Hardware & Technical Getting a Cyborg F.L.Y. 5, any one else got one?

ZedFontaine

Z
Right, after playing this game for about, oh, 2 days? I decided to purchase after a good friends advice, the Saitek Cyborg F.L.Y. 5. Link is here.

Now, I come from playing on a Trust GTX 28, with DS3 support for more buttons. Needless to say, it was not enough.

Anyone else got or is getting this stick? (the cyborg that is)

It's a good mid-high level cheap stick, and being a Cyborg, it has a metric ton of adjustable features.

Also, who else is looking for a new stick or getting a new one? Let me know!
 

Sysmon

Sysmon
I had one. I liked the adjustability of nearly everything, but found it a bit flimsy. I could have most features on the stick and only use keyboard for things that did not need use in a hurry.

However, as I said, I found it flimsy. Eventually one of the hat switches broke, the one I used for secondary weapons. After a few weeks flying with a tube of glue handy (liquid nails worked quite well), I upgraded to the X-55. The quality, versatility and price are all an order of magnitude higher.

:D S
 

xxThe_Dice_manxx

xxThe_Dice_manxx
I had an older version of the Cyborg, didn't really like it.

For ED I splashed out and bought an X52 , I cannot recommend it enough, if you have the money get it, and if by chance you don't like it you can sell it again for a minimal loss if a loss at all, there is a big demand for these at the moment.
 

ZedFontaine

Z
Well, seeing as cash isnt something I'm rolling in as of yet (Saving is hard), I will enjoy the FLY 5 as much as I can. And if it "breaks" I can always fix it.
 

Sysmon

Sysmon
ZedFontaine said:
Well, seeing as cash isnt something I'm rolling in as of yet (Saving is hard), I will enjoy the FLY 5 as much as I can. And if it "breaks" I can always fix it.
Click to expand...

Yep. Be gentle on the buttons! I really liked mine until it broke. It was nice and stable, and nice and ergonomic once it was set up for my paws. Enjoy it!

:D S
 
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EAGLE 5

EAGLE 5
Wow that just looks flimsy... to many bells and whistles crammed on the stick itself it just looks like anything can go wrong at any given moment.
 

WDeja

WDeja
For that amount (~60) I'd recommend the T-Flight Thrustmaster hotas instead. Having the full grasp of a throttle is nice and there's another axis controlled by your fingers. I've been using it for almost a year and I have no complaints other than the cable length being a bit short between throttle/stick. My keyboard might be abnormally wide though..

The base also has me worried, as another review mentioned some sort of mount would be required (not a big deal though) any time you push forward. Compared to the front (or is it back?) there's nothing there to stop it from tipping over. Haven't used it so I can't say for sure.

I just bought a TrackIR 5 so my next purchase will be the X-52 Pro. Seems to be the best for that price range and I like the lights :)
 

Asp Explorer

Asp Explorer
GF had a FLY5 - it was kind of disappointing so she got an X52 Pro instead.

They aren't bad - but they feel flimsy, don't seem very precise - and kittens love chewing on the throttle-ette :)
 

Megalon

Megalon
op said he already bought the stick. he is not asking advice on what stick to buy. i know lots of people that like that cyborg stick so have fun with it op.
 

Crazy Joe

Crazy Joe
I have a Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 stick (I think Mad Catz bought Saitek some time ago) and I'm happily using it for playing Elite Dangerous.

I really like the fact that you can collapse it down to a smaller footprint so that it doesn't take up so much desk space.

I'd like to have had more buttons on the stick, just to add some more functions that I now have mapped to the keyboard, but for me that isn't a deal breaker.

I bought the stick originally for playing War Thunder (I didn't want to invest a huge amount of money since most people told me that flying with a stick in Arcade mode was self-defeating) so I went for the the F.L.Y. 5 because it was reasonably cheap and relatively easy to find in shops.

So as a beginner stick I think it is more than adequate. Plus with the sudden demand for X55's those are very difficult to get at them moment and those are 3 to 4 times more expensive. Add to that that the quality control for the X55 seems to be a bit lacking (lots of forum posts about people receiving them only to have to return them because the stick didn't work correctly), I think that the F.L.Y. 5 is a good alternative for trying out the joystick control way.
 

Sysmon

Sysmon
Also, it is not as unstable as it may seem! It has a nice base for the left hand to rest on, and it is soft enough that unless you yank it hard about, it won't fall over even if you have the other hand on the keyboard or a brew.

The X55 has replacable springs for different levels of hardness. I found the soft springs to be near-useless, although I love the enormous amount of buttons to program. If you don't mind using the keyboard (and keyboards have loads of buttons!), and the buttons don't break, the FLY5 is great.

:D S
 

VR Dextrovix

VR Dextrovix
I have a FLY5 too. As others have said, a few more buttons would be always welcomed, but I've got the main four at the top set up with what I want, plus the hat and trigger too means I have most things covered.

Also, it works out of the box pre-mapped with ED- those four buttons on the bottom left are preset for power management, and the split throttle works for forward/reverse straightaway.

For the price (£40 UK) I think it's a great basic stick- for any extra functions I use VoiceAttack anyway which is only around £5.
 

Kyokushin

Kyokushin
I have fly 5 too. Be careful with button number 2 (1,3,4 too). I broken mine and must repair with metal screw...
like this:

Here is my mapping for FLY 5. Everything you need is on joy:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=40121

934828_871209082911861_7058601890629798492_n.jpg
 
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Ttaskmaster

T
I have a FLY-5.
I have the MadCatz version. There is a rumour that Saitek quality control went downhill once MC bought them. Reports of MC-branded X52s, 52Pros and even these would seem to substantiate the rumour...


