CH Flight Sim Yoke USB
Pros:
Many buttons and features, 3 engine-control axis
Cons:
Pitch movement seems "sticky", clamp is too thick, expensive
The Bottom Line:
A very cool and very useful product, but it could be smoother, and could be priced a little better.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
The first thing you notice about the yoke is comfort; the yoke fits right into your hands. CH designed to the yoke to be form-fitting (to an extent). And the handles of the yoke are large enough to fit large hands, but are still shaped so that it will work well with small hands.
The next big hitting point is the 3 sliders for engine control, meant for throttle mixture, and prop pitch control. This is the reason that most people buy the USB model, and it is well worth it. If you're into realism and micromanagement, you will enjoy the engine controls. In addition to the engine controls, the yoke also has 4 normal buttons (one of them in a trigger arrangement on each prong of the yoke), 2 rocker switches (meant for trim), an 8 way hat switch, and two "toggle" switches on the base (which actually control 4 buttons, as up and down is a button on each switch). With all these controls, it is barely necessary to take your hands off the yoke while you are flying, which is nice. And to top it all off, there is a calibration wheel (for the pitch axis) on the front of the base unit, which I use as a trim wheel.
The yoke also comes with a CD containing drivers, and 4 demos (ASA OnTop 7.0 IFR-simulator, 4x4 Evolution, F16, and Land Warrior). I never even bothered to install these, so I can't comment on how they work with the yoke. I CAN however comment on how well the yoke integrates with Flight Simulator 2002. I plugged the yoke in, installed the drivers, and went right to the game, and the yoke was already set up correctly!
Now, for the negative part of this review. The major downfall of the yoke is it's smoothness (or lack thereof). The pitch axis (on my yoke, at least) is very sticky. This can make it very difficult to trim the plane, because every time I release the yoke it centers in a different place. And it is also hard to make fine adjustments to pitch, which can make precision flying difficult.
The other downfall of the yoke is price. I think that at $100 this yoke is overpriced. Yes, it does have a lot of features, but $100 is pushing it.
