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Newbie Joystick Advice needed

Mace

By Mace,
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Mace

Mace 0

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Just picked up Lock on....Flaming cliffs  2   and  ,  DSC A-10c.    My main goal was to get the best sim for the A-10,   and I'd like some

advice on what type of controller would be  #1 best.....  and #2 if there is a single joy stick that I could try  that would give me a decent feel

for the plane without throwing 300 plus bucks at a control device right off the bat.

 

Thanks,

 

Mace

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needles

needles 1,013

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HI James/Mace,

Welcome to Mutley's Hangar.

Glad you found us.

You should be able to find everything you need to know right here on the Hangar.

Unfortunately, I am a yoke guy so I don't have the need for a stick, but I know there are fast jet guys here that will be able to advise you on what you need and are looking for.

 

I hope you enjoy being here and we have a saying here that goes, 'there are no stupid questions', so ask away for any advice or help you need, both with your setup and what software you use.

Enjoy having a browse through the various forums and one of or two of the guys should be able to help you.

Cheers for now

Brian :thum:

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ddavid

ddavid 149

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Hi Mace and Welcome to the Hangar.

I'm a rotor-head, so cyclic and collective for me, but I'd ask myself: "Do I want to fly the A10 - or learn the intricacies of all those HOTAS keys?!?"

Not much help, but the other 'Jocks' will give you their views, I'm sure!  :thum:

Cheers - Dai. :old-git:

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PCAviator

PCAviator 30

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Clearly the "ultimate" stick and throttle combo for DCS A-10 is the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog. Its based on the actual A-10 controls. It weighs 10kg, is mostly metal, and its a beast. Obviously, its very expensive too!

 

Taking a step down, there is the Saitek X55 Rhino. While not as robust as the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog, it is not a bad setup and will cost you about half as much as the HOTAS Warthog.

 

Further down the chain, you have the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X which is more a budget stick and throttle setup, but for the price, quite durable and featured. Its a very popular stick and throttle. We sell lots of them.

 

Down to single sticks, the Saitek Cyborg FLY5 mentioned by Dean33 is also quite good and has proved to be durable over the years. I rarely get any returns on these.

 

Hope that helps

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J G

J G 927

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I am both a yoke and joystick user.

 

I guess you are not interested in the yoke, but I have had a few joysticks in my time.

 

This Christmas I will be getting the new Saitek X55 for Christmas which is not to expensive for what you get.

 

Cheaper is the X52 which is a good piece of kit, I had one of these for a few years, and loved it.

 

Cheaper than the X52, well you pay for what you get.  I have an old Saitek ST90 which was my first FS joystick.  Better than my keyboard and good for games, but I would not use it foe my FS now.

 

I guess it comes down to two things:-

 

How serious are you about FS?

 

Whats your budget?

 

If you are serious about FS then get the x52.  One good thing about this joystick is that it has a good second hand price at the moment should you want to upgrade.

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Corsaire31

Corsaire31 419

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I used to fly sophisticated jets for many years and enjoyed all the Thrustmaster HOTAS systems I had ( F16 FLCS and Cougar )

Nowadays I only fly general aviation props in FSX , gliders in Condor , WW1 crates in Rise of Flight and Wings over Flanders Fields, and from time to time WW2 warbirds in IL2 1946. (And soon some spaceships in Elite Dangerous)

 

Faithfull Thrustmaster customer I now use a T 16000 M  (+ Saitek quadrant, trim wheel and rudder pedals.) Like the Warthog it uses Hall effect and therefore is very precise and no more potentiometer wear.

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Mace

Mace 0

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Thanks for all the tips.    Oddly,  I could not find the Cyborg Fly 5  for sale on Amazon....but,  at least I have

some options to check out.  I'm watching youtubes of the items suggested for a bit before I decide which way

to go.

 

Mace

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adrians69

adrians69 159

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Saitek X52 Pro for me. I use it to fly everything from stringbags in Rise of Flight right up to airliners and F-16 in BMS and the A10 in DCS. Great piece of kit and also comes with an MFD on the throttle that allows you to tune COM and NAV radios, ADF etc in FSX right from the controller!

