Hardware: Want versus Need...

[Fozzer]

Well Chums... ...

Surprise, surprise!.... ...!

One of my lovely Grandsons has just GIVEN ME the following:
(a) Saitek Pro Flight Yoke.
(b) Saitek Throttle Quadrant.
(c) Saitek Rudder Pedals.

The normal retail prices:
(a) £105.
(b) £45-50.
(c) £82-50.
Total: £232-50!

...and do you know what... ....
...after many years of using my trusty Twist Joysticks (present £50 Saitek Fly 5 Cyborg X) for my daily, 15+ years, exploration of the landscape, I found the Yoke + Pedals terribly cumbersome to use, and occupying far too much space around me!

For an instant, switch-on, fun, lets go exploring; I find my twist Joystick with its dual throttles and loadsa buttons, extremely practical for all my needs...and it takes up no room on my desk, and my slippered feet are firmly planted on my comfy carpet!

So there you go Chums. Think very carefully before you abandon your trusty, low-cost, Twist Joystick, and go out and blow loadsa money on a very expensive Yoke + Pedals installation!.... ...!

They may very well be; "realistic", but ask yourself, do you REALLY need them, for your type of daily; "pretending to fly"?

Paul.....all of a twist!.... ...!

P.S.. and, just in case you were wondering....NO!....I'm not giving them away!.... ...!

[mustangaroo]

Quite right. I have been using an old wingman twister for some time now. Not only is it fully functional but the price at the thrift store was perfect: .99 cents plus tax(.08) Po people can make do if they just look in the right places. I bought fs9 the same way (2.99) so buck up me hearties and look a little harder.

[aussiewannabe]

Paul,

I find the Logitech Attack 3 Joystick suits my needs:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-963291-0 ... B0000ALFC5

Toggle keys on the top are used for throttle control: Idle, Reduce Speed, Increase Speed, Full Throttle. Very helpful when flying my Schweizer 300 helicopter.

If I need to make a turn, just push the joystick in the direction you need to go.

The items you describe would make FS a more pleasurable experience, but like you said they take up valuable space.

[pegger]

There is no point to disagreeing with you because you prefer the joystick over the yoke.... But i disagree... :lol:
I was a stick flyer for many years. I believed the saitek AV8R i had was the cats a.. For sim flying.

Then i got a yoke and peddal set. My sim experiance improved 10 fold! I felt more "in control" of my aircraft. Tricky maneuvers like forward slips and crabbed spproaches became easier and more intuitive. It was just an overall better experiance and I will never look back to flying with a stick.

I will also mention i prefer to fly twin engine props and turbo props. If i liked flying military fighters, i might have stuck with a stick.

Space wise, no difference. The yoke usb wire is fed up through the shelf beside my desk so that when i have to put it away, it is gone and not a problem. Easily attaches and detaches with screw clamps.

The yokes sit permanently on the floor under the desk, and are never in the way.

The old AV8R stick... It is off to the side and still accesible for its various switches and levers. The stick axis have been relegated to slewposition controls for use when building and testing scenery.

So maybe thats another good point there. Fsx can handle various controllers, so having both available is not a bad thing!

To each their own. Thanks to you all for sharing your real life experiance and opinions about controllers.

[zswobbie1]

Me too, also got both, as well as a relabeled 2nd keyboard that I have remapped (thanks FSUIPC) to increase realism levels.
Space? lol, well, an aircraft's cockpit can be very squashed.
I end up using the stick for the 1 or 2 jets I very occasionally fly.

Just a rememberance about sticks.
I once read that a simmer was not happy at all with the movement displacement of a gaming stick. He said it was very unreastic with very small movements.
So he stuck it on the floor & attached a broomstick to it, cut to the right hight! Voila! better realism. He did have rudder pedals though, as twisting the stick was not an option.
I love this (creative) hobby of ours.


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[Fozzer]

..and a blast from the distant past... ....

I'm still using my trusty "Suncom Slik Stik" digital Joystick for all my real Sinclair Spectrum 48k games...>>>

https://www.google.com/search?q=Suncom+ ... d=0CEAQsAQ

...and a "Kempston" equivalent, analogue Joystick alternative for my Spectrum emulated games on my PC!

I'm sticking to my choices.... ... ...!

Paul.....with a stick of joy.... ...!