Afficher plusHello !
So after spending enough time riding the hydraulic Meca EVO1, I think I'm able to do a little feedback, let's go, in stages:
Website and delivery (it starts there already
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On the "sale" side, for my part, I already find the Meca site ( https://mecasimhardware.com/fr/ ) very well done, a few display bugs here and there, however.
The site is modern and pleasant to look at, the products are easy to find and each product is perfectly described.
We know exactly what the packages will contain, so no surprises when unpacking...On the other hand, in terms of finding the SW to configure the pedals, there is a little hiccup, when the site is displayed in French, it is impossible to find the correct version of the software corresponding to the MECA EVO1! On the other hand, by switching to English, the correct version appears.
It may have since been corrected but at the time I wondered what I had missed...
Payment by paypal is accepted.
On the delivery side, on the other hand, it will be more difficult for me to judge, I ordered the crankset on the very first batch, so there was a delay of about a month, but for a first draft I don't find it outrageous in the end, and once the crankset was shipped I must have received it in 3 working days with UPS.
Packaging
On the packaging side, you will see the photos on page 1 of the thread, clearly there is a little disappointment, as much as I find that the crankset is of superb manufacturing quality, the packaging does not do it justice at all.
Everything is well kept and protected, that's not the problem, but I think it lacks this high-end side!
Afterwards, if that allows them to pull the price down a little more why not, but hey, we want to have our eyes full and it's not on the packaging that it happens
Installation HW+SW
The assembly of the crankset is child's play, everything is fine on the drilling side for example. Each element finds its place without difficulty, nothing to say at this level. The assemblies seem well designed, on most of the bolts there is a stack of an aluminum washer (for the efforts I imagine), and a plastic washer (to dampen the vibrations I imagine?).
Note however that some screws / bolts were slightly loose! So still quickly check the assemblies to be sure.
Since then, nothing has changed!
And so in terms of perceived quality, that's really where Meca is strong I think, the crankset is just magnificent, in my opinion some IRL competition cranksets are not as qualitative. The black coating that serves as a finish seems impossible to wear or scratch, and makes a superb effect.
The pads of the pedals are also very well finished, ditto for the receiver (of their own design by the way) in short, nothing to say, there we can clearly see that we are on a high-end pedalboard!
SW side (once it found on the site so), it's correct I would say, simple enough to easily find what you need.
But some things did not transcend me, such as having to recalibrate the 3 pedals each time instead of being able to do it independently.And when saving/loading a calibration, there is no pop-up type message to notify the user that his action has been taken into account. There when we click on save or load, since we have no feedback we remain a little in doubt as to whether it has been applied or not.
Another point, it seems that you have to launch the software before each session, otherwise the pedals are not recognized in the game. Not dramatic, that said, but if I could do without it, it wouldn't be so bad!
Also, I have random clutch "disconnects". That is to say that sometimes, I can launch the software before the game. The brake and the accelerator work, but not the clutch.
I then have to restart the PC and/or redo a calibration to find it, which is still annoying when it happens, although it's still quite infrequent (and I don't use the clutch so often, no more).
Clutch
Well, let's talk about the clutch ^^! First clutch of this type for me! And I must say that I am very satisfied! At least the pedal is quite credible in its feeling (set to the hardest for me), similar to what I encountered in F4 for example.
After all depends on "where" we position the skating point from a SW point of view, it has its impact.
On the settings side, it offers a lot of combinations, with 4 springs which each have 4 inking positions + the adjustable lever arm. I think it should allow everyone to find happiness.
Brake n
The brake now! Hydraulics, which is therefore in a way the heart of this type of crankset, at least the reason for its purchase very often.
Well again I am very satisfied! With a slight downside that I have already mentioned previously on this thread.
So as far as the feeling is concerned, it's excellent! Coming from a modded TLCM (with polymers), the feeling is both close but at the same time distant
What I mean is that on the one hand it's not day and night in the way of braking, I already had a credible feeling with the modded TCLM finally. But on the other hand there is this something in addition to the hydraulics which is difficult to explain, and which makes the brake even more realistic and pleasant.
It's mainly this feeling on release (for me) where you really have something extra, where with simple polymers, on release you always have this somewhat springy effect I found, this is no longer the case and it is extremely pleasant!So there is a downside I said, it's in the possibility of settings. Meca provides a certain number of polymers, but not enough for my taste.
In my case I ride with a black (the most flexible) and a blue (the intermediate), which gives me an average attack I would say and a very firm brake and for once really similar to what I experienced in F4.
On the other hand, I would have preferred to have an even more flexible option to replace the black polymer, in order to have a slightly more flexible attack, while keeping the same hardness in braking.I saw in Laurence Dusoswa's review that Meca had also delivered a second bag of smaller diameter polymers to him, I asked for the same thing so I hope I will be listened to!
Otherwise in terms of adjustment we have:
- Polymer combination of your choice (between black, blue, orange, respectively 70sh, 80sh, 90sh). Which gives the main feeling (attack + brake).
It is even possible to operate with a single polymer, but the stroke is halved as a result:
- Adjusting the preload (via the butterfly screw) which, by bringing the cups closer, reduces the total travel of the brake, and slightly modifies the feeling, especially of the attack, by hardening it).
- Guard to the master cylinder. It is possible to add a little clearance to the master cylinder push rod.
As for the brake stroke, I find it very pleasant, I have the maximum stroke and I find it perfect. But it's still short as a race I think compared to other types of crankset. But I think everyone's tastes vary a lot.
I also think that with a softer black polymer I could slightly reduce the stroke, to see if Meca sends me some :).
However I think that everyone can find his account, we must not forget that we are on a crankset supposed to reproduce the braking of a typical competition car, prototype/GT/single-seater, and this kind of car has very hard brakes with very short strokes!
I made a video to illustrate it:
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So to sum up, almost perfect for me, I only hope that Meca can provide me with a more flexible set of polymer, and there I think we will reach perfection for this type of crankset
The accelerator
And the last pedal, the accelerator! So most people may think that the accel is nothing very complicated, well, I was amazed by this one!! I was the first to be surprised, but what a treat!! At least as satisfying as the brake.
The throttle is 100% stroke/strength adjustable. And is of a great progressiveness!And with the long plate, the toe heel is very easy. Moreover, the next open on rF2 is in Caterham Academy, manual gearbox in H so for me, and driving the Caterham in these conditions with the Meca EVO1 is a pure delight
!!
Price
I got it for 1068€ delivered. And that price, in my experience I think it's excellent value for money!
Conclusion
So in conclusion, awesome!! I expected no less and I'm not disappointed with my purchase, we'll see over time for reliability / durability but I'm not worried.
The pedalboard is magnificent, the most beautiful on the market for me, and the feeling of each pedal is at least very realistic, at best fantastic.
So thank you rMeca for suggesting this crankset, I hope it will delight other RFRO members in the near future
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I think I have gone through the main items but if you have any questions do not hesitate!
Hi Agahnim, thank you very much for the review, it made us happy
As for the software, we are currently trying to adjust the things you mentioned, regarding saving etc. It's weird that you have to have the software running when using the pedals, this isn't normally needed.
The polyurethanes that you saw in Laurence's review are for the LC version of the brake, they have a smaller diameter and a hole that unfortunately cannot be fitted to the hydraulic piston rod, as the hole has a smaller diameter. Unfortunately, our supplier does not supply polyurethanes with less softness (sorry for the late response, we discussed this before) so we will try to modify the existing polyurethanes for you by enlarging the center hole, which will remove the material and then soften the segment to suit your needs
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