Hardware & Technical The Joystick discussion thread
Folks,
Could you give me a recommendation for a joystick that can be used by both a left and right handed person? Most I've seen assume right handed use and are ergonomically unsuitable for us lefties.
Cheers,
Drew.
Man... this is the reason I went keyboard-mouse only years ago...
Joystick/throttle vs mouse for ultimate experience
Hello,
I am planning my new PC for the Alpha release of E
.
The only issue I am a little but unsure of is which control interface would give the best "in the cockpit" experience. Joystick with throttle control or mouse and keyboard? Does the game support full joystick control with throttle?
Thanks,
BR Anders
Hello,
I am planning my new PC for the Alpha release of E
.The only issue I am a little but unsure of is which control interface would give the best "in the cockpit" experience. Joystick with throttle control or mouse and keyboard? Does the game support full joystick control with throttle?
Thanks,
BR Anders
Ah, figured it out - it was indeed the missing hat switch and no-twist handle that put me off. Found my old review to tell me what I should think...
http://www.hookedgamers.com/tech/2009/11/29/logitech_attack_3_joystick.html
Memory lane:
The original Elite on the BBC allowed the use of a "Bitstick" -a kind of high resolution joystick for graphics.
Unfortunately the interface was buggy and users could break all the usual speed limits and so cheat. I lost out to this big time as one of the original 12 Elite winners at the national competition ...
The original Elite on the BBC allowed the use of a "Bitstick" -a kind of high resolution joystick for graphics.
Unfortunately the interface was buggy and users could break all the usual speed limits and so cheat. I lost out to this big time as one of the original 12 Elite winners at the national competition ...
In one of the other threads Mike Evans has made some very positive comments about the SpeedLink Black Widow. Not so good for left handers though.
Philip Coutts
Volunteer Moderator
Alpha is maybe only about 4 weeks away. If you can hold out it might be worth waiting to see what the first batch of players have to say about joysticks, mice, keyboards, xbox controllers etc etc. Ultimately though it will come down a lot to personnel preference.
Budget Joystick Advice
Hello,
I'm completely new to the joystick market but I've been wanting to get my hands on one, if only to replay older games like Freespace 2 and its mods before the big upcoming space games like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen or No Man's Sky (and various games of smaller scope like Enemy Starfighter) hit the market. The underwhelming launch of X Rebirth helped suppress the desire but I once again find myself getting increasingly eager. There's just one problem. The more in depth research I do, the tougher the purchase decision becomes. After very exhaustive searches I've come up with a handful of possible choices, but I've not been confident enough to actually purchase any of them as they all seem to have a fair amount of detractors.
Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X
It looks like a very good all rounder with a cheap price point despite the full size throttle, but there are concerns about the quality of the latter and the durability of it all considering that like most budget sticks it uses potentiometers which degrade or break. This is what I would have bought initially with the overwhelming amount of positive recommendations but doubts started to set in.
Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X
An even more affordable solution, basically the same as above but without a separate throttle and therefor without the optional left hand rudder control, leaving yaw functions solely up to the joystick's twist. The price does help overlook potential minor issues.
Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
Similar to the above it appears to be a stick recommended by quite a few people in the past, yet it is equally panned by others. It costs as much as the full Hotas X (here) but if it's an obviously better overall stick that would be alright too.
Speedlink Black Widow
This is often recommended as a surprisingly impressive for the price setup. It costs roughly as much as a cheap stand alone joystick yet includes a reportedly decent throttle control. The joystick doesn't have a twist function but the left hand rudder triggers seem to leave many impressed. There is however a good amount of people reporting that the rudder is prone to breaking, though many others mention they've had no problems for several years. The amount of positive reviews on amazon is impressive (4 stars average with over 240 reviews) but reading through them many of the customers seem about as clueless as me.
Thrustmaster T.16000M
Another surprise budget product that has positive comments about its precision as it appears to be the only budget joystick to utilize magnetic HALL sensors rather than potentiometers. On the other hand, many claim the buttons are especially cheap, flimsy and prone to failure, while the throttle control is reportedly lacking even compared to other joystick-mounted mini throttle controls. It's also convertible to left and right handed mode but that doesn't matter to me unless I eventually go for a twin joystick scheme.
There are other products I've yet to look into like the Cyborg F.L.Y 5 or the more expensive Saitek X52 (another HALL sensor setup yet with a fair amount of detractors, even when discussing the costlier Pro version), as well as products I've perhaps missed. My main confusion comes from the fact that for every praised for its accuracy or durability product there are people with claims of the opposite that had various parts break, found precision lacking, noted a large deadzone and so on. Then there's the question of what's actually good for the games (which all differ), be it a joystick with or without a separate throttle, twin joysticks, etc.
I don't really know what to do, any advice and help with this would be appreciated even if it's just to reinforce the idea of waiting for new products, like the potential for a new T.Flight Hotas X v2.0 fixing the throttle issues and making the joystick HALL sensor based, or alternatively a new version of the T.16000M joystick with better materials, buttons and throttle (and twist, if true).
