Hi all, thanks for the continued interest and support. It is not taken for granted and we don't want to let anyone down. That is one of the reasons why we decided not to take pre-orders. Pre-orders from various companies in the past has always caused bad blood if there are delays and the flight simulation industry is littered with past examples.

The set up of Fulcrum, the product development and the manufacturing has all been completed without business loans or third party investment. The financing all came from my other company which means that Fulcrum has no debt to third parties and is therefore very stable and not at risk of having everything fold up. 

I will update Facebook and the website and here with a more solid date soon but we hope another month should do it.

Chris

Thanks for the update Chris.  Good luck with the launch!  

Any news on whether its going to be released on February?

Looks like this yoke has gone MIA. No news from the developer. An update would be appreciated if he wants some orders. 

10 hours ago, johnbla said:

Looks like this yoke has gone MIA. No news from the developer. An update would be appreciated if he wants some orders. 

The owner posted above on 6 Jan it would be about a month. That was 3.5 weeks ago.

Edited January 31, 20206 yr by Ray Proudfoot

15 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The owner posted above on 6 Jan it would be about a month. That was 3.5 weeks ago.

Ray,

Why you are correct, it only takes a few minutes to keep in touch with potential buyers and keep interest levels up by posting a few 'latest update' words here, even if nothing has significantly changed. Just a good marketing strategy IMO. When users are trying to decide between buying something currently available or maybe holding off for a 'possible' new product, extended silence often does not work in favor of the new product.

But I am still waiting.  😉

Al

Edited February 1, 20206 yr by ark

Al, I imagine he’s waiting until he has something to say. I would expect Chris to post an update within the next week or so. I think it will be worth your time to hang on.

27 minutes ago, ark said:

Why you are correct, it only takes a few minutes to keep in touch with potential buyers and keep interest levels up by posting a few 'latest update' words here, even if nothing has significantly changed. Just a good marketing strategy IMO. When users are trying to decide between buying something currently available or maybe holding off for a 'possible' new product, extended silence often does not work in favor of the new product.

But I am still waiting.  😉

My sentiments exactly. I am very close to pulling the pin on a Honeycomb yoke but would like to see what the Fulcrum has to offer. However, the lack of updates (even a few words) is pushing me in the direction of the Honeycomb. At least I can wander down to my local PC Gaming shop and just purchase it now.

9 hours ago, johnbla said:

My sentiments exactly. I am very close to pulling the pin on a Honeycomb yoke but would like to see what the Fulcrum has to offer. However, the lack of updates (even a few words) is pushing me in the direction of the Honeycomb. At least I can wander down to my local PC Gaming shop and just purchase it now.

Having tried both at a flight sim show at RAF Cosford in October I can assure you the difference between them is night and day. A 747 pilot commented the Fulcrum was as good as the far more expensive Yoko and as a professional pilot he should know.

I was quite keen on the Honeycomb when it first appeared in 2017 but feel it isn't that much better than a Saitek. Compare its 3" of travel to the 8" of the Fulcrum. Massive difference.

Hi all, thank you to everyone for your interest. It does mean a lot and we value your support.

I will be updating the website and Facebook with this but thought I'd post here as a lot of you are members here.

Unfortunately we are still waiting for a part. While the chassis, case and all the engineering and assembly takes place here, part of the electronics is from China. As you no doubt know, the country is facing a bit of a crisis at the moment. We have heard that the factory has had to close for a while due to the Corona virus and we won't be getting what we need until potentially the end of February. This means that we have lines of yokes here with nothing to plug the switches and sensors in to.

As frustrating and as fed up of waiting as this might make you, please remember that nobody is more frustrated about this situation that we are. I have sunk thousands into this company to get the manufacturing to this point and to have it stall this close to launch for something outside of our control is very annoying.

We are currently looking for a contingency supplier now because nobody knows how things in China are going to go over the next couple of weeks and months. I don't like being in this position so we are looking at other sources and solutions. Rest assured that whatever control system is inside it, it will retain the same quality of hall sensors and aviation switches it currently has. The feel and smoothness is also unaffected as the mechanism is all made in house.

To anyone considering going with another controller, I understand the impatience of wanting a new device. I'm a simmer too remember! This whole situation is the main reason we didn't want to give release dates or take pre orders. IIcan say we are working hard on this road block and I will update you soon.

As Ray has pointed out, we also have various quotes and feedback from multiple world class developers, a 747 pilot, a 737 pilot plus various other simulation hardware and software shops, suppliers and manufacturers. I'm just not ready to name names yet! All of the feedback is positive and very flattering about the quality and feel of this yoke to the point of it being called the best desktop yoke out there. This sounds like a bold claim but it really needs to be felt to understand the difference between this and other controllers.

Thanks for your time again everyone.

Chris

Edited February 1, 20206 yr by tutmeister

I think I’m  probably the 747  pilot Ray and Chris are referring to as there aren’t that may of us left now, we’re a dying breed sadly !

This is just my personal opinion and preference of course but I did go to the Cosford show with the money set aside to buy a Yoko, however I much preferred the feel of the Fulcrum when I tried it back to back with the yoko.

I couldn’t perceive any difference in the build quality between the fulcrum and the much more expensive yoko when I tried them, both are excellent pieces of engineering.

As Ray says the honeycomb is not really in the same division, personally I’d hang on if you can.

Jon

 

Edited February 1, 20206 yr by jon b

Current price of the excellent VirtualFly Yoko “The Yoke” Plus is €995 which equates to GBP 836. or USD 1104. Those prices are inclusive of 20% VAT. US customers should deduct that and add their own State Tax for a fair comparison.

https://www.virtual-fly.com/en/shop?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NTxBRDxARIsAHyp6gDXwh_gVNUDJlPF6_u929pR_MKrbtJqd1AG9EouVIJeNhwJhpQkQPoaAhVAEALw_wcB

I believe the Fulcrum will be priced at less than half that. HALF! 😎

Thanks to Chris for an update. I can certainly sympathise with him because of the current global situation. It was just a pity we had to have a whinge in this forum to see what is going on. Considering the comments above, I will place my Honeycomb purchase on hold until I read a few reviews after the Fulcrum is released. I hope it is as good as people as saying. I am more than happy to pay the extra if it is of good quality. 

Currently I am making do with my original CH Lite yoke, which to tell you the truth is going fine. Absolutely no dead zone, unlike the other yoke I was considering.  

Quick question for someone who has used the Fulcrum (Chris or Ray), I only fly GA aircraft and was wondering if the Fulcrum was overkill. I hope not as I am looking for something that is a quality build.

Thanks

John

31 minutes ago, johnbla said:

Quick question for someone who has used the Fulcrum (Chris or Ray), I only fly GA aircraft and was wondering if the Fulcrum was overkill. I hope not as I am looking for something that is a quality build.

John, it’s certainly not overkill for GA. I fly mainly IFR so the a/p goes on a lot sooner than it would for GA flying. That makes it eminently suitable for hand flying light aircraft. All my hands-on usage of it at Cosford was with light aircraft.

Thanks Ray.