pgagoober
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Recently, after spending much time debating between the Playseat Evo and the Obutto Ozone cockpit I decided to pull the trigger on the Obutto. It arrived yesterday so I figured I would let you all know how it's been going.
First off - the box is very large and heavy (110lbs). This is not a lightweight, break-in-a-month piece of kit. The frame is made from heavy duty carbon steel and having handled and assembled it I have no doubt it will last for a very long time. In my opinion it looks a lot better in person than on the web. I was concerned that it would be an eyesore but I was wrong. Of course, I'm not using the keyboard tray or monitor mount so that certainly cuts down on the final size for my build.
Assembly took me approx 2 hours as I was taking my time to make sure nothing went wrong. In retrospect I probably could have built the thing in less than 30mins. The most time-consuming part really was removing all the wrapping and wiping down the parts (wherever these are made must be pretty dusty as my hands were filthy by the time I got all the parts unwrapped). I recommend you watch the assembly videos on the Obutto website beforehand - they are much easier to follow than the included instructions. http://www.obutto.com/instructional_videos.html
The seat is simply excellent. It is very comfortable and supportive and the slide/recline functions are very solid. To top it off, it looks good too. The material quality is better than I was expecting and if memory serves it seems like a much better seat than the Playseat Evo. I should clarify however that I have not owned a Playseat but I did muck around with one at Fry's Electronics some time ago. My first thought when I sat in the Obutto yesterday was how much more of an impact it had on me versus the Playseat so take that perhaps aged comparison for whatever its worth. Suffice to say I have zero regrets for choosing the Obutto.
I spent a couple hours driving last night and I was very very impressed. This thing is rock solid. There was no lateral motion whatsoever from the wheel - I may as well have been in a real car as far as that goes. I'm not exactly a skinny guy (~240lbs) but the seat felt great. That said, I probably don't want to get any wider (for many reasons
) but as-is it fits very well. I suspect few people will have trouble finding a solid, comfortable driving position with this rig. I had no idea how unstable my previous setup was until I drove with the Obutto. I can hit apexes now and spin that wheel around as much as I like without fear of losing control. This was definitely a worthwhile upgrade.
Cons ? Well, not many but in the interest of full disclosure : I had mistakenly expected the seat to have adjustable lumbar support. I think perhaps an early version had that and I must have read an early review. I can now clearly see from both the Obutto website and the MainPerformancePC site that no such claim was made. That was my error but was nonetheless a disappointment - that is until I spent some time in the seat itself. To be honest I don't think it needs any further lumbar support - my back is not great and usually a couple hours driving would mean a very difficult start to the following day but that was not the case this morning. I hope that continues.
The only other minor (and I DO mean minor) issue was that the pedal tray had a very slight wobble left/right when I put pressure on the pedals. That was very easily fixed with a little electrical tape wrapped around the supporting metal bar. It is completely hidden so no worries about making it look hacked together.
So in short - if you're on the fence about the Obutto I suggest you stop worrying and go ahead and buy one. I seriously doubt you could find anything of comparable quality or stability at anywhere close to the price the Obutto sells for. I'm glad I got mine, I suspect you will be too. Let me know if you have any questions.
First off - the box is very large and heavy (110lbs). This is not a lightweight, break-in-a-month piece of kit. The frame is made from heavy duty carbon steel and having handled and assembled it I have no doubt it will last for a very long time. In my opinion it looks a lot better in person than on the web. I was concerned that it would be an eyesore but I was wrong. Of course, I'm not using the keyboard tray or monitor mount so that certainly cuts down on the final size for my build.
Assembly took me approx 2 hours as I was taking my time to make sure nothing went wrong. In retrospect I probably could have built the thing in less than 30mins. The most time-consuming part really was removing all the wrapping and wiping down the parts (wherever these are made must be pretty dusty as my hands were filthy by the time I got all the parts unwrapped). I recommend you watch the assembly videos on the Obutto website beforehand - they are much easier to follow than the included instructions. http://www.obutto.com/instructional_videos.html
The seat is simply excellent. It is very comfortable and supportive and the slide/recline functions are very solid. To top it off, it looks good too. The material quality is better than I was expecting and if memory serves it seems like a much better seat than the Playseat Evo. I should clarify however that I have not owned a Playseat but I did muck around with one at Fry's Electronics some time ago. My first thought when I sat in the Obutto yesterday was how much more of an impact it had on me versus the Playseat so take that perhaps aged comparison for whatever its worth. Suffice to say I have zero regrets for choosing the Obutto.
I spent a couple hours driving last night and I was very very impressed. This thing is rock solid. There was no lateral motion whatsoever from the wheel - I may as well have been in a real car as far as that goes. I'm not exactly a skinny guy (~240lbs) but the seat felt great. That said, I probably don't want to get any wider (for many reasons
) but as-is it fits very well. I suspect few people will have trouble finding a solid, comfortable driving position with this rig. I had no idea how unstable my previous setup was until I drove with the Obutto. I can hit apexes now and spin that wheel around as much as I like without fear of losing control. This was definitely a worthwhile upgrade.Cons ? Well, not many but in the interest of full disclosure : I had mistakenly expected the seat to have adjustable lumbar support. I think perhaps an early version had that and I must have read an early review. I can now clearly see from both the Obutto website and the MainPerformancePC site that no such claim was made. That was my error but was nonetheless a disappointment - that is until I spent some time in the seat itself. To be honest I don't think it needs any further lumbar support - my back is not great and usually a couple hours driving would mean a very difficult start to the following day but that was not the case this morning. I hope that continues.
The only other minor (and I DO mean minor) issue was that the pedal tray had a very slight wobble left/right when I put pressure on the pedals. That was very easily fixed with a little electrical tape wrapped around the supporting metal bar. It is completely hidden so no worries about making it look hacked together.
So in short - if you're on the fence about the Obutto I suggest you stop worrying and go ahead and buy one. I seriously doubt you could find anything of comparable quality or stability at anywhere close to the price the Obutto sells for. I'm glad I got mine, I suspect you will be too. Let me know if you have any questions.
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