Thanks Mark, The long delays and consequently cancelling my order to jump to the winwing pedals, in hindsight turned out to be a blessing. I love the winwings and more adjustability, quiet and smooth operation. I was also a fanatic honeycomb fan (own the Alpha and Bravo) but IMHO if the winwings were included in this line-up, they would give all the products a good run for the money.
Ive had these for a month now. I'm also a C-17/C-5 mechanic IRL. These feel scarily similar to C-5 brake pedals as far as the tension and motion. Like nearly dead on identical. Carpet spikes worked great for me to keep them in place buying a $15 Ikea 4x2 carpet strip and putting it under my desk using the desk to hold it in place. USB and knob location is dumb but I don't have mine against the wall and a 90 degree USBC is cheap and fixes any issues with that. These and the Thrustmaster pendulums are the only ones readily available that mimic the correct front and back motion of a real airliner without a center axis and that alone makes them the only ones I was ever going to consider. So it's a yes from me. Mine were a little squeaky when I got them also but it went away quick. Time will tell if Snakebyte vs the "counterfeit" is even a thing or not. Mine are the official Snakebytes. But at any rate, this completes my Alpha XPC/Bravo/Charlie setup and it works brilliantly.
Got myself the turtle beach pedals over a week ago. Love the GA pedals and it comes with airline pedals too! Not far from the real c172 I fly. I high recommend the Tuttle beach velocity pedals. My combo, alpha yoke,bravo throttle, turtle beach pedals and thrust master t16000m.
Thank you Marc for this very good video. I had the Turtle Beach as soon as they came out and they were pretty good. I've recently decided to go for the Winwing, it's really another world. I hope you'll be able to present them one day.
I've had my TPR's since they first came out and if they broke down today, I would get them again. Love the smoothness and no scratching type sounds or a feeling of plastic rubbing with those plastic encased pedals. The only thing I did with the TPR is change one tension spring to a heavier gauge. When I switched over to Virpil products from my aging Warthog setup, I almost went for their rudder pedals, but the foot pedals looked further apart, so I decided not to get them.
This price point is going to kill them. I'm glad I went with MFG crosswind back in 2021 for 330$ (today still this price). The crosswinds are much better quality for the money, are quiet, very adjustable and customizable, and super accurate. These are 250$ pedals at best.
Mark, I appreciate your reviews to the fullest. I always know when I come to your site I am going to get an honest review. So many channels are just looking for thumbs up and views, and all they really care about. I thought about the Charlie Pedals, but after your review, I will stick to my Saitek pedals. They do just fine for me(I don't have anything to compare them to at this point). I too am very skeptical in regards to support for Honeycomb products in general. I have the Alpha and Bravo, and love them to death. Until the Honeycomb reputation gets back to where it was years ago, I am staying clear of their offerings. It's pretty sad to say that. Before all the turmoil, they were so well regarded. Keep up the great work, and looking forward to new videos from you in regards to MSFS 2024. You should do a series on BATC from month to month showing the progress of the ATC software. Using the same plane, same airport, and same flight. I have been doing just that with traffic, and it really changes with each update. Mike
I love my Charlie pedals after adjusting the rudder pressure down to a more realistic setting (I'm an inactive Private Pilot). Excellent review, Mark. My only negative is, as you pointed out, the noise. If one applies rudder pressure smoothly with the Charlies, the noise is minimal, but real rudder pedals make very little noise while operating them.
Pre-ordered in Feb 2023 - Delivered August 20th 2024. Love my Alpha and Bravo and happy enough with the Charlie. But like you said, the price vis-a-vis other products out there is not competitive. The biggest issue though is Honeycomb the company. I’m glad my pedals showed up because that wasn’t always a guarantee, but I’ll not order another product from them because I now have zero confidence in the company.
Love your honesty, Mark. I've heard similar comparisons from other reviewers who then go on to draw different conclusions, but I am left wondering if their endorsement was more biased. I appreciate that content creators have as living to earn, but I value those who are more transparently honest, like yourself.
