A Delan Clip Review

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Ros
Posts: 123
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:16 pm

A Delan Clip Review

Post by Ros » Fri Oct 14, 2016 2:02 am

Well its taken a few more months, but my Track Clip pro has become pretty much unusable. The fragile, crappy plastic teeth that hold the hinged pieces in place are broken. To be honest since this item holds a magnetic attraction for young children I'm surprised it lasted this long:
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So a replacement is in order! I could purchase another from Natural Point for $35, but this could not be expected to last any longer and did not appeal.
There are a number of alternatives:
1. A home brewed setup using a soldering iron, but I'm not sure the money saved (about $20) is worth the aggravation. Since I have the TrackIR camera, I am not saving money going the PS3 Eye route.
2. 3D printed clips available on Ebay, there is a seller in Hong Kong who provides these for $50 including camera. But again doubts about its sturdiness.
3. The Track Hat or Track clip plus: http://www.trackhat.org/trackhat-clip-plus
These look well built and I've read some good reviews and I like the wireless clip. But one of the criteria is metallic construction.

The Delan Clip:
I settled on the "Power Starter" package for 28 Pounds or $35 at the moment before shipping: http://www.delanengineering.com/shop/#! ... category=0
This includes the clip, a USB powered battery pack, some IR filters to modify a webcam if you do not have one and some zip ties.
The shipping was quick with good communication, the package itself was small, but adequate with some bubble wrap.

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I hope the image is clear enough, of note the metal clip is 1 mm in thickness and is very light. It would be possible to bend it, but would take effort.
The USB cable is 2 m in length.

Construction seems good, all connections are covered with no solder joints showing and the wires are firmly cinched so that there is no play of the wires. I don't mind this open construction, it would make replacing the LED's very simple.

I was glad to see that the clip includes a PPTC (arrowed). This prevents a short frying your motherboard.

Using zip ties to attach it works fine, especially if your headphones are padded.

The LED emitters are bright, in a basic test they can be detected much further away than the Track-IR and allow a response in a room with some indirect bright sunlight .

To conclude, this is a good replacement for Natural Point's Track-clip. It addresses a number of that products deficiencies in robustness and ease of repair. It does not look as sleek, however flight simmers attaching three pronged horns to their headphones do not have to worry too much about looks in any case.
Last edited by Ros on Fri Oct 14, 2016 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

Double
Posts: 411
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:22 pm
Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Re: A Delan Clip Review

Post by Double » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:11 am

Thanks Ros! I have been waiting for your post about this. I am going to try this and see if it helps with my ongoing trackir problems.

DS
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"I hate being bipolar, it's fucking awesome!

Rowns
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Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:27 am

Re: A Delan Clip Review

Post by Rowns » Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:05 am

I have the same thing, I just don't use it a lot as I don't really like.

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Donkey
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Re: A Delan Clip Review

Post by Donkey » Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:09 am

I got one a while back - quality bit of kit at a fair price.
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Bunny
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Re: A Delan Clip Review

Post by Bunny » Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:23 pm

Thanks Ros - useful write-up! It's the direction I'll take once the parcel tape holding my TrackIR together finally gives up the ghost.

“It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes I-16s.” - Douglas Adams


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