Buying a Joystick

[Crécy]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

By the way, I have not even got my first stick ever nor the first flight sim ever and I'm already looking where I could get the TrackIR. Should I get worried?

Edit:

Originally Posted by Schroeder

I tried that but can't recommend it. You can't rest your feet on steering wheel pedals and therefore you will have to hold them over them all the time. Very tiresome and uncomfortable.

What if I build a "feet rester" on the sides? EDIT: Although, I just realized the pedals has to be connected to steering wheel...

Hmm, I'm not too happy with the colour of the stick, gold that is.

[Oberon]

I find myself in a similar position to Crécy now. My trusty Logitech Extreme 3D Pro has turned into a twitchy left leaning rudder uncalibrating mess, which is a shame. However, I have three options open to be at the moment which may decrease depending on how bidding proceeds on ebay.

I have the options of:

X-45

Cyborg Evo

Black Widow


My greatest problem which has plagued the last two or three sticks I have owned have been a loss of calibration after a period of time.

What are your thoughts, peoples?

[HunterICX]

My Logitech 3d force Pro bit the dust after a year or 2 , the stick when plugged in it leaned to the left and was no way to get it centered.

the FF on it was odd, when I looked at it weird it just started to shake left and right as it was possesed, that couldn't be good for the stick I thought as it was doing that wild.

after it bit the dust that way I said to myself that it would be the last logitech stick I'll ever buy.

I own the Saitek Cyborg Evo (FF) for 2 years now IIRC, and I must say it's darn good stick after all the flying hours it hasn't shown signs of wearing out or odd behaviour.

HunterICX

[Geno_Mariner]

I got a left lean to my Powerwave Gaming Joystick too. Tried Calibration and all of that, still got a left lean which annoys me in IL-2 for take offs.

Might try getting a better joystick at some stage after I go for the G19 Keyboard (LED's FTW)

[Highbury]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I find myself in a similar position to Crécy now. My trusty Logitech Extreme 3D Pro has turned into a twitchy left leaning rudder uncalibrating mess, which is a shame. However, I have three options open to be at the moment which may decrease depending on how bidding proceeds on ebay.

I have the options of:

X-45

Cyborg Evo

Black Widow


My greatest problem which has plagued the last two or three sticks I have owned have been a loss of calibration after a period of time.

What are your thoughts, peoples?

My thoughts are, if you are in the -$100 price range you should look at the Thrustmaster T1600M. It is the only lower priced stick with Hall Effect sensors that make it 256 times more responsive then any other non-HE stick on the market. I went to this stick from a Cyborg and the difference was like going from a soap-box racer to a Ferrari. The only sim I was flying at the time was Rise of Flight, and it was night and day difference.

[yubba]

I' ll put up my 20 dollar Saitek ST220s against anything, plug in and go, the one almost 10 years old retired it too steelbeast.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by yubba

I' ll put up my 20 dollar Saitek ST220s against anything, plug in and go, the one almost 10 old years retired it too steelbeast.

hmm?

Old thread, I know, but since it's sort of ressurected...

I swear by Saitek sticks with the big springs generally, I own both an Evo and an X-52; I also had one of their older ones before. They're just rugged, reliable sticks that last a long time. I've had logitechs before, and I was really disappointed with how quickly those sticks went bad. Saitek sticks are neither the smoothest nor the most precise, but they more than make up for it in sheer reliability, and rather good pricing too. To me they feel good too, although the tightness of the springs is an acquired taste - some people absolutely hate Saitek's usual springs, which can definitely be pretty tight, especially on the Evo (in my experience anyway). But I love them, for one.

If you can at all afford it though, get a HOTAS, like an X-52 or X-52 Pro (which are definitely at the affordable end - of course you could go for something fancier too...). It might feel like a steep price, but trust me it's worth it. For 3-4x the price of an Evo, it delivers about 12x the function. So if you do play a fair amount of flight sims, consider the investment.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I've had logitechs before, and I was really disappointed with how quickly those sticks went bad.

This is true for just about every stick Logitech makes, except for the G940 (which is a bit pricey, but well worth it if you're buying a complete setup anyways - stick, split-throttle with keypad, rudders w/toe brakes, etc). I don't know why Logitech has such a huge gap in quality between their G940 and everything else. The 940 is super high quality/durability, has tons of buttons/switches and excellent force feedback, but every other lower-end stick I've owned by them has been garbage. Most of my friends have the Saitek X52's and generally speaking they are the best all-around sticks that don't have feedback...

[Torvald Von Mansee]

FF = force feedback?

[HunterICX]

^
That's correct

HunterICX

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

^
That's correct

HunterICX

Okily dokily!!

I also need to procure a new joystick.