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 .
For me part of the fun in ED is feeling like i´m piloting a ship, more if whe have in mind the lack of content ED actually has, so many times even if i don´t have so much to do, just putting my headset, grab my hotas and turn on the track-ir makes the experience of playing ED unique, so my suggestion always will be to buy any hardware to make you closer to this experience.
 
In my opinion, for anything where you actually fly something, there's no substitute for a stick. Check out the Thrustmaster Hotas X as well, it's cheap, has a separate throttle and works great for it's price.
 
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The HOTAS X is a great, fun stick for the money but it's really quite inaccurate. I did a video on joystick curves a while ago and it can help a little with it (especially on the yaw) but in the end, gimballed weapons are your friend.

Inaccurate??? That would depend on your HOTAS hardware, HOTAS software configuration, and the ability of your CPU/GPU to keep up with the graphics demand. When I had a Cobra, I used fixed lasers and had no problem with accuracy with the Saitek X52 Pro.
 
Inaccurate??? That would depend on your HOTAS hardware, HOTAS software configuration, and the ability of your CPU/GPU to keep up with the graphics demand. When I had a Cobra, I used fixed lasers and had no problem with accuracy with the Saitek X52 Pro.

The HOTAS X he refers to is a specific joystick (logitech T-flight HOTAS X), which indeed is somewhat inaccurate. Then again, it is cheaper than many stand-alone sticks, so hey.
 
Hello everyone, thanks for the helpful advice.

I do have the flight stick set up 'for avionics" as well as having Pitch Roll and yaw in digital configuration.

I personally think it's just me getting used to the Thrustmaster, I've tightened the resistance of the stick to max and that's seemed to help quite a bit, now I can kill the sidewinder in Tutorial mission 2 in about 5-10 minutes.

Not perfect but I HAVE improved!
 
I do have the flight stick set up 'for avionics" as well as having Pitch Roll and yaw in digital configuration.

No, you do not want to use the digital configuration for the HOTAS - it is an analogue device. Select only the analogue settings for the joystick and throttle.

Also, practice. I bought the same HOTAS as yours when I started playing this game. It was the first time I'd used any sort of controller other than a mouse and it took ages before I was comfortable with it. Then one day it just "clicked" and now I can't imagine using anything other than a HOTAS for this sort of game.

Hint - don't over-correct. Get used to small movements and don't hold the controls with a death grip - keep relaxed and fluid.
 
Hello everyone, I'm ordering a Thrustmaster T.Flight X this week...love the x52 Pro but will have to wait till X-mas for that one. I haven't used one of these in over 10 years so I am going to learn to play ED using the T.Flight. I figure this way I wont have to learn to fly with the 360 controller and then do it all over again with the T.Flight!
 
I know what you mean. I've been playing with a controller so long now that I keep puting off getting a HOTAS because I don't want to have to relearn everything.
 
Even though I am a noob to this game and PC gaming in general, I'd like to voice an opinion.

I use the Logitech 3d pro flight stick and have it set up to where my yaw is on the x axis, while my roll is on the z axis.

I twist the stick left or right to roll and lean the stick left or right for yaw. Not how it's meant to be, but it just seems more natural to me and made my flying experience all the more enjoyable.
 
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vjoy and response curve

There is a good thread about using virtual joysticks. They convert your input profile into a custom profile. Until I used this I had much more fine control with my G300 mouse. Having joystick curves / vjoy between my Logitech stick and ED gives me much better aiming and smoother flying. There should be a setting in the game, like linear response or exponential.
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enough of the talking, here you go
and one more
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I use a linear profile for all axis, starting from ~2% input (very left setting) to 100% on the right end. To get yjoy recognized by ED, turn on the virtual axis test loop in vjoy and rebind the axis in ED. do one by one until all are set. On word of warning, sometimes vjoy looses the controller when unplugging/re-plugging it. restart vjoy and check that both crosses in the right window move when moving the stick.
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A good tutorial on how to set it up, one can find here (thx CyFur)

- - - Updated - - -

Even though I am a noob to this game and PC gaming in general, I'd like to voice an opinion.

I use the Logitech 3d pro flight stick and have it set up to where my yaw is on the x axis, while my roll is on the z axis.

I twist the stick left or right to roll and lean the stick left or right for yaw. Not how it's meant to be, but it just seems more natural to me and made my flying experience all the more enjoyable.

Logitech 3d pro user here. I mapped up/down to back/forth, the roll left/right and yaw for the twist. Yaw in ED is horrible slow (intentionally, historically in ED - there was no yaw in the past). You're much better off using roll since its much faster. Takes a while to get used to this. Yaw is really more for small corrections to stay on target or dock.
 
That's why I put roll where the yaw was and vice versa. Seemed quicker and easier to just twist my wrist to initiate rolling. And there's not as much tension on the z axis, so my hand remains comfortable :)
 
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No, you do not want to use the digital configuration for the HOTAS - it is an analogue device. Select only the analogue settings for the joystick and throttle.

Also, practice. I bought the same HOTAS as yours when I started playing this game. It was the first time I'd used any sort of controller other than a mouse and it took ages before I was comfortable with it. Then one day it just "clicked" and now I can't imagine using anything other than a HOTAS for this sort of game.

Hint - don't over-correct. Get used to small movements and don't hold the controls with a death grip - keep relaxed and fluid.
Oops. my bad I meant to write that I'm using analogue.

Have Pitch set to "Pitch axis" not "Pitch up" and "pitch down"
 
OP,

That's kinda like asking 'what's the best shoe for running the NY Marathon?' :)

You are going to get many, many replies with all sorts of opinions. Everything from Thrustmaster to Logitec and I dare say you'll even get a few that insist that M&KB are best way to go.

All I can offer you, is my opinion.

I currently run a Logitec G940 HOTAS/Pedals. I've had it for approx 5 years and she's not let me down yet (despite the bad reviews). The thing I love about it most for ED, is the two 8-way hats on the throttle. Lets me control vertical/lateral thrust with just one thumb.

Fly Safe CMDR.

Toffs
( '-')7
 
There are some pretty decent threads discussing controllers if you can get any luck using the search engine on the forums.

I have a X55 HOTAS and seems pretty good, but there are a lot of things I would change if I was designing it. X52 was ok, but preferred X55. Haven't used others.
 
It is really hard to give answer to this question, as there are many great HOTAS on market.
If we leave bottom end, there are many viable options: X52 non and pro, X55, Warthog, CH Fighterstick + Pro Throttle, Defender Cobra M5 + any throttle...

For basic joystick I would go with ThrustmasterT.Flight Hotas X.

If you setup your keybord correctly, you can enjoy ED with K/Mouse.
Good video about this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2&v=-dD7LbDOaDU
 
To go a little off topic, look up Roccat Powergrid for additional inputs.

Also be aware that ED allows you to make a joystick button a 'shift' button, giving every other button two uses.

I have a Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS X. Cheap and very nice to use and very reliable.
 
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