Bought a joystick. I had a Microsoft Sidewinder Standard in the '90s but haven't had one since then. I had a short list of criteria in mind:
- sturdy construction
- does not look like an android's personal massage device
- a lot of hats
Enter CH Products Fighterstick USB. So far this is exactly what I imagined it'd be. Bonus points for the control software being really thorough, even allowing scripting for live sensor data manipulation. I think I'll buy the rest of the set from next salary.
I also got to re-enter all bindings as the game had forgotten them overnight. Thanks to
@Para Handy for writing a forum post in 2019 mentioning the location of the preset file - now I have a backup!
Really good choice - I have used the Fighterstick for years. People moan about no twist - no need for that
*; people moan about it not having hall-effect sensors - not a problem, the pots seem good enough quality; people moan about it being 8-bit - so what, you really need more than 256 point accuracy? Seriously great piece of kit, built like a brick outhouse with industrial grade switches and no stupid cables breaking with use.
I have used CHPro for many years in flight sims - rudder pedals and yoke are really old and still work with no issues. I also have the CHPro Throttle and for me this is the best throttle for Elite - stacks of HAT switches and buttons plus an analogue mini-stick for thrusters (that needs a good deadzone as there is just a small throw).
* As regards yaw - I have the pinky button on the Fighterstick set as a push-to-hold for "Yaw-to-Roll" - so when held in the x-axis produces yaw rather than roll - it is amazingly easy to get used to and stops me using my pedals in Elite as that was messing with my flight co-ordination in flight sims. (I also set fore and aft on the Mitre HAT [thumb hat] to give stepped yaw right and left - gives big digital steps in yaw rather than the precise analogue from the x-axis.)
Finally, can I point you to this bindings renaming and backing-up post - it will save you no end of grief if you do the renaming:
keybindings can reset if you visit the control section without one of your usual devices used to play the game ie hotas , xbox pad etc not plugged in or at that present moment is undetected by windows as it thinks your just using keyboard and mouse it simply rewrites your binds for you...
forums.frontier.co.uk
Congratulations on your stick, hopefully you will have many years of fun with it.
Did you look at the Logitech Extreme 3D pro? For a budget stick, it's pretty impressive although temporarily out of stock on Amazon.
I have one gathering dust in my junk-box, got it to try having twist axis for combat - found it horrible compared to the CHPro Fighterstick - if it is your only stick, fine, it works (until the twist axis pot gives out) but seriously it is even worse than the T16000M and that is saying something.
