macfarlane, on 13 December 2011 - 12:15 AM, said:
I used the whole Thrustmaster throttle, joystick and peddles set up the last time I played back in 1992-1996 on GEnie with MPBT. I'd heard that since then at the turn of the century that Thrustmaster products took a nose dive in quality?
I'm currently pondering the Logitech G940 set up with the playseat chair. I'm just curious how well made the gear is. I recall I used to get pretty rough on that stuff back in the day and I'd assume I'd get just as wound up now. lol Any one have any feed back on this set up?
Jim aka MacFarlane*GK*
Well... Thrustmaster is getting good reviews these days. The majority of the bad press they got in the past, it seemed to me, was over the Cougar high end HOTAS. Big bucks, and a number of serious users were disatisfied with the joystick gimbals, etc. A number of 3rd party mods showed up to address the gimbal system, or replace it with a force sensing setup. Thrustmaster has discontinued the Cougar HOTAS. Their new high end HOTAS is the Warthog. The old gimbal system of the Cougar is not there anymore. The Warthog has a ball in socket system, with Hall sensors instead of potentiometers. The overall sentiment of the combat flight sim community is that it is much better. On the low end, their T.16000M is well regarded as a stand alone joystick.
As for the Logitech G940, it would be interesting to hear what Paul has to say about it. Hopefully, he can share some thoughts without revealing any MWO secrets. In the combat flight sim community, it seems to be a mixed bag. People who wanted it for DCS:Blackshark wanted the Force Feedback for the trim system of the helicopter (motors would hold the stick in the "trimmed" position). For the demanding pilots, it turns out that the G940 does not do that (DCS:Blackshark trim) particularly well. To be fair, that probably wasn't Logitech's design target... but they haven't been reported to be particularly helpful in addressing the concern either.
Since I'm pontificating, I might as well expound upon the other big names...
CH Products continue to have a solid reputation, and just hold up exceeding well. They aren't as flashy, and still get a pretty good price, but the real beauty appears to be inside. About the only things I see them get dinged on much, is that their rudder pedals are spaced as widely as many would prefer... and that their throttle slides forward and back instead of rotating through an arc.
Saitek, like Logitech, gets dinged on their customer support quite a bit. I think that on a "bang for the buck" basis, the Saitek X52 HOTAS gets you more control inputs in a useable way than most alternatives. The X52Pro improves on that design and looks more like something that belongs in a combat vehicle, but it does cost more. Both have a twist grip on the joystick, which works well for mech torso twisting if you are so inclined. Saitek's top end HOTAS offering is the X65F. The stick does not move, as it is a force sensing stick (NOT to be confused with s Force Feedback stick). Along with sensing force along the X and Y axis, it also senses "twist" force. User reactions to this are a mixed bag, but mostly seem positive. Most of the negative comments seem to come from non-users who just can not imagine that a stationary stick would work well for them. (I can certainly understand the concern, as it does seem to be quite a stretch for some applications). The other common ding on the X65F is that the split throttles are very stiff when new, but eventually loosen up with use. Recently, I've seen some complaints about quality control (of the throttles), but not enough to say it is a pervasive problem. I'd like to try one out someday, but do not want to spend that much money right now without already having laid hands upon one.
I ended up ordering a Saitek X52Pro (to free up my X52 for hopefully modding into a helicopter HOCAS setup), and Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals. The pedals arrived yesterday, and the X52Pro should be coming in soon. My long term goal is to put together a multi-use pit. We'll see.
18
I'll be adding the pedals later on. Theres a ton of these sticks on ebay and the prices are good. I got mine for $62 shipped.
