I have to be honest here. Firstly nothing on this channel that's reviewed, isn't high end sim kit so idk why the price is talked about so much. Also, I have one of these dashes and it's amazing. I've had another dash, that was more money that broke two times. When I went to send it back, 2 months later, I didn't even get a full refund. Either way the support from Grid is top notch and the product it's self is incredible and I absolutely love it. The resolution is subjective. I've never had an issue with it at all. Plus, I think I'd be mad if I had to waste a GPU port on a dash, as I run 4 monitors. Either way, love the dash and it's well worth the money!
I'll probably have more thoughts that I'll amend to this comment later, but my gripe about the USB cable is that if the manufacturer wanted users to have an easily replaceable cable should the supplied one break (and being a USB Mini cable, it surely will), why not go USB C instead? As a fellow tech nerd, I'm surprised you didn't bring this up. It might be overkill (or not) for the application, but it allows headroom for growth because of that and is physically superior to USB Mini, both in terms of its strength and its flexibility -- that is, it's not keyed, you don't have to plug it in facing a certain direction.
Nice screen. Looks really high quality. That is another piece of hardware put on the bucket list. Difficult picking now the grid display or the simcore version. Great review as I am used to from you. Thumbs up 👍🏻! Thanks Wil.
I own the Grid Engineering DDU5 since a few months now. The Quality is outstanding ! a real Masterpiece of Hardware. The best Dashboard ive seen so far. i have absolutely no issues with it. its worth every Single € in my opinion. And it still cheaper than Simcore or Precision Sim Engineerings Dash btw. :-) And Brandon is a real cool Guy.
I know this is meant to be a high end item, but nearly $600 is a lot to ask for this kind of thing. At first glance, it looks rather bulky and I don't like how the USB port sticks straight out the back. The overall aesthetic is quite nice, though, and the LEDs are a great touch. I did some research into USB powered dashboard screens a little over 2 years ago; I ended up grabbing a 4.3" USBD480 touchscreen straight from the manufacturer and simply had a mount printed via 3D Hubs. Cost under $150 USD in the end and provides everything seen here, minus the LEDs. It's also a smaller overall package and the USB port is flush against the back of the screen as opposed to sticking straight out, which I like.
The usb cable entry to the board (coming from the rear) very much limits how close you can get it to your monitor, needs an option to change where it plugs in.
Precision Sim Engineering, APEX, and sim core are all a good bit more expensive than this product so I’m not sure what all the comments about price are based on.... The resolution is the same as anything else on the market also. I personally own this and it looks, feels, and performs like the premium sim product it is.
There are almost always two types of people who watch these more high end and niche product reviews... People who are genuinely interested in purchasing the product, and people who are curious about what you get for the money but with no intention of buying. The former tend not to comment as often so the comments tend to present a bit of a distorted perspective. Value for money is also very subjective of course.
The comments about price are based on ......the price! 500 currencies is a lot for something a 30 quid phone could do wirelessly. I know Will states this in his review but let's be real. Will mentions a "niche" product and he's right. Most won't bother with this and others won't buy because it's silly money. This product (and others like it) creates the "niche". If we're talking the difference between a G29 and a DD1 then the differences are obvious to all who've owned both. But you can't tell me that a 500 quid screen will give 10 times better immersion than a 30 quid phone. Its not gonna happen. I have a 45 quid 7 inch screen I use for a secondary HUD. The only thing I don't have is a sparkly case for it. Does that mean the case is worth 400 quid? As an edit: I have nothing against people who really want to bring the track to the home. BUT my biggest beef with "niche" products like this is that the sum of the parts doesn't equal the high cost and drives potential buyers away.
@@sneakygloworm But this particular products competitors are much more "currencies". If you cant afford this product just admire it in the video and move along. Don't rag on the price because you personally wouldn't spend the money on it. And "the sum of the parts"...that's not how it works man. Do you think if i gutted a Fanatec DD1 and valued all of the parts it would equal the MSRP....Hell no it wouldn't.
@@Colin_Goes_Racing The sum of the parts in this case, is a screen (low def) and a case. Now tell me why it's 500 quid. If I feel people are being overly charged, I'll say my bit which means "ragging" on the price. If you want to pay this kind of money for a dash, go ahead. Also, a DD1 has been properly engineered, bespoke software, PCB, tuned, inputs, etc. Try setting up your own DD wheelbase and then watch in awe as it tears your thumbs off. This thing is mainly off the shelf kit. Also, this is one of the more expensive variants. Have a look. I have nothing against this product. It's just overpriced and I want to know why. Why is that difficult to understand?