Features are as others have explained and pretty reasonable.
I personally found the four buttons on the left of the base to be between awkward and useless, especially when you need to start altering your power distribution, like, NOW!!!!!
I found a near-closed throttle actually stops me from using the closest two, so I remapped those to the arrow keys.

Stability is absolutely fine. You should not have any tipping or tilting.
It folds up, which is good for the desktop.

You might want to put some gaffa tape over the stupid blue LEDs at the top, though. They don't flash or indicate anything and they don't illuminate the top buttons either. They just shine in your eyes whenever you pitch down!!


What irks most is the overly powerful stick springs and the adjustable bits...

The mainspring means you need a LOT of force (compared to other sticks) to move the stick from centre and this is not what you want under combat conditions requiring small corrections. You could fiddle with the sensitivity settings perhaps or the 'deadzone', but since I don't know enough about that and shouldn't have to at this price level of gaming, I don't see why I should have to [redacted] about there... Everything else works out of the box well enough.

You can lessen the main spring by putting a couple of cable ties around the spirals and compressing it down one 'turn' or so. This takes care of the sensitivity issue. However, the yaw is still quite stiff and I do find myself engaging the other axes while wrenching this thing around.

The killer is the 2-part handle. The upper slides to vary the length and is secured by a thin sprung-pin. This on a cheap stick means the two parts move and the whole stick is wonky as heck. It could conceivably be padded out to hold it in place (or flooding with a load of glue works well enough), but after a few weeks of use, the stick is wibbly as a Captain with pants on his head and pencils up his nose.
This only exacerbates the spring issue and you'll find your controls lacking the sensitivity you really need.


All in all, it's an OK starter stick for the price.
However, I *will* be getting something better once a) I have the money and b) either something better comes along or they fix the issues with the X55 Rhino, as that is an otherwise good HOTAS.
 
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QuantumTron

Q
Ttaskmaster said:
I have a FLY-5.
I have the MadCatz version. There is a rumour that Saitek quality control went downhill once MC bought them. Reports of MC-branded X52s, 52Pros and even these would seem to substantiate the rumour...


Features are as others have explained and pretty reasonable.
I personally found the four buttons on the left of the base to be between awkward and useless, especially when you need to start altering your power distribution, like, NOW!!!!!
I found a near-closed throttle actually stops me from using the closest two, so I remapped those to the arrow keys.

Stability is absolutely fine. You should not have any tipping or tilting.
It folds up, which is good for the desktop.

You might want to put some gaffa tape over the stupid blue LEDs at the top, though. They don't flash or indicate anything and they don't illuminate the top buttons either. They just shine in your eyes whenever you pitch down!!


What irks most is the overly powerful stick springs and the adjustable bits...

The mainspring means you need a LOT of force (compared to other sticks) to move the stick from centre and this is not what you want under combat conditions requiring small corrections. You could fiddle with the sensitivity settings perhaps or the 'deadzone', but since I don't know enough about that and shouldn't have to at this price level of gaming, I don't see why I should have to [redacted] about there... Everything else works out of the box well enough.

You can lessen the main spring by putting a couple of cable ties around the spirals and compressing it down one 'turn' or so. This takes care of the sensitivity issue. However, the yaw is still quite stiff and I do find myself engaging the other axes while wrenching this thing around.

The killer is the 2-part handle. The upper slides to vary the length and is secured by a thin sprung-pin. This on a cheap stick means the two parts move and the whole stick is wonky as heck. It could conceivably be padded out to hold it in place (or flooding with a load of glue works well enough), but after a few weeks of use, the stick is wibbly as a Captain with pants on his head and pencils up his nose.
This only exacerbates the spring issue and you'll find your controls lacking the sensitivity you really need.


All in all, it's an OK starter stick for the price.
However, I *will* be getting something better once a) I have the money and b) either something better comes along or they fix the issues with the X55 Rhino, as that is an otherwise good HOTAS.
Click to expand...

^^^----- This. I also have a FLY 5 and think it's fine for ED.

The only complaint I have is the sensitivity is WAY too high and would love to be able to tune this for ED. I did try using those 3rd party joystick tools (can't remember the names offhand it'll come back to me - emulates a joystick and you can set sensitivity curves on the emulation), but couldn't get it to work and it was highly frustrating to try to use.

Just wish Mad Catz released a sensitivity utility for this joystick.
 
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SMcA

SMcA
I bought one yesterday. :)

The Logitech Extreme 3D Pro that I have had for a couple of months was getting wonky in the rest position. And it was an impulse buy.

It has 14 buttons and I don't know what to do with them all. If you download the software you can double the number by pressing the Shift key as well. It will also run Macros or scripts. I've not tried that yet.
As for using it. I had a Lakon Type 6 which went very well with it.
It feels stiff but that is fine with the Type 6 as it is a heavy transporter. It does look a bit flimsy and when I pitch down the base tilts forward a bit. Not too bad though. The adjustments let it fit your hand nicely.
On the downside. When I changed my ship to a Cobra it felt a tad too stiff for combat but that might be me. The only other criticism I have is that compared to the 3D Pro. The secondary fire button is not where I want it. The Logitec has a button underneath the knuckle of my thumb which means that I can press it without changing grip. With the Fly 5 you need to move your thumb. But with all the adjustments it can be set so that all off the buttons are in an arc.
To end on a more positive note. With my setup (Acer V3-772G laptop) I cannot use the mouse in full screen. With the fly 5 this is less of a problem as I can scroll through the menus with the joystick.

Edit:
I forgot to say that the grip is good and I like the look of it. :D
 
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