My Obutto R3volution Review

[chris]

As a retired engineer with 30 years of industrial experience, I couldn’t help but write a review of the
R3volution. I apologize in advance for the text wall but it’s in my engineering DNA to be detailed in
my analysis. In addition to the R3volution, I ordered the acrylic tabletops and 5.1 surround speaker mount accessories.

Packaging and Shipping

All pieces and hardware were accounted for upon receipt. Frame tubing was bubble wrapped and
all other parts were adequately protected. I did receive a seat that had a failure of the seam
stitching. I reported this on a Friday to Main Performance PC and thanks to Chris and MPCC I had
another seat delivered on Tuesday. I don’t know how anyone could provide faster customer service
than that. Unfortunately, the second seat was damaged during shipping but I was able to piece
together one good seat out of the two.

The boxes were all numbered to make finding parts during assembly easy. The hardware was
segregated by size and labeled to make finding the correct bolts, washers and nuts for each step
simple.

Part Quality

I spent a lot of time working with pipe-fitters during my career and became familiar with welding
procedures, so I couldn’t help but examine the welds on the R3volution. Overall, the weld quality
was adequate but I did find minor porosity defects and spatter in several welds. There were also
misalignment issues on a few parts as well as minor undercutting. There were no cracks and none
of the defects I saw would affect the structural integrity in any way. The welding issues I observed
were cosmetic in nature and most likely would be overlooked by the typical user, but like I said I’m
an engineer and I couldn’t help it.

I did find that one of the mounting plates for the acrylic tabletops was slightly warped and the
tabletop wouldn’t sit flush on the plate. A quick trip to the vise for a strategically-placed bending
and that straightened the warp.

Other than that, part fit was good and powder coating was good. There were a few minor
scratches through the tubing powder coating but a black marker pen took care of the problem.

Assembly and Instructions

This was a time-consuming but uneventful procedure in my case. It did take me several hours to unwrap, unpackage and assemble the R3volution and accessories but I’m a rather methodical person and subscribe to the “measure twice, cut once” philosophy.

I would strongly recommend using the assembly videos over the written instructions as there are a few minor discrepancies between the two. For example, the instructions for the tabletops says to bolt the holder brackets in between the acrylic tabletops and the VESA mounting plates when the video says to bolt the holder brackets on the outside bottom of the VESA plates, which is the correct way.

There was also a disagreement between the instructions and the videos with regards to when to use lock washers and when not to. When in doubt, follow the videos and you’ll come out right. Some of the pictures in the instructions are so dark you can’t see what the instructions are referring to anyway.

Some people (myself included) ran some of their cables (rear speakers and keyboard USB in my case) through the front section base runners to hide the cables. If you do, I would recommend that you run the cables through the base runners before putting in the bolts otherwise your plug ends may not pass by the bolts after assembly and you’ll have to remove the bolts to run the cables. You made need to pick up cable extenders depending on your existing cable lengths in order to reach your computer but it makes for a much neater installation. I also used ¾ inch black split loom tubing to encase the cables when transitioning from the underside of the seat to the front of the base runners. Thanks to Juanlo who posted pictures of this in the gallery section of the forums.

I also used split loom tubing to enclose my front/center speaker cables, monitor power cable and DVI cable. I ran the tubing down the center of the spine and then followed the tubing down to the floor, attaching it to the tubing with a few zip ties. Makes for a clean look.

Another thing to keep in mind is adjusting the final joint on the keyboard and the tabletops before assembly. You’ll want to adjust the swivel resistance on those joints beforehand in order to avoid removing the tabletop or keyboard to access the joint bolt.

Initial Impressions

Speaker Mounts

I realize this accessory was designed to be a retrofit to accommodate existing seats. As such, the mounting of the rear speakers to the seat isn’t as good as it could have been if the seat was designed for this. The use of a Velcro strap to attach the rear speaker wing is a compromise in rigidity. If you bump the rear speakers at all, the wing will tilt because the Velcro just can’t hold the wing tight enough. This is a minor issue however and the final look is very clean especially with the Velcro strip that hides the rear speaker wires down the middle of the seat back.

The front speaker mount connectors will not allow for a monitor bigger than a 27 inch. I also think that the speaker mounting brackets could be larger but I didn’t use them as my speakers had screw mounts in the back and I could attach the speakers directly to the connector arms.