@@sneakygloworm Maybe you need to understand a little about Marketing: before this dash was launched, there were (are) 2-3 products of similar characteristics already , ie. SimCore, Precision Engineering, and other that I dońt recall. These products are selling at about 500-600 USD, so that is what the market is willing to pay for these products (otherwise there will be no sales). So......Grid enters the Market, analyzes it, studies it and.......voilá, decides to go with the average price of the Market. As simple as that. Same for cars, for clothes, for perfumes and fragances, medicines, restaurants, you name it. Obviously, there will always be people-customers who will not buy certain products at a given price level, but that´s part of the market and it has always been that way. In modern and market orientes economies ( we can say capitalist) the cost to manufacture a product does not dictate the market price. Eventually, as more and more competitors enter the market, prices eventually will come down. And ¡a final note: people are not being over charged,...they wanted the product and decided the price is acceptable for them...8
To help avoid cable snagging, 90 degree angled cables/adapters are cheap and easy to get hold of. Would be useful if the manufacturer provided one as standard.
Nice review I like how in-depth it was. Should have mine next week. 😎 I don’t think I need it, I run a 49 Samsung ultra wide and finding it hard to see the dash while getting the correct fov. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Seriously this video couldn’t have a come at a better time. Just got word I got a lil left over from taxes this year so ordered this morning. I want everything I buy for my rig to just serve that purpose. Makes me feel good, makes my rig look good.
I bought a Optus Wave phone for my dash ($89 aud), I leave it plugged in and connected, never need to go through menus ever and it is great. I don't see why anyone would need anything more?? I got a nice Porsche mount printed and it's golden for my SimHub dashes ;)
19:42 my phone dash is always connected,never needing to reconnect or go through menus other than to change car dashes. Resolution is 1540x720 and never runs flat as it's always USB connected.
Nice video as always. It would be nice to point out that such screens gives you option to rended dashboard when you cant see dashboard on screen due correct FOV. Not everyone have 65" triple :P
Acceptable, sure. But it’s important to point out to prospective buyers that an old smartphone they probably have laying around the house spare and could use to make a dash likely has far better image quality by comparison. That will be more important to some than others.
Regarding the DDU: Looking for one at the moment and this is a strong contender. My main issue is the mini usb connection, had enough devices where this broke. A USB-C would be a nice to see addition. That being said, I would probably just end up soldering it myself. Regarding Z1: sorry, but car1 is the setup page for the car, the cars listed are the different profiles that you can save. Car2 is the dash Setup, not more cars.
Have I missed something, in the link to GRID Engineering it's a 5" LCD Display with a 800x480 Resolution. that does not match up with your clarification below?
Lol, a decent graphics card (if you can find one) for similar price and a cheap phone can do this things job, though this does look nice but imo not worth that money.
Cheers for the review will. But 500 credits! I feel the majority of the cash goes into the case as the screen is not that expensive and the software is open source. I would really like a sim dash but, crikey, that thing is (dare I say it) vastly overpriced.
Will i would like to see a comparison between this unit and the simcore UD1-J Sim racing dashboard. I am looking at both and they are about the same price in AUD so i hoped you could check it out. Thanks
Hey Ken, both are nice units. Just comes down to using UGT software vs multiple options and rgb lights on ours. Plus the 4.3 vs 5”. Both are same resolution as well. Cheers.
Hey will great video mate. I'm looking at setting up a telemetry dash but this unit is way to much cash for my wallet mate. So can you tell me, will the cheap ass new 7" tablets you can get for around $80-$120 these days (Lenovo/Laser/Fire etc) do the job just running Simhub or are they to slow? I know your busy but can you please respond? And hey a video comparison of these tablets running Simhub would be awesome 🙏😉 PS. You said you would put a link to your video on running a smart phone or tablet in the description of this video but there is nothing there 🤔 Thanks Will and keep up the good work. 👍
Hi Will, I noticed that the rev LED's didn't really match up with the in game gear ones or the ones on the actual screen itself, is there a way to make the LED's match the in game ones? Cheers mate
Yeah as we showed in the video there are generic profiles that work with all cars, but the percentages can be fine tuned for each individual car to your taste, or to match what’s happening on the in game dash exactly if you which for it to do so.
I was going to buy but that USB is a no go, rather see better options for cable connection. Will look at the simcore one. If it has to be USB i would like to see USB-C. Just a nicer USB cable connection.
For that price I really couldn't ever justify buying it unless I had cash to burn. Most of the drawbacks of using a smartphone are pretty easy to overcome, so I'd have to go down that route.
I like the touchscreen on the simcore dash I have. Similar build quality and half the price. Compared to Simcore’s more expensive model with LEDs, I haven’t tested one personally but I would probably choose this because I prefer using Simhub to UGT.
I use a phone, set up to stay on all the time. Hooked up to usb, (my MB powers it even when turned off), connected to the same USB as my button box, and defaults to a JRT page with touch control for fuel and tyres and what ever else I want on it. But might have a play around with SimHub. Do you need to connect to SimHub everytime on the device? or does it automatically connect like JRT?
You’ll just need to refresh the browser page after firing up Simhub and provided your PC running Simhub still has the same IP address it should just work.
In the case of this dash, as long as USBD480 is enabled in Simhub it will just work as soon as Simhub is opened and a dash is selected to output to USBD480.
