Gave my old one to Geeman (man, talk about excited! Took him 5 min. to settle down!) since the bushings around the base of the stick were getting alittle sloppy, stick still worked excellent, never replaced the pots, just alittle too sloppy for my tastes.
Bought a 'refurbished' X36 combo for $39 bucks..expected the worst, found out its a brand new friggin' stick! More than pleased!
My summary of HOTAS sticks:
(Note: I am quite 'hard' on sticks, I either bolt them down, or use this super duper double back tape to hold them to the table, I bang them, trash them, slam them side to side...after all, being a user-end beta tester for Thrustmaster in 94,95 taught me to do that! Right SOB?
)
1990-1996 TM products(analog)Good stuff for its time, but alot of maintainence, pot replacements, spring replacements. Had to sodder new pots on. Hat switches wore out regularly. Programmability learning curve for me on scale from one to ten: 2 (pain in the bellybutton until you learned it)
1996-2000 CH Products (analog)Also good stuff, not as 'tight' as TM products but you get used to it. Never replaced a spring, never had slop. Pots needed changing every 2 months. No soddering, simply pull the clip, push the new one on, took 3 min to change pots.Hat switches didn't wear out as fast as TM, but still wore out eventually (within 6 months) Programmability learning curve for me on scale from one to ten: 9 (very easy)
2000 to present: Saitek X36 (Digital)Carefree, no spring changes, no pot changes, only wear around gromment at base, though it did not affect flight, only the 'throw' of the stick manually. Nary a hat switch has worn out. Programmability learning curve for me on scale from one to ten: 4 (easier than learning TM)
Verdict for me: Saitek X36 is best I've used in 10 years of HOTAS set ups simply because I've never opened it up in 10 months.
[ 08-15-2001: Message edited by: Ripsnort ]
