Buying advice please - Next Level v3 Motion Platform

[MarkR]

I'm looking for some advice and thoughts of other owners or people with good knowledge of the product, please.

I always said I'd buy myself a motion simulator if I could afford one and had the room available. Well, that day may have arrived. I'm impressed by what I've seen of the Next Level v3 Motion Platform

This seems to meet all my criteria:

+ Limited space requirements, I don't have room for a huge sim rig but this seems compact enough to work.
+ Works with Oculus Rift VR, that fixed head position setting solution is impressive
+ Great support and regular updates from the developers
+ Available in the UK
+ Works with my current Thrustmaster wheel and accessories.
+ Sub £3k for the full setup, I'm not a pro racer I'm not looking for a practice simulator this is just for fun so the cost/fun balance has to be right.

So help me do the man maths! Is it worth it?

Is there another similar product I should also look at? It would need to be reasonably compact, work with VR, available in the UK without too much hassle and in the same £3-5K price range.

Is there anywhere I can try one or even better several of the systems in the UK?

 

[sebna]

[/IMG]

Welcome to the club

 

[RCHeliguy]

Well that works for everything at once
However I still have a LOT to do and a few things I still need to change.

I'm pretty happy with the stick and throttle mount. I'll need to trim the bottom of the throttle mount for motion reasons.

The flight pedals drop in and slide forward a backwards.

With the flight sticks removed It's pretty clean, just a cross brace with brackets and a couple lengths of of 40x40 to support the flight pedals.

The rails under the driving pedals for the flight pedals. I still need to cut the long one down to size.

I'm not happy with the transducer mounts yet. There is too much motion in the rubber isolators.
I'm waiting for some button head bolts to arrive so I can rotate the brackets like the center is rotated. Then there will be a bolt supporting the isolators in the middle and I'm hoping they won't flex as much.

If I go to Heusinkveld pedals my intention is to bolt the pedals to the frame and only have an isolated foot plate that the transducers are mounted to. I don't want a spongy brake!

Whoops! I need to make longer boards so I can mount the transducers on top and not interfere with motion. I plan to use purpleheart here.

I made a lot of progress, but still have a long way to go.
I've made attempts at wiring, but realized that is basically pointless until I have the hardware finalized.

None of the plywood will be in final chassis. It was just scrap laying around.

 

[wajdi]

Wood isn’t that good for vibration propagation.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Wood isn’t that good for vibration propagation.

I understand. The plywood is temporary. I guess I should order some thick aluminum.

For 6" x 16" long plates under the seat would 1/4" be thick enough?

 

[wajdi]

I understand. The plywood is temporary. I guess I should order some thick aluminum.

For 6" x 16" long plates under the seat would 1/4" be thick enough?

Yes, 1/4” is good.

 

[anton_Chez]

Raising the platform entirely with holes a little more toward the middle of the bracket would be the way to go. You keep the seat as low as you can to the platform base. Raising the unit itself should give you no noticeable change of feeling in motion or COG. The 160mm rails are a pain because they're so tall!

Looking good though!

 

[Turvey]

Well that works for everything at once
However I still have a LOT to do and a few things I still need to change.

View attachment 290563
I'm pretty happy with the stick and throttle mount. I'll need to trim the bottom of the throttle mount for motion reasons.
View attachment 290564
The flight pedals drop in and slide forward a backwards.
View attachment 290565
With the flight sticks removed It's pretty clean, just a cross brace with brackets and a couple lengths of of 40x40 to support the flight pedals.
View attachment 290566
The rails under the driving pedals for the flight pedals. I still need to cut the long one down to size.
View attachment 290567
I'm not happy with the transducer mounts yet. There is too much motion in the rubber isolators.
I'm waiting for some button head bolts to arrive so I can rotate the brackets like the center is rotated. Then there will be a bolt supporting the isolators in the middle and I'm hoping they won't flex as much.

If I go to Heusinkveld pedals my intention is to bolt the pedals to the frame and only have an isolated foot plate that the transducers are mounted to. I don't want a spongy brake!
View attachment 290568

Whoops! I need to make longer boards so I can mount the transducers on top and not interfere with motion. I plan to use purpleheart here.
View attachment 290569

I made a lot of progress, but still have a long way to go.
I've made attempts at wiring, but realized that is basically pointless until I have the hardware finalized.

None of the plywood will be in final chassis. It was just scrap laying around.

How do the crosswinds go?

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'm very happy with my Crosswind pedals. I've had them over a year and I have no complaints. They are smooth, reliable, comfortable and very adjustable.

I will be lifting the NLRv3 relative to the chassis frame by drilling offset as mentioned. I'm just waiting for my flat head beveled bolts to arrive since I still want to bevel the holes and reduce any chance the bolts touch.

Focused on wiring this evening.

I still need to mount the banana cable receptacles.
In keeping with the mobile nature of this rig it needs to be very easy to connect / disconnect.

 

[Turvey]

I'm very happy with my Crosswind pedals. I've had them over a year and I have no complaints. They are smooth, reliable, comfortable and very adjustable.

