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 .
I've got a Thrustmater T.flight hotas for sale if any one interested.

I was treated to an X55, which I'm liking a lot .
 
joystick and keyboard questgion...

I am looking to use a joystick for flying and voice keyboard for everything else. Is this possible or is it one or the other? the voice thing allows me to set stuff like engine stop, speed up/down, etc to voice commands and have stick to actually fly. I don't want to buy a stick if both are not possible at same time. if both are possible at same time, then what is a good stick if I don't need the throttle? rather not spend too much but don't want to get something that won't work well ei her.
 
I am looking to use a joystick for flying and voice keyboard for everything else. Is this possible or is it one or the other? the voice thing allows me to set stuff like engine stop, speed up/down, etc to voice commands and have stick to actually fly. I don't want to buy a stick if both are not possible at same time. if both are possible at same time, then what is a good stick if I don't need the throttle? rather not spend too much but don't want to get something that won't work well ei her.

Voice Attack software will work fine in combination with a joystick.

If you're going to the expense of getting a joystick I recommend you consider getting one with a throttle. Thrustmaster T_Flight HOTAS X is the budget option, Saitek X52 is the more expensive option.
 
I need help with joystick issue

My joystick just stopped functioning correctly. My y axis down turned into my x axis right. My X axis right is now my Y axis down. I used the joystick just fine earlier. I logged off for dinner, and when I came back this was the issue. It's not the game cause I tested the joysticks calibration outside game for same results. Anyone have any ideas to help?
 
Voice Attack software will work fine in combination with a joystick.

If you're going to the expense of getting a joystick I recommend you consider getting one with a throttle. Thrustmaster T_Flight HOTAS X is the budget option, Saitek X52 is the more expensive option.

No, HOTAS X is the ghetto option, X52 is the budget option, X52 Pro is the slightly less flimsy option, X55 is the mid price option, CH Fighter Stick, Pro Throttle and Pedals is the expensive option, Warthog plus pedals is the laxative option. HTH.

(There's also the TM1600M stick to consider, but you would probably want a throttle to go with it.. It's a fairly reliable stick and inexpensive though, and may suit the OP)

OP: You can use pretty much any mix of controls that takes your fancy- Voice Attack can generate input events for you, for example (like keypresses) and the software that comes with joysticks usually can too. You can set things up however you like them. Keyboard, joystick, pedals, mouse, voice.. whatever. It's absolutely up to you.

Voice Attack is neat, but I'd be hesitant to suggest it over proper keybinds or a throttle unit with a zillion bindable controls. You also don't want to be trying to use voice commands for fine thruster control- and remember that voice commands have a lot of latency (and some CPU overhead), and you can't issue more than one at a time. Consider voice to be the icing on the cake, not the main control method as it's very inefficient and somewhat clumsy. It is fun, though :)
 
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There's also the TM1600M stick to consider, but you would probably want a throttle to go with it
i have one of those, but i use keys for throttle and thrusters etc. - i have a HOTAS-X here and various other sticks and pads to choose from, but only keys give me the versatility of being able to boost/accel-deccel/up thrust/down/left/right. the HOTAS simply doesn't have enough controls, and besides - hardware throttles can be twitchy in this game, and i nearly nuked myself on the landing pad a few times trying to zero the darn thing during testing, i.e. come to a stop and then inch forwards a little or back
 
thrustmaster hotas x is not a ghetto option. i bought it because it is by far the greatest value with the highest ratings on amazon as well as on this forum. it is a fantastic stick that works perfectly with voice attack and your keyboard. All of which can be used together.
 
thrustmaster hotas x is not a ghetto option. i bought it because it is by far the greatest value with the highest ratings on amazon as well as on this forum. it is a fantastic stick that works perfectly with voice attack and your keyboard. All of which can be used together.

Absolutely agree!
 
i have one of those, but i use keys for throttle and thrusters etc. - i have a HOTAS-X here and various other sticks and pads to choose from, but only keys give me the versatility of being able to boost/accel-deccel/up thrust/down/left/right. the HOTAS simply doesn't have enough controls, and besides - hardware throttles can be twitchy in this game, and i nearly nuked myself on the landing pad a few times trying to zero the darn thing during testing, i.e. come to a stop and then inch forwards a little or back

A decent HOTAS does have enough controls. If anything, my X55 has too many, I have quite a few things on the throttle still unbound- and never need to touch the keyboard in flight. It was a bit overwhelming at first- I started with FD's default mapping for the X55, and then customised it. Adding stuff like headlook toggle/centre for trackIR, sensor resolution controls and other nice bells and whistles really was worth the effort. The only downside is that I had to stick little labels to some of the controls on the throttle base to remember what they did at first because there were so many of them!

thrustmaster hotas x is not a ghetto option. i bought it because it is by far the greatest value with the highest ratings on amazon as well as on this forum. it is a fantastic stick that works perfectly with voice attack and your keyboard. All of which can be used together.

