A little background: This is the first high-tier H-Pattern shifter we test here - hope somebody sees this and gives us other products to review ;). On the other hand we have experience with enough low and mid-grade H-Shifters as well as mid and high-grade sequential ones. Paired with experience with lot of real cars we believe we know what to look for in a sim shifter.
Appeal
The BDH H1 "Bazooka" looks sick! This is definitely piece of hardware that you want to be visible and one of the centerpieces on your rig. Its unique shape, comfortable layout and slick machined Aluminium machined look indicate perfection. Actually the only thing we found not to be on par was the knob - it is good by itself, but paired to the shifter's premium look it trails behind.
Another coolness factor - this thing is modelled after the shifting mechanism in Ford Escort MKII rally Car - an icon by itself!
Actually the Round shifter design is so cool that in recent poll at the BDH Online Community about what shape their upcoming product should be it won by landslide over the square-box shaped design. Hope the BDH Team listen to us!
Design
Mechanically the shifter features very clever design. It is based on actual gear shifter mechanism, the gates are very well made and the microswitches are optimally integrated. The switch between bottom and side mount is easy and works well.
The parts we do not like - it is based on standard gamepad module which in itself limits it to PC only and introduces further inconvenience. If you have similar gamepad module in your setup they will interfere and at some point you will even to switch between them when not in use.
Also keep in mind gear 7 and Reverse have fixed position - this means you have to decide if you want them to be on Left or Right. If you have space on your rig and it allows mounting both ways - it is fine. If not - hope you are like us and are lucky that your rig position will align with the shifting preference you have.
Performance
Shifting mechanism: Shifter main shaft has resistance mechanism inside and transition between high-center-low gear on same gate has clearly pronounced mechanical feel and resistance - exactly what you would expect on a real car shifting mechanism.
Tensioning mechanism: Works very well, can be operated tool-free, ranges from no resistance to full lock, long and granular travel. Not much more to say here - works as it should be and allows you to set whatever tension you like.
Gates: Clearly pronounced gates (not so common thing in low and mid grade sim racing shifters), very soft feel when you transition and hit them. Has a little learning curve until you get accustomed to where the gears are just like in a real car. After that - it is pure joy.
Throw: Despite the long gear level this shifter has short throw. Feels great to us as is - fast and precise shifting, short travel - exactly what you would expect from a race car. Recently BDH started manufacturing Stick Extension kit - it includes 45mm and 70mm extension effectively giving you 4 more level lengths. We have not tested it, but the longer throws with 115mm and 145mm seem quite feasible to us. We are not convinced the shortest 70mm throw is that necessary but still good adjustment option.
Gear Layout: Forward gears 1-6 have standard H-pattern layout. Gears 7 and Reverse are activated by pushing the gear level far right/left depending on shifter orientation. This means in order to engage them you have to overpass using extra force gate 5-6 or 1-2 if mounted in reverse. There is no locking mechanism which could lead to accidental mis-shifts. Having said that 7th and Reverse on the same gate next to 5-6 also popular sport/race car layout. In Europe it is most common to have Reverse left from 1st (Porsche gearboxes for example) but such layout would mean one more extra gate and will feel strange when you flip the shifter. Our conclusion here is that this seems to be the optimal layout when you want to provide the option to reverse mount the shifter. It needs some getting used to but after time it feels really natural.
Gear 7 and Reverse transition: Side transition tension to Gear 7 and R Gate is fixed, cannot be adjusted. It is well discernable when you overpass gates 5-6 (1-2 in reversed position) but we found out on heated session it is easy to overcome the gate and go directly to from 3-4 to 7th. This stops being an issue after you spend some time with the shifter and gain experience. Locked (push or pull) 7th and R gear here would be upgrade.
No sequential: no problem! This is dedicated H-Pattern shifter. In our experience combined shifters always are lacking in one or both modes so we prefer separate hardware. The H1's design is great as is and we presume adding sequential mode will unduly complicate it. In our opinion this not crucial feature for high end product - you would want the best performance possible. Furthermore it is complicated to find correct position in which both H-patter and Sequential shifter will feel natural on a single unit. Furthermore we hate changing knobs alternating between H-pattern and SEQ.
Maintenance: During the span of more than 6 months heavy use we experience only single issue - the plastic caps on gate dividers got unscrewed and we could not shift properly. This is easy fix which can be performed even with shifter mounted on the rig (provided you have enough space to remove cover). We are not sure if this is common issue or the added vibrations from Bass Shakers and Rig Motion aided it. As you can see on the pictures even after this long period the plastic caps still keep their shape and do not show signs of wear. We presume here adding some threadlocker will solve our issue. Also good thought it to get several spare caps together with shifter in case some of them fails.
Hardware: Our biggest grudge here. Based on USB standard gamepad it brings issue in it's own. The Bazooka is based on microswitches which simplifies integration with all kind of controllers. We won't delve into this any further - there are a lof of options out there, but all of them are more expensive and will drive the price up. It is very easy to integrate it in a DIY solution as well.
Immersion
The BDH H1 Bazooka here really shines. It is based on actual race iconic car - the Ford Escort MKII Rally. It works exactly as you would expect from a classic rally car and the most common application for H-pattern sim shifter is just that. With proper tension setting the shifter feels exactly like real car gearbox. Example here would be our own Opel Astra G with short shifter - popular choice for touring track competitions in Europe back in the day - it has exactly the same feel.
Paired with good tactile device this gets even better - you can feel very realistic engine vibrations and get a satisfying effect every time you shift. We are sure this can be achieved also with rumble motors and would like to see this integrated in some future product by default.
Value
At £950/EUR1072 the BDH H1 falls in the highest H-Pattern shifter price range. Keep in mind this does not include shipping, tax or any bundled extras. If you want a gear knob or something extra like the stick extension - it goes up. On the other hand you are getting superb product which compared with other professional grade H-patterns shifters out there is much smaller, slick and is something that you would want on display in your rig. Performance is also on par, only we expected the USB controller to be something more.
Conclusion
The BDH H1 "Bazooka" H-Patter Sim Racing Shifter is one very cool advanced piece of engineering with superb shifting experience. It has relatively small footprint, lot of mounting options and its unique design both looks very good and gives you the option to position it perfectly.
Based on the iconic Ford Escort MKII Rally gear shift mechanism it provides just that - real-life experience for rally and classic race cars. Tensioning mechanism provides very wide setup range and we are convinced you will find it satisfying in every sim car with manual gearbox. It is placed in the upper price range of premium H-pattern shifters but is still far from the most expensive ones.
All of the above paired with the clever engineering, great feel and immersion result in a superb product deserving high score of 4.6 Stars and our Exceptional badge. We cannot wait to see what Team BDH next product would be!
