Universal Control Panel #1

Amazing piece of equipment for all kinds of simmers.
Here you can tune a radio, autopilot with 3 encoder dials, turn things on/off in cockpit with 6 flippable switches with 1-0-1 state and MANY more buttons.
RGB backlight on the 12 momentary buttons.
If you fly one specific aircraft or switch between civil airplanes, jets or helicopters, this is must have.
Myself I fly in VR so I've attached furniture-knobs one with knob and one with the frame outside the know to identify dials easier.

I waited a little over two months for this. Well worth it though as it is a very well crafted piece of gear, very sturdy and with high quality materials.
If you like immersion and pressing actual buttons and switches to control functions on your ship or plane, then I highly recommend this controller.
I may be inclined to add a few more products to my setup after using this :)

Qualtiy from the Product is ok (5 Stars) but one Star deduction because Deliverytime. A delivery time of almost 3 months is very long, and I am still waiting for my second order from mid-May.

Two of these were ordered alongside a Universal Control Panel #2 and a desk mount and the whole setup was destined to complement my WinWing MIP, VKB Gunfighter stick and VKB STECS throttle. I must admit I have become a VIRPIL convert - the products are insanely well-built. I absolutely love everything about them. Their size, their weight, their full metal construction, the actuation of the buttons, switches and rotaries - everything is superb. An absolutely incredible addition to my equipment for DCS. The software is very easy to use as well and gives incredible customisation. Extremely highly recommended!

This is my very first Virpil panel. I had some button, switches of another brand before, which also brought me fun.
But the Virpil panel is of no comparison: the heavy metal housing sticks to my desk and doesnt want to move, the buttons and switches are clicky and sound great, not hollow or plasticy.
The dials are also very nice and dont skip a step.
Mounting points are enough available and maybe I will print a bracket for it.
The software is kinda complicated on the first glimpse and I needed tutorials for changing the ligfhts. It is kinda overwhelming and I dont understand all the options fully.
Im using it maybe only as additional side panel to keyboard and mouse, but switching on engines or lighst with this are a totally different experience now!

And it gives my desk a +10 on coolness!

Sadly, I can't linbk it with some ion-canon weapons platform in the orbit, but maybe an update in the future will allow it ; )

Build quality is superb, with buttons and switches that are quite satisfying to use, very complete with analog axis, latches, buttons...
To remark some minor flaw, the software could be more user friendly and should have keyboard emulation to be perfect to me.

The quality of Virpil products are amazing

These are great they really are, EXCEPT it takes ten men and a magician to figure out the Vprils rpg lights. They are so hard to program, I would rather change my car transmission by hand than go through that again. Also get rid of the toggles! You have other panels with all that! Make an "ALL" push button panel already and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. THEN...it would be perfect.

This is my first purchase of products from the company VIRPIL. For a long time I hesitated to buy these control panels. After a long search and comparison of alternatives and a huge amount of viewed reviews and comments, I decided and bought them. And I want to say - I did not make a mistake with my choice. The panels are made very high quality and from durable material. I really liked the software for configuring these panels.
In my opinion, the panels can be greatly improved for their functionality: please make an additional (at least a three-position) switch for the flaps, as well as a switch for the hook (for carrier-based aviation) with LED indicators and so that they are visually different, like the switch for releasing / retracting the aircraft chassis.
You can answer this: we have all this on our Throttles. But not everyone buys them. Many who buy these panels combine them with products from other manufacturers.
Many thanks to VIRPIL for producing such wonderful products for us!

What a great panel, its connected to my throttle unit, and has expanded the physical control of many virtual controls.. glad i added it

Thanks Virpil

GT

Me encanta, completa mucho mas los botones que necesitaba y me gusta para mi simulador. Sigo completando poco a poco mis perifericos con virpil. Me encanta!!

The quality on this is insane. I expected, and was still pleasantly surprised by the panel itself. Great layout, again incredible quality.

What I was not expecting at all, was the quality of the software and just how much ability there is to customize and tailor the functions.

If you can afford it, buy it.

Well built integrated well with my current set up. Great quality as ever Virpil Keep it up.

I needed some more buttons for my all Virpil setup. Control panel #1 fits the bill perfectly. As per all my other VPC devices, build quality is exemplary. 10/10 as always with Virpil.

it's great. pressing the buttons and toggles feel awesome

Need more buttons, knobs, switches the Virpil panels have not disappointed me in quality, mounting solutions and versatility, I'm just glad they finally came along and I got them!

This review applies to both control panels 1 and 2; part B also applies to any other Virpil product with removable, label-able buttons.
Casing construction is solid, switch construction is solid, mounting is straightforward, both mostly justify the expected Virpil price tag.

