Help with joystick

[JG27CaptStubing]

Originally Posted by jayrc

Hi all,

Went to Fry's today and bought the Cougar HOTAS and I'm not happy with the way it centers so hard, also the software's giving me a hard time. What would you recommend? x52? Logitech?

My previous stick was a logitech 3d but the pots went out. I really need a separate throttle. I don't care about dual throttles because I mostly fly single engine fighters.

Thanks for your input, Jason

The Cougar HOTAS is bar none one of the best sticks out there... However you need to spend a lot of money getting it Moddified. I wouldn't recommend it.

The the Stock Cougar has a fatal flaw. In order to keep Costs down Thrustmaster opted to use cheap pot metal for the gimbles. This basically means that over time it will wear out and place a lot of stress on the POTs. They will eventually spike and die.

I modded mine very high end gimbals and replaced all the pots with Hal Sensors and never looked back. 9 Years of continuous use and not a single hitch with spiking. It's far superior to any Saitek or Logitec stick period but it comes at a heavy price tag.

I suggest you look at the following artical on SimHQ. They review several sticks and you will have to figure out what works best for you.

I myself may look into getting the next Gen Thrustmaster Warthog.

http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_094a.html

[Matt255]

I had the X52, only really used the throttle though, together with my MS FFB2 (best FFB stick so far imho).

I think the X52 is pretty good for its price. It's a little bit light-weight and does feel a bit like a toy (atleast the stick). The spring is very weak. The stick has a hall-effect sensor (= good precision + pretty much no wear & tear at all). Never had a problem with spikes on the throttle (which still uses potis, afaik).

Overall, even though i rarely used the stick, i would recommend it. I know quite a few people have it. Of course some people are experiencing problems with it (nothing is perfect).

Of course you would still need pedals. I tried the Saiteks once, the CH pedals are too narrow for me. I eventually bought Simpeds and am very happy with those. No problem whatsoever, perfect size, very precise and smooth action.

Well, because i mentioned the MS FFB2, i think it's one of the best flightsticks ever made and so far the best FFB stick, but it's not really an option if you also need to buy pedals and a throttle.

I only heard good things about the CH sticks and throttle. Of course they're not cheap, but they seem to be worth it.

I'm using a HOTAS Warthog for two months now. I think it's great, very expensive but (so far) worth the price. Excellent feeling and precision, the throttle is the best i ever tried/owned. Perfect smooth action, many switches and a pretty good software (atleast i don't have any problems with it). The stick is a bit stiff. I'll probably try to weaken the spring somehow, to improve precision.

[jayrc]

Thanks everyone for your input, I bought the x52 and I'm loving it, spring feels good to me, plenty of buttons, has holes already for mounting. cool lights. Now if anyone has a profile for the curves that would be great, with my old stick I had them set at Oleg's setup 1 4 6 9 etc. but I had to put them all at 100 which actually feels realy good.

[swiss]

try joycontrol: ftp://ftp.stg2immelmann.de/pub/JoyCt...4.2a_setup.zip

[albx]

try this for x and y:
0 58 70 80 88 92 98 100 100 100 100 0

i'm using it with my x52pro and it's better than the all 100 IMHO
regards...

Alberto

[jayrc]

I'll give them both a try, it just keeps getting better and better