Joystick advice

[Vekiq]

Hi all I am looking to get good joystick with throttle. I am considering Saitek x52, saitek X52pro or Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar. Basically my question is what is better option saitek, or Thrustmaster? If i buy one or another, i want it to last as long as possible, so important factors are reliability and of course which stick is best to use, precision, smoothness and so on. Any advice welcome :) Thanks in advance

[OldCrow]

I have never tried a cougar myself, but from what I've heard, its quite different from x-52. while some might say that the x-52 is too "loose", the cougar is said to be very stiff. I've also heard that the cougar is not a very good without an expensive upgrade, and then its said to become a really good stick.

 

Since I've never tried the cougar, my recomendation is very subjective, but I would recomend the x-52. its a great stick, u dont tare your arm off when flying, good comfort, enough buttons, and probably one of the best throttles out there. its precice, it doesnt cost that much(not the standard version anyways), and u can programme it with the software that comes with the product. I've had a x-52 for about 3-4 years now, still using it, although, I can feel its starting to get alittle old, could also be because I've never cleaned it:P When I get a new stick I'll go for another x-52 or maybe the pro version;)

[CyBerkut]

Likewise, I'm a Saitek X-52 owner as well. I do not own a Thrustmaster Cougar, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt...

 

The Cougar is made almost entirely of metal, so there is a certain robustness and heft there beyond what the X-52 offers. On the downside, the stock, out-of-the-box Cougar uses potentiometers for the joystick X & Y axis, whereas the X-52 uses non-contact hall effect sensors. Potentiometers wear, eventually yielding "spikes" on the output. Be aware that it is possible to get a hall effect sensor conversion done upon a Cougar, but as far as I know it is an expensive procedure.

 

Both HOTAS packages have software for programming the output. As I understand it, the Cougar's Foxy software is more capable, at the cost of increased complexity.

 

If appearances matter much to you, then it comes down to if you really want the miitary look. The Cougar appearance is a replication of the F-16 HOTAS. The X-52 looks like something out of some futuristic Sci-Fi movie (not necessarily a particularly good one, either...). The X-52 Pro has a decently militaristic appearance, plus some other improvements over the X-52... (Many do not consider the changes to be worth the current price difference, so you'll have to weigh that out for yourself).

 

I'll leave the precision comparisons to someone else. Be aware that someone figured out a do-it-yourself modification to the X-52's magnets to gain some improvement on precision and/or accuracy (search the forums).

 

I've been happy with the durability of my X-52. Saitek definitely stepped it up over my experiences with the early X-45 HOTAS models (I went through 3 sets in 3 weeks and finally gave up on them).

 

Before you jump on any standard HOTAS offerings though, it is important to look at what you intend to use it for. If you're going to be using it with DCS: Black Shark, you may want to rethink things. Check out the forum threads on Trimming and also on Force Feedback sticks. As much as I like my X-52, I'm seriously looking at getting a Force Feedback stick so that the trim can work like it does in an actual Black Shark. I may even go so far as to graft the X-52 grip on to a FFB controller's base ( Check out Urze's creations at http://www.leftside-limited.com/ ).

 

Some folks who already have the X-52, use the X-52's throttle with an old MS Sidewinder FFB 2 stick.

 

I notice you didn't mention CH products. They make good stuff as well, and their software is reputedly very good. Someone had a nice idea with mounting their CH throttle vertically along the side of their seat to emulate a collective control. The CH throttle is a slider instead of pivoting on an arc, so that idea may actually feel pretty good.

 

Good luck!

[Vekiq]

thanks for detailed replies guys,

 

somehow i thought that cougar, given its price will have better pot meter solution than saitek, but it looks like it is quite opposite. I have, well still am quite active in sim racing i had my share of steering wheels, all from logitech, and i did have problems with pedals pot meters spiking, it is extremley anoyoing, i completley agree with you CyBerkut.

 

I had few forcefeebcack joysticks and none of them were particulary great, they get very loose and inaccurate very quickly, if you look into cost of FF sticks they are all in the range of £ 30-50, and something that costs this kind of money cant be very good, it would be ideal if someone decided to make little better, at slightly higher cost FF stick.

 

I will stick with BS for a good while, but also looking forward to Storm of war Battle of Britain, and also play MSFX, Sturmovik 1946 and Lock on so i am not going to go into complete helicopter customisation as i like different flying machines.

[urze]

You should track this idea of mine. ;)

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=33320

[Vekiq]

Quite impressive urze, but i am not going to go this far with immersing myself into flying, its hard enough as it is to go to work every day, with toy like that i would sell my wife, my kid, rent all the rooms in the house apart from my computer room and will never go out again :)

[urze]

...with toy like that i would sell my wife, my kid, rent all the rooms in the house apart from my computer room and will never go out again :)

 

:megalol:.... I wouldn't go that far...,but I have to admit that I had/have similar thoughts from time to time...

 

When I fell that "they" coming back - I just go out and devote myself to breeding trouts or just play "Hello Kitty-Online".

After that these bad thoughts are gone! (for a short period of time)