Yoke or Stick?

[VOHY_VO0I]

Hey Guys,

I decided to pool in some money and get a good joystick to enhance my flying experience in FS2004. The question is - yoke or joystick (stick)?
I saw a couple of yokes on amazon.com and joysticks too. I found the yoke to be more attractive as it would give a real feel of flying a plane, and furthermore most aircrafts use the yoke when compared to a stick (except Airbus).
So any suggestions at this stage would gladly be appreciated.
Ah! one more thing - i'm not too keen on purchasing the joystick from the net as i would like to see and feel it first. So where can i look for something like a yoke which is rare to find in the market?

[JBaymore]

vohy,

If you fly most (not all) GA and heavy metal a lot... a yoke is the way to go for realism.

The CH Products usb yoke is the likely choice.... the other few yokes that are available, while more realistic, are VERY expensive.  (BTW... a yoke can be built... see the "Homebuilt Cockpits" Forum.)

CH Products stuff is hard to find on display.  But I can say that you will not be disappointed with the feel or quality..... they are great.

As to other types of joysticks.... CompUSA na places like that often have them on display.

See other threads on this subject for more.

best,

..................john

[|| Andy ||]

Not all GA's use a yoke..
like the idiot who did the grob115e for 2002..
he put a yoke init....


I would go with a stick...
Cant go much wrong with one.

and yokes arnt that good in my opinion.. there to flimsy in ure hands to control a A/C

[JBaymore]

and yokes arnt that good in my opinion.. there to flimsy in ure hands to control a A/C

What kind of yoke have you used that gives you this impression?  My CH usb pro yoke is VERY solidly built....... more solidly than the cheaper models of many manufacturer's joysticks.  The pots on the thropttle, mixture, pitch controls are smooth acting and solid in "feel".  

And the more expensive yokes are VERY solid.....almost like real controls.

best,

...............john

[TacitBlue]

I would go with a yoke. I have a CH products USB yoke like the one John described, and it is great. It took a little time to get used to it, but once I did I find that I have more control over my A/C, or at least it feels that way. Also, I dont know of any joystick that hase prop and mixture controls.

[Jared]

how about a yoke, then a joystick for the other types of aircraft such as fighters etc? Joysticks aren't too muc these days as long as you don't need top dollar material...

I'd recommend checking out e-bay for a yoke/rudder pedals set.. ;-) Two days after I bought my pedals someone was selling a yoke/pedals/fs2004 for less than $60, total bid ended up being $122USD

[VOHY_VO0I]

Thanks a million guys,

I guess i'll go in for a yoke as of now.

But i have another query - There are 2 models of CH products yoke. One has the throttle lever, propeller lever and mixture lever (CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB), and the other has a throttle lever only. I would like to go for the 2nd choice which has a throttle lever only, because it is very rare that i use the propeller lever (obviously only in props) and the mixture lever (whenever i fly cessna). Most of the times i fly jets and rarely fly the cessna. So i feel having only the throttle lever will be just fine for me.
What do u guys think

[|| Andy ||]

You dont get the right precise feal with a yoke..
Ive flown fs stick and 'real' stick and will never get a Yoke..

I too have tried the Ch yoke, and many others..
Just got rid.. got a stick carried on flying...  :)

[Jared]

umm, I believe you may be refering to the USB vs gameport yokes?

If I were you I'd go with the USB one, that way later down the road it will be mroe compatible, especially when you go to add a set of pedals or something else that would require a gameport connection.. ;-)

Also note that you cannot use USB pedals with a gameport yoke.. ;-) Still not sure why, but you can't.. :-)