Is it worth the xtra $ to buy saitek yoke ov

[coolpick]

Hey, I was wondering if you guys would spend the extra money to get the new saitek yoke and pedals over the CH yoke and pedals. I like the looks of the Saitek.

[Mobius]

I've only heard good things about the Saitek Yoke and most people say it's better than the CH one.  If I had to chose between the two, I would choose the Saitek setup.

[richardd43]

I have never used the Saitek yoke but have the CH yoke and pedals.

My experience with CH has not been real positive. I have aways had a problem keeping them zeroed and/or setting the null points. My CH products are 4+ years old and am not sure if CH has upgraded their products since I bought mine.

As much as I like flying with the yoke I use my X52 exclusively now.

If you buy the Saitek yoke I would like to hear how you like it.

[JBaymore]

I've had the opposite experience with the CH Products Yoke and Pedals.

[Mike..]

My father owns this and he let me borrow it this past weekend for a test flight or two. Although I have the X52 I thought to myself why not give it a go. I still have to program all the buttons to do my bidding but all and all the only complaint I have with it so far is the blasted detent they put on the yoke itself. Pulling up for take off is fine, it's when you decend thats a problem. It's like a speed bump! You hit this notch in the yoke when you push in to desend and when your pulling back up or let it go it pops you back up farther than you want to go so the whole time your setting up for landing you bob up and down. It's crazy! Needless to say EasyJet had about 6-8 crashes on the same runway lasy night . When I went back to my trusty 52 I crashed and burned twice after using the yoke. I felt as though I had lost my touch! Luckily after a few go arounds I was able to come to my senses and get my edge back. I like the yoke but I'm going to have to break into the yoke housing and see about removing that "speed bump" if I am going to use it full time though. My 2 cents....


Mike

[Chairborne]

I got the Saitek ProFlight Yoke System for myself as a Christmas present, installed it and as far as "Is it worth it?", I can reply back with a highly qualified "YES!!". The yoke is easily mounted as is the separate throttle quadrant; You can add additional throttle quadrants for multi-engine applications if you wish, which I plan on doing in a little over a week.

The yoke setup is solid, takes a lot of abuse and responds nicely to null-zone changes in FS2004 or any other FS program you use. You also get a buttload of switches on the yoke and throttle which you can assign any darn ol' way ya like. The aesthetic feel of this yoke setup is great, and I only have two gripes: (1) The horns of the yoke are a tad thick for my tastes, and (2) Don't install the CD software if you get one or you'll have various glitches, such as midair engine outages, viewpoint changes and view swaps without your input.

My desk has the slide-out keyboard deck, which was removed so the yoke could be attached under the main deck with very short wood screws and L-brackets. This put the yoke at tummy-level, which is about where you want it. Having a real nice leather armchair helps, too! These are my button assignments:

A1 = Parking brake. A2 = Pushback. B1 = Trim down. B2 = Trim up. Throttle detent down = Thrust reverse. T1 = Spoilers. T2 = Landing gear. T3 = Flaps up incrementally. T4 = Flaps up incrementally.

I have the rudder pedals, too, but my bad back/legs were too burdened by them. They seem fairly rugged enough.

Planes flown with this setup: Cessna 172SP, Cessna 208 Caravan, Beech 58 Baron, DeHavilland Twin Otter, DeHavilland Dash8-100, Bombardier Q400, North American B-25, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Morane Saulnier MS500/505 (French version of the WW2 Fieseler Storch).

Anyone that wants to see my video of landing a Cessna 172 in a short grass field with the Saitek is welcome to check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8OAbupDFu0