9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Evolution of the joystick
Date of Review: Sep 25, 2005
The Bottom Line: Great control setup for simulation fanatics.
I owned the previous version, the one with the joysitck connector not USB, and I was very pleased with it. When I built my new computer I realized that I did not have a joystick port, everything is going USB. I sold the joystick and then regretted it about six months later, I could have just added an I/O card with a joystick port.
I did purchase a "normal" USB joysitck" but I always missed my mega joystick. When my birthday came around my wife asked if there was something fun I wanted and I thought of this new joystick setup.
I think the basic design is very similar to the original design but there are lots of improvements;
The unit is USB
There is a LCD screen on the throttle which displays a bunch of stuff (time, stopwatch, mode, button function)
There are some additional buttons on the throttle
There are three toggle switches on the base of the joystick
There is adjustable tension on the throttle.
The programming software is new.
The big feature on this setup is the ability to program ALL the buttons. There is also 3 modes and a shift key. This means that every button can have up to 6 different functions! I think that adds up to a gagillion different possible combinations (probably not that much but more than I will every use).
The mechanics of the joystick haven't changed much. The motion is very smooth and the spring tension is controlled by an external mechanism so you can clean and lubricate it if needed.
The buttons are placed in pretty well thought out positions. Some of them are hard to reach, but I just make those some of the less used functions in the game.
I really enjoy the toggle switches on the base. I have been using them for flaps and gear control.
I think the LCD is more of a gimmick but I guess you could use the clock or the button function to help. I hope it didn't add too much to the cost.
The programing software is functional but I think it could use some improvement. You have to perform the keystrokes for each button when you select the button (kind of hard to explain but it could be done better). Especailly if you program a rotary dial for band function (that breakes up a rotary dial into bands and then there is a keystroke for each certain band of the rotary travel), if you mess up that last one out of ten then you loose the first nine. The POV hat does not snap to the button assignments (when you push a button the softwrae highlights the button programming slot and you can then define the function, when you push a POV hat to a position the softeare doens't snap to that programming slot), I actuall programmed the wrong POV hat and didn't realize it until I played the game.
Overall I am enjoying this setup but if you don't enjoy doing some programming there are less expensive options out there.
Bradman
