This is one helluva big joystick, so unless you’ve got some serious desk space to play with, you can stop reading the review right now. No. . . you’ll keep reading regardless.
This is one helluva big joystick, so unless you’ve got some serious desk space to play with, you can stop reading the review right now. No. . . you’ll keep reading regardless. So, thanks to the modular nature of this device, you can set it up in a way that best suits your desk space and gaming style. The throttle is detachable from the joystick base, which is our preferred mode, allowing you to place your keyboard between the joystick and throttle.
Setting up this stick was as easy as you’d expect; install the drivers and mapping software, plug in the joystick and fire up your favourite flight sim for some bone-shaking, force-feedback action. Unfortunately the included control mapping software was nowhere near as intuitive as the Logitech wireless stick we checked out last month, especially when it came to using the pre-configured options for different games.
Stick ergonomics were for the most part very comfortable, although the button layout was a little wide apart, however a little practice should see you getting used to it. Rudder functionality is available in one of two methods; via the twisting of the main stick, or via the use of a small rudder toggle switch on the throttle. It’s great to see that the designers have given users the choice of which to use.
Force Feedback is a very subjective area of any joystick review, but we’ve got to say that cable-based systems are infinitely superior to cog-based systems, such as the cog-based unit found within this setup. Joysticks that use cogs to supply force feedback have a very clunky, ‘notchy’ feel to them -- you can feel each tooth on a cog lock into position with the teeth on the other cogs. As a result the sensation is nowhere near as fluid as a real world aircraft’s joystick, and hampers accuracy. Apart from the inherent limitations caused by the cog-based mechanism, the different sensations for varying situations, such as weapon firing, stalls and damage effects, conveyed accurately what we expected to feel under each of these situations.
It wasn’t long ago that you couldn’t get a decent joystick for under $300, so it’s refreshing to see that this feature packed joystick is selling for a reasonable $200. And at this price it’s easy to overlook the couple of minor problems we experienced.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012