Acrylic Tabletops

As far as I’m concerned, these are a must-have. You need a place to put things if the R3volution is to be a replacement for a desk. They look nice and have plenty of articulation to position them wherever you want. I wish the tabletops were slightly larger (especially in depth) but that’s minor. I’m using one tabletop for a second monitor until I add another monitor and go with the triple monitor mounting accessory.

One can also forgo the tabletops and use the arms for mounting other small monitors or anything else that will adapt to a VESA plate.

R3volution Cockpit

I don’t think sturdy begins to describe the cockpit portion of the R3volution. I think one could put wheels on the frame, add a motor and have a nifty little car that would have a NHTSA 5-star crash rating. Nothing moves….at all.

There are plenty of adjustments to make anyone happy. I used Chris’ suggestions in the video for mounting the seat, keyboard post and pedal tray, as I’m of similar height.

I must admit that I’m not all that happy with the monitor stand. When compared to the rigidity of the cockpit, it is nowhere near as solid. I have just one 27 inch monitor on the stand and getting the legs positioned for it to be stable is a challenge and it does concern me about tipping, especially if I add two more 27 inch monitors. While I understand having a free-standing monitor stand to isolate it from any cockpit movement, I’d much prefer not to end up with the stand tipping over. I may devise a way to attach the stand to the cockpit or modify the stand to increase stability when I add two more monitors.

I would also like to see the R brackets for the pedal tray go higher to allow the tray to have even more of an angle than currently available for those who do not use sim pedals and just want a better angle to rest their feet.

I’m getting use to the different keyboard position than I previously had with my conventional desk/keyboard tray arrangement. I do like the position though and given some time, I’m sure it will become second nature. Some things I have noticed about the keyboard tray assembly:

Even with the pivot point adjustments at their loosest, moving the keyboard tray can take some effort to get it positioned just right. Perhaps some wear-in is required or maybe some lubricant will help. If I lift the keyboard tray and then move the articulated arm assembly, it moves a lot easier so there is some binding due to the weight of the tray itself.

The edge of the tray can be irritating to my mouse-side wrist as I found myself resting it on the edge. I’ve countered that with the addition of a memory foam wrist rest. Problem solved!

There isn’t much clearance between the bottom of the tray and your legs. Not a big deal to me but if you’ve got big thighs, you may find this to be an issue to you.

Since the tray is cantilevered, expect some bounce when you use it. Again, not a big deal but it’s there.

I’m 61 years old and not as limber as I use to be. Getting in and out of the R3volution seat takes a little more effort than just sitting down in your desk chair since the R3volution seat is only about a foot off the floor.

As far as seat comfort, my initial impression is that it is good, but some may find it a bit rigid. This may relax a bit after some use though. The side bolsters feel good but if you are into FPS like I am, you may find that the lower side bolster will interfere with your mouse arm movement as it is rather pronounced. If your main use is for sim racing and both hands are on the wheel, then this isn’t going to matter much. I’m a big guy (6′ 1”, 225 lbs) yet the seat bolsters are wide enough for my legs/butt.

If you like to rest your head against the back of the seat, you will most likely need to add some sort of neck/head rest as the upper seat cut-outs don’t allow for a comfortable position to rest your head.

Final Thoughts

It may seem like I’ve done a lot of complaining but overall, I am very happy with the R3volution. It’s not like some of the other flimsy cockpits I’ve examined and is designed to stand up to heavy use.

Ergonomically, it is infinitely more adjustable than any conventional desk/chair arrangement could ever be. Since it is a somewhat radical departure from traditional computer furniture, some people may look at it and think “That’s not for me” and move on. Understandable but ultimately they’ll be missing out in my opinion.

Quite honestly, sim racing or sim flying is the R3volution’s strongest suit, with other gaming and general computer use a close second. My youngest son is into sim racing and is bugging me to get a wheel and pedals and join iRacing, which looks like a real interesting diversion from my many years of FPS games.

Overall, I’m pleased with my R3volution and am looking to go to a three-monitor arrangement and delving into sim racing. I would recommend the R3volution to anyone looking to upgrade their existing computer furniture.

[Author]

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