Iris Dynamics Force Feedback Yoke

[simbio 56]

I remember when I pledge on kickstarter for a small contribution just to help, it was mention "affordable force feedback yoke".

As today is the more expensive in the market.

My idea was that one day i will buy it, but today it's not my tag price, maybe PFC is the only possible affordable but no FB.

[mosteen 111]

Brilliant Gordon, please post your thoughts when you've broken it in

 

Cheers,

[Guest]

 

 

Just received my shipping confirmation from Iris - should have my yoke Thursday 5th (UK)

 

Yes, very interested in your opinion.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[Gordon Hutchison 76]

Brilliant Gordon, please post your thoughts when you've broken it in

 

Cheers,

 

 

Yes, very interested in your opinion.

 

Cheers, Rob.

I will certainly get a wedge of pics up when I unbox it on Thursday, and I will get a more comprehensive first impressions written up over the weekend once I've had a chance to put it through its paces with P3Dv2. I have also purchased FS Force 2 app to compliment the Iris, autopilot following isn't implemented yet but the developer has indicated that he is working on it and it should be ready very soon.

 

Here is the pic that Pat from Iris sent me of my unit just before it shipped - Iris have improved their packaging recently as a few yokes were damaged in transit early on. Units now ship with handles detached, minor assembly required by end user.

 

[Jazzfan 57]

 

 

Here is the pic that Pat from Iris sent me of my unit just before it shipped

 

 You're a lucky dog, Gordon. I'm green with envy, yet, quite happy for you. Thanx for posting your pic, and I look forward to hearing your report. I have one on order, and despite the lengthy delay, have no doubt as to the quality of these yokes. 

 

  Regards, Craig

[Gordon Hutchison 76]

My yoke has done alot of flying already - and I haven't even got my hands on it yet!

 

Seems to be on a grand tour of North America...lol @ UPS

 

(ignore the Edinburgh bit - that was just forwarded paperwork for the delivery)

 

[Guest]

Be thankful it's not actually coming from the UK!   I ordered a Quaife sequential transmission (UK based to deliver to CA) standard shipping (frieght/containers) -- it took 5 MONTHS to arrive (missed 3 races because of it) ... I kid you not, spent 3 months in customs and Quaife didn't do the correct paperwork and fees were due.

 

Seems like your package is on track ... 27 lbs!  Really?  Can you use the Yoke as a lift also? 

 

Cheers, Rob.

[SteveW 1,792]

:American Flag:  :Applause:   Listening...

[Jazzfan 57]

   At 27 lbs, I guess having a glass desktop isn't such a great idea. Oh well, I just hope the strong magnetic field doesn't bugger my tablet, once it's installed on the yoke.

 

  Regards, Jazz

[Gordon Hutchison 76]

Hi guys, sorry about the delay in getting back to you all.

 

My yoke did indeed arrive safely on Friday - as you can imagine I've been rather preoccupied getting to grips with it.

 

I'll give a brief list of my initial observations just now, and get a some pics and maybe videos of it an action later on this week.

 

PROS:

 

First things first...damn its heavy! I was convinced I was going to have to build some sort of contraption to fix it to my desk but absolutely no need at all. Even under frantic or heavy yoke movement the Iris stays planted; seriously, this thing is built like a tank.

 

Assembly - piece of cake if you follow the video that Pat posted of how to attach the yoke handle. I had my unit unboxed, assembled and ready to go in roughly 30 mins.

 

Build quality - I cannot comment on other customers units but the workmanship and finish on mine is excellent. The new finishing process for the resin handles yields a very nice final product. Yes it still feels like plastic (because it is) but having never held a real yoke it does not leave me wanting. I'm sure the $500 PFC optional handles are better but the resin handle feels solid in the hand, has a nice chunky quality and the size of the yoke feels very natural with all buttons being easily reached with minimal effort. All the buttons feel well constructed and feel like they will last the test of time without getting loose.

 

Initial setup - very straightforward. Plug and play usb device connected directly to my pc motherboard via usb 2.0 cable and port. Device was recognized by Windows 7 right away and the relevant drivers directly installed. Yoke showed up straight away as a recognized game controller called 'Iris Dynamics Yoke' in the Devices and Printers window in the start menu.

Out of the box calibration was spot on and all axes and buttons worked perfectly in the game controllers settings - all worked as expected through full range of travel.

 

Flying the yoke - for reference I'm using a fresh install of Prepar3D v2.5 with the latest hotfix, and I only have the Realair Turbine Duke v2 installed for testing the Iris and getting used to it. I also have FSForce2 app installed.

 

It's very strange the first little while if you've never used force feedback/control loading hardware before - all of a sudden the controls feel alive, like they are actually physically attached to something applying force to them. It put a huge smile on my face in seconds!!

Pulling back on the yoke when rotating and genuinely feeling like you are fighting against airflow over an elevator surface is truly great.

All axes are very responsive and accurate, the feedback and "feel" of the yoke when flying is excellent (this keeps the smile on your face for the duration of the flight!!)

 

 

CONS:

 

Noise - as far as I'm concerned the only downside to the Iris (apart from cost) is the noise it makes. I was actually quite taken aback when I first fired it up.

If you fly without using headphones or you tend to have the sim volume from your speakers set quite low then it will definitely be an issue for you - potentially a deal breaker as it is intrusively loud when the fan has to spin up to its higher speed during periods of increased forces on the yoke, presumably due to the extra heat being generated by the unit.

As I fly using my lovely Philips Fidelio X1 headphones it isn't really an issue for me (at the moment). 

 

The only other issues I've came across in my first couple of days with the Iris are mainly due to the FSForce plugin - as Russel is still developing compatibility for the Iris and trying to iron out any problems, the yoke can exhibit some odd behavior at times. For example when rolling to a stop after landing my yoke is pulling all the way forward and staying there, I've been in contact with Russel (FSForce developer) who suggested that the elevator weight setting wasn't playing well with the Iris. Also the 'active trim' functionality is currently not working for me when using FsForce (but works perfectly when the yoke is in default 'standalone' mode), but I'm quite content knowing that these little teething issues with the FSForce app will be sorted in the very near future.

 

Kudos to Iris, if you can live with the noise it is an extraordinary piece of kit!

 

If anyone has any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them.

 

Cheers

 

Gordon

 

obligatory crappy phone pic

 

[mosteen 111]

Thanks for the writeup Gordon, appreciated.

 

As I'm allergic to the FSX original controller mappings, I hope I can use FSUIPC, wouldn't think that could be a problem?

 

Cheers,

[simbio 56]

Thanks for let us know.

have fun.

[Jazzfan 57]

    Thank You Gordon, for posting your review. Glad to hear that the QC issues reported earlier (by others on the Iris forum) have been dealt with. I look forward to seeing more of your photos/videos, and to hear more of your experiences with the yoke in conjunction with other addon aircraft.

 

 Cheers, Craig

[Gordon Hutchison 76]

Hi Guys,

 

Here is a quick demo of the Iris yoke working with the new autopilot following function included with the latest beta version of FSForce.

 

Using the default Maule in P3Dv2.5

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AedIkMlSYfM

 

I'll be installing the PMDG NGX after work tonight so I'll get a chance to use the Iris with a more advanced addon aircraft.

[gtrbarbarian 1]

Wow. drooool