Good yoke for civil aviation
Pros:
Lots of buttons, 3 throttles, USB, compatible with most Flight simulators
Cons:
Expensive, Possible difficulties with clamps, designed only for civil aviation
The Bottom Line:
If you love flying civilian aircraft this is the yoke for you (especially if you dont want to spend $400 or more)
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
First thing I should say is that this yoke is not to be used for combat flight sims, or racing sims or even first person shooters. Many others have commented that this yoke is not built well. So far I have seen no problems, with the yoke at all, but I only use it in FS2002, never making quick movements or jerking the joystick. It’s made for slow smooth movements. If you want to fly around in a F4U Corsair, a Spitfire or some other war plane this is not the stick for you, those kinds of movements may damage the inner workings. Now the reason for this is because it’s a precise instrument, it can pickup the slightest pressures, this is very useful in flight sims when you need to make minute adjustments (approach).
Now for the actual review
**** OVERVIEW ****
12 assignable buttons as follows: two rocker switches for trim, two trigger style buttons on each horn, two push buttons on the left horn, and 2 rocker switches on the base up is one button and down is one button. There is also an 8 way hat for you to look out your windows, this makes life a lot easier, if you haven’t used a hat before and have relied on the numpad you will never even consider going back. On the base there is THREE, throttles. You can assign them to any function you want but the traditional aproch is Throttle, Pitch, and Mixture. But I you are flying a Learjet or another jet with 2 engine you can set it to engine 1, engine 2 and spoilers. The ability to change it like what each one does make this joystick very versatile. Also on the base there is a trim wheel which makes the trimming the airplane much easier. The actual yoke is very sensitive, this makes minute adjustments quick and easy. But if you want to lower the sensitivity you can easily do that in the control panel.
**** Problems ****
As I stated in the beginning this is not for combat flight sims or racing, it’s a Flight yoke, to be used in civilian aircraft. It can be a bit delicate, but if you treat it well it will last a long time. At times you can hear the springs inside, and the shaft moving in the base, but if you turn your volume up a little you will never notice it. Also the clamps might not fit on every desk, with my measurements of the clamps I figure your desk has to be between the thickness of 1”- 2 ¼” thick, any thinner and you will need to use cardboard or wood to thicken it. Any thicker and you will probably need a new desk. (But that would be a very thick desk). Not really a problem, but the demos aren’t of good quality and are very old. Moreover they are demos, which you can get for free off the net. So they are just a waste of time.
**** Score ****
Quality: 7/10
Will last a long time, IF taken care of and if you are gentle with it.
Ease Of use: 9/10
Just plug in, put the CD in, install the drivers, restart you PC and your off to the races, or airport should I say.
Functionality: 9/10
Works with almost all Flight Sims, at least all the main stream ones, the only thing I could ask for is Force feedback, but that would jump the price up to $200
Customer Support: N/A
Haven’t dealt with them
Extras:2/10
Comes with a 4 demos 4x4 evo, Delta Force 3: Land Warrior, ASA OnTop 7.0 IFR-simulator, F16. All are dated and not that great. But better that no demos I guess
OVERALL (not an average): 8/10
