I cancelled my order, because of an email Winwing sent me confirming my order. The email said that the cost of freight will be established and paid at the time of delivery. I live in the US. I did not know if that that would be an additional $100 or more.
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So, I have used my new Gladiator and STECS throttle for a while now and while I think that the Gladiator is an ok joystick for it’s price the STECS is very disappointing and I more than regret ordering that one. My main issues are that the throttles either creap forward because they are too heavy (I already adjusted the screws to make them tighter but now the throttles need too much force to move) and the second one is that it doesn’t work very well with Spad.Next. Multiple button presses in rapid succession will not trigger correctly. And third, the throttle cannot be used as a tabletop throttle, it really need to be mounted as it tends to slide around your table. But that one is on me because people have warned me that a tabletop use will not be optimal.
Good thing I still have my trusty TWCS. In the end this one is still the best for my needs. I might try to upgrade the slide on day though.
I also found the throttle could move under it’s own weight if the damping screws were backed right off.
Unlock the two throttle levers and then adjust the two dampers until they feel the same. The put the lock back in (if you’re using it) and make small adjustments to the damping screws thereafter, ensuring to adjust them both by the same amount. It’s sensitive, but you will reach a point where you get a nice soft, easy movement but they still stay in place. I’ve had my stecs max for 18 months or so, and it’s weighty but smooth and stable.
I haven’t tried spad.next, so I can’t really comment on the quality or sensitivity of that. I use Mobiflight to bind and map any additional controls that aren’t in the standard controller options, like certain controls and knobs on the G1000. I have found it to be easy to set up and reliable and effective in operation.
What are the multiple button presses in rapid succession you’re having issues with? You can change certain parameters for every control using the VKB software. If you haven’t already, try asking about that on the VKB forum - someone there may have had similar questions and be able to help.
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Good tip about the dampeners. Thank you.
The issue with the rapid button presses are for example that if I want to rotate the two white knobs I have to rotate them very slowly. If I rotate them normaly or quickly they only trigger the very first event. This also happens with any other button, the switch for example. I’m using it for the flaps. If I retract the flapps too quickly then successive events are not triggered. This is an issue with Spad.Next only but according to their discord it’s on VKB to make changes as it’s the only one that has these issues.
I would suggest that it’s on SPAD to fix. The STECS behaves like a bog standard HID device and I have no problems whatsoever using it with my own custom SimConnect software.
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I can only concur with E1ephant42. As I said, I use Mobiflight instead of spad.next, and I have the same controls mapped either through that or in the sim’s controls menu.
I use the same toggle switch for flaps - each down click is “extend flaps 1 notch” and clicking up is “retract flaps.” The lower white rotary knob is increase / decrease range in the MFD and the upper one is linked to the PFD lower rotary knob with press for Enter, so it can scroll through and select waypoints, “Direct To…” etc.
The two rotary controls on my FSM-GA are bound to Heading and Altitude Select via the sim’s control menu, but with a press of the HDG button mapped to “PFD Heading Sync” via Mobiflight, since that control doesn’t work properly in MSFS.
I have not experienced anything like the issues you describe - all 4 rotaries respond quickly and precisely, with no delays or missed inputs. A good twist of the HDG knob will see the heading bug in the PFD moving for a good while to catch up with the inputs after I’ve let go.
As I said, I haven’t tried using it, but it sounds more like an issue with spad.next to me. You can download and use Mobiflight for free. It’s easy to use and there are video guides available. I’d be happy to share screenshots if that could help too. If you like it, the developer is appreciative of an occasional coffee / donation.
I’m not sure how exactly your events are set up in Spadnext, but I can suggest using a pause. You could try adding a pause event at the beginning and the end of the events you’re having trouble with.
P.S.
Thank you @GigantPetz @MagicQuasar1176 for describing issues with the VKB STECS throttle. I was considering buying it, but now I know I won’t.
I think that @GigantPetz might be referring to the rotary encoders on the STECS. There are five of them on the STECS Max (including STEM and ATEM) so if they aren’t configured properly then that can be a problem. There are more than a few people who complain about Spad.next on the VKB side and I can’t really give an informed opinion because I use MobiFlight, which has integrated support for VKB devices. MobiFlight also has upgraded responsive rotary encoders for VKB.
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