Mini Review: Wheel Stand Pro for Microsoft Xbox
Price at time of review: £95'ish
I had the pleasure of unboxing my Wheel Stand Pro yesterday as customs / courier had damaged the box quite badly and my wife was concerned bits may be missing.
Pleased to announce that in the journey from Warsaw Poland to the UK all is well, and we wont be needing to return it / request additional parts.
Why did I want it?
Since having the wheel, whilst it makes an enormous difference to controlling the car, particularly the very high powered rear wheel drive ones, I've always found the wheel is far to close to me on the lap mount, and too far away / awkward when bolted to the coffee table. I wanted precision positioning of the wheel further infront of me so my knuckle dragging arms weren't flailing like a fitting raver.
So what's it like
Heavy, well made, and does what it says on the tin. The quick release levers mean you can adjust most settings on the fly (so to speak) apart from the pedal distance or wheel rake angle. It's not going to break easily, and is not flimsy in the way that once you start sawing at the wheel it will bend or flex. It sits comfortably at most angles, shows little sign of tipping, and offers a lot of adjustability. All required tools are provided, and it is intelligently designed around the XBox wheel. It also folds flat(ish) which is handy.
Is it worth it?
Buildwise yes it is. It's a solid piece of kit. However, and quite interestingly I initially set it up quite car like (wheel raised quite high and forward). After a few minutes as I had nowhere to rest my arms (I've got used to armrest & door sill), my arms were aching quite a bit. I found myself adjusting the wheel back towards lap height, but a bit further away that the lap mount would allow. Eventually with a cushion under each elbow, and laying back in the sofa I finally hit a sweet spot, but it was quite hard to get the sweet spot set up without someone else to help as you can't make the adjustments whilst you're sat in your optimal position (as you have to get up and move things). You'll find it may take upto 2 hours to tune your sweet spot.
Verdict
Score: 8 out of 10
Good points: Very robust, looks trick, no more back pain, very stable platform
Not so good: Doesn't fold that flat with wheel attached, takes quite a bit of adjustment, leaves you wanting a bucket seat to bolt on!
Should I buy one?: If you have space to store it, and you spend a large amount of time on driving games then I'd recommend it. If not, stick to the lap mount.
Images:
Sweet! A nice early Christmas pressie. I know what you mean about wanting a bucket seat. One of those setups would be awesome.
