Pedals, CH or Saitek

[Coshy]

I'm going to be getting a set of rudder pedals soon and I have a few questions that haven't been answered by visits to the manufacturers sites. I'm hoping a couple of you can help me out a little.

Size - How big is the base on each of these?

How far apart are the pedals? The CH pedals look to be closer together than the saitek ones, but I cant seem to find any measurements. I'm mainly looking for the instep-to-instep measurement.

How long is the saitek cord? The CH one advertises as 7 feet long. One reviewer at newegg.com mentioned the cord on the saitek was a little short.

Tension - Saitek has an adjustable tension knob, the CH does not. With that being said, my X52 throttle has a tension adjustment that I've never touched. Is the tension adjustment on the Saitek pedals as useless as the tension adjustment on my throttle?

Construction - The CH pedals look a little more 'solid' than then saitek ones. Any opinions on the construction of either?

Durability - I'm a bit of a hamfisted pilot most of the time, and I have no doubt I'll be a hamfooted one as well. How well have your pedals (saitek or CH) stood up to your use?

To anyone who has used both ... what are the pros & cons of each and which would you purchase (again)?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[fuzeman]

4' instep to instep on my older analog/gameport ch Pro pedals. Cant say fo sure if USB ones are the same but I'd assume so

[wrag]

USB CH peds are further apart the analog version!

about 6 maybe 7 inch's I think. Didn't measure just looked at em.

[SD67]

If you can afford it go CH every time, I've got Saitek gear at the moment, pedals coming in a few days. I'll post a write up if you wish.

[The Fugitive]

CH Pro pedals here.

Base is 14 inches deep, 12 inches wide, instep to instep is 4 inches.

Spring tension is pretty solid, but not adjustable. I wear a 10 1/2 "wide" shoe and my feet fit comfortably. In my reading I did about pedals most said you wouldn't want to rest your feet on the pedals all the time because you might be aplying pressure with out knowing it and flying sidewards.

I weight over 250.... don't tell the wife !!!  I'm a big boy and I keep my feet on the pedals most of the time and have no trouble staying centered. The spring tension is strong enough for the "heavy footed" and and they have a good "detent" at the "center possition so it is very easy to settle back to centered.

I have never played with Saitek, but am very happy with my CH gear ( I have the full set-up running through a powered USB hub).

[Coshy]

Thanks for the responses so far!

I'm a fairly "burly" guy myself and ask about the pedal distance for a fat thighed comfort standpoint. No sense in flying if I cant be comfortable doing it!

The place I'm looking at (newegg.com) has the CH at $114US and the Saitek at $129US. So they are in the same ballpark, which is why I'm having a difficult time making my decision.

SD, if you wouldnt mind shooting me a write up (via PM as this thread will probably be dead in a few days) I'd surely appreciate it.

[HomeBoy]

Originally posted by wrag
USB CH peds are further apart the analog version!

about 6 maybe 7 inch's I think. Didn't measure just looked at em.

Sorry to disagree with you wrag but the USB and Gameport versions are identical.  You may be thinking of the old "non-pro" version which only had the toe brake movement and no rudder action.  Those were about 6" closer together.

[wrag]

Originally posted by HomeBoy
Sorry to disagree with you wrag but the USB and Gameport versions are identical.  You may be thinking of the old "non-pro" version which only had the toe brake movement and no rudder action.  Those were about 6" closer together.

Yep I are!

Got a pair of the OLD toe rockers

Changing over to the sliders was interesting and from time to time I still rock the peds instead of sliding.

[airspro]

Buy these from this website .

You won't be sorry , trust me .

http://www.provantage.com/ch-300-111~7CHPU00K.htm

[alskahawk]

Coshy check amazon.com(I know, Amazon?) got mine there for 98$ not sure how much for saitek.

[HomeBoy]

Many of you know what a CH bigot I am.  

That said, I would love to try a pair of those Saitek peds as I like the look of them.  Especially being spaced apart a good bit more than the CH ones.  If I was in the market for peds I would certainly be willing to give the Saiteks a try.  I would say I'd get a pair when my CH peds are worn out.  Problem is, CH stuff never dies!

I'm curious,  who has had a pair of Saitek peds for a year or more?  Do they still work as well as when you bought them?  Would you buy them again if to do over?

Anyway, good luck Coshy on whatever you decide to do!

Keep us posted.

[Update:  I've been reading reviews on Amazon about the Saitek peds.
Several people mentioned that they are a bit on the lightweight side.  I was wondering about that.  One guy said he reinforced them with some fiberglass strips and they worked great after that.  That was not very encouraging.  You certainly can't accuse CH peds of being lightweight.  Something to consider I guess.]

[alskahawk]

I still have a set of serial port Ch pro pedals from the early days of airwarrior. And we all know how much we flew back then. 3 to 4 hours a day more on the weekends for at least 4 years. Then several years of Nascar. Its tough to break a set of CH's they may not be the most realistic but they are the energizer bunny of pedals.

[68Wooley]

I've had the Saitek peddals for about 9 months. Generally, I like them - I've had no problems with spikes on either the rudder or toe brake actions and they stay calibrated.

I've only a couple of notes:

1. The tension knob doesn't really make much of a difference.
2. They could do with a little more feel in the central position - its relatively easy to be applying rudder without meaning to.
3. The peddals will slide about on a carpeted floor.
4. On two occassions after me being particularly ham-footed, the pedals have jammed in the fully deflected posiiton. It took a fair bit of force to release them afterwards although nothing seemed to be harmed in the process.

Like I said, I pretty happy with them and have no intention of replacing them until the break. If / when that does happen, Ill probably try the CH peddals for comparision.

[Condor]

CH pedals will slide on a carpeted floor also.  My solution was heavy duty Velcro (hook side) on the bottom of the pedals.  It grabs the carpet and they don't slide.

[Wingnutt]

my saitek pedals arrived today..

they are VERY VERY nice, with the removable footrests on they are rather comfortable... and of course the adjustable sized pedals helps aswell.


the tension adjustment makes little difference from soft to firm, but they are reasonably firm anyway


on my carpet.. they slid, so I had to use the included velcrow strips to secure them. no biggie.


be prepared to take a step BACK in skill for a short while (this is true for any pedals) if you have been using s twisty stick..  

ive used mine a few hours total now and im starteng to get comfortable with them.. but im not 100% yet.

the saitek ones cost a little more than CH.. but as with most things, you get what you pay for.