The Charlie's are way to late for me and I have become very leary of Honeycomb as a company. Support has been pretty much non existent and this fiasco with the Charlie pedals has cemented that it would take a miracle for me to purchase another Honeycomb product. I am very happy with my Alpha and Bravo (other than the issue with the gear lights) and absolutely LOVE my TPR pedals. So glad I didn't try and keep waiting on the Charlie's to finally be released.
Im overall happy with my Bravo Yoke and Throttles it works not highend stuff but for the price range better than the cheaper options. The pedals are not exciting me though the size and noise. I greatly learned to appreciate rudders and rudder pedals don't go cheap or settle on this. If your going to make a investment go with higher end on the pedals. Im about to step it up to highend gear and the pedals is going to be the first item, just as or more important than yoke or other items that you may thing of as first.
Hi 👋 the pendular rudder of Thrustmatser is cool also , probably my favorite rudder . I waited long Time this Charlie rudder . It's a good alternative 👍 have a good day
The pendular pedals of Thrustamaster are a big pool of buyers remorse. You really feel raped of 500 bucks compared with the competition. I have "house made" all metal ones (a la 109) pedals with dampener and hall effect sensors and they are perfect but after trying the pendular at a friend... both of us (he the owner) we're having to conclude: "wtf is wrong with these, they looked so great on paper". I also had Saitek (2) and Logitech G970 set and tested CH (bleah) and MFG (unexpectedly impressive - because of build material), also had the Thrustmaster Tflight pedals which for about 50€ that I payed long time ago on them... were acceptable. But the pendular... big no-no. Buy two Aces from Virpil second hand! I never had one of them but I have friends that have them and they are pleased and my pedals look very similar in design and function. Or Winwing...
Thank you! But to me it doesn't make sense to set a dead zone on the brake axis. This interrupts brake action halfway through the movement. Edit: Just saw that you already commented on this. Thanks! The Charlies come too late for me, I went for the TPR instead and I'm extremely happy with them.
I’ll stick with my Turtle Beach, I’m a Honeycomb fan but these are lacklustre and as you said all ready old hat, I’m not seeing any significant praise in the community from those who own them.
NGL here but I am torn between this and the Winwing Orion rudders. First reason is the Charlie's are fully enclosed. I do not have a cockpit so my feet are always jumping around under my desk and I fear damaging the Orion rudders. Just feels safer to me when thrown under my desk. Second is the Charlie rudders have a nice base plate area for feet to slide nicely while the Orion it all depends on what you bolt them down to(another factor). The Orion rudders though have much tighter brake pedal tension which is a major boon as the feet are not good at judging distance at all and causes major issues when landing and your applying both brakes as evenly as possible...kinda impossible with low tension on brakes to give feedback! If the Charlie rudder pedals had higher brake tension I would be sold but as is I am torn LOL EDIT: an easy way to fix the "too" light brake pedal tension might be to just make smaller brake pedals as the longer they are the more leverage can be applied.
Too expensive. I think Winwing Orion rudder likely outclasses this, if the quality of their products is anything to go by. Mark I hope you get a chance to test these, they seem super interesting since they can be switch from fixed wing to helos to car driving. Cheers mate for the vid!
Is your vide set as not embeddable when shared? Can't see thumbnail on Facebook. Or is another Facebook "feature"? Also, very good and fair review. I do hope Honeycomb recovers but.... "not like this" - pricey and shady.
Two big problems I" have with these (and I own the Alpha and Bravo). 1. No damper. 2. These are designed for heel on the floor, but the base isn't big enough to actually keep your heels on the base.
@JohnVanderbeck My heels stay on the base just fine during takeoffs and landings. I have my pedal angle adjusted to match the pedal angles of the aircraft that I've flown real world. During taxi, my heels are about 1/2" above the Charlie's base. I've put over 300 hours on my Charlie pedals, and I have no major complaints about them.
Hey Mark, are you able to line up an AMD 9800X3D tester? most interested in 9950X3D especially with 2024 having ability to use as many cores as you give it...