I will be lifting the NLRv3 relative to the chassis frame by drilling offset as mentioned. I'm just waiting for my flat head beveled bolts to arrive since I still want to bevel the holes and reduce any chance the bolts touch.

Focused on wiring this evening.
View attachment 290654
I still need to mount the banana cable receptacles.
In keeping with the mobile nature of this rig it needs to be very easy to connect / disconnect.
View attachment 290657

Nice dude i got a few more weeks to wait for my slaw pedals finally found a collective that may be affordable, my motion rig will be ready in a few weeks then im good to go

 

[RCHeliguy]

The counter sunk flat head bolts arrived and the transducer plugs are now operational.

I'll melt the end of the F6 Flex sheathing later and add some shrink wrap.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I pulled out the socket head bolts and....
Full range on both left and right side with piles of space in front and back.
This is the worst case scenario 100% left or 100% right. Technically 100% right in this picture is the worst. 100 Left has a bit more room because the angle doesn't extend as much.
So now the big question is how much additional height do I need for play and flex.
I'm thinking a 1/2" should do it especially if I chamfer the lower right angle and the upper left angle.

 

[EsxPaul]

Made it through these 61 pages over the last week and must say just how impressed I am with the level of help, advice and support that you guys give to each other and people looking in from the outside like myself. There's certainly no lack of skills either and seeing the different ways in which the V3s have been married up to individual rigs has been quite the education for me.

I'm slowly getting there and have the 8020 rig plus vr. I was convinced that would provide all the immersion required and my saving up/spending was done with.

You guys have managed to destroy that idea within the first few pages and I've been gripped ever since! My web browser is now filled with links to V3 sales pages, angle brackets, nylon washers and rubber feet

It might take some time but my plan is to keep up with this thread and join the club when the funds are there.

Apologies if you have been spammed by me hitting the rating button as I made my way through your posts but I like to give credit where it is due.

Well done to all

 

[RCHeliguy]

Definitely feeling the love
I've had a number of hobbies and hit points where I felt like I had everything I needed. Then something would change my understanding or I'd try something out and I'd suddenly feel like I needed to go in deeper. Ignorance is bliss at least as far as my wallet is concerned!

 

[Jasje]

what rig is that? seeing more and more black anodized 8020, is it DIY?

 

[anton_Chez]

Glad our posts and experiences have helped people along the way.

If you have a hobby you enjoy and care about, you're never really 'finished', are you? It all depends how long the love lasts with it, at some point people fall off and become less interested than they once were. Sim racing is awesome because there's so much versatility to it. It's a great hobby and once you start there is so much you can add to it that just keeps breathing new life into it

 

[anton_Chez]

Could there be a new unit on the way soon?

Check the patch notes in the latest update. Our units are HS-203. There is support listed for an HS-210 for all major titles.

Hmm. I checked the Motionsystems website and there are no products with that code name.

 

[RCHeliguy]

One issue I've seen is people caught up in the pursuit of perfection. For example I've known many "audiophiles" who are constantly switching out components and trying new things out, some of which are complete snake oil. But for them having great sounding music isn't enough because they are caught up in an endless loop. Some are many 10's of thousands or even over $100,000 into this quest for sonic perfection.

When I got into RC Helicopters, there were a pile of learning curves. The builds were complex, FBL controller and TX configuration and setup were complex, and flying was very complex. It kept me completely sucked in for about 5 years. But by the time I had the best of the best of everything, had all my helis completely dialed in and had a decent amount of flying skills I plateaued. On top of that the hobby peaked about 2013 and has been losing traction since then and I don't have any other heli pilots that I fly with at my air field. So it's just me flying without anyone around my understanding what I'm doing. They like watching me, but it's a bit empty without others who know what is involved. So for the last few years I've not flown much and mostly go to the airfield because a friend wants to see me fly or says their kids would like to watch.

When you plateau is the point where the hobby sticks or doesn't. Either you go back to upgrading because you love to build things ( which I do ) or you find a group of people who you enjoy the hobby with. I have a friend who has been telling me I need to get into iRacing because of the people and the rivalries / comradery. The key to enjoying a hobby is other people otherwise it eventually starts to feel empty.

Anyway just my two cents about hobbies in general.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Could there be a new unit on the way soon?

Check the patch notes in the latest update. Our units are HS-203. There is support listed for an HS-210 for all major titles.

Hmm. I checked the Motionsystems website and there are no products with that code name.

That's not what I want to hear right now since I haven't even started to use mine yet... However I suspected they were probably due and something would be out within a year or so. Progress marches on!

 

[Steve D]

Could there be a new unit on the way soon?

Check the patch notes in the latest update. Our units are HS-203. There is support listed for an HS-210 for all major titles.

Hmm. I checked the Motionsystems website and there are no products with that code name.

Possibly their traction loss platform?

 

[anton_Chez]

Could be. I actually forgot about that. It probably is. It's the most recent thing we've seen so I can't see anything else on the horizon before even that makes it to market.