Saitek Cyborg FLY 9 Wireless Flightstick - REVIEW

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If you are reading this for the first time I would recommend that you read some of the observations/comments from those who bought this flightstick. I have left the review intact but be aware that some experienced identical problems/failure.







Compared to the Saitek AV8R (Xbox), two things will strike you when you remove the Cyborg FLY 9 from the box and handle it for the first time.

a) The physical size.

b) This looks and feels like the stick that IL*2 Birds of Prey deserves despite that it more than likely still uses Analog to Digital technolgy for the flight data.








General

It is physically larger than the AV8R and the design, choice of materials, construction are a big improvement and it comes with a 2 year warranty. The buttons have a solid precise feel to them and the yoke action is smooth and precise though, new out of the box, some may find it feels too firm compared to the AV8R, particularly if they have used the popular tie-wrap mod to reduce spring pressure.

Upon arrival the yoke is separate and attached quickly rotating the threaded locking ring. The yoke is manufactured using what looks like a 'soft touch' polymer that feels solid and comfortable compared to the AV8R. The Base is moulded from what appears to be the industry standard HD Polystyrene or similar.

Once assembled and batteries inserted (2 x AA supplied) you will need to 'activate' the FLY9 and get it to be recognised by the Xbox. This is done once by pressing the controller activate button (on the front of the Xbox) and then pressing the 'activate' button the flightstick. This button is located under the stick but is recessed behind a small aperture and accessed by pushing something small through this aperture (its location is not mentioned in the instruction manual!)
Its a well thought ergonomic design with adjustments for Yoke rake, Top Hat angle and Yoke height though I found it perfect as set up on arrival. The twist rudder action appears to share similar construction to the AV8R but I have no idea as to the the density or thickness of the materials used inside this part of the construction. However, I would advise fitting the optional contoured feet that curve over your lap/thigh to allow the flightstick 'movement' in the event that you are prone to exerting too much force.






[IMG]http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt341/Angeloevs




Flight Performance

In flight It feels more positive than the AV8R which, (probably due to wear) feels 'sloppy' in comparison.

Dead zone? Unfortunately this is an issue with the MS interface and most players have learned to live with that problem, it's certainly no worse than the AV8R.


As with the AV8R, you will need to select the mode for the various Xbox flight Sim titles with Mode 1 being assigned to BOP. OVER G Fighters is not listed in the manual whilst all the others (Ace Combat, Heroes, etc) are, whether this stick is actually compatible with Over G I cannot say.


In flight the five top Hat switches access Bombs, Rockets, Map, *Flaps/Select Target (*Simulator/Realistic) and Camera Target/*Trim (Realistic/*Simulator) with three marked in the familar Red, Yellow and Blue B, X, Y X-Box controller assignments.

The top hat also includes the POV camera and, due to the angle and proximity to the thumb, is far easier to manipulate compared with AV8R. These essential flight buttons are where you need them most! The exception to this the Zoom which I would have preferred to the Camera Target (or 'Trim' in Sim). All players will appreciate the default top hat switch set up compared to the AV8R but here, once again, Realistic/Arcade players would probably prefer the Zoom in place of the Map button.


Zoom and Cycle Views are located under and to the left of the Throttle control and this will mean training your little finger to acess or sliding your hand slight to the left of the throttle to use another finger. The D pad is mounted to the left of the throtte and, once again, has a much firmer and positive action than the AV8R (and a big + for MP) where you can easily access the D-Pad view functions.

It includes 'rumble' but I have this feature disabled so no comment on that.

Throttle control seems 'tighter' than the AV8R but this may be due to the fact its 'new out of the box'. Minimum value of throttle is the same as the AV8R at about 14%, below that it becomes 0%. (More comments on the Throttle below)

Conclusion

Any negatives? Just minor ones for me. The Zoom and Cycle views buttons are 'flush' and locating them with a finger (yet to be appointed and trained) are difficult to 'feel' for when using the throttle at the same time, some sort of nipple (or being set proud of the case) would have helped overcome this. As with all the joysticks for BOP (Xbox) the throttle data suffers from not latching the 0% value (it fades from the screen unlike the regular gamepad controller which latches this value when you hold the throttle at minimum) and hence 'no brakes' on flight sticks. The Headset socket is placed very close to the 'mode' switch in the same recess, thus when removing and fitting the headset the mode switch can easily be toggled to the incorrect mode without you knowing it, untill flight starts that is. Finally, for some people, being a dedicated Xbox only flightstick may be a problem.

This is 'Wireless' so keeping fresh batteries ready charged at the start of a long session might well be an idea even though this stick performed well with batteries in various states of charge. With a current consumption of 50ma I would expect good quality 1000 ma/hr AA cells to last approx 20hrs. I used it with re-chargeable AA types without any problems.

If you like a 'twist rudder' action, find the AV8R layout frustrating, are well organised with spare charged batteries then the Cyborg FLY 9 is definitely worth the extra cost.