I don't think anyone knows for sure. The website is owned by Snakebyte, which has been a development partner from the beginning, but they're also the partner responsible for the company's bankruptcy. They are manufacturing in a different factory from the one Honeycomb originally used, and they've had to reverse engineer some of the internal components. The founder of the company, Nikki somebody, is using the original factory in China and building the Charlie from original parts. He also sells them under the same name, Honeycomb, using the same logo. Which of these warring partners will win in the courts is unknown. Is Honeycomb back? No one knows. My Charlie unit is made in the original factory, and it's maker has stated that he will provide support for the pedals regardless of which "Honeycomb" made them, but no one knows if he'll even be around. I wish I hadn't taken delivery of my Charlie because the company may become stable, or it might still vanish into thin air
I have the Alpha and Bravo and love them (not a fan of the red lights though). I know the lights can be turned off, but I don't like I have to push the button 5 times to turn them off, every time they are connected. Those red lights are bad for your eyes too, if you don't turn them off. Just a silly gimmick. I do not like the Charlie pedals at all, more gimmick lights and toyish. I use the Thrust Master TPR which I've found to be absolutely terrific.
This one is to wide for my alu rig. But based on your review, I wouldn’t have bought them anyway, so it’s not a problem. Thank you very much for another great video. 🙏
Point of correction: I do not recommend putting a deadzone on the brake axis. These should be left linear.
Thanks Mark,
The long delays and consequently cancelling my order to jump to the winwing pedals, in hindsight turned out to be a blessing. I love the winwings and more adjustability, quiet and smooth operation. I was also a fanatic honeycomb fan (own the Alpha and Bravo) but IMHO if the winwings were included in this line-up, they would give all the products a good run for the money.
Ive had these for a month now. I'm also a C-17/C-5 mechanic IRL. These feel scarily similar to C-5 brake pedals as far as the tension and motion. Like nearly dead on identical. Carpet spikes worked great for me to keep them in place buying a $15 Ikea 4x2 carpet strip and putting it under my desk using the desk to hold it in place. USB and knob location is dumb but I don't have mine against the wall and a 90 degree USBC is cheap and fixes any issues with that.
These and the Thrustmaster pendulums are the only ones readily available that mimic the correct front and back motion of a real airliner without a center axis and that alone makes them the only ones I was ever going to consider.
So it's a yes from me. Mine were a little squeaky when I got them also but it went away quick.
Time will tell if Snakebyte vs the "counterfeit" is even a thing or not. Mine are the official Snakebytes. But at any rate, this completes my Alpha XPC/Bravo/Charlie setup and it works brilliantly.
I`m in charge of the mechanical design of Charile , and I`m very happy to see your comment with high precision
Fantastic to see a good honest review, I'm sure we all appreciate your honesty! Keep up the good work.
Got myself the turtle beach pedals over a week ago. Love the GA pedals and it comes with airline pedals too! Not far from the real c172 I fly.
I high recommend the Tuttle beach velocity pedals.
My combo, alpha yoke,bravo throttle, turtle beach pedals and thrust master t16000m.
Thank you Marc for this very good video. I had the Turtle Beach as soon as they came out and they were pretty good. I've recently decided to go for the Winwing, it's really another world. I hope you'll be able to present them one day.
I have them. They are GREAT. Yes, a bit noisy, but they feel like real transport category rudder pedals.
I've had my TPR's since they first came out and if they broke down today, I would get them again. Love the smoothness and no scratching type sounds or a feeling of plastic rubbing with those plastic encased pedals. The only thing I did with the TPR is change one tension spring to a heavier gauge. When I switched over to Virpil products from my aging Warthog setup, I almost went for their rudder pedals, but the foot pedals looked further apart, so I decided not to get them.
This price point is going to kill them. I'm glad I went with MFG crosswind back in 2021 for 330$ (today still this price). The crosswinds are much better quality for the money, are quiet, very adjustable and customizable, and super accurate. These are 250$ pedals at best.
Mark, I appreciate your reviews to the fullest. I always know when I come to your site I am going to get an honest review. So many channels are just looking for thumbs up and views, and all they really care about.
I thought about the Charlie Pedals, but after your review, I will stick to my Saitek pedals. They do just fine for me(I don't have anything to compare them to at this point).
