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Thread: Joysticks 101: Buyers Guide
Gryshnak
Sun Oct 31, 2004 5:29 pm
#183
/bump for a very useful thread.
I narrowed my decision down to 3.
I narrowed my decision down to 3.
Extreme 3D Pro, Freedom Cordless, and the x45.
Although the x45 does seem very nice and would probably be my first choice, I can't justify spending the cash on it right now.
The Freedom and the Extreme appear to be very similar in look and style, but the Extreme Pro is about $25 less. I can deal with the cord and look forward to not having to replace batteries.
Thanks again for all the info.
SexualTed
Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:44 am
#185
Thrustmaster FLCS/TQS stick and throttle. Modded with Bob Church's digital chips of course. Saiteks are decent, but unless you're a child or a girl your hand is gonna be cramped in the stick guard (how useless is that thing anyway). You just can't beat the Block 50 F-16 controls for useability. Everything is right where is should be. Only thing is, you might wanna cut the center ring out of the boot on the FLCS to make the throw easier. You can pick a set up on eBay with the Digital chips for around 80 bucks.
As for the Cougar... It's a great stick, but 2 things. It needs a gimbal mod right out of the box ($180), and it is STIFF! 100 hours on that thing and you'll have forarms like Popeye. But you can get the uber-dope FSS mod for it that makes it a force sensitive stick like the real F-16.
If you can't get a modded (if it's not modded it won't program in XP, the upgraded sticks are a must, search for SWF22 if you can't find anything that's what the stick is called after the mods) FLCS/TQS, then I'd go with CH products. You can pick up a Combatstick 586 and a Throttle for around 180 bucks. Unmatched quality and www.ch-hangar.com forums have CH employees as regulars (like MichaelCH is on every day. Support and warranty is unbeatable. Thier programming suite is nice too. The only one I like better is the Foxy series by Dr. James Hallows (his tutorials and wizards are chock full of his delightful british humor). Bob Church even works for them now. That's why he doesn't make the digital chips anymore *cries*
Steer clear of the Thrustmaster F22Pro unless it's upgraded with the affor-mentioned chips, it's a buggy little bastage without them.
And be for-warned. These sticks are 13 years old. They are still as good as anything out there when modded, but you have 0 support for them. If it breaks, YOU fix it. I strongly recommend picking up a non-modded FLCS/TQS from ebay for about 30 bucks to keep for parts. Don't worry though, they're not hard to fix at all, and they rarely break.
To sum it up, there is no function in JTL that I don't have mapped to the stick, and i still have 3/4 of the possible mappings left over. Between launch and land, i NEVER touch the keyboard.
Hope this helps.
As for the Cougar... It's a great stick, but 2 things. It needs a gimbal mod right out of the box ($180), and it is STIFF! 100 hours on that thing and you'll have forarms like Popeye. But you can get the uber-dope FSS mod for it that makes it a force sensitive stick like the real F-16.
If you can't get a modded (if it's not modded it won't program in XP, the upgraded sticks are a must, search for SWF22 if you can't find anything that's what the stick is called after the mods) FLCS/TQS, then I'd go with CH products. You can pick up a Combatstick 586 and a Throttle for around 180 bucks. Unmatched quality and www.ch-hangar.com forums have CH employees as regulars (like MichaelCH is on every day. Support and warranty is unbeatable. Thier programming suite is nice too. The only one I like better is the Foxy series by Dr. James Hallows (his tutorials and wizards are chock full of his delightful british humor). Bob Church even works for them now. That's why he doesn't make the digital chips anymore *cries*
Steer clear of the Thrustmaster F22Pro unless it's upgraded with the affor-mentioned chips, it's a buggy little bastage without them.
And be for-warned. These sticks are 13 years old. They are still as good as anything out there when modded, but you have 0 support for them. If it breaks, YOU fix it. I strongly recommend picking up a non-modded FLCS/TQS from ebay for about 30 bucks to keep for parts. Don't worry though, they're not hard to fix at all, and they rarely break.
To sum it up, there is no function in JTL that I don't have mapped to the stick, and i still have 3/4 of the possible mappings left over. Between launch and land, i NEVER touch the keyboard.
Hope this helps.
SexualTed
Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:47 am
#186
And also, the Cougar has shatty potentiometers in it (a very big problem in them) this requires a Hall sensor upgrade. More hundreds out the door. A proper Cougar is a $600 stick.
immortalerdi
Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:49 pm
#187
yea joysticks... man now i gotta save up more money i need a job jtl took all my money...
