Tell us how you really feel about that other stick Trollbug!
It's nice to see a few more groups entering into this aspect of flight controls. While I can perhaps understand why the producers might not like the competition, the consumers certainly should!
Since we’re being brutally honest, the prices of these sticks are just too much for me unless they are without compromise - I guess if I didn't have any other hobbies I might go for it - but between the combination of high price, and poor mechanical approximations, it seems that if I want a realistic stick, I should just fly real airplanes. . .and use cheap joysticks to help save cash for that. . .so that’s what I do.
If there really was a great stick out there that really was realistic, not just in cosmetics, but in action, I'd go for it.
I for one haven't found a stick yet that is very realistic in use save for the FSSB force sensor mod for the Cougar which is only accurate when compared to a fly by wire F-16 that it is simulating. Of course that's a pretty easy thing to emulate since the stick has hardly any movement at all, and thus, no "action" to speak of! Conventional cable or torque tube actuated flight controls certainly present the greatest challenge since a real aircraft transmits ever changing loads through the stick, it needs a long range of motion, and a range of stick forces and centering feel depending on the aircraft type and flight condition. This last thing seems to be the big issue with the Tarmac Aces stick. Without centering forces, it simply isn't a simulation of the real thing. I guess I can tolerate the fact that my 109 doesn’t need a 60 pound pull on the elevator when at 550 kmh, but there really should be some attempt at increased forces as speed builds, and there must be centering forces too. Even in modern aerobatic aircraft where stick forces and centering forces are comparatively low they, are not absent! The progressive increase in stick forces as the surface travels towards its limits, and as speed changes, are critical components of feel, as are the centering forces.
If I bought one, I'd have to modify it to generate some sort of centering force system, and for the same price I paid for my commercial pilot certificate, it better be finished already, otherwise I'd just build my own.
I guess I'm posting this because I keep seeing posts touting the non centering mechanism of the Tarmac Aces stick as if that is a good thing. Then to see the competition's stick get ripped apart in this thread based on cosmetics alone, without anyone talking about how it actually performs. . . some of us want feel more than we want looks. But if I read it right, Tarmac Aces wouldn’t sell him a stick because his cockpit wasn’t good enough?!?! I guess looks are really important to some.