I too am very skeptical in regards to support for Honeycomb products in general. I have the Alpha and Bravo, and love them to death. Until the Honeycomb reputation gets back to where it was years ago, I am staying clear of their offerings. It's pretty sad to say that. Before all the turmoil, they were so well regarded.
Keep up the great work, and looking forward to new videos from you in regards to MSFS 2024. You should do a series on BATC from month to month showing the progress of the ATC software. Using the same plane, same airport, and same flight. I have been doing just that with traffic, and it really changes with each update.
Mike
Thanks Mike, appreciate the kind words 😊
I love my Charlie pedals after adjusting the rudder pressure down to a more realistic setting (I'm an inactive Private Pilot). Excellent review, Mark. My only negative is, as you pointed out, the noise. If one applies rudder pressure smoothly with the Charlies, the noise is minimal, but real rudder pedals make very little noise while operating them.
Does the noise go away?
@trechavez7987 The noise is still there. It's most noticeable when the pedals are moved sharply.
I’m on the edge of what to get that’s quiet.
Very well reviewed Mark 👏👏
Pre-ordered in Feb 2023 - Delivered August 20th 2024. Love my Alpha and Bravo and happy enough with the Charlie. But like you said, the price vis-a-vis other products out there is not competitive. The biggest issue though is Honeycomb the company. I’m glad my pedals showed up because that wasn’t always a guarantee, but I’ll not order another product from them because I now have zero confidence in the company.
Love your honesty, Mark. I've heard similar comparisons from other reviewers who then go on to draw different conclusions, but I am left wondering if their endorsement was more biased. I appreciate that content creators have as living to earn, but I value those who are more transparently honest, like yourself.
I appreciate that!
The Charlie's are way to late for me and I have become very leary of Honeycomb as a company. Support has been pretty much non existent and this fiasco with the Charlie pedals has cemented that it would take a miracle for me to purchase another Honeycomb product.
I am very happy with my Alpha and Bravo (other than the issue with the gear lights) and absolutely LOVE my TPR pedals. So glad I didn't try and keep waiting on the Charlie's to finally be released.
Im overall happy with my Bravo Yoke and Throttles it works not highend stuff but for the price range better than the cheaper options. The pedals are not exciting me though the size and noise. I greatly learned to appreciate rudders and rudder pedals don't go cheap or settle on this. If your going to make a investment go with higher end on the pedals. Im about to step it up to highend gear and the pedals is going to be the first item, just as or more important than yoke or other items that you may thing of as first.
Happy with mine, replace my old CH Product.
Hi 👋 the pendular rudder of Thrustmatser is cool also , probably my favorite rudder . I waited long Time this Charlie rudder . It's a good alternative 👍 have a good day
The pendular pedals of Thrustamaster are a big pool of buyers remorse. You really feel raped of 500 bucks compared with the competition. I have "house made" all metal ones (a la 109) pedals with dampener and hall effect sensors and they are perfect but after trying the pendular at a friend... both of us (he the owner) we're having to conclude: "wtf is wrong with these, they looked so great on paper". I also had Saitek (2) and Logitech G970 set and tested CH (bleah) and MFG (unexpectedly impressive - because of build material), also had the Thrustmaster Tflight pedals which for about 50€ that I payed long time ago on them... were acceptable. But the pendular... big no-no. Buy two Aces from Virpil second hand! I never had one of them but I have friends that have them and they are pleased and my pedals look very similar in design and function. Or Winwing...
Thank you!
But to me it doesn't make sense to set a dead zone on the brake axis. This interrupts brake action halfway through the movement.
Edit: Just saw that you already commented on this. Thanks!
The Charlies come too late for me, I went for the TPR instead and I'm extremely happy with them.
See pinned comment 👍
@ Thank you! You are my number one and most trusted source of flight sim information!
Thank you for your Honest Review.
I’ll stick with my Turtle Beach, I’m a Honeycomb fan but these are lacklustre and as you said all ready old hat, I’m not seeing any significant praise in the community from those who own them.
Thanks Mark.
Welcome!