@@boostedmedia Thanks, I hadn't watch the Z1 dash part when a I asked, which basically answered my question, sorry. Sounds the same as JRT, The JRT page just updates straight away when the software starts which i'm glad of, as I built the phone into an enclosure (fixed IP etc.) JRT functions better then anything ive tried so far, but its certainly not pretty, But i'm going to try out SimHub soon.
I need to admit that I am really underwhelmed by the product. At this price point I would expect something more special than just a (seriously) great looking case. Seeing the configuration needed in SimHub, I expect it to by some kind of Arduino with a PCB that is doing all the wiring needed. This feeling is somehow strengthened by the request to not show the inside of the dash. For comparison: I build an Custom RPM meter with an Arduino, some cables, 8 LED PCBs and a case (cost roughly 15$ + the time to solder everything together). Nextion Displays can be purchased for 40 to 50 Dollars/Euros as well on AliExpress etc. Given that the my assumptions are not that far off, this should not cost more than 250 Dollars (development & series production costs money as well). @Will: I would appreciate if you could try to insist on opening such devices for better transparency in the future to ensure that the usual SimRacer isn't getting ripped off. Everyone is responsible for his own buying decision though. Nevertheless technically a good video.
I’m not sure what showing the inside would achieve in this case beyond quantifying my statements regarding build quality. No moving parts so not really susceptible to general wear and tear, so really the value proposition is purely down to external presentation, functionality and support, all of which were covered in the review. As I said right at the start of the video, there are far cheaper ways to achieve the same result from a standpoint of functionality. And I wanted to make sure that was abundantly clear so people who may be new to these products realise you don’t need to spend this kind of money to get the same experience, presentation aside. I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but I don’t really understand how the components used internally would be a factor in Determining if the customer is being “ripped off” as long as the build quality is of a standard expected at this price point (which it was). I guess we all look for different things to justify cost. Clearly for you, you want to see something you couldn’t build yourself for less, and I fully respect that. For me, I’d personally like to see a full suite of fully functioning and bug free profiles that have been tested by the manufacturer, or even perhaps a dedicated “Grid Engineering” build of Simhub with all the recommended profiles cooked in.
@@boostedmedia Hey Will, really appreciate your response and feedback. First of all, I want to excuse the wording "ripp off" as it may indicate some kind of fraud or something similar. It is a fair point and I will take more care about my wording in the future. Sorry for that... As I said, the case looks great and the dashboard seems to work as expected. In general a of lot things can be done cheaper if you do it on your own and if you have the tools, knowledge and time to do so. Buying things out of the box is convenience to safe this effort and everyone needs to decide for his own if it is worth the money or not. But my actual point - and I think I missed to make it clear - was, that even though the case is really top notch, I am not sure if this only justifies the price. For me it is also important that the price it is sold for is "fair" compared to the costs to build it, including development and production (which I know is not cheap). Alternatively you may get some other benefits I would not be able to do on my own (as you mentioned, additional dash boards). And at this price point I think there could be a mismatch besides the build quality of the case. Bottom line, I think it is fair to have different opinions on this one, but I hope that my point is more understandable than it was before. And sorry again for the wording. I follow your channel for a long time and I didn't want to be offensive at all. You helped me a lot back in 2019 to decide which gear to buy and I still enjoy simracing and your videos.
@@alpenmerlin Your original point is valid and also very important. I am not say these are a ripi off and transparency is valuable. There are many products that do use very cheap internals and are repackaged in flashy encloses. Heap of audio gear etc.... Value for your money is what I believe you were talking about. It can look the goods and fulfill the requirements it was made to do. How ever if it was built with $50 of the cheapest components then how do you feel. I agree that it should have been popped open. There would be no problem. It would also show total confidence in the product by the manufacturer and to Wills credit he did not have bring up the topic in his review. Unfortunately Will has opened many items in the past and made it a point of show the working inside. Rambling a bit now. Anyway you have a good point and its one shared by alot people that scratch their heads at the cost of some of this equipment on offer.
I think as trivial as resolution really is for something like this, like c'mon you're not watching movies on it, but with how inexpensive small panels like that are at a much higher resolution, and the cost they are demanding for this, it screams cost savings for the sake of cost savings which is just not acceptable on premium hardware and speaks much more about the company as a whole. Perhaps a more clever lad can comment under me a correction but the software required seems approachable for a rasp pi zero, which can be had with a 480p screen for like under 70USD. 1080p and rasp pi 4 would even run you under 150USD, and again I'm sure someone more clever than I could put some LEDs on it. Regardless of the fact that it does what it says it does it all just smells like an egregious money grab targeted those with the money to piss. 250USD feels like the highest acceptable amount for something of this sort.
