Which Joystick do you currently own/plan on getting?

  • Black Widow

    Votes: 47 1.5%
  • Saitek AV8R-03

    Votes: 8 0.2%
  • Saitek F.L.Y. 5

    Votes: 93 2.9%
  • Saitek X52

    Votes: 381 11.9%
  • Saitek X52 Pro

    Votes: 653 20.4%
  • Saitek X55

    Votes: 455 14.2%
  • Saitek X65

    Votes: 45 1.4%
  • Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X

    Votes: 654 20.4%
  • Thrustmaster Warthog

    Votes: 364 11.4%
  • Logitech G940

    Votes: 52 1.6%
  • Other ... (Leave details on the comments)

    Votes: 690 21.5%

  • Total voters
    3,205
  • Poll closed .
The Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS is a good, cheap joystick that works beautifully with the game.

This. I have a much more expensive X-65F and went back to the T-Flight because it feels better. Might consider an X-52Pro though at some point. Money well spent if you enjoy the game.
 

Philip Coutts

Volunteer Moderator
I use a thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS X and have done for over a year. You can pick them up for £40 and they are pretty robust and responsive. For the money I think it's a great stick.
 
Just upgraded from my Speedmaster blackwidow to a Thrustmaster hotas as was finding there to be a lack of buttons. A bit lacking especially if you are getting more deeply into the combat side of the game. Looking forward to having all the extra controls on the throttle in particular.

Back in stock at Amazon uk, should hopefully have it by the weekend.
 
Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS X at £40 works for me.

hotas_X_max.png
 
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I use a Mad Catz F.L.Y. 5 stick, which was about 50 euros when I bought it in 2013 (initially bought it to play War Thunder before I realized that using a stick in Arcade is useless because mouse and keyboard players will outperform you each and every time). Looking at Amazon you can now buy them for about 60 dollars => http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Catz-F-L-...?ie=UTF8&qid=1426071529&sr=8-1&keywords=fly+5

It's got a separate splitable throttle control (not separate from the device, but separate from the stick itself, just check the pictures on the Amazon link) on the left side and plenty of buttons (about 12, though one can act as a shift key to double the functions of some of the buttons. Elite's default configuration though assigns Flight Assist to the shift key, so using the default layout only gives you 12 buttons).

One word of warning though: the soldering work inside the joystick is a bit flimsy between the stick base and the control print. They've used very thin wires which can come loose after a while (happened to mine after about a year and a half including half a year of daily sessions in Elite Dangerous). This is because they cover the solder points with glue from a glue gun and if not applied correctly this glue can detach and no longer keep the wires in place. It's easily fixable when you have a soldering iron handy. It was a bit akward to be yawing right in the middle of a fight I can tell you. >B')

But for the rest it is a good cheap stick.
 
I use an old Cyborg 3D joystick from Saitek a gaming keyboard to bind the multitude of controls needed for ED. It fits my budget, desk space, and playstyle. :cool:
 
I get a long well enough with my gaming K/board and mouse as both of them are macro programmable but I have recently been researching HOTAS systems as I have become ridiculously addicted to ED.
I can only report back on my research as I don't have hands on (pun intended) experience.
Have not read a single bad review for the Thrustmaster range.
The Saitek range of sticks and HOTAS systems have been given rather varied reviews. Most of the complaints seem to center on spotty build quality and poor drivers.
I am looking at the Thrustmaster Warthog A-10C system which looks to be the bees knees but it is wallet meltingly expensive even in the Scan sale at £264.98!!!
I wonder how much I can get if I auction of my kidneys?
 
My Saitek X52 Pro has arrived today, I must say it's hard to pick a hyperbolic number of times it's better to play with rather than with a gamepad. Five times better? A hundred?

Anyways, I'm having trouble configuring analog throttle the way it would be perfect for me.

I dislike "forward throttle" preset because to stop the ship I have to push throttle lever through the edge zone (whatever it's called properly, the last like 5% of the lever range where the lever is considerably harder to move), also the whole docking takes place inside the edge throttle zone which is quite cumbersome combined with the need to press the reverse throttle button.

I also dislike "full range" because zero throttle is now dead center of the lever range and with no feedback it's very hard to make the ship stand still without looking at the speedometer; plus it effectively cuts the lever range in half, which sucks.

My question is is it possible to customize the way throttle lever works? I would like it to go -5..+100 instead of 0..+100 or -100..+100, so pulling the lever gently all the way down would stop the ship and then applying some extra pressure would take the lever through the edge zone and give the ship some reverse thrust, for docking purposes.

Or (a girl can dream, right?) make it go -100..+100 but non-linear, so zero throttle is still at the top of the lower edge zone?

Thanks!
 
My Saitek X52 Pro has arrived today, I must say it's hard to pick a hyperbolic number of times it's better to play with rather than with a gamepad. Five times better? A hundred?

Anyways, I'm having trouble configuring analog throttle the way it would be perfect for me.

I dislike "forward throttle" preset because to stop the ship I have to push throttle lever through the edge zone (whatever it's called properly, the last like 5% of the lever range where the lever is considerably harder to move), also the whole docking takes place inside the edge throttle zone which is quite cumbersome combined with the need to press the reverse throttle button.

I also dislike "full range" because zero throttle is now dead center of the lever range and with no feedback it's very hard to make the ship stand still without looking at the speedometer; plus it effectively cuts the lever range in half, which sucks.

My question is is it possible to customize the way throttle lever works? I would like it to go -5..+100 instead of 0..+100 or -100..+100, so pulling the lever gently all the way down would stop the ship and then applying some extra pressure would take the lever through the edge zone and give the ship some reverse thrust, for docking purposes.

Or (a girl can dream, right?) make it go -100..+100 but non-linear, so zero throttle is still at the top of the lower edge zone?

Thanks!

You should be able to configure deadzones, either in the ED controls settings or the Saitek software. Worst case, you could calibrate the throttle and instead of moving it completely through the range stop just short.
 
You should be able to configure deadzones, either in the ED controls settings or the Saitek software. Worst case, you could calibrate the throttle and instead of moving it completely through the range stop just short.

Isn't it just decreasing the effective lever range though? I don't want to decrease it, I want a full lever range that corresponds to a custom ship throttle range.
 
Some of us use the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - a good budget 'stick, which is still pretty cheap in the US.

I can heartily second the Logitech 3D. Over 500 kills and counting and I have never felt the Logitech holding me back in any way. About $50 (USD)
 
Greetings from NM, I have the Thrustmaster cougar hotus. I have had this stick for about 10 or 12 years.
it is a high performance costly joy stick throttle combo. I have probably flown every flight or space simm that has been released since the early 80's. I Have had a Thrustmaster F-16 stick, the F-22 stick they made and now this cougar. thrustmaster has always had great service for me anyway, They sent me a complete rebuild kit for the cougar some years ago, I have not needed to rebuild anything, great stick great company..
I have never had a problem with this stick till now with this game.
I am having problems with sensitivity on the up-- down axis.I keep bobbing all over up and down.
I have never had this problem before with any other games, and in real life I have mid air refueled, so I am not a bobber , lol I can and have hit the target.
does anyone know how to set sensitivity in game, or is there a way? I have tried dead zones to no avail.
anybody else with a cougar out there?maybe trade some profiles?
any help would be great
Thanks
 
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