You'll learn, when you're riding a 50% dead zone on a flaccid stick, a little bit down the line. Maybe being able to hit a barn down at ten paces with a howitzer is overrated? Buy cheap, buy twice.

Also, it doesn't "work perfectly with" voice attack- it has nothing to do with it- this is no more a feature than a fridge that "works perfectly with" a bread knife stored in a nearby drawer :D
 
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i have one of those, but i use keys for throttle and thrusters etc. - i have a HOTAS-X here and various other sticks and pads to choose from, but only keys give me the versatility of being able to boost/accel-deccel/up thrust/down/left/right. the HOTAS simply doesn't have enough controls, and besides - hardware throttles can be twitchy in this game, and i nearly nuked myself on the landing pad a few times trying to zero the darn thing during testing, i.e. come to a stop and then inch forwards a little or back
I know what you mean. When I added the CH Throttle to my T16000m and tried flying with forward+reverse thrust on the throttle axis, it was quite painful to judge the zero throttle center spot. I switched to forward-only thrust and one of the buttons on the back is a toggle for reverse thrust, works a LOT better, makes judging throttle % easy.

However I disagree about number of buttons. The HOTAS-X is a Playstation controller with very limited numbers of hats and buttons. The CH throttle, in comparison, has loads of hats/buttons and a lovely analog stick for horizontal/vertical strafe. I much prefer it to the keyboard, especially when you need to stab a less regularly used key (which would require glancing at the keyboard, but is just moving your thumb up or down to one of the other hats on the CH throttle)
 
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I know what you mean. When I added the CH Throttle to my T16000m and tried flying with forward+reverse thrust on the throttle axis, it was quite painful to judge the zero throttle center spot. I switched to forward-only thrust and one of the buttons on the back is a toggle for reverse thrust, works a LOT better, makes judging throttle % easy.

However I disagree about number of buttons. The HOTAS-X is a Playstation controller with very limited numbers of hats and buttons. The CH throttle, in comparison, has loads of hats/buttons and a lovely analog stick for horizontal/vertical strafe. I much prefer it to the keyboard, especially when you need to stab a less regularly used key (which would require glancing at the keyboard, but is just moving your thumb up or down to one of the other hats on the CH throttle)

Yep, forward-only throttle is probably the way to go or almost everyone. I think the Warthog has an always-on detent (and another that can be disabled), though I can't remember "where" it is, if you see what I mean. The default layout for the X55 uses the full forward thrust/reverse button on the back of the throttle setup too, and suits me nicely :)

Totally agree about the HOTAS-X.. It doesn't have enough (or good enough) controls. It also is very inaccurate and gets very loose after a while, it's the worst of all worlds. Also, the cable between the two modules is too short to allow a split across the sides of most full-sized keyboards. It really is a false economy to buy one; much better options exist. I think I'd prefer a T1600M and keyboard if money were tight, simply because that way you could get some sort of precision. Otherwise, I'd be shooting for X52 pro/X55/CH kit/Warthog as finances and tastes allowed.

(I'm getting on fine with my X55, but don't rule out springing for the CH stuff if it feels like ED is going to survive its growing pains, and if CH actually get reliable distribution in the UK again.)
 
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Just been getting to grips with the HOTAS X, and yes it is a little limited button wise, but I did manage to cram most of the flight controls onto it (more or less logically). I'll say one thing for it: Landing is an absolute dream. Not used it in combat yet, but I can already see it will take some very deft handling to win a battle.
 
Just been getting to grips with the HOTAS X, and yes it is a little limited button wise, but I did manage to cram most of the flight controls onto it (more or less logically). I'll say one thing for it: Landing is an absolute dream. Not used it in combat yet, but I can already see it will take some very deft handling to win a battle.

Funny, landing was the hardest to get right for me when getting the HOTAS. Combat came pretty quick, and the muscle memory for bindings only took a few hours. I expected it to take days to get used to, but I was happily surprised.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but throttle isn't the same as thrust right? So you shouldn't be mapping thrust forward or backward to the throttle in your left hand.

This is the part where I can't justify using a hotas, because it's 6 axis control plus throttle. You obviously cab get away with it, but you start using the hat or other digital keys to compensate. that's a negative in my book.


I plan to use two t-16000m sticks, woke assigning throttle to one of the sliders in the base. A better option would be a right stick that has an analog, rotary pot on the side of it.

Typically in combat I set throttle to optimum and use the thrusters forward to enable top speed.
 
Why can't we assign more than two joystick buttons to fire groups?

This is the year 2015. I haven't seen a joystick for sale with only two buttons for over 20 years, so why can we only assign two buttons to a fire group?

I want a button for KWS, one for lasers, one for cannons and probably one for missiles too.
Then there's chaff and shield cells (Yes, I know you can assign those separately in the game's control settings but they're available to be set into fire groups so why not be able to assign them there too?)
 
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