism really, since modern fighter sticks don’t have metal grips.

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That’s good - that’s how I think it should be done at least! :slight_smile:

I had the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS system for a while - yeah, it was friggin’ SOLID. Took up way too much space on my (then) small desk though. Too many buttons too for my liking. If I was flying one airplane and wanted to learn that in and out, sure. I hop around too much though for that.

Right now I’ve got the Logitech rudder pedals, and those are working just fine. I’ll wait 'till the Charlies come out and check those out. The OCD in me wants them because I have the Alpha & Bravo… must all look alike! :slight_smile:

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My rudder pedals came right on schedule, 12 days from order to in my house. I have not used them but they appear to be solid. I couldn’t find a piece of plastic anywhere and they have a heft about them. Can’t wait to get back and try them out. It pains me to spend so much on so much on what is a simple product, but they are necessary for crosswind landings and helicopters.

While they don’t match my other honeycomb gear, they’ll be out of sight and I can finally control my plane properly again.

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Anybody got to try these? They look nice.
Honeycomb Charlie

They look good, all metal, good guarantee too.

They haven’t been released yet. Unless someone’s somehow a beta tester, you can only pre-order them then wait.

The web page said “SOLD OUT” but I saw the pre-order pending, whilst placing a pre-order for the the new Honeycomb Alpha XPC.

I just got the HC Alpha and Bravo a few weeks ago and they are great, the throttle is really amazing! BUT, for the same money (give or take $10) you can get Virpil pedals. ALL metal, not just the pedals. And Virpil now has a US webstore, shipping center. And you can choose heel on the floor or heel on pedal versions. Or spend a bit more and get the “Collection” with both pedal types like I did. Don’t mean to steer sales from HC, I’m a fan! But especially if the Charlie isn’t shipping. Give Virpil a consideration. They feel so good! Very flexible for different mounting options, etc. I could not be happier with my VPC Ace Collection Pedals! As long as you don’t mind some of your money ending up in Belarusian economy, I think much of their manufacturing is there, but they moved business operations to Latvia I think? Lithuania? And Virpil has indicated support/sympathy with Ukraine, at least symbolically.

One thing I am curious about with the HC Charlie pedals is the damping? The Virpils could use a little bit more damping. There’s a few mods out there for this type thing.

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Thanks for sharing and good to know. I was looking at the Thrustmaster’s. Very expensive.
https://www.sportys.com/tpr-pedals.html

Virpil, I can personally attest to the quality of Virpil. I have the TM-3 Throttle unit, and the mongoose base and VFX stick, excellent, top of the line. If was going to get rudder pedals, Virpil for me. The best is always the cheapest, quality tops out for me.

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The price reflects the sales volumes and the quality. They are all metal, very well made pedals.