Joystick life

[Gladman]

First set was CH and it lasted probably 10 years. I replaced it because it was serial port.

Second set was TM Cougar. Lasted 6 months. Garbage.

Third set. Back to CH.

Forth set Saitek X55. 3 years and I decided I wanted TM Warthog. Bought the TM stuff but the Saitek is still in like new condition.

 

To suggest Saitek is any worse than TM is simply brand bashing for no reason. They all have issues.

[LCYCowboy]

There is no brand bashing involved on my side. I have had several Saitek products (still use the yoke - but only because there is no alternative), they have all had problems. They use really cheap potentiometers, have terrible quality control (who would sell throttle units where, when you line up the throttles they give vastly different outputs, with no way to calibrate).

 

My Komodo gear, und all the Thrustmaster gear I have ever had, have been leagues better in both quality and in using hall sensors (even their cheap stuff)

[Perfesser]

I started with an X52 and CH pedals. The pedals crapped out pretty fast. I've had Saitek pedals for at least 8 years now but they're showing their age.

I kept convincing myself the X52 stick was still OK for a few years but finally got fed up with the POS and got a CH Fighterstick that I'm still pretty happy with. It's solid and still precise after a lot of hard use.

Still using the X52 throttle. A couple of buttons need extra pressure and the throttle is jittery sometimes but it's still reliable.

[dburne]

I started out originally with a Kraft stick. Yep many years ago.

Then my first real HOTAS was a TM F16 FLCS. It served me well, used it until I upgraded to a Cougar a few years later. After about a year with the Cougar, I upgraded it with the U2 NXT gimbal mod and hall sensors. It worked beautifully for me for a few years.

 

Then I upgraded to the Warthog when it was released. The U2 NXT Cougar was still a great stick, actually just sold it a few months ago.

Unfortunately, the throttle on the Warthog bricked on me about a year ago, but I just went ahead and bought another new one as I liked it so well. Had a button go out on the stick a few months ago, found a guy selling new Warthog sticks only on Ebay, got one of them and just transferred the grip to my original Warthog base - my original base was much smoother than the one that came from the Ebay buy.

 

Have been a loyal TM customer for many years, however I will probably move to Virpil and/or VKB here in the near future - at least for the stick, and continue to use my Warthog throttle.

[Sokol1_br]

Dburne, as curiosity, what you do with this brickled/malfunction stick parts, throw in garbage bin?

[dburne]

Dburne, as curiosity, what you do with this brickled/malfunction parts, throw in garbage bin?

 

Yep, threw it out.

[VZ_342]

Ian;3057329']As a TM Warthog owner, I wouldn't say you get what you pay for. Don't get me wrong, the metal grip is amazing, but unfortunately they made the gimbal out of plastic... (google "stiction"). The hall sensors are really precise, but the stiction is starting to prevent me from making use of that precision.

 

And after three years of moderate use, the paint is starting to come off at some of the edges on mine.

 

I'll have to swap out the grease on my stick soon -- something I shouldn't have to do because on a stick this expensive, I'd expect better build quality. I guess I wouldn't mind having to do regular maintenance if they at least designed these things to be easy to disassemble, but from the pictures I have seen so far, this is not a thing I am looking forward to (lots of tiny wires I'll have to be careful not to break).

 

If I were in the market for a high quality, reliable joystick today, I'd take the VKB products into serious consideration.

 

Worn paint merely adds realism...on the planes I worked on (ef111), the only mint condition sticks and instrument panels seen were those which had been replaced with a 100% new from factory part. Nearly all parts from Supply were refurbished (not "refinished") and had mild to severe finish wear.

[Sokol1_br]

Originally Posted by Sokol1_br

Dburne, as curiosity, what you do with this brickled/malfunction parts, throw in garbage bin?

 

Yep, threw it out.

 

LOL. I will suggest put in eBay or at least donate in forums, they can be repaired/improved be some guys even without Tm parts. :D

Edited February 27, 2017 by Sokol1_br

[Marcast]

I got a new Thrustmaster T16000M joystick and throttle, but I want to keep the repaired Saitek as reserve. Once I'll set the command configuration, will the game keep memory of the Saitek options? Or shall I have to change manually the configuration every time I'll change from Saitek to Thrustmaster and vice versa?

[Sokol1_br]

Use the export (or save) function for backup Saitek assignments before change for T.1600M.

 

After set T.16000M save export the file again, in this way you can swap easily between then.

[Marcast]

Use the export (or save) function for backup Saitek assignments before change for T.1600M.

 

After set T.16000M save export the file again, in this way you can swap easily between then.

 

Thanks :thumbup: