I'm using an MS Sidewinder that I've had for donkey's years. I ended up disabling the piddly little throttle in game though, as it was very difficult to centred at zero thrust and was tricky to use and kept causing me to veer off on take-off. I found it much better to to use the keys, especially since it allows my hand to hover over the other thruster controls.
The Joystick/Controller discussion thread
Seriously there is nothing more satisfying than this throttle....4...3....2...1.... "ENGAGE!" ---> push throttle forward ! The dinky "slider" on some joysticks cannot give you that feeling
Also...I did that friction mod to my throttle here: http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6098
Feels so much better!
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Seriously there is nothing more satisfying than this throttle....4...3....2...1.... "ENGAGE!" ---> push throttle forward ! The dinky "slider" on some joysticks cannot give you that feeling
Also...I did that friction mod to my throttle here: http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6098
Feels so much better!
Hah, I went the other way and put a *tiny* dab of silicone grease on the little circular teflon inserts. Totally smooth, and practically friction free.
Yes. You can use one with any other joystick. They are very excellent too.
You can read reviews until you're blue in the face, for a budget joystick the Thrustmaster 16000m is by far the "best" stick. It is the only "cheap" joystick which has hall sensors (a magnet hovering above a sensor chip) while other budget joysticks have pots. The pots wear out in time and can become unreliable.
I don't care about the buttons on the thrustmaster (they're admittedly crap, I never even used the buttons on the base!)...but in combination with a separate throttle like the CH Pro throttle this combo is very good.
The Madcatz/Saitek Cyborg...I think is extremely ugly (it beats even the thrustmaster in ugliness which isn't exactly a beauty either
... but take my word, once you go HOTAS with a separate throttle...you don't want to go back to joystick only. My tip: Get thrustmaster 16000m, then save up some money (if you're on a budget) and get CH Pro throttle at a later time. Also check second hand forums/sites etc.
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taotoo..the Ch Fighter stick is VERY appealing also for its buttons. CH makes really quality stuff, no question. But I really, really would miss the twist on the 16000m. In fact without the twist I would likely be lost at the moment. It really helps greatly. I really wish CH would make a stick with a twist...
Well, I got a used Logitech Extreme 3D pro in the end, and only paid £13 for it!
Had a quick try out and liked it a lot, just need more practice now as I'm so use to a mouse for games!
www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=a7a29ba
The throttle lever is a bit difficult to use, so I just set two buttons on the stick to speed up or slow down.
If I get some more cash, I may well upgrade to one of the more expensive sticks, but for now, this will do me just fine!
Had a quick try out and liked it a lot, just need more practice now as I'm so use to a mouse for games!
www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=a7a29ba
The throttle lever is a bit difficult to use, so I just set two buttons on the stick to speed up or slow down.
If I get some more cash, I may well upgrade to one of the more expensive sticks, but for now, this will do me just fine!
I would like to write a short bit about the X55. I have never been so disappointed with something as I have this. Firstly, just because there is a £300 joystick, it doesn't make this one "cheap", £150 on a peripheral is a significant amount of money. The first thing I noticed was how cheap it felt, I've handled better made childrens toys and this is not an exaggeration.
After the initial disappointment I decided to try the different springs, first problem is the lightest one, when fitted renders the joystick useless as it doesn't centre anymore. I refitted a few times to make sure it wasn't me but all the other springs worked. This one the joystick just stays wherever you push it. I was willing to let this slide as I found I preferred the strongest anyway. The next issue was the one that tipped me over the edge, the H2 Hat would often get stuck when clicking right, you had to nudge it back to the centre, this is unacceptable for a £150 item.
I will be RMA'ing it tomorrow with the option of a refund not replacement. I hope my Hotas X arrives soon, lack of buttons aside it cannot feel cheaper than the X55 and is priced at £120 less. Another gripe is that it's just far too light and even on the loosest throttle I found myself lifting the base up. I have pretty big hands too and some of the buttons were a stretch for me as I had already been warned but I didn't think to that degree I'd struggle. Can't really criticize it for ergonomics as we're all different sizes. A few of the buttons on the thrust felt pointless as they were far too awkward to reach.
Positives, it felt great on Elite, the multitude of buttons are fantastic, it looks cool with the LED's as well. Sadly I can't find many other for the price.
I don't feel anything on the market really gives me exactly what I want but I am going to try a CH Fightstick and Throttle next.
After the initial disappointment I decided to try the different springs, first problem is the lightest one, when fitted renders the joystick useless as it doesn't centre anymore. I refitted a few times to make sure it wasn't me but all the other springs worked. This one the joystick just stays wherever you push it. I was willing to let this slide as I found I preferred the strongest anyway. The next issue was the one that tipped me over the edge, the H2 Hat would often get stuck when clicking right, you had to nudge it back to the centre, this is unacceptable for a £150 item.
I will be RMA'ing it tomorrow with the option of a refund not replacement. I hope my Hotas X arrives soon, lack of buttons aside it cannot feel cheaper than the X55 and is priced at £120 less. Another gripe is that it's just far too light and even on the loosest throttle I found myself lifting the base up. I have pretty big hands too and some of the buttons were a stretch for me as I had already been warned but I didn't think to that degree I'd struggle. Can't really criticize it for ergonomics as we're all different sizes. A few of the buttons on the thrust felt pointless as they were far too awkward to reach.
Positives, it felt great on Elite, the multitude of buttons are fantastic, it looks cool with the LED's as well. Sadly I can't find many other for the price.
I don't feel anything on the market really gives me exactly what I want but I am going to try a CH Fightstick and Throttle next.
The CH Fighterstick and Pro throttle *look* a lot less impressive, and are simply and robustly built (a good thing!). CH mostly make industrial controls. They use *good* quality components (omron switches, CTS potentiometers, heavy duty plastic) and are reasonably large.
Don't think you'd be disappointed tbh. (Amazon.com might be cheaper than Amazon.co.uk).
Hi Rog,
Aesthetically they are poor yes but I think I'm more worried about function here. The X55 looked nice but when I play I don't look at the controls so not really an issue. If anything I may prefer the subtlety of the CH aesthetics.
I can get the components from various places in the UK, I've found the throttle for £109.99 so far ($182), I see it's $108 at the moment but after shipping and customs charges it may be very close. Same goes for the fighter stick.
CH Pro Throttle for £88.54 delivered.
CH Fighterstick for £91.91 delivered.
Total: £180.45
Ignore the fact it says 'Mac' in the title... it's USB and works with PC too.
Throttle @ Amazon.com $100.31
Fighterstick @ Amazon.com $97.79
Items (2): $198.10
Shipping & handling: $24.23
Total before tax: $222.33
Import Fees Deposit $44.47
Order total: $266.80
Converted that's £160.77 in total from the US.
£20 saving, but maybe not worth bothering with.
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I invest in the X55s and I haven't regretted it for the moment.
I've found them to be a great pair of sticks, okay, 90% of liking a stick is the fact that you're use to it.
The upside for the X55s is that they've got so many buttons. I don't have a single function mapped to the keyboard and I still have about 10 buttons completely unprogrammed. Of course there are some functions I just don't want to map - like eject all cargo. And that is without using the mode functionality and mapping the X55 to keyboard commands.
The first down side is that the hand rest is not adjustable. For my largish hands I would want the rest about 1/4 inch higher. But it isn't enough of a bother for me to tape some padding there.
The second down side is that Saitek's support is non-existent. The throttle can generate ghost button presses if not plugged in to the motherboard directly. Also you can't profile the analogue curves of the stick on Win 8.1. Saitek have know about this bug for months and still not fixed it. Despite this I still don't regret buying them.
Having played with (a borrowed) DK2 on for a few hours I didn't find that problem finding the toggle switches that are one the throttle base, and I've found the X55s very comfortable to play for hours at a time. The rubberized
coating doesn't slip in the hot sticky weather.
At FantasiCon I got some time on Ian's X52 Pros with a DK2 and I found them very easy to fly with too. At LaveCon I flew a number of other sticks, including a couple of CHs and they all felt good; I think I would have been happy with any of them. I'd recommend the X55s, but I don't think there is that much to choose between any of the sticks them.
I used a piece of high density foam (the sort they use to hold cheap metal curtain poles in place in their box from a DIY shed/Wilkinsons). It's about 1cm thick, square with a central hole. Just made one cut in it, and it holds itself around the base of the stick.
Really helped improve the comfort. Not elegant maybe, but it works.
I ended up buying a cheapo Thrustmaster HOTAS X that is supposed to be delivered today. If that doesn't work to my satisfaction I may spring for the X-52 Pro.
I used a piece of high density foam (the sort they use to hold cheap metal curtain poles in place in their box from a DIY shed/Wilkinsons). It's about 1cm thick, square with a central hole. Just made one cut in it, and it holds itself around the base of the stick.
Really helped improve the comfort. Not elegant maybe, but it works.
Having had issues with hand discomfort in the past with controllers and sticks, the first thing I'll try if I experience that with my new Hotas will be driving gloves (even homemade ones). Fingerless gloves with strategic padding - works for racing why not flight sticks?
CH Pro Throttle for £88.54 delivered.
Converted that's £160.77 in total from the US.
£20 saving, but maybe not worth bothering with.
Thanks Rog I shall keep an eye there. Dobbo I'm glad you like the stick but non existent QC is evident with the issues I had. I also have my reservations at how long that setup would last, I would have had to work something out to secure it to my desk because it's just far too light as well.