Joystick Recommendations?

[Janek]

Hello goodly folk of the RPS forums. I wish to acquire some advice.

Basically I woke up this morning really in the mood to play a flight sim of some sort. I was scuppered by two things: Firstly, I had to go to work. Secondly, my trusty Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro is slightly the worse for wear. Which I guess is expected given that it's probably more than a decade old by now.

I have in fact tried to replace it twice, but never really liked the feel of what I replaced it with. Maybe third time's the charm? This is where you come in: Given that I'm relatively casual when it comes to simming, could you recommend a decent low-to-mid range stick, top price maybe £50-60?

[Heliocentric]

Saitek Cyborg Evo is my weapon of choice, its ambidextrous (useful even for righties), its highly configurable for ergonomics and its software is highly adaptable... That said I cant find it for sale anywhere.

Huh.

[bonkers]

I haven't bought a Joystick in a while but back then when flight (action) sims were actually coming out I only used Saitek as they made awesome hardware. But that might have changed...

[soldant]

Saitek sticks tend to be reasonably priced and have a decent feature set. I see an awful lot of x52 owners out there and most seem real happy with them. I had an x52 and really liked it. Then again I don't think they're all that cheap, and it's a HOTAS setup.

[Chaz]

Most casual gaming sticks are in the £20-£40 range so you shouldn't have any trouble getting a good stick on your budget. Thrustmaster do a reasonably cheap but good HOTAS stick. The Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X Joystick http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrustmaster...1918642&sr=8-3. Pretty good looking for £40. You can detach the throttle control for the more arcade games, so you get the best of both worlds, simmy and arcade.

Personally I'd prefer something with force feedback, but unfortunately cheap entry level FF sticks are now few and far between. Logitech still do one but it's one of their £200+ pro sim style sticks. Fortunately I still have my old Logitech Force Feedback 3D in good working order.

[djbriandamage]

I've got the Thrustmaster T16000 and am quite pleased with it. It's kind of big and bulky though not as much as the HOTAS stuff. It's very sturdy and precise and has tons of buttons, yaw control, and a hat directional switch. It cost me $60 Canadian.

[qiangshunxingp]

I see an awful lot of x52 owners out there and most seem real happy with them. I had an x52 and really liked it

[neema_t]

I'd quite like a flight stick to incorporate (somehow) into my racing rig, just so I have the option. Without wishing to hijack the thread; Can the x52 be hard mounted to a surface with bolts somehow? Is it compatible and adequate for use with DCS: Black Shark, DCS: A-10C and IL-2 without the need for a keyboard as well? Finally, do most people get a set of rudder pedals too or can you do fine without? It's just that I don't have room for two sets of pedals down there and I can't think of an easy way to switch them over...

Cheers guys!

[Kelron]

I've got the Thrustmaster T16000 and am quite pleased with it. It's kind of big and bulky though not as much as the HOTAS stuff. It's very sturdy and precise and has tons of buttons, yaw control, and a hat directional switch. It cost me $60 Canadian.

I have the same, it's really nice. Solid, heavy base and very precise movement. I switched from a Cyborg Evo which was too light for me and kept tipping when I moved it, and also some of the buttons fell off.

Neema: I can't really help with your other questions, but can't your racing pedals be configured to use as rudder pedals? It's not quite the same but it might be a good solution to save space and money if you can.

[hujiashun]

I see an awful lot of x52 owners out there and most seem real happy with them.

[oli_g89]

I have the x52 pro, very adaptable and decent software that stays out of the way when you don't want it but is there when you need that little bit more customisation. I think you can get them fairly cheaply on ebay now, I got mine from there for around £90-100 about a year ago for BF3...then found it was actually a hindrance in that game :/

[cowthief skank]

I'd quite like a flight stick to incorporate (somehow) into my racing rig, just so I have the option. Without wishing to hijack the thread; Can the x52 be hard mounted to a surface with bolts somehow? Is it compatible and adequate for use with DCS: Black Shark, DCS: A-10C and IL-2 without the need for a keyboard as well? Finally, do most people get a set of rudder pedals too or can you do fine without? It's just that I don't have room for two sets of pedals down there and I can't think of an easy way to switch them over...

Cheers guys!

I imagine flying a chopper without pedals would be quite difficult. Certainly, my feeling is the A-10 benefits from having pedals - though I never played without. It's useful to have the analog input, though, for smaller adjustments such as when turning while taxiing and taking off, or lining up the GAU-8 on target.

You could probably set up your current racing pedals OK though - one pedal for left pedal, one for right pedal, one for wheel brake should be fine - I haven't found all that much need to brake while turning on the ground.

I have a HOTAS with plenty of buttons but still need some stuff on the keyboard. I think even with the Warthog HOTAS you'd probably require some keyboard use from time to time in A-10. Not sure about Black Shark as I haven't got it; learning one flight sim is enough for me for now...