Looks like VRInsight get it wrong again!

[Geremy Britton]

With the mass of problems and the countless hours of puzzle solving to get, or attempt to get, these CDU panels working. Many of us went through a lot to get our old VRInsight CDU's working with Flight Sim and most didn't succeed. Many of you mentioned their lack of support further to add icing to the cake, some people expressed their comments very strongly about the quality of their products.

We all thought this had come to an end when VRInsight released the CDUII panel. I for one was excited because it should now work, as you would think VRI have learnt their lesson. And this time it has a proper screen not the 2x2 pixel digital screen from before.

But with the release of the CDUII Panel many were sceptical to purchase after previous experiences, but the few who did ran into yet more problems with the CDU II panel. It seems after spending a large amount of money and people placing trust in VRI have let us down again.

One thing, which i realy cannot resist but to quote. It had me chuckling was this:

"The main issue is that the CDUII panel doesn't work in full screen mode."
LOL wasn't that the only thing that made it different. And i'd say that was a pretty big problem wouldn't you?

That's like saying the only problem with this new carrier bag is, it has a hole in the bottom.

VRI say: "They hadn't tested all conditions and circumstances" Well i would have said this was the first thing to test - is if it works or not, so that makes me doubtful as to if they conduced any tests on the product at all

The quotes i gave were on the VRInsight forum made by VRInsight themselves. It realy is quite unprofessional to fail in such a spectacular and embarassing way ... Twice. VRI >>

In their defence the team is working on an update which should solve the problems but that should have been done before people forked out hundreds of pounds for this kit.

I will leave you to have a read of the full post yourselves
http://vrinsight.com/phpBB3_en/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=639

If anyone here does own the CDU II panel i'd be interested in hearing your experiences.

Best Regards

[steveeverson]

Thanks for an Interesting post Geremy,
Im not a VR insight customer myself but thought i would have a look on their website and noticed that the CDUII picture seems to clearly show FMC data that is full screen...
Seems to me that they are advertising one thing and selling something else...hmmm

Steve

[Geremy Britton]

Possibly so. Not being a VRI customer myself also, just came across the post and thought i would let you guys know as i know some of you may be considering it for your setups as it is reasonably new the CDU II panel. Especially on the run up to christmas. I don't want you disappointed come boxing day

I would wait until at least the problems have been fully sorted out and we have good feedback from others'

I hope VRI find their feet sooner rather than later.

P.S The other thing is they're still selling it on their website and others, without any mention of a recall to fix them or compensation to the affected customers.

A Friend of mine tried contacting VRInsight for a different matter and they' didn't reply so i guess just bad customer service.

[brynjames]

But guys, if you track across to this post
http://vrinsight.com/phpBB3_en/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=631
in the VRi forum you will find that the CDU II apparently *can* be made to work in full screen mode, and there is a youtube video to prove it. Strangely, VRi don't seem to have taken this information on board.

The volunteer UK based moderator on the VRi forum is extremely helpful to users but communication from the manufacturer on the forums seems somewhat lacking. Reminds me of GoFlight.

Out of curiosity I had a look on the VRi Korean language forums to see if there were any useful screenshots featuring the CDU, but I found nearly all the posts were in Russian and featured young ladies who seemed to have forgotten their flight attendant uniforms. Maybe flightsimmers have more fun in Korea.

For those of us trawling the market for a CDU there seem to be 3 basic choices:

1. FlyEngravity: superior product but relatively high price. Aircraft types limited. Interfaces directly through USB.

2. Open cockpits: much cheaper. Could possibly be programmed to work with different types of aircraft. Requires graphics card with TV Out. SIOC etc takes some learning.

3. VR Insight: similar price to Open Cockpits but looks less professional. Only requires VGA or DVI port (plus USB2). Can be programmed perhaps more easily to work with different types of aircraft.

So to me the VRi still potentially looks to be a promising and flexible solution at a relatively low price - when they get the bugs out . And anyway, when was the last time any other flightsim company acknowledged their mistakes so openly and apologised?

So lets encourage VRi, not kick them. The purchase of a VRi unit may be just the thing to start a number of new recruits on the pit-building hobby.

--
Bryn