MasterSad
Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:32 am
#188
Gryshnak wrote:/bump for a very useful thread.�
I narrowed my decision down to 3.�Extreme 3D Pro, Freedom Cordless, and the x45.�Although the x45 does seem very nice and would probably be my first choice, I can't justify spending the cash on it right now.�The Freedom and the Extreme appear to be very similar in look and style, but the Extreme Pro is about $25 less.� I can deal with the cord and look forward to not having to replace batteries.
Thanks again for all the info.�
No offence, but I think having cordless joystick is a little bit overshoot. The wireless feature costs around 15-20$. Take this away and you will get the real price for cordless joysticks (and what actually they worth - i.e. quality and materials)...
Dronayus
Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:36 am
#189
MasterSad wrote:
Gryshnak wrote:
/bump for a very useful thread.�
I narrowed my decision down to 3.�
Extreme 3D Pro, Freedom Cordless, and the x45.�
Although the x45 does seem very nice and would probably be my first choice, I can't justify spending the cash on it right now.�
The Freedom and the Extreme appear to be very similar in look and style, but the Extreme Pro is about $25 less.� I can deal with the cord and look forward to not having to replace batteries.
Thanks again for all the info.�
No offence, but I think having cordless joystick is a little bit overshoot. The wireless feature costs around 15-20$. Take this away and you will get the real price for cordless joysticks (and what actually they worth - i.e. quality and materials)...
on the subject between cordled and wireless i have to say i'd always go with corded. In this case the Logitech 3D Extreme Pro and the Freedom 2.4 sticks are basically the same but differ in a few things. The Extreme has more programmable buttons and is a corded stick. Its based and size compared to the Freedom 2.4 is a tad larger where the 2.4 is smaller and more i'd say comfortable cause its base is smaller. I felt both sticks in my hand and though the Freedom is a bit more smaller, the Extreme's size isnt large enough to cause you and problems or feel like you have a small child in your hands trying to use it its actually a good size, not large and not small, just a square base and more buttons. Only reason i choose corded is that with wireless you have to worry about batteries. When the batteries on a wireless goes low it affects the reciever causing you to get skippy gameplay as your stick shuts down and up due to low single strength. And the fact is, your at your computer, not even a foot away sometimes, why do you need a wireless? Its a personal preference, nothing else, and for people who hate cords i guess 
.
.
DathoImilli
Thu Nov 04, 2004 10:38 am
#190
For any of you that were looking for the x53 and wondering on availability/release date, I Just got this reply in my email:
We are shipping now to CompUSA, so they should be in the stores in two weeks. We were taking preorders on-line but reached our allotment. This should resolve in about two weeks as well.
I'll be the guy at the backof CompUsa intenslyflying aroundwith a joystick thats not connected to anything for 45minutes.
DathoImilli
Thu Nov 04, 2004 10:39 am
#191
As far as the wireless logitech, I love it. You have no idea how nice no wires is. The full throttle thing when it shuts itself down is a pain though. Had mine for around 4 months using it pretty much daily and no indication of batteries dying.
I'll be looking into getting hte x53 for weekend play and usingthe logitech for weeknight play. Can't beat a stick that all you do is toss it to the back of the room when you arent using it, as opposed to a stick that you have to have wires all over and can only place it 7 feet away when not in use.
Message Edited by DathoImilli on 11-04-2004 11:44 AM
Jindain
Thu Nov 04, 2004 10:42 am
#192
My Joystick has force feedback, was 90 dollars at Best Buy-sakes when i shoot, get shoot and it has resistance when flying.
Gryshnak
Thu Nov 04, 2004 4:38 pm
#193
MasterSad wrote:
No offence, but I think having cordless joystick is a little bit overshoot. The wireless feature costs around 15-20$. Take this away and you will get the real price for cordless joysticks (and what actually they worth - i.e. quality and materials)...
No offence taken. Honestly, I'm not sure why you even said that.
Anyway, I got the Extreme off of Amazon.com for $20. Ordered on Sunday and received it on Tuesday, even with standard ground shipping. I must say, I am very happy with it so far. It sure beats mouse and keyboard.
gforce73
Thu Nov 04, 2004 5:01 pm
#194
With the CH Fighter stick and throttle, will you also need pedals to do rolls? Or how exactly does that work?
Also, do you think going with CH is better than going with the Cougar if you don't want to shell out extra money for mods? Same question with the cougar though, will you need pedals to be able to do rolls?
Thanks
vip70
Fri Nov 05, 2004 1:59 am
#195
not shure if someone mentioned it here i just skimmed through the posts but i've had the thrustmaster f16 FLCS for about 7 years now and i swear buy it it's fully programmable with 4 quad directional hats 3 single stage buttons, a double stage trigger and a pinkey key that doubles the functions of all the rest of the buttons if needed. Problem is it's apain to program