OK this will be a small novel so some of you may wish to scroll down.
I will start with
Rolex...
I bought a complete set - pedals, throttle and stick- directly from your distributor. All of them were defective and unplayable with bad pots out of the box. I called the distributor the same day they were delivered and was told my only option was to send them back to you in the US, at my expense. They would not replace them. The shipping cost would be about $200 to have brand new product repaired or replaced. I don't think that is reasonable, and I trust you would feel the same way.
That's unsat. You should have contacted the Director of Retail Marketing and Sales (currently Debby McDowell debby@mailDOTchproductsDOTcom). I know for a fact that someone in Asia got a defective Throttle Quad and we had the distributor swap it out NOT send it back to us. Debby is in Europe for the next week but I will send her a PM asking her to check her mail this week.
I politely asked your company to contact the distributor and ask them to replace the brand new, unworking product, considering that I have purchased 3 sticks, 2 throttles and 2 rudder pedals - all of them with defects. You replied with a link to your parts page. Thank you very much.
Do you have any names by chance? How long ago was this?
I don't need or expect a response to this post.
But you should expect one as you deserve a response.
from Ack Ack.....
The distributor would then inturn send us the faulty gear for replacement or to refurbish.
Nope sorry, mistaken or confused. We DO NOT refurb controllers for resale... EVER. I have been here six years and this has never been our policy.
Now serving
Ack Ack...
... when I was the Senior PC Tech at CH Products
Who are you?
...Chuck told us it was too expensive for the consumer market and all the high end potentiometers were reserved for the OEM products that were being made.
Chuck still maintains that the Hall Effect Sensors we currently use for OEM products are too expensive for Retail use. As for the OEM pots, I have tried four different pots from the OEM catalog in my 586 Combatstick and seen no significant difference in use. They will however last four and five times as long. With most CH controller owners getting more than five years out of their controllers I don't think this is a real issue. I mean what do you have connected to your PC right now that is more than five years old? A PS2 mouse? A Dell Quietkey Keyboard that was the first one you saw with a Windows logo key? I have a next generation Combatstick in my office and it's not using over priced OEM pots.
now serving
Slash27I see no reason to continue to banter with you as this is not my house and it will add nothing to the thread. So I announce you as the "War Hero of the Oppressed" for this thread
Your sash and anointed crown await your arrival at the CH Tech Support Office.
and to the meat of the thread I reply to
Fester/Citabria...
I am at home right now so I can't remember the brand and model of powered USB hub that we use for testing and trade shows but remind me tomorrow and I will post back here with what we have.
If you are seeing the ball jump after a good calibration in the Control Manager then you may just have a bad stick. Odd that its both axes but anything can happen.
You can wait to test it on a powered USB hub or you can do one of two things (the list is larger but these are the realistic ones)...
1. Request an RMA from us and send the unit in for repair.
2. Contact the point of sale and exchange the controller for a new one.
If you go with #2 let me know where you go it so I can look for it when they send it in for credit.
Now for the controller discussion...
8-bit(0-255) and 10-bit(0-1024) are the resolutions you are looking really looking for. Once you go over 10-bit you either have to increase the physical travel of the stick
significantly or you are never going to notice. It's simply too much for no gain. Most people have hard time keeping the stick from moving 3/16 of and inch (measured from the trigger) and even then what is the reason to do so? When I fly I seldom hold the stick in an exact position for more than twenty seconds and that is usually when I am trying to refuel. When I need it that steady and numb to my inputs I use a script in the Control Manager to change the response curve of the pot and use a mode switch or shifted function to turn toggle it on the fly. Truth is anything over 10-bit is wasted unless you have the physical travel in the controller to really get some use out of it, and as far as I know no desktop joystick has that travel. But it looks sexy on a box or a web page, and that's why you hear about it.
So you say "why is the Fighterstick (Combatstick, Flightstick Pro) 8-bit?"
10-bit is on the wish list. Hardware changes are simple as long as we stay with an analog pot going to an AtoD converter. But why stay on a pot? There is a
long list of items that are on the new product development wish list for the next generation of our joysticks. We have cut some of that development time with the purchase of a Z Corp 3D printer
(that was just for you Kermit) as well as a Konica Minolta non contacting 3D digitizer and some serious software. But that is only half the way. Molds are made here in San Diego at our factory. It's not farmed out to China. So there is still a great deal of time and capitol that has to go into a new controller. Especially if it has to meet ALL of the requirements of my wish list.
Software changes are significant no two ways about it. Currently the our software dev is working on Windows Vista (x86 and 64) versions of the Control Manager. We felt this was far more pressing.
Ok I am done. I am going to bed and I will check back here tomorrow.
P.S.
Shaky --> Check your PM's
