VKB Gladiator NXT EVO Review

SubliminaL
April 18, 2023
3:17 pm

Subliminal's Verdict

The Gladiator NXT EVOs have been the best upgrade to my Star Citizen experience hands down. Most of my followers play star citizen and let me just tell you, internet ships that you can just buy in game is a poor investment compared to something like this. If you’re a Space Marshal or higher and you’re not rocking NXTs or better you might want to check your priorities. While they aren’t perfect, they certainly stand as the best buying option for anyone looking for joysticks.

Pros:

Great Value
Durable for the cost
Modular
User Serviceable
Upgradeable
Customizable
Community Support

Cons:

Made of Plastic
Complicated software
No user manual
Uncomfortable for larger hands

Video Review

VKB Gladiator NXT Review: The Grips

After using the VKB Gladiator NXTs for almost two years, I can see why they are the most popular Premium Stick in the Star Citizen Community. They are relatively affordable, have a ton of bind-able buttons and do-dads, can be customized to your liking, and have excellent build quality for the price.

There are 2 different grips available on the NXT EVOs that need to be discussed before moving forward. There’s the premium and the standard. We’ll start with the standard, and then I’ll discuss what extras you get with the premiums.

The Standard features a lockable twist or Z-Axis. You can lock this by adding an included screw to the hole at the base of the stick. Personally, my right stick twist is no longer bound to roll because I moved it to my pedals. And even though it is unbound, I have never felt the need to lock it. It’s stable enough without it. For the twist, VKB uses a contactless MaRS sensor to measure its twist action. In short, this MaRS sensor gives much higher sensitivity and accuracy when you twist. There are a few of these sensors throughout the NXTs that I will discuss later. Here is a link to a video from ALPS ALPINE on this MaRS sensor verses the hall effect sensor.

The stick has one dual action trigger. This simply means pulling the trigger down half way is one button press and pulling it down all the way is another. Personally, I use this to separate my fire groups. In Star Citizen, this can be used to separate your ballistics from energy, distortion from energy, and any future mixed setups that may arise. And for you Sentinel pilots out there, your weapons from your EMP. Pulling this in has a satisfying click on the first stage and another, smaller, less audible click on the last stage. For Hats, the standards come with three 4-way with center push Hat Switches. These feel sturdy without rattle, and gives enough feedback so you know when you’ve pressed it and in what direction you’ve pushed it to, and are textured for non slip operation.

There are 4 buttons, in the following locations: A2, B1, C1, and D1.

There are programmable Red and RGB LEDs. VKB does have a guide on how to custom program these, it’s not too complicated. However its more involved than you’d expect for such a simple task.

And finally, they come with 2 interchangeable palm rests for a total of 3 adjustable sizes. The larger palm rest seems to be designed for petite or child users. With this added, I feel like I have to reach down to hit the D1 pinky button, and everything feels cramped. The second one could work for me and I like the rubber grip, but it seems a little tight. Personally, I feel my hands are a little too big to use this. For me, the permanent built-in palm rest it comes with is perfect, and I would say my hands are slightly larger than average. Although, a common complaint I hear is that even these can be uncomfortable if you have bigger hands, so your experience will certainly vary. I hope this info helps you make the best decision for you.

VKB Gladiator NXT Review: Standard Vs Premium

That’s it for the standard grip, here is what the Premium offers on top of those features. First is the rapid fire trigger. This trigger is placed just above the dual stage trigger, and has two buttons, one for when you push it up, and another for when you pull it down. The C1 button on the thumb rest is replaced with a 4-way hat with center push, giving you an extra 4 buttons. The last input of the premium is an 8-way Analog Mini Stick with center push. This can be toggled to and from an 8-Way hat to an analog mini-stick by clicking in on the stick. When in analog stick mode a red light will appear. As for the analog stick it works nice enough that you could use it to actually walk and look around. However, personally, I would not use it for FPS gameplay and I’m sure it is not intended for that. As for the 8-Way hat, it works similar to the other hats, but its more loose and free because it doesn’t have the detents. It should be noted that an 8-Way function is not currently supported by Star Citizen so functionally it is just a 4-way hat. On my left stick I use this to control my speed limiter, and the right stick it’s used to target hostiles because it can be easily flicked in the intended direction.

Finally if there is a premium option you don’t like, replacement parts are provided in case you want to change it. They come with the push button and hat switch module. You even get a trigger cover for if you decide to remove the rapid fire trigger. Essentially if you decided you would prefer a standard over the premium you could downgrade it yourself, not sure why you’d do that but you can.

