Purely in regards to yaw/rudder control:
I have used a couple of microsoft sidewinder sticks over the years (i still use the 2nd one,a precision 2 model, i've had it for more than a decade) and they have the twist-grip type of stick. It's not extremely accurate but good enough, it gives a fast response and it suits me because all the flight control surfaces are manipulated by my right hand, while i use my left hand for throttle and whatever i have mapped to the keyboard.
I recently got a friend of mine back into flight sims, but his old saitek x-35 only had a gameport connector. I gave him some internet links about stick customizations and Leo Bodnar's BU0836 USB chip (a joystick controller for custom-made sticks), so he managed to convert his old x-35 HOTAS from gameport to USB by rewiring it through the BU0836 controller. All fine and dandy up to this point, but my buddy only used to fly Falcon 4.0 back in the day, not prop fighters where rudder control is important.
After just two evenings of flying a few multiplayer missions in coop mode (all in all, less than 6 hours total gametime), the rocker switch on the x-35 was the first thing he complained about. I have never tried a rocker switch mind you, so it could be a case of personal taste.
In his own words however, he describes it as "having too small a throw/range of movement to be of any usable accuracy, it's either centered or almost all the way to the side and it's killing my precision".
In fact, his next project is to go to a carpenter and have a couple of rudder pedals cut out for him, which he will wire to a potentiometer and onto the BU0836, so my one and only "review"/testimonial of using a rocker switch for rudder control has been a negative one.
On the other hand, i've never used one so i'm curious to know if someone thinks it's actually good and why.
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01-26-2011, 09:11 PM
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