Pilot Archive

Saitek cyborg evo.

Love it! its simple, comforable, and whoops ass!!

am i the only one who actually preferes a mouse/keyboard combo over using a joystick?

I use a ThrustMaster Top Gun Fox 2 Pro USB apparently. It's nice, like the Sidewinder someone above said. Trigger, hat switch, missile button, 7 buttons in all and it twists with a throttle control

Like others, I use the Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro. Overall it's comfortable, the tension is acceptable, and plenty of buttons [4 joystick, 4 left hand buttons, throttle controll with left thumb, and a "shift" button to allow all buttons to be mapped to two functions, like holding down an ALT key (: ].

Really my reccomendation is to go to a local electronics store of your choice and play with the availiable selections. There's such a wide variety and such different designs. I love my Sidewinder, but if you're a leftie it's useless as it's designed for right hands. I had an ols joystick that came with like 30 buttons that could be used with either hand, but the buttons were often hard to press and tension/control was terrible. I think the worst joystick ever made was a Logitech Wingman Light, which literally had the tension so low that you had to set it on a perfectly flat surface and take your hand away from the joystick to fly straight. Any slight tilt and the weight of the handlebar itself would cause motion, and your hands weight would screw with anything - which is the opposite I had to say for my beloved Logitech Wingman Standard, which I broke and repaired twice before replacing it.

Number of buttons can be important but it's a matter of taste. I was introduced to Combat Space Sims through X-Wing, and a two button joystick, so am more than used to using the keyboard as "a joystick with 104 buttons" as it were. If your joystick is balanced right, you can get away with two buttons on the stick and your other hand on the keyboard. For others it's important to have umpteen billion buttons accessible on the joystick itself - matter of preference.

But I know Im not ditching my Sidewinder Precision Pro till it breaks, and my ex-gf isnt ditching her Sidweinder Precision Pro 2 either [same joystick slight ergonomic changes and a slightly different throttle controll].

Logitech Force 3D. Love it, no probs. Force feedback is great in the game and I can adjust tension and spring with the software.

Have to re-calibrate it every few weeks, but whatever.

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testify4 wrote:
I am using an old Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro.

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Same here, a very nice stick, most of the "newer" sticks feel very uncomfortable for me.

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testify4 wrote:
I don't think they make it anymore

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Nope :/. The whole game-controller stuff got discontinued, probably the best stuff ever made with a Microsoft Logo on it and it gets nixed, quality apparently didn't fit their overall image or so :-P.

I outfly most of the people I know while using a mouse and keyboard.

Optical mouses/mice? are extremely sensitive and once you get used to them are extremely precise.

Mouse button 1: Fire weapons

Mouse Button 2rdnance

Middle scrolly thing: Chaff/camera zoom

Throttle/roll = directional pad on keyboard,

My keyboard config is configured so most of my flight controls are situated on the right hand side of the keyboard and my skinny guitar playing fingers have no trouble getting to/finding the right key without me looking away from the screen.

Best thing though is that it cost me nothing to buy .

I initially owned a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, however after about a month of hard use in space it began to have problems. First it lost tension, and then began to develop drift problems; as if it had been calibrated to think the cceterpoint was some way to the bottom left, however it was calibrated perfectly and all drivers were updated. Turns out it's just poorly made rubbish, and the internal mechanisms had worn out.

About a wek after the Logitech broke, I went hunting for a new 'stick, and found my current one: a Saitek Cyborg Evo. The tension isnt amazing, but it does well enough, and the thing is plastered with buttons, I have every function I could possibly need mapped to it and I have three buttons left, which I will use for PvP targeting at some point.

The best feature of the Evo is the fact that you can alter the 'stick itself to perfectly fit your hand. The palm/wrist support can be raised or lowered, and even switched clean around for lefties. You can also manipulate the left/right and vertical positions of the thumb buttons/HAT. The thing feels like a tailored glove, which is great for me as I have really feckin big hands.

It's also fairly cheap at around £30(GBP)/$50-60(US).

Thanks for all the replies, I have the information I need to go shopping now!

Saitek Cyborg Evo.. Love it.

microsoft sidewinder 2 its rocks $50 and they dont make it anymore 12 buttons throttle control twists for pitch pretty nice no force feed back.

i use an xbox controller... works great.. i got the roll buttons set on the triggers and there are enough buttons to go around for all the tageting...
u need to home make a usb adapter or buy a kit offline but the emulation software is free at xbcd.com or some such...