Ok, I'll assume low cost to be $/€50 tops... so:
I just chaged today from a Saitek ST290 pro (around $25) that I got as a xmas gift 2 years ago... it did the job and it's not a bad LOW COST joystick at all, but it had a few things I wasn't happy about, such as:
* jumpy and not very smooth movement of the stick (wasn't very bad, but annoying enough) you can feel the plastic scratching the internal surfaces of the stick joint (where the springs are).
* the main trigger button got "broken" somehow quite easily... I'm very gentle with my stuff, i want them to last for as long as possible, so i don't unleash my rage or wrath against my possesions lol... the saitek ST290 pro i have after 1.2 years, started to shoot alone, cause the internal contact of the trigger button was somehow loose or stuck, so i had to press to make it pop out again.
* the joystick is design for both hands (lefties and righties) so it's symmetricaly laid out, which means no matter which hand you use, you'll have the same button distribution but in the opposite way. This is very good, however, due to this same feature, if you're not of very flexible thumbs lol... it was very uncofortable to reach for the very last button to my right side, making me lose grip of the stick (just a very tiny bit but enough to make you aim out target)
MY NEW JOYSTICK (logitech Extreme 3D pro)
I love it... very ergonomic, confortable, buttons very well laid out and distributed (12 of them) and it's a heavy fella... you can FEEL it's very well done an solid, the stick moves with ZERO friction and smoothly, also with very good tension, making the response of the plane very accurate to the hand movement... so if you're up to spend $40... I highly recommend this one