Tl;dr: I just want a decent control system that will work (and last reasonably, I don't tend to replace hardware every year) without flaws that severely impact gameplay. The lack of features or comfort is more than understandable for the price range but it needs to be good at what it's supposed to do, which is to offer effective and enjoyable flight/space/combat potential.
PS: I'm sorry for the dodgy first thread.
Hello,
I'm completely new to the joystick market but I've been wanting to get my hands on one, if only to replay older games like Freespace 2 and its mods before the big upcoming space games like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen or No Man's Sky (and various games of smaller scope like Enemy Starfighter) hit the market. The underwhelming launch of X Rebirth helped suppress the desire but I once again find myself getting increasingly eager. There's just one problem. The more in depth research I do, the tougher the purchase decision becomes. After very exhaustive searches I've come up with a handful of possible choices, but I've not been confident enough to actually purchase any of them as they all seem to have a fair amount of detractors.
Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X
It looks like a very good all rounder with a cheap price point despite the full size throttle, but there are concerns about the quality of the latter and the durability of it all considering that like most budget sticks it uses potentiometers which degrade or break. This is what I would have bought initially with the overwhelming amount of positive recommendations but doubts started to set in.
Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X
An even more affordable solution, basically the same as above but without a separate throttle and therefor without the optional left hand rudder control, leaving yaw functions solely up to the joystick's twist. The price does help overlook potential minor issues.
Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
Similar to the above it appears to be a stick recommended by quite a few people in the past, yet it is equally panned by others. It costs as much as the full Hotas X (here) but if it's an obviously better overall stick that would be alright too.
Speedlink Black Widow
This is often recommended as a surprisingly impressive for the price setup. It costs roughly as much as a cheap stand alone joystick yet includes a reportedly decent throttle control. The joystick doesn't have a twist function but the left hand rudder triggers seem to leave many impressed. There is however a good amount of people reporting that the rudder is prone to breaking, though many others mention they've had no problems for several years. The amount of positive reviews on amazon is impressive (4 stars average with over 240 reviews) but reading through them many of the customers seem about as clueless as me.
Thrustmaster T.16000M
Another surprise budget product that has positive comments about its precision as it appears to be the only budget joystick to utilize magnetic HALL sensors rather than potentiometers. On the other hand, many claim the buttons are especially cheap, flimsy and prone to failure, while the throttle control is reportedly lacking even compared to other joystick-mounted mini throttle controls. It's also convertible to left and right handed mode but that doesn't matter to me unless I eventually go for a twin joystick scheme.
There are other products I've yet to look into like the Cyborg F.L.Y 5 or the more expensive Saitek X52 (another HALL sensor setup yet with a fair amount of detractors, even when discussing the costlier Pro version), as well as products I've perhaps missed. My main confusion comes from the fact that for every praised for its accuracy or durability product there are people with claims of the opposite that had various parts break, found precision lacking, noted a large deadzone and so on. Then there's the question of what's actually good for the games (which all differ), be it a joystick with or without a separate throttle, twin joysticks, etc.
I don't really know what to do, any advice and help with this would be appreciated even if it's just to reinforce the idea of waiting for new products, like the potential for a new T.Flight Hotas X v2.0 fixing the throttle issues and making the joystick HALL sensor based, or alternatively a new version of the T.16000M joystick with better materials, buttons and throttle (and twist, if true).
Tl;dr: I just want a decent control system that will work (and last reasonably, I don't tend to replace hardware every year) without flaws that severely impact gameplay. The lack of features or comfort is more than understandable for the price range but it needs to be good at what it's supposed to do, which is to offer effective and enjoyable flight/space/combat potential.
PS: I'm sorry for the dodgy first thread.
Last edited:
Welcome
I'm interested in a budget set-up also, though I am tempted by an Xbox 360 controller just because I have one already and its comfortable.
Does anyone know which controller they were using in the recent video?
One word of advice (which is why I'm holding out) is to wait until the end of the alpha.
I'm interested in a budget set-up also, though I am tempted by an Xbox 360 controller just because I have one already and its comfortable.
Does anyone know which controller they were using in the recent video?
One word of advice (which is why I'm holding out) is to wait until the end of the alpha.
I've used the 360 controller for light space games like Darkstar One and it worked alright with pitch/roll on the left stick and yaw on the right stick but it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the feel of flying such a machine and that game was practically designed for it as a very light arcade game. I would have also used it for Freespace 2 (with advanced controls like wingman orders and energy management on the keyboard) but one of the right stick's axis had trouble being properly detected which left me without vital controls. But yeah, a joystick would be best I think, even if I had to use the keyboard alongside it (which you'll need to do at times anyway for a game with the amount of functions and depth Elite is sure to have). You can test your 360 controller's flight feel by playing something like War Thunder (free to play WW2 flight combat, it does have a campaign though), I think you'll agree a joystick should be better, especially if the game in question offers advanced functions like intertia and strafing which you can't fit on a gamepad (you won't fit it all on a single joystick either, but that leaves one hand on the keyboard or other equipment).
Last edited: