Flight yoke and controllers

[charliealfatango]

Greetings,

Looking for recommendations for a new flight yoke and controllers. I have the Thrustmasters HOTAS X, but looking to upgrade. TIA!

[Travis]

I'm interested as well....

I'm using 15+ year old CH Products yoke and throttle quadrant.  They're giving me minor spikes in the cockpit... e.g., I can see my VC yoke go forward and backward without touching anything.

I did update my CH Products rudder pedals about a year ago since its right brake axis had stopped working and I was too annoyed to try and fix it.  The new model was 99.5% the same as the old one - the rubber feet being just different enough that I had to adjust the unit's placement.  (The older feet were "taller" and I could hook the front pair of feet on a panel I had sat them on so they wouldn't easily slip on my floor.)

It's tough to think about replacing them with something else, since I've used them ever since FS9!

Best,

[peter]

That is a very difficult question to answer, since it depends so much on how you fly and what your budget is. Generally, yoke, thrust levers and rudder pedals is the best combination - but not if you mostly fly helicopters, military airplanes, or Airbus planes. If you want to use a joystick, then Thrustmasters are still pretty high up the pecking order.

As far as yokes are concerned, Logitech and CH are on the lower side of quality, but still far better than a joystick. A midrange option would be Honeycomb. The best yokes are from Brunner, followed by Virtualfly. But you are talking 2000 Euro for Brunner (which has force feedback) and 800 Euro for a Yoko+ (which does not). Only crazy people would spend that much money, so I exchanged my Saitek (now Logitech) yoke for a Yoko+ about 2 years ago. The Saitek was fine, I could hit the runway reliably. But since I have the Yoko+, I can hit the centerline reliably. I wouldn't say it is essential to spend a fortune on a yoke, but you sure get a better experience.

Rudder pedals are important in particular for landing in crosswind. Again, quality makes a difference, but even my old Saitek pedals got the job done, just not as precise as my current Thrustmasters. For throttle levers, the difference between a high quality and a budget solution appears to be not as pronounced. Low-budget options tend to break more easily, but move up and down just as well as more expensive options.

Charlie, since you described your system in another thread, I would think that a modern PC would make more of a difference than a new joystick. But maybe not as much as getting a yoke and rudder pedal, regardless of its quality.

Cheers,
Peter

[charliealfatango]

Thanks Peter! I am leaning towards a yoke. The joystick works great, it has its moments, specially when i have to hold it to climb otherwise it just centers out. I prefer old tried and tested products rather than the new shiny ones with a thousand different settings which I will probably never need.
Thinking of pulling the trigger on Logitech G Pro 1700 ratings 70% full 5. Plus Amazon has 30 day return policy.
Loved this comment left by buyer:
"So realistic. My kid loves it. Spends hours on it. And if we are ever on a flight where the pilot and co-pilot have simultaneous heart attacks, my 11 year old will be running up to the cockpit to save everyone. And hopefully after that we’ll get some free trips from the airline. So all in all, under the right circumstances, this item pays for itself many times over."

[peter]

Good idea, Charlie. I used my Saitek yoke (very similar to the Logitech Pro) for about 10 years and it is still fully functioning. Before that, I used a Logitech joystick, which broke after a number of years (the tilt axis stopped working). Using a Saitek yoke plus rudder pedals (I bought them as a bundle back then) was a huge step forward for me.

[charliealfatango]

Jun 17, 2022 1:57:07 GMT -5 peter said:

Good idea, Charlie. I used my Saitek yoke (very similar to the Logitech Pro) for about 10 years and it is still fully functioning. Before that, I used a Logitech joystick, which broke after a number of years (the tilt axis stopped working). Using a Saitek yoke plus rudder pedals (I bought them as a bundle back then) was a huge step forward for me.

I am still on the fence about rudder pedals. I don't have good control over the pedals when I use the Thrustmaster (twist the joystick to control the rudder), so I leave the Sim on autorudder. 

[peter]

Jun 17, 2022 17:54:13 GMT -5 charliealfatango said:

I am still on the fence about rudder pedals. I don't have good control over the pedals when I use the Thrustmaster (twist the joystick to control the rudder), so I leave the Sim on autorudder. 

I would say pedals make almost a bigger difference than a yoke. Autorudder works fine if you fly on autopilot most of the time, but you won't experience a number of phenomena that affect a real airplane. Landing in a strong crosswind is almost impossible with autorudder turned on, for instance. If you fly airbus a lot, then the most realistic combination would be pedals and (left-hand) joystick. For helicopters and other airplanes with a stick instead of a yoke, just put the joystick in front of you. 

Sometimes people sell their gear on Avsim. Just yesterday evening, I saw a post of someone selling Yoke and rudder together for $100. I just checked again, unfortunately it has been sold already.

Peter

[Travis]

I am seconding the importance of rudder pedals!

Even when flying jetliners, if there's a 10+kt crosswind on takeoff or landing, you'll want rudder pedals to manage the "crabbing".
-----

Your current Dispatch Release will give you the anticipated crosswind using the METAR winds, but a near-future version of FSCaptain will allow you to specify your departure and destination runways and will give you the live (ambient) crosswind values.

Best,

[charliealfatango]

I pulled the trigger on "Logitech Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" - I think I have a good deal for $160.00 free shipping and 30 day return. I will wait for the yoke.

[peter]

Very good! That's the model I used for 10 years. It served me well until it broke when I made too strong a movement on one occasion. Treat it gently and it will reward you with a great flying experience. Don't forget to disable auto rudder in your simulator, and step on the ball ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzaqRyNFdc0 )

Peter

[charliealfatango]

The pedals work great. But I think I am doing something wrong. As soon as the wheels (cessna 172) touch the aircraft uncontroablly veers to the right. Is there a setting i need to look into? drivers?

[peter]

You mean during touchdown? Always to the right?
If you have crosswind, it is normal that an airplane turns into the wind, but that should depend on the weather of course and should normally be controllable. Did you calibrate the pedals in FSX?
Peter

[charliealfatango]

You are right, it does on crosswind. Yes I did calibrate it. Need to be more vigilant when doing a crosswind landing.

[Travis]

CAT,

I've read that your Logitech pedals should be "self-centering" so that if you remove your feet, the pedals should center the rudder (and the nose wheel).

If that is true, then as Peter asked... have you calibrated the pedals with Windows / FSX / FSUIPC?

And that question leads me to ask, do you use FSUIPC?  And if you do, have you checked all of your FSUIPC profiles, settings, etc. to ensure it is handing your new pedals as you would expect?

Best,

[Travis]

Ahhh... I missed your last post.  Nevermind mine.....

Crosswind takeoffs / landings are tricky....

Best,