However, solid switch construction is hampered somewhat by the following questionable design choices.
A, the more minor problem, the covered switches are 1-0-1 momentary. When the cover is down, it presses the switch down; when it is up, no signal whatsoever is sent. This makes some switches which in real aircraft are covered toggles, e.g. master arms, difficult to implement. A 1-0-1 momentary-latched-latched switch might have been the better option here.
B, the more major problem, involves the button caps and button labels. The transparent caps are difficult to remove by the method outlined in the manual, especially without damaging the considerably more fragile lower half beneath; the labels, meanwhile, are adhesive - meaning that relabelling a button is impractical. Non-adhesive plastic or even translucent paper would have been preferrable with easily-removed button caps, but as it stands I may have to 3D-print my own, pre-labelled ones.

Was looking for a way to access buttons or axis's easily for things I didn't need on my HOSAS setup for Star Citizen. This has been great. The buttons and toggles I use for things I don't need immediately, so not on the sticks. Plenty of buttons and switches to use. The dials are great for adjusting the mining laser, or any similar item. The integration with the software is easy and all the controls can be modified as wanted. Button response is great, and you can change the colors through the software. I had to switch the direction the usb cable existed the panel it was easy to take apart, and reassemble. You can have the panel as a stand alone device, or daisy chain it to another Virpil device like a base. Solidly built and easy to use.

Build quality and packaging is very good as usual with virpil.

T1, T9 and T10 Switches have a tendency to stay in "on" position.

Software is not on par with hardware.
Led management is pretty bad :
- no possibility to have a simple on/off behavior on push of the button
- inconsistent numbering between button number and led number
- inconsistent numbering/behavior between slave and master mode
- control panel for managing default behavior of the leds is terrible.
It has always been the weakness of vpc products since the beginning and still is... software is not good enough, at least not for the asked price.

I have had this item for the last 6 months.

There was quite a delay in getting it after I ordered, but well worth the wait.

I have flow various types of military aircraft and dare I say the build quality on these controls are better than the real thing! They feel solid, have a good weight and feel like they will last forever.

The software needs a bit of learning, but isn't too complex and can be customized as much as you need.

Amazing product.

WARNING: You will become addicted to buying all the various types of products Virpil makes.

I'm using the panel since 5 months. The panel has a very good quality and massive weight. I've mounted the panel with monstertech holder on top of my virpil throttle. So I had to twist the panel to get the cables out at the bottom. That was very easy and good described in manual (online only).

The two flip cover switches are ON-OFF-ON. If the cover is down the position of the switch is ON. So you can detect the closed position in game.

I've used a label printer to create labels for all non-lighted buttons. I've bought the stickers for the lighted buttons. But not all I needed are there. So I've printed labels mit my label printer in 12mmx12mm. It fits perfectly!

After months in Star Citizen I don't know how I could play without the panel before. I never want to miss it anymore!

I received this product in perfect condition and it feel a high quality.

I have to say, that I expected that the safety covered switches will be On-OFF-ON type. Then the closed/opened cover could be detected in game as well. I hope that next control panel will have this feature. Also, it would be nice, if there will be available some DIY solution to make the cover detectable.

- Reply from VIRPIL Controls
Hi! The toggles underneath the covers are indeed ON-OFF-ON and the covers push the toggle into the lower ON position and release the toggle when the cover is lifted. This is so that the cover position can be detected in game as you said :)

I received this product in pristine condition and am very satisfied with it. Also managed to rip out the Connector after a few days and was able to fix it properly by resoldering the cable back to the connector. Would recommend

6-week waiting time was definitely worth it as this control panel looks great, you can configure the colours of the individual B-buttons and fill them with stickers. Software is intuitive and easy-to-use. The big red emergency switches work great as master arm or jettison controls.

I was surprised by the absence of a proper manual, as the manual only contains instructions to place the stickers and twist the interface 180 degrees (so the connecting points face downwards not upwards). However, nothing more is needed. You only have to get a grip on the software. If you already have a Virpil throttle, this should be no issue at all (not my case, but there are great videos online as well).

Overall, the product is massive (weighs a lot), sturdy (looks like it can take a beating), has plenty of buttons and functions. I personally love the simulation of opening the master arm / jettison covers, which can be configured to send a button press impulse.

There are very few shortcomings, but nothing really worth mentioning (we're talking "left black axis dial has its middle position 1mm dislocated compared to the right black axis dial's middle position", etc.). I suppose these minor details will be solved in future batches.

I was looking forward to this for weeks, ordered just hours after receiving the new-product promo email and it did deliver. Virpil's Control Panel #1 is simply excellent for DCS helicopters, cold-war era warplanes with many switches, but also for modern aircraft (mapping CAS/TAS, HUD settings, ...). I can only recommend this product and hope to add a Virpil throttle to it in the following year. Well done Virpil !

Very good quality. Sturdy and solid. Latched emergency switches could have been on-off-on programmed.

This device is awesome, it feels like it was cut out straight from an Airplane.
Love it!
Order was quick and it arrived in an instant.