NGL here but I am torn between this and the Winwing Orion rudders. First reason is the Charlie's are fully enclosed. I do not have a cockpit so my feet are always jumping around under my desk and I fear damaging the Orion rudders. Just feels safer to me when thrown under my desk. Second is the Charlie rudders have a nice base plate area for feet to slide nicely while the Orion it all depends on what you bolt them down to(another factor). The Orion rudders though have much tighter brake pedal tension which is a major boon as the feet are not good at judging distance at all and causes major issues when landing and your applying both brakes as evenly as possible...kinda impossible with low tension on brakes to give feedback! If the Charlie rudder pedals had higher brake tension I would be sold but as is I am torn LOL
EDIT: an easy way to fix the "too" light brake pedal tension might be to just make smaller brake pedals as the longer they are the more leverage can be applied.
Can you share the distance between the mounting holes (width). I’m trying to determine if they’ll mount to my rig. Thanks!
Too expensive. I think Winwing Orion rudder likely outclasses this, if the quality of their products is anything to go by. Mark I hope you get a chance to test these, they seem super interesting since they can be switch from fixed wing to helos to car driving. Cheers mate for the vid!
I'll second that, love my WW's never looked back. They would beat most of those compared products hands down
Thanks Mark. Is it compatble with the H3 ?
I have not tried, but have a string feeling they are too long and wide to fit…plus heavy.
Is your vide set as not embeddable when shared? Can't see thumbnail on Facebook. Or is another Facebook "feature"?
Also, very good and fair review. I do hope Honeycomb recovers but.... "not like this" - pricey and shady.
You didn’t mention the very competative, all metal WinWing offering.
@@douglashornick4388 yes, I don’t own it, although briefly have tried it, so not qualified to comment on it.
Two big problems I" have with these (and I own the Alpha and Bravo). 1. No damper. 2. These are designed for heel on the floor, but the base isn't big enough to actually keep your heels on the base.
@JohnVanderbeck My heels stay on the base just fine during takeoffs and landings. I have my pedal angle adjusted to match the pedal angles of the aircraft that I've flown real world. During taxi, my heels are about 1/2" above the Charlie's base. I've put over 300 hours on my Charlie pedals, and I have no major complaints about them.
Hey Mark, are you able to line up an AMD 9800X3D tester? most interested in 9950X3D especially with 2024 having ability to use as many cores as you give it...
Yes…with Wired2Fire 😊
My Logitech rudder pedals doesn't cost me a penny, because I already have them.
Cool, thanks for sharing
@simhangerfs Are you aware, if the MOZA rudder pedals will be FFB?
Does this mean honeycomb is back!?
I don't think anyone knows for sure. The website is owned by Snakebyte, which has been a development partner from the beginning, but they're also the partner responsible for the company's bankruptcy. They are manufacturing in a different factory from the one Honeycomb originally used, and they've had to reverse engineer some of the internal components. The founder of the company, Nikki somebody, is using the original factory in China and building the Charlie from original parts. He also sells them under the same name, Honeycomb, using the same logo. Which of these warring partners will win in the courts is unknown. Is Honeycomb back? No one knows. My Charlie unit is made in the original factory, and it's maker has stated that he will provide support for the pedals regardless of which "Honeycomb" made them, but no one knows if he'll even be around. I wish I hadn't taken delivery of my Charlie because the company may become stable, or it might still vanish into thin air
I have the Alpha and Bravo and love them (not a fan of the red lights though). I know the lights can be turned off, but I don't like I have to push the button 5 times to turn them off, every time they are connected. Those red lights are bad for your eyes too, if you don't turn them off. Just a silly gimmick. I do not like the Charlie pedals at all, more gimmick lights and toyish. I use the Thrust Master TPR which I've found to be absolutely terrific.
How on earth are they bad for your eyes??
@@X50505 Red LED light is said to possibly be damaging the eyes. True or not, I don't know. Personally, I just don't like the lights on.
This one is to wide for my alu rig. But based on your review, I wouldn’t have bought them anyway, so it’s not a problem. Thank you very much for another great video. 🙏