Kalamabrew, Unfortunately, there are no better options for a higher resolution that run off a USB at this time. This is not a cost saving attempt on our end. If there was or in future is a better resolution option, the dash will have it :) The cost to manufacture these are not cheap. The board alone to power the screen is around $100 USD + screen cost + CNC enclosure + anodizing + custom glass + custom PCB inside etc etc. Also the R&D of course plus testing for months and tweaking. This has also been ran on a motion rig for quite some time before we listed them on our website. Hope this provides some better insight for you! Cheers
But will a new HD screen come at a 100 currency increase? This seems to be priced inline with other dash chassis and not aggressively pushing them out of the market as it should really be doing. I simply can't see why these things are so expensive. I can only assume it's due to the actual case. The internals and cables can be found on the web if people look hard enough and decide how it's going to be run. The software isn't bespoke. Its niche for the sake of it. Its good to have choices for these things but it's either pay a lot or pay a lot more....
@@sneakygloworm we are doing everything we can to bring a higher resolution display out in future and we certainly will not upcharge for this if component costs are the same. In fact, if a newer option is cheaper to manufacture, we would drop the price of the display. Cheers
@@gridengineering9814 Many Thanks. I appreciate your reply. It is a lovely looking peice of equipment (and i'll never take that aawy from you) but I simply cant understand why it is so expensive. I am not knocking the kit but the price seems remarkably high. It is to simply be priced inline with other dash screens? I take it that it has no proprietry software and works entirely from a pc using sim dashboard or sim hub, etc. I feel these screens should be a lower cost but the price is high, mainly because the case is bespoke?
The USB cable explanation for someone that pays 500 for this dash, doesn't make sense IMO. Nevertheless, I like a lot the refinement and overall design, one of my favorites.
same here...also it seems that it is now a vocore display. I can't get it running as it supposed to be. The manual on the Website is completely useless....sorry but thats a nogo for that price.
The problem with these dashes and formula rims is when you actually use a formula cockpit they sit too high up and block half the screen. That's why they work best integrated into the wheel. It's one of the main reasons I have for not moving from my DD1 to Simucube. I know there are Formula wheels with rev lights and screens but they are 1. very expensive 2. a little too big and 3. a bit ugly.
I used to run a phone as a dash on my formula cockpit but admittedly I had the FOV adjusted a bit weird to make it work for me. This was back when I was on my FGT and single 55 screen.
I like the touchscreen on the Simcore one I have. I do like the LEDs on this though. Haven’t tried simcores UGT based one but I prefer Simhub to UGT generally. Quality wise, construction is similar. Simcore has some hand soldered connections internally whereas this is entirely wave soldered, not that that really matters.
premium gears but hear what he says about the resolution that’s ancient for the day and age of the 1080p ,4k even 8K generation and for the money also it’s a big ass rip-off
I would like to see higher resolution for the money, but I’m not aware of any displays available currently that offer higher resolution and don’t require connection via a display cable rather than USB. The resolution is without a doubt the weak point for this product.
M S, unfortunately this is the current standard on the market. UGT, SimCore, PSE etc all run the same resolution. If the user has no spare HDMI or DP ports and wants a USB to power the display, this is the only option on the market in this size. We are working on something currently to address this but a lot of R&D is involved in making it happen to differ from other dash options on the market.
at least smartphone company's put an effort designing and crating smart phones ..for example you can get smartphone 450usd with 120hz displays and quad hd ..and those sim company's put 0 effort crating products and selling for a fortune..
The manufacturer replied to another comment about that and apparently it's the highest resolution that can be driven by the usb? Or whatever runs it internally.
One point to clarify. This is a 5inch 480x272 display using a custom USBD480 controller. Standard USBD480 is 4.3in.
I have to be honest here. Firstly nothing on this channel that's reviewed, isn't high end sim kit so idk why the price is talked about so much. Also, I have one of these dashes and it's amazing. I've had another dash, that was more money that broke two times. When I went to send it back, 2 months later, I didn't even get a full refund. Either way the support from Grid is top notch and the product it's self is incredible and I absolutely love it. The resolution is subjective. I've never had an issue with it at all. Plus, I think I'd be mad if I had to waste a GPU port on a dash, as I run 4 monitors. Either way, love the dash and it's well worth the money!
Thanks for the feedback Andrew and glad to hear you are loving the display!
good point on the taking up a usb port, i didnt think about that. Thanks mate
I'll probably have more thoughts that I'll amend to this comment later, but my gripe about the USB cable is that if the manufacturer wanted users to have an easily replaceable cable should the supplied one break (and being a USB Mini cable, it surely will), why not go USB C instead? As a fellow tech nerd, I'm surprised you didn't bring this up. It might be overkill (or not) for the application, but it allows headroom for growth because of that and is physically superior to USB Mini, both in terms of its strength and its flexibility -- that is, it's not keyed, you don't have to plug it in facing a certain direction.
Nice screen. Looks really high quality. That is another piece of hardware put on the bucket list. Difficult picking now the grid display or the simcore version. Great review as I am used to from you. Thumbs up 👍🏻! Thanks Wil.
I own the Grid Engineering DDU5 since a few months now. The Quality is outstanding ! a real Masterpiece of Hardware. The best Dashboard ive seen so far. i have absolutely no issues with it. its worth every Single € in my opinion. And it still cheaper than Simcore or Precision Sim Engineerings Dash btw. :-) And Brandon is a real cool Guy.