 

Adrian

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brett

brett 2,315

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Hi James welcome to the forums here. :bye:

 

 

Besides what I know is the latest and greatest from adverts, plus what the folks here have been using, I decided to do a search on joysticks and was surprised at the amount of folks that bad mouthed Saitek products. I am still flying with my first purchased Saitek AV8R-01 and have never had a problem with it(knock on wood). It made me wonder how many of those people were rehashing what others had said in the past or if that many users have had problems with their Saitek joysticks. Since I have not had a problem with mine and others have posted glowing reports of theirs it makes me wonder what the deal is. Could it be that Saitek had produced a bad run at one time, early on and that rep has still carried on through the years or do people naturally tout whatever product they are using at the time only. Sorry, just thinking out loud.  :th_blush:  Does anyone know of a website that actually tests them and given them scores based on that testing? 

 

 

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Mace

Mace 0

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Ordered the X-52 Pro.    All the reviews on youtube looked good, and I decided the separate throttle might

be fun to try.

 

Thanks again for all the comments and help !!

 

Mace

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brett

brett 2,315

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Ordered the X-52 Pro.    All the reviews on youtube looked good, and I decided the separate throttle might

be fun to try.

 

Thanks again for all the comments and help !!

 

Mace

 

Oh boy, a new toy. :cool: Enjoy it and let us know what you think, always nice to get another opinion. :)

 

That is an interesting stick Brett.  Isn't a bit weird having the throttles on the far side of the stick?

 

Due to medical problems it is the most comfortable to fly while propped up in bed with a laptop on my, of course, lap. The one piece unit is the most comfortable in this situation and I have been doing it this way for so long I am not sure I would want or even could change. :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
Mace

Mace 0

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Yikes,,,,, I got the Saitek X52 pro  a few days ago.   Loaded the drivers off the enclosed disk, and fired up the game.   There are so many button controls

listed on the game, I'm a bit in over my head as how to assign them.

 

Can anyone recommend a decent setup  youtube or something else to give me an idea of what the heck to do ?   The only Sim I have is the DSC  AC-10c

atm.

 

Thanks,

 

Mace

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adrians69

adrians69 159

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Just google DCS A10C profiles mate. You need to use Saitek's "Smart Technology Profile Editor" to set up profiles for each sim/game you want to use it with. There's loads of ready made profiles for all sorts of sims/games. You just need to DL them and pop them into your profiles folder. I have one of the X52 Pro systems also and they do take a bit of learning/manual reading but they're worth it. Try this profile for starters!  http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=58795

 

Also get the latest drivers from Saitek's website as those on the disc will be old ones.

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Mace

Mace 0

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Well,  more delays.   I saved the two separate updates from Saitek ,   the first one seemed to load ok.  But the 2nd one, the one that's

about the smart controller  part  does not.   And the icon that was on my monitor after I loaded the disk is now gone as well.  I sent a

query to the company, but I can tell this is going to take a while.

 

Mace

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Mace

Mace 0

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After much grief,  and having my hard drive freeze a few times,  I finally got a very good bunch of help from the folks that made my computer.   The fix for me went like this.

 

download and save the joystick file first.   Do not have the controllers plugged in until told to do so.   When told to do so,  plug the  USB cable into a   2.0 USB  port,  NOT  the 3.0 port.

After that is loaded, reboot the computer.  Remove the Controller cable,  and download the software part of the download.  this is the 8 min wait.   Run that ....it will tell you to  plug in the

controller and rerun.    Again...plug into a USB 2.0.   Run program again.

 

This , once again , was for the Saitek X52 Pro.

 

Now,  I have to try and decide if I Want to download a premade setup, or do my own.  

 

Mace

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rob16584

rob16584 42

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I'm currently using the X55 Rhino and love it, although it isn't the cheapest on the market. The customisation options are endless. You can set up a different profile of control options for every aircraft in your hangar if you wanted, and switch to them at a click of a button. It's also very easy to reprogram the buttons on the fly too.

 

I upgraded from an X52 that I had been using for 10 years, it was well used. I'd go so far as to say it was bulletproof!

 

I can't recommend either of these joysticks highly enough

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