Reasonable Stick/Rudder

[Lt. James Cater 62]

The DiD thing has got me going, so i'm going to put away my veteran Extreme 3D PRO and going all the way with stick and rudder.

 

I really liked the Logitech LG940 review but i do think it's a bit too much for me at this time. What i'm looking for is a clue on where and what to look for in getting a decent (no need to be really cheap) setup, yet not really needing to have all the bells and whistles.

 

Thanks all.

[JediMaster 451]

If you're looking for a HOTAS that's not as much as the G940, I think you're in Saitek territory. The X52 or X52 Pro, I forget which, is about half the price of the G940 or comparable setups from TM or CH. You can look them up around the net and see. Not everyone likes their feel, but enough people obviously do!

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Thanks for the info.

 

I'm going to be out looking Friday and should pick something up along with TrackIR. HOTAS is something to get used to after years of doing things the old way. To be honest, i think i'll use it's full potential only in aircraft which actually had/have it. For older planes i'll still use the keyboard in lieu of "switches".

[JediMaster 451]

I've been using it for flying everything, from prop to jet to helo, since I got my FLCS/TQS combo almost 15 years ago (never got the old TM WCS which preceded it).

You won't need to program much for the old crates, but I still have things like flaps, wingman commands, gear, tailwheel locking, etc mapped to it because frankly reaching to the keyboard is far less comfortable/easy for me than it was for the pilots in those birds to reach the real switches. Of course, in the modern jets/helos I still have to just because quite frankly I can't memorize 3 functions for every button and hat!

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I got a severe case of sticker shock when i took a look online.

 

CH Products incompatibility killed them for me and so it looks like im going Saitek in the near future. Knowing how i do things, i'm going to have to start with their rudder pedals and my Logitech stick( with throttle control slider)until about mid December or early January when i get the whole kit together.

[Cali 6]

I got a severe case of sticker shock when i took a look online.

 

CH Products incompatibility killed them for me and so it looks like im going Saitek in the near future. Knowing how i do things, i'm going to have to start with their rudder pedals and my Logitech stick( with throttle control slider)until about mid December or early January when i get the whole kit together.

 

Incompatibility? with what?

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Incompatibility? with what?

 

From what i researched, CH products are pretty much designed to be incompatible with gear from other companies.

Edited November 26, 2009 by Lt. James Cater

[UnknownPilot 33]

James, what did you end up going with?

 

I have heard great things about CH, but mostly from people who have their nose in the air about Thrustmaster in general.

 

Likewise, some seem to like their Saiteks as well. Personally, my hand won't fit inside the X-45 (the pinky is crushed by that odd slider thing-y they have, it could be removed for a decent fit, but that cuts down on functionality).

 

I bought a TM Cougar HOTAS when it was first released. It must be said that I am something of a Thrustmaster "fan", having had several Mk1's and a WCS and their game card/controller. I never did get the FLCS but wanted it, and when the Cougar came out, I was simply drooling. The timing was perfect too since I was heavy into IL2 very recently at that point. So I'm guessing it was late '01-ish?

 

I'm still using my Cougar to this very day. I did pay $270 with free shipping on it from Amazon, AND an additional hundred when I bought a second-hand mod, BUT, I have to say that all in all it's really been a good investment. That's a lot of years, a heck of a lot of stick time and abuse, and it's held up and still going. I'm planning to mod it to remove some of the center play, but for jets that play is less of an issue than it is for props.

 

People never want to hear about spending big bucks on something, to then have to spend more money or time modifying it to suit their tastes afterward, and perhaps you can find one used for a good price, but... I will say this if I had to buy something new today, I'd more than likely get another one, even for that price. It's THAT good.

 

 

 

Saiteks are crazy sci-fi stuff. Does that really belong on your desk when you're trimming the trees in your A-1 Skyhawk over NV in '66? Also, if you're a larger guy, you may have fittment issues with the X45. The X52 is better all around, EXCEPT it has that damnable evil twisty stick. That is the worst thing ever foisted on the simming public. Ever!

 

CH stuff was always light weight and separate components with a bit of a dance to incorporate and configre, not sure if that's true today.

 

That Logitech is damned fine though. IF I didn't go Cougar, then it would be that Logitech rig. The Split thottle is really cool. And in terms of raw physical buttons, it trumps even my Cougar (mainly because of the 8 odd-ball buttons at the base of the throttle). Also the fact that the LEDs in those buttons (base of throttle) are multi-colored and progammable is very nice. If their software allows for virtual buttons (logical flags in Cougar-speak), they could trigger a color change and act as a form of feedback. The mounting holes are another nice touch as well.

 

The downside is the overall layout. Those 8 buttons are rather arbitrary, and the festooned top of the stick will be hard to reach in many situations, and it just looks odd. Plus... it's plastic.

 

You may be used to that currently. But trust me on this, once you use a Cougar.... everything else is cheap plastic crap. So that aspect would be a major knock against the Logitech for me.

 

Either way - stay away from the twisty sticks and definitely get real rudder pedals. You will never go back to anything else.