Thank you Patrick!!!
I know this is meant to be a high end item, but nearly $600 is a lot to ask for this kind of thing. At first glance, it looks rather bulky and I don't like how the USB port sticks straight out the back. The overall aesthetic is quite nice, though, and the LEDs are a great touch.
I did some research into USB powered dashboard screens a little over 2 years ago; I ended up grabbing a 4.3" USBD480 touchscreen straight from the manufacturer and simply had a mount printed via 3D Hubs. Cost under $150 USD in the end and provides everything seen here, minus the LEDs. It's also a smaller overall package and the USB port is flush against the back of the screen as opposed to sticking straight out, which I like.
The usb cable entry to the board (coming from the rear) very much limits how close you can get it to your monitor, needs an option to change where it plugs in.
Precision Sim Engineering, APEX, and sim core are all a good bit more expensive than this product so I’m not sure what all the comments about price are based on....
The resolution is the same as anything else on the market also.
I personally own this and it looks, feels, and performs like the premium sim product it is.
There are almost always two types of people who watch these more high end and niche product reviews...
People who are genuinely interested in purchasing the product, and people who are curious about what you get for the money but with no intention of buying.
The former tend not to comment as often so the comments tend to present a bit of a distorted perspective.
Value for money is also very subjective of course.
The comments about price are based on ......the price! 500 currencies is a lot for something a 30 quid phone could do wirelessly. I know Will states this in his review but let's be real. Will mentions a "niche" product and he's right. Most won't bother with this and others won't buy because it's silly money. This product (and others like it) creates the "niche". If we're talking the difference between a G29 and a DD1 then the differences are obvious to all who've owned both. But you can't tell me that a 500 quid screen will give 10 times better immersion than a 30 quid phone. Its not gonna happen. I have a 45 quid 7 inch screen I use for a secondary HUD. The only thing I don't have is a sparkly case for it. Does that mean the case is worth 400 quid? As an edit: I have nothing against people who really want to bring the track to the home. BUT my biggest beef with "niche" products like this is that the sum of the parts doesn't equal the high cost and drives potential buyers away.
@@sneakygloworm But this particular products competitors are much more "currencies". If you cant afford this product just admire it in the video and move along. Don't rag on the price because you personally wouldn't spend the money on it.
And "the sum of the parts"...that's not how it works man. Do you think if i gutted a Fanatec DD1 and valued all of the parts it would equal the MSRP....Hell no it wouldn't.
@@Colin_Goes_Racing The sum of the parts in this case, is a screen (low def) and a case. Now tell me why it's 500 quid.
If I feel people are being overly charged, I'll say my bit which means "ragging" on the price. If you want to pay this kind of money for a dash, go ahead. Also, a DD1 has been properly engineered, bespoke software, PCB, tuned, inputs, etc. Try setting up your own DD wheelbase and then watch in awe as it tears your thumbs off. This thing is mainly off the shelf kit. Also, this is one of the more expensive variants. Have a look. I have nothing against this product. It's just overpriced and I want to know why. Why is that difficult to understand?
@@sneakygloworm Maybe you need to understand a little about Marketing: before this dash was launched, there were (are) 2-3 products of similar characteristics already , ie. SimCore, Precision Engineering, and other that I dońt recall. These products are selling at about 500-600 USD, so that is what the market is willing to pay for these products (otherwise there will be no sales). So......Grid enters the Market, analyzes it, studies it and.......voilá, decides to go with the average price of the Market. As simple as that. Same for cars, for clothes, for perfumes and fragances, medicines, restaurants, you name it. Obviously, there will always be people-customers who will not buy certain products at a given price level, but that´s part of the market and it has always been that way. In modern and market orientes economies ( we can say capitalist) the cost to manufacture a product does not dictate the market price. Eventually, as more and more competitors enter the market, prices eventually will come down. And ¡a final note: people are not being over charged,...they wanted the product and decided the price is acceptable for them...8
Very nice bit of kit and keeps making think about a better dash display one of these days for my rig.
To help avoid cable snagging, 90 degree angled cables/adapters are cheap and easy to get hold of. Would be useful if the manufacturer provided one as standard.
Sim RetroRacer, we appreciate and value community feedback and will look into including this!
Great review Will! Thanks as always!
Nice review I like how in-depth it was. Should have mine next week. 😎
I don’t think I need it, I run a 49 Samsung ultra wide and finding it hard to see the dash while getting the correct fov. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Seriously this video couldn’t have a come at a better time. Just got word I got a lil left over from taxes this year so ordered this morning. I want everything I buy for my rig to just serve that purpose. Makes me feel good, makes my rig look good.
Great Video as always. Another toy for my Wishlist 🎸
I bought a Optus Wave phone for my dash ($89 aud), I leave it plugged in and connected, never need to go through menus ever and it is great. I don't see why anyone would need anything more?? I got a nice Porsche mount printed and it's golden for my SimHub dashes ;)
19:42 my phone dash is always connected,never needing to reconnect or go through menus other than to change car dashes. Resolution is 1540x720 and never runs flat as it's always USB connected.
