I'm still using a microsoft precision pro 2 after more than 10 years.
I recently had some trouble with it so i gave it to a friend to tinker with. He added some adhesive tape between the base and the electronics plate to insulate it from possible short circuits if it touches the metal base, replaced 2-3 button switches that had died along the years and it works like new again, for the cost of buying my buddy a cup of coffee.
There is an amount of noticeable but very slight spiking near the center position after all these years, which results in the twist rudder axis spiking under certain aileron/elevator inputs, but it's so small and predictable that i subconsciously correct for it.
Also, the stick is a bit "floppy" around the center but that is not a problem either as i can use it as a sort of "trim": depending on the direction of torque in the aircraft i'm flying, i just move the stick a little bit to the side and it rests there. It's like having aileron trim for all aircraft and it allows me to fly most of them in cruise with only 2 fingers on the stick.
All in all, very minor issues as far as wear and tear is concerned.
Finally, i'm using it under Win7 x64 and it works fine. There's no force feedback on the precision pro 2, so i don't have any issues with it going floppy if it alt+tab out of the game because it's spring loaded. Also, the amount of buttons is not that great to require a separate piece of profiler software, i just map functions to them from within each game.
If someone wants a cheaper solution with a long life and you can get it for a good price on ebay, i definitely recommend it.
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