So, should you buy the premiums or the standard? Or should you buy one of each? The answer is buy the premiums. There are a few reasons I say this.

Star Citizen is a complicated game with a huge library of different bindings you can make use of. Put simply the more buttons you have the more things you can do without taking your hands off the sticks. When I setup the bindings for my premium sticks I used every single button. Without the extra buttons I would have to use a modifier, via programs like Joy2Key or Joystick Grelmin. Having as many buttons as I have I don’t need a programs like those to complicate my setup. Another reason is if you want to use or start out using another users binding configuration, they will probably be using the premiums so it wont be fully compatible. By the way, here is a link to my bindings for dual NXTs or NXT EVOs. The last reason is because you won’t look back and regret it. However, you might regret NOT upgrading. There is a premium upgrade kit on their store, but its $40 per stick, plus shipping. So in my personal opinion, it is worth the extra $30 per stick for the premiums.

VKB Gladiator NXT Review: The Base

The Standard and Premium only refers the Kosmosiama grip. As far as the NXT EVO base is concerned there is no difference between the Standard and Premium or even left and right. Before we get to the internals lets start with the functionality on the outside. On top we have buttons F1 through F3 these are pretty straight forward. Below we have a an auto centering three position switch. Pushing this up is one button press, pushing down is another and once you let it go it goes back to center. A good example use for this would be opening and closing doors. On the right side is an encoder wheel. Scrolling up on the encoder wheel is a button press and if you continue to scroll up it continues to press that button, same with the down motion. A good example use for this would be for raising and lowering your countermeasure count. Lastly and one of my favorite features is the throttle wheel. This can be used for a

wide range of things one of my favorites is thrust output, or Acceleration Limiter in the bindings menu. This reduces how quickly you can accelerate and can make landing easier without having to reduce your speed limiter. Fair warning, if you add this binding and the wheel gets moved into the up position, your ship wont be able to leave the pad, and it could take you a while to figure out why. The biggest game changer was using this for mining. I don’t understand exactly why but it is much easier to keep the power output in-line by just slowly moving this up and down. Rather than rapidly scroll wheeling up or down on my mouse to keep it steady. Its much more precise and manageable.

Its easy to remove the base plate via four screws at the bottom. This base plate is made of steel so it is pretty hefty. This helps weigh down the sticks and makes them much more usable if you don’t or cant mount them. They have anti slip pads at the bottom that do an excellent job. I used Thrustmaster T16000Ms for two years and the difference is night and day. However I can say it is not a replacement for a good solid mounting solution. The base does have 4 screw holes to mount them directly to your desk, however if you’re like me that’s just a bit too destructive. So a mounting solution like Monstertek, Predator Mounts, or even VKBs line of mounts is the ideal solution. However the stability of the VKBs does not make mounting them a necessity, just a nice to have. If you want my recommendation, For US residents the overall cost for Predator Mounts is much cheaper especially with their free shipping on orders over $100, so they come highly recommended by me. Full disclosure using code subliminal at checkout with predator mounts will save you 5% on your order and send a small kickback that does support this channel so take my recommendation as you will.

Inside, the NXT Evos are made from industrial grade ABS plastic. This plastic is light weight and durable, and a great design and engineering choice by VKB to make an affordable but durable mid range stick.

You have the option of interchangeable springs. 20# springs are installed, but you are given 30# (Strong Springs), or 10# (Soft Springs) to be swapped for a custom feel. They also give you six spares. Why have spares you ask? Because they can break. As of April 2023 I have been using the NXTs for 2 years, and I have had a spring break on me once. It happened in the middle of combat while I was live on Twitch. I was able to finish the fight, quantum to my next bounty, unmount the sticks, remove the broken spring, add the new one, remount the sticks, and was done by the time my ship reached Crusader from Hurston. It started out as a kind of scary moment and ended with me feeling good about it happening. Because now that I saw how easy it was, I’m more comfortable swapping the springs for different weights to customize the feel to my liking.

Those Mars sensors we talked about earlier are also in the base for both the x and y axis

For even more of a custom feel, the EVOs come with adjustable dry clutches. The two at the top are to adjust the Y-Axis and the one at the bottom is for the X-Axis. These can be adjusted with an included Allen key. These dry clutches add friction that effect how easily the stick can return to center. Personally, I like the x-axis on my left stick to be kind of loose and the Y-Axis to be quite firm. It gives me that throttle feel but also allows me to easily strafe left and right.

You can even remove the Y axis spring so it won’t return to center, essentially turning it into a true throttle. As for my right stick, I prefer that to be as loose as possible.