Nice video as always. It would be nice to point out that such screens gives you option to rended dashboard when you cant see dashboard on screen due correct FOV. Not everyone have 65" triple :P
The resolution on the Grid dash is perfectly acceptable. I'm guessing you never had an Oculus Rift CV1.
Acceptable, sure. But it’s important to point out to prospective buyers that an old smartphone they probably have laying around the house spare and could use to make a dash likely has far better image quality by comparison. That will be more important to some than others.
Looks like your actually sitting in the Porsche. Just want to make that clear🤘🏻🏁
Regarding the DDU:
Looking for one at the moment and this is a strong contender. My main issue is the mini usb connection, had enough devices where this broke. A USB-C would be a nice to see addition. That being said, I would probably just end up soldering it myself.
Regarding Z1: sorry, but car1 is the setup page for the car, the cars listed are the different profiles that you can save. Car2 is the dash Setup, not more cars.
Have I missed something, in the link to GRID Engineering it's a 5" LCD Display
with a 800x480 Resolution. that does not match up with your clarification below?
Nah, please no special cables! Standard USB is fine! Just USB-C would have been great...
Yep I can definitely see the merit in using an easily replaceable cable.
WOW and there's me thinking that my v3 pedals were too expensive at £450. Nice product though
Lol, a decent graphics card (if you can find one) for similar price and a cheap phone can do this things job, though this does look nice but imo not worth that money.
@@2ndLastJedi absolutely!
Nice setup
Yea its expensive but looks like the quality matches. Great review!
👌
I can say that 100% LEDs on a dash are super useful
totally looks like you’re sitting in the Porsche I just want to make that clear🤘🏻🏁
Why would you want a proprietary cable??? That’s ridiculous. You should be advocating for readily available connectors. If anything it should be usb C
Cheers for the review will. But 500 credits! I feel the majority of the cash goes into the case as the screen is not that expensive and the software is open source. I would really like a sim dash but, crikey, that thing is (dare I say it) vastly overpriced.
Will i would like to see a comparison between this unit and the simcore UD1-J Sim racing dashboard. I am looking at both and they are about the same price in AUD so i hoped you could check it out. Thanks
Hey Ken, both are nice units. Just comes down to using UGT software vs multiple options and rgb lights on ours. Plus the 4.3 vs 5”. Both are same resolution as well. Cheers.
looks great!
I finally got mine but somehow I can't find the discord channel of simhub anymore?
didnt even notice how early this is
Hey will great video mate. I'm looking at setting up a telemetry dash but this unit is way to much cash for my wallet mate. So can you tell me, will the cheap ass new 7" tablets you can get for around $80-$120 these days (Lenovo/Laser/Fire etc) do the job just running Simhub or are they to slow? I know your busy but can you please respond? And hey a video comparison of these tablets running Simhub would be awesome 🙏😉
PS. You said you would put a link to your video on running a smart phone or tablet in the description of this video but there is nothing there 🤔
Thanks Will and keep up the good work. 👍
Where I can find that Porsche layout?
I can’t find the link for the Grid Engineering discord. Can you please help?
on the shop you can choose "USB Eyebrows Add-On" which costs 100$(!).
Can you tell me what this is?
That’s a good question. I have no idea. Sorry.
@@boostedmedia damn :D
Hi Will, I noticed that the rev LED's didn't really match up with the in game gear ones or the ones on the actual screen itself, is there a way to make the LED's match the in game ones?
Cheers mate
Yeah as we showed in the video there are generic profiles that work with all cars, but the percentages can be fine tuned for each individual car to your taste, or to match what’s happening on the in game dash exactly if you which for it to do so.
I was going to buy but that USB is a no go, rather see better options for cable connection. Will look at the simcore one. If it has to be USB i would like to see USB-C. Just a nicer USB cable connection.
Hey Kiwi Canuck. We are looking at bringing in 90 degree cables in the near future. Cheers
For that price I really couldn't ever justify buying it unless I had cash to burn. Most of the drawbacks of using a smartphone are pretty easy to overcome, so I'd have to go down that route.
Yeah it’s definitely not for everyone at this price, nor is it pretending to be. An old smartphone does just fine for most people :)
VoCore is a higher resolution screen. Its been out for a while.
What is your preference between this and the Simcore Dash? Any benefits between either?
I like the touchscreen on the simcore dash I have. Similar build quality and half the price.
Compared to Simcore’s more expensive model with LEDs, I haven’t tested one personally but I would probably choose this because I prefer using Simhub to UGT.
I use a phone, set up to stay on all the time. Hooked up to usb, (my MB powers it even when turned off), connected to the same USB as my button box, and defaults to a JRT page with touch control for fuel and tyres and what ever else I want on it. But might have a play around with SimHub.
Do you need to connect to SimHub everytime on the device? or does it automatically connect like JRT?
