Yet another case of work getting in the way way of my pretend flying.
Screw that! It gets in the way of me seeing that new and shiny toy!!
So, this thing is pretty neat. I just spent some time flying around in MSFS and with a little tweaking of the settings it was great. It was really nice to feel the controls stiffen as the airspeed increased.
Flying helicopters with this stick is like a whole new experience, not because of the FFB effects, which I feel still need some work, but in the precise control it gives you.
Iāll write some more tomorrow but my initial impression is positive.
I have been playing with the Moza AB9 a bit more today. I flew the DCS F4 for a bit and itās pretty incredible. At very high airspeed, the stick takes quite a lot of effort to move, and it really slackens up when you bleed off that speed. Stall buffet feels pretty good too.
The base itself is quite bulky and heavy. This means that you will definitely need a way to mount it securely. I have used 3M double sided mounting tape to attach the base to the joystick mounting plate because the holes didnāt match. I am guessing SimFab will come out with an appropriate plate at some point, but the tape is doing a great job for now.
At this point I would say that it is well worth considering if you are looking at getting a FFB stick base with the caveat that it isnāt fully baked yet on the software side of things.
Does the Moza stick observe offset center positions from trim (e.g. in the F4) or from force trim (in the helos)?
I have this with my frankenG940pil, but that stick is very sloppy around the centre position so I am looking for something better?
Which stick are you using with the base? Their own or a TM grip, which shares the same connector?
With the DCS F4, when you trim, the stick moves to the new neutral position. It feels very natural when trimming it.
I am using my Virpil MongoosT-50CM2 grip. The only down side right now is that it doesnāt recognize the brake lever as an axis. Hopefully that will come with further software refinements down the road. I am considering buying the Moza grip though. The Virpil grip feels almost too light. For now though, the CM2 grip is doing the job just fine and it has a lot of assignable buttons.
Perfect - thanks for confirming!
Just an FYI concerning the Moza online store. Shortly after I ordered my AB9, I began getting fraudulent emails regarding my PayPal account. The email was a lot more stealthy than the usual false invoices you get from PayPal (another concern). All of the hyperlinks and the sending domain were legitimately paypal.com, but Iāve been looking at both my bank and PayPal account and donāt see anything suspicious. The emails prompted me to call a number to get a refund if the charges on my account were not mine. Sure. Iāll do that the second Tuesday of next week. Wishing that I had purchased through a known good retailer like Microcenter now.
For sure, this could just be coincidence. But the Moza store has some recent posts about credit card fraud from the Moza online store. One example:
https://www.reddit.com/r/moza/comments/1idyxlc/moza_credit_card_fraud_is_still_going_on/
Thanks for sharing. There seems to have been an uptick in scams over the last few months. Iāve not ordered anything online (only Amazon stuff) for some time out of caution.
Handy to know. It is low on the list of my priorities but an AB9 base and MH16 grip are currently my #1 choice for when I replace the Warthog.
There is a local (in this country) distributor that I will buy from. Handy for a number of reasons even if it will cost a little bit more - no import duty & if there are any warranty issues they are responsible.
Overclockers in the UK are a safe way to buy Moza stuff here. Iāve purchased from them and they also provide very good after sales support in my experience.
My Moza AB9 and MH16 grip arrived from Overclockers on Friday. Havenāt had a lot of time with it yet but here are my initial impressions:
Very well packaged and impressive looking base and grip. Looks solid.
I had one or two gotchas during set up:
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You have to pull out the connector at the bottom of MH16 grip to be able to it fit to the AB9. It was not immediately obvious to me.
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You need to do a firmware update. Mine was several versions behind. Again not obvious.
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Two versions of the AB9 appear in sims. I read this issue is fixed with a more recent update. Will see.
I was able to fit ithe base to my existing Monstertech desk mount I have been using for my Virpil base. This puts it in a very good position for me so I donāt need their desk mount add on. I think it would be even better on a sim rig.
Once configured for IL-2 it picks up the telemetry but for me the initial FFB was far too strong. Iāve now set it much lower and may reduce it further. I tried it briefly in the Mossie, C-47 and Spitfire. I now have to pay more attention to actually flying the aircraft and make more use of my rudder pedals as it has real inertia and weight. It feels very good indeed and this alone makes the AB9 worthwhile.
I tried it briefly in DCS, MSFS 2020 and 2024 as well. So far these give varying results from āsuperbā to āis it even on?ā Thatās down to me fiddling with the software no doubt so Iāll sort those out in the days ahead.
Is it a game changer as some onlive reviewers say? Not just yet although it has a lot of potential. I guess I was hoping it would work straight out of the box like my Moza R9 racing direct drive. The flights I have had where it gives good FFB have been very immersive. I just need to get a better understanding of what the software does and how to set it up correctly for my various sims and aircraft. Given they have very good Sim Racing software I would imagine Moza will improve the Cockpit software as well. Itās just a bit confusing for me at this early stage.
I like the MH16 grip so far and have the option of using my TM Hornet grip on the AB9 should I wish to do so.
Thatās a pretty fair assessment. Having had mine a few weeks now and had time to sort out a pretty good settings profiles for the OH-6A and CH-47F, at least for DCS, I do now consider it essential and canāt imagine that Iāll go back to a non FFB stick. Flying helicopters in DCS with FFB is exponentially better, IMHO. It feels so alive. @Maico was commenting yesterday that since he has his AB9 mounted on the same pedestal as his anti-torque pedals, when the OH-6 was spooling up, he could feel the oscillations in his pedals. AB9 as seat shaker, if you will.
MSFS 2024 is a different matter. Iāve only just begin peeling back the layers of the onion, but what Iāve found so far is that there is not much to get excited about. Will report back here if I come up with a good profile.
It is most certainly better with DCS, but Iām liking it a lot in MSFS 2024. While the effects can be hit or miss, I like the weight of the controls and the precision. The default helicopter profile, while not as good as the one fro the DCS Huey, still makes flying the helicopter a lot easier. I think there is a lot that could be improved upon with regard to the software. Iām thinking that Asobo will have to do their part with this as well. With the number of FFB controllers entering the marketplace right now, I am sure Asobo are paying attention.
Iām still highly tempted to jump on the Moza yokeā¦. I can feel that twitch in my eye starting and my wallet is hiding from me right now!
Yeah, thatās going to be very hard to resist.
Iām looking forward to trying it with the Huey.
My wallet didnāt hide well enoughā¦.
I have a TM Boeing yoke that is now surplus to requirementsā¦ā¦
I think the thing that finally tipped me over the edge was the quick release yoke handle.
Now I have to figure out where to put my keyboard.