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Review Date: Tue, June 8, 2004
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Recommended: Yes |
Price paid: $99.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Does what is says
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Cons:
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Cord too short, have to re-center too much
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If you want to get into the "immersion" of flight simming, you might want to consider e-Dimensional's trackIR system.
An infrared system that tracks the movement of your head (eyeglass wearers will find this perfect). A small reflective dot adheres to glassses, hats, your own forehead, etc. and track where you are looking in space with pretty good accuracy.
First the down side. The cord that comes with the unit is only 6'. A real hassle if your CPU is not right near your monitor. Hopefully the e-Dimensional folks will offer it in longer lengths.
Second, the hassle of "re-centering". It's really easy to do (press F12), but if you overextend the range of the unit (look too far one way or the other), you'll have to re-center. Hopefully that will be fixed in the next lifetime of the unit
Third, disorientation. This system does take some getting used to. If you've ever felt queasy on an amusement park ride, or playing a first person shooter, you know the feeling I'm talking about. It's not too bad (I didn't throw up), but it took some time to get used to (I was feeling better after about an hour or so).
The upside. This is about as immersive as you can get without actually being in the cockpit. The sensation is completely amazing. You are able to look thru about 200* of field of view. Not too bad. The amount of head movement translated by the unit is very quickly adjusted to (a little head movement goes a long way). If there was a way to get a view that's a little closer to being in the cockpit, this system would be awesome.
So...is it worth the money? It depends on what you're looking for. If you want to enhance your simming experience, dig out your checkbook and order today. It's definitely worth the money. The system already comes with many sims programmed, with many more to come I'm sure.
If you're looking for a "true" in-the-cockpit experience, hang on to your checkbook for a littlw while longer. While this unit functions well, we're still about 5-10 years from virtuality on our PC's.
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Review Date: Fri, March 2, 2007
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Recommended: Yes |
Price paid: $159.95
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Does exactly as advertised, and takes up very little space.
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Cons:
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Embarressing cap reflecting gear if seen by ignorant person.
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If you're a serious flight simmer, then this little gadget is just what you're looking for. When you need to see where the runway is, you would either use your hatswitch, or press one of the numpad keys, right?
Well, say goodbye to those days, because TrackIR will make it happen, just by the movement of your head!
The software is fairly easy to install, the actual unit will never take up space because it is so small, and the only major requirement is to wear a hat indoors (along with strange radar dish-looking reflectors).
Quite simply, it is hard to explain in words how amazing this item is, so the best way to find out is to try it yourself. At first, it'll make you dizzy, and wish you hadn't tried it, but after that, you get used to it, and it becomes second nature.
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Review Date: Sat, March 3, 2007
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Recommended: Yes |
Price paid: $204.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Best FS Addon ever.
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Cons:
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Sometimes tracks things outside my window / my lamp wich makes it pretty much useles.
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This is the best addon ever. Period.
Exept sometimes tracks things outside my window / my lamp wich makes it pretty much useless.
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