You’ll just need to refresh the browser page after firing up Simhub and provided your PC running Simhub still has the same IP address it should just work.
In the case of this dash, as long as USBD480 is enabled in Simhub it will just work as soon as Simhub is opened and a dash is selected to output to USBD480.
@@boostedmedia Thanks, I hadn't watch the Z1 dash part when a I asked, which basically answered my question, sorry. Sounds the same as JRT, The JRT page just updates straight away when the software starts which i'm glad of, as I built the phone into an enclosure (fixed IP etc.) JRT functions better then anything ive tried so far, but its certainly not pretty, But i'm going to try out SimHub soon.
I need to admit that I am really underwhelmed by the product. At this price point I would expect something more special than just a (seriously) great looking case. Seeing the configuration needed in SimHub, I expect it to by some kind of Arduino with a PCB that is doing all the wiring needed. This feeling is somehow strengthened by the request to not show the inside of the dash.
For comparison: I build an Custom RPM meter with an Arduino, some cables, 8 LED PCBs and a case (cost roughly 15$ + the time to solder everything together). Nextion Displays can be purchased for 40 to 50 Dollars/Euros as well on AliExpress etc. Given that the my assumptions are not that far off, this should not cost more than 250 Dollars (development & series production costs money as well).
@Will: I would appreciate if you could try to insist on opening such devices for better transparency in the future to ensure that the usual SimRacer isn't getting ripped off. Everyone is responsible for his own buying decision though. Nevertheless technically a good video.
I’m not sure what showing the inside would achieve in this case beyond quantifying my statements regarding build quality. No moving parts so not really susceptible to general wear and tear, so really the value proposition is purely down to external presentation, functionality and support, all of which were covered in the review.
As I said right at the start of the video, there are far cheaper ways to achieve the same result from a standpoint of functionality. And I wanted to make sure that was abundantly clear so people who may be new to these products realise you don’t need to spend this kind of money to get the same experience, presentation aside.
I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but I don’t really understand how the components used internally would be a factor in Determining if the customer is being “ripped off” as long as the build quality is of a standard expected at this price point (which it was).
I guess we all look for different things to justify cost. Clearly for you, you want to see something you couldn’t build yourself for less, and I fully respect that. For me, I’d personally like to see a full suite of fully functioning and bug free profiles that have been tested by the manufacturer, or even perhaps a dedicated “Grid Engineering” build of Simhub with all the recommended profiles cooked in.
@@boostedmedia Hey Will, really appreciate your response and feedback. First of all, I want to excuse the wording "ripp off" as it may indicate some kind of fraud or something similar. It is a fair point and I will take more care about my wording in the future. Sorry for that...
As I said, the case looks great and the dashboard seems to work as expected. In general a of lot things can be done cheaper if you do it on your own and if you have the tools, knowledge and time to do so. Buying things out of the box is convenience to safe this effort and everyone needs to decide for his own if it is worth the money or not.
But my actual point - and I think I missed to make it clear - was, that even though the case is really top notch, I am not sure if this only justifies the price. For me it is also important that the price it is sold for is "fair" compared to the costs to build it, including development and production (which I know is not cheap). Alternatively you may get some other benefits I would not be able to do on my own (as you mentioned, additional dash boards). And at this price point I think there could be a mismatch besides the build quality of the case.
Bottom line, I think it is fair to have different opinions on this one, but I hope that my point is more understandable than it was before. And sorry again for the wording. I follow your channel for a long time and I didn't want to be offensive at all. You helped me a lot back in 2019 to decide which gear to buy and I still enjoy simracing and your videos.
No offence taken at all mate. :)
@@alpenmerlin Your original point is valid and also very important. I am not say these are a ripi off and transparency is valuable. There are many products that do use very cheap internals and are repackaged in flashy encloses. Heap of audio gear etc....
Value for your money is what I believe you were talking about. It can look the goods and fulfill the requirements it was made to do. How ever if it was built with $50 of the cheapest components then how do you feel. I agree that it should have been popped open. There would be no problem. It would also show total confidence in the product by the manufacturer and to Wills credit he did not have bring up the topic in his review. Unfortunately Will has opened many items in the past and made it a point of show the working inside.
Rambling a bit now. Anyway you have a good point and its one shared by alot people that scratch their heads at the cost of some of this equipment on offer.
@@untrainedprofessionals2374 "Value for your money is what I believe you were talking about." That basically sums up what I was trying to say. Thanks.
I think as trivial as resolution really is for something like this, like c'mon you're not watching movies on it, but with how inexpensive small panels like that are at a much higher resolution, and the cost they are demanding for this, it screams cost savings for the sake of cost savings which is just not acceptable on premium hardware and speaks much more about the company as a whole. Perhaps a more clever lad can comment under me a correction but the software required seems approachable for a rasp pi zero, which can be had with a 480p screen for like under 70USD. 1080p and rasp pi 4 would even run you under 150USD, and again I'm sure someone more clever than I could put some LEDs on it.
Regardless of the fact that it does what it says it does it all just smells like an egregious money grab targeted those with the money to piss. 250USD feels like the highest acceptable amount for something of this sort.
Kalamabrew,
Unfortunately, there are no better options for a higher resolution that run off a USB at this time. This is not a cost saving attempt on our end. If there was or in future is a better resolution option, the dash will have it :)
The cost to manufacture these are not cheap. The board alone to power the screen is around $100 USD + screen cost + CNC enclosure + anodizing + custom glass + custom PCB inside etc etc. Also the R&D of course plus testing for months and tweaking. This has also been ran on a motion rig for quite some time before we listed them on our website.
Hope this provides some better insight for you!
Cheers
But will a new HD screen come at a 100 currency increase? This seems to be priced inline with other dash chassis and not aggressively pushing them out of the market as it should really be doing. I simply can't see why these things are so expensive. I can only assume it's due to the actual case. The internals and cables can be found on the web if people look hard enough and decide how it's going to be run. The software isn't bespoke. Its niche for the sake of it. Its good to have choices for these things but it's either pay a lot or pay a lot more....
@@sneakygloworm we are doing everything we can to bring a higher resolution display out in future and we certainly will not upcharge for this if component costs are the same. In fact, if a newer option is cheaper to manufacture, we would drop the price of the display.
Cheers
@@gridengineering9814 Many Thanks. I appreciate your reply. It is a lovely looking peice of equipment (and i'll never take that aawy from you) but I simply cant understand why it is so expensive. I am not knocking the kit but the price seems remarkably high. It is to simply be priced inline with other dash screens? I take it that it has no proprietry software and works entirely from a pc using sim dashboard or sim hub, etc. I feel these screens should be a lower cost but the price is high, mainly because the case is bespoke?
Hi is this for pc only or ps5?
The USB cable explanation for someone that pays 500 for this dash, doesn't make sense IMO. Nevertheless, I like a lot the refinement and overall design, one of my favorites.
it looks very nice but would be great if you could review or cover more affordable options please 😀
ua-cam.com/video/T1Dz603uAV4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/HR6YywmnRUE/v-deo.html
@@boostedmedia cheers were these meant to be in the description;)
Can’t find discord of Grid Engineering…
same here...also it seems that it is now a vocore display. I can't get it running as it supposed to be. The manual on the Website is completely useless....sorry but thats a nogo for that price.
The problem with these dashes and formula rims is when you actually use a formula cockpit they sit too high up and block half the screen. That's why they work best integrated into the wheel. It's one of the main reasons I have for not moving from my DD1 to Simucube. I know there are Formula wheels with rev lights and screens but they are 1. very expensive 2. a little too big and 3. a bit ugly.
I used to run a phone as a dash on my formula cockpit but admittedly I had the FOV adjusted a bit weird to make it work for me. This was back when I was on my FGT and single 55 screen.
How does this compare to the Simcore dash?
I like the touchscreen on the Simcore one I have. I do like the LEDs on this though. Haven’t tried simcores UGT based one but I prefer Simhub to UGT generally.
Quality wise, construction is similar. Simcore has some hand soldered connections internally whereas this is entirely wave soldered, not that that really matters.
link doesn't work
Discord Grid Engineering ?
Better cable needed especially at that price point.
I use an full HD touch screen 7inch tablet which costed me 200€ and sim dash software and you have a better screen than this.
I'm not paying 600 dollars for that. Functionally its the same as a 3d printed one with lights. For 120 dollars
No one has the time to read stuff while racing, dashboards are useful only to read the basic stuff if you want to race without text on screen.
premium gears but hear what he says about the resolution that’s ancient for the day and age of the 1080p ,4k even 8K generation and for the money also it’s a big ass rip-off
I would like to see higher resolution for the money, but I’m not aware of any displays available currently that offer higher resolution and don’t require connection via a display cable rather than USB. The resolution is without a doubt the weak point for this product.
M S, unfortunately this is the current standard on the market. UGT, SimCore, PSE etc all run the same resolution. If the user has no spare HDMI or DP ports and wants a USB to power the display, this is the only option on the market in this size. We are working on something currently to address this but a lot of R&D is involved in making it happen to differ from other dash options on the market.
$600 can you mount a steering wheel to it.
lol the CSL DD with boost kit cost me cheaper than that crap...
at least smartphone company's put an effort designing and crating smart phones ..for example you can get smartphone 450usd with 120hz displays and quad hd ..and those sim company's put 0 effort crating products and selling for a fortune..
We haven't found a smartphone yet that does what our dash can.
@@gridengineering9814 yes sure i cant find a smart phone that does so much little as this thing does
@@wow35master haha, you owned this quack!
580$ is insanely overpriced
Yo
hai!
Not wort h it at all. I got one from Etsy with touch screen and the same led features for 170 usd.
Ew what, 480p for that price?
The manufacturer replied to another comment about that and apparently it's the highest resolution that can be driven by the usb? Or whatever runs it internally.