It’s all just a personal preference, but at least with these sticks you have the option. And let me say. having a dry clutch in a stick in this price range is nothing short of amazing. The new EVO’s gimbal now also includes ball bearings. This is a noticeable improvement over the previous version. The gimbal is made from glass-fiber-reinforced plastic. This is a relief for those of you who may be concerned with the lack of metal components used in the base. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ll clarify more in the pros and cons in the next section. New to the EVOs over the previous model is the addition of a 32-bit ARM controller. Essentially this is a CPU upgrade for the sticks, allowing them to be expanded out to support the addition of current and future GNX systems. Last thing inside the base is a place to install the included X-Axis lock plate. This is great for users who want to swap between games like Star Citizen, with six degrees of freedom, to games like DCS, that can’t benefit from the extra axis.

VKB Gladiator NXT Review: The Good

The Gladiator NXTs are a great value. Price is subjective and everyone has a different budget. But the feedback I get from most of you is that these are affordable and a great value.
They’re durable for the cost. The ABS plastic was a great design choice. It keeps the sticks affordable by not using metal and it’s strong enough for most pilots uses.
They are Modular. Having the option to buy and install the omni-throttle adapter, having the option to swap some of the premium buttons and features for the standard edition, to being able to incorporate the entire GNX suite of products it’s clear these can be molded to fit anyone’s needs.
You can service them yourself. Did you buy the old NXTs before the release of the EVOs? Just buy an upgrade kit. Broke a spring like I did? Fix it before your ship gets done quantuming across the system. VKB clearly designs these with user serviceability in mind. If a part breaks it saves time and money to just send you the replacement part, then you can easily replace that broken part, rather than sending the sticks in for repair via an RMA process.
They are Upgradable, I don’t see this talked about much but the premium Kosmosima grip from the NXT Evos is the same one from VKBs gunfighter series. The all metal gunfighter gimbal is arguably the best on the market and if you come across a couple of pretty pennies, its nice to know you can upgrade without having to buy new grips.
They are customizable. Between the dampeners and dry clutch, to the springs and lockable axis. You can really get these sticks dialed in to your liking no matter what your preference.
And last, the community support. Because there is literally no competitor in this price range, most Star Citizens who are using sticks are using Gladiator NXTs. Meaning you can go online to places like reddit and my discord and other like it to get help on Star Citizen specific things. I even make my dual NXT binding public and publish them to the community every patch.

VKB Gladiator NXT Review: The Bad

I’m sure there are more pros, but this blog is too long so let’s get to the bad.
Although the ABS plastic is the best option VKB has for sticks in this price range, having an all plastic base means that things can break. However, asking for anything more is unreasonable at this price range but figured id mention it. If that is a concern for you and your comfortable spending over $200 more per stick then look at VKBs gunfighters.
I didn’t get a chance to talk about VKBs software, but in a nutshell it is VERY complicated. Almost like it was designed as an internal tool and ported over for consumer use. This may be a good thing for some that like to tinker but can be daunting for others. It should be noted that they do have setup and trouble shooting videos on their Youtube channel that are helpful. But I don’t diddle around in here because I feel like I could break something and have to reset.
Speaking of those videos, other than a quick setup guide, their Youtube channel is your main source of documentation on these sticks. No manual to read. Each product comes with a short quick-start guide & QR code that links to the video setup guide you need. Personally, I would have liked to see something more than this, but maybe this is the route manufactures are going.
Lastly some feedback from the community is that these sticks can be uncomfortable for those of us with larger hands. That’s it, that’s all I got!

VKB Gladiator NXT Review: The Verdict

So who are these sticks for? EVERYONE! Like literally almost everyone. I used Thrustmaster T16000ms for about two years before upgrading to the NXTs. They never broke on me, although the Z-Axis issue is a common complaint in the community. However it sucked having only 4 buttons and one hat per switch. The buttons on the base were way too hard to hit without spending an embarrassing amount of time staring down at the buttons trying to remember what you bound. Star Citizen is a complicated game, and with so many things to bind you would have to use software like Joystick Gremlin or Joy2key to add a modifier button and you still wouldn’t have as many binding options as you have with the NXTs. On the higher-end of course, VKB offers their flagship gunfighter series and VIRPL has their line of products, but they are more than twice the price. I get asked the question “should I spend the extra money to get VKBs or get something cheaper like T16000Ms or Logitech 3D Pro?” If you can flex your budget to include the VKBs then 100% get them. Even if it means saving up for a little while longer. However, if the cost is way outside your budget the T16000Ms add enough immersion for me to recommend those. As for the 3D pros, stay away from these.