Hardware & Technical To KLUGE or not to KLUGE, that is the question....HELP!

[cybersnow]

I really need to upgrade/change my set up. Am using a M16000 CH joystick and it is pretty awkward. I think I see two choices. #1 I could buy a CH throttle for about $130 and use it, but I am not sure how it will work together and where to get some idea of how to set the two up as a system...or do I individually set each one up? If so is there anywhere to go to get a starter set up suggestion that I can mod later? #2 I could just go out an buy a HOTAS set up like the X55, with instructions on setting it up and I understand a recommendation or even download for ED. That would run about $200.

Price isn't the real issue, but is preventing me from getting a CH HOTAS for over $400. Is saving the $70 or so actually worth the trouble? Is the KLUGE set up, in the end, a better set up?

What do you Elites and GURUs suggest?

 

[Osric]

Am using a M16000 CH joystick and it is pretty awkward.

I think you mean a TM 16000.M and a CH stick? So right now you're using twin joysticks? I'm not sure what your current setup is.

Any combination of stick and throttle you end up owning, really, you'd plug your stick into a USB port and the throttle into a second USB port. Windows sees them as two separate devices and you configure them in the game's Controls panel. Unless you're trying for an FD supplied set of bindings, I don't know about that, I just configure bindings manually.

That method is often called direct mode. Mapped mode is what you're talking about when you combine devices together to form a single device. You wouldn't need to do this using a HOTAS that's separate USB devices (which is most of them IIRC) for Elite Dangerous, mapped modes come from an era where flight sims couldn't see more than a single device at a time, so you had to use software to trick Windows. In modern times, folks use mapped mode if they're playing old games, or if they're using dual sticks from the same manufacturer, since Windows and/or the game can have problems figuring out which stick is which, especially if you change USB ports.

The X55 is dicey IMO, when the stick is good it's good, and when it's bad it's awful. If you google around you can find lots of complaints and multiple RMAs having to be shipped due to the QC on the stick being not very good. I'd avoid it personally, even if you do get one that's good, how long will it last? If I paid $200 I'd expect the stick to last for years. I have a 15 year old MS Force Feedback Pro I paid about $100 for and it works just as good as the day I bought it, given all the problems the X55 has had I doubt that would be something you could say still works 15 years from now.

A CH HOTAS won't set you back over $400 AFAIK. You need a stick, a throttle, and pedals, that'll run you under $400. What did you mean about saving $70?