The original Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro

[Perrine]

May I ask do you already have a Gameport Sidewinder? You do seem quite determined I must say, despite all the advice in this thread. Do you not have such a thing as BluTack where you live? Some players use that to secure their stick to their desk.

For the past few days I've been eyeing on this unmolested stick and its got a bundled game that I really wanted to re-play.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120619096443

and here's where I'm really focused about the original MS FF (as seen on box)

Digital-Optical Technology:  Meet the Challenges of any game - Microsoft's digital-optical technology provides pinpoint accuracy, no drift, and no wear and tear.

I can live without FF and auto-center position as long as I get the feature above.

[Ghastly]

The no wear and tear part is definitely less than entirely accurate.  What happened to all of mine is that eventually, the hat switch switches go, and at the same time, the "post" that is attached to the hat that pushes them wears - and the socket the post sits in wears, such that without some sort of surgery, eventually it's a goner.  Each of mine lasted about a year before it started to get flakey, and then increasingly so over the next six months until (I believe) I couldn't look "left and back" any more.  (It may have been right and back, but I don't think so...)

Of course, at the time, I was playing 15-20 hours or so a week, so a year of use was not insignificant.  On the other hand, some guys do that in 2 days...

Without force effects programming, the FF sticks would autocenter with a "medium" force, so while I can't guarantee it for sure, I'd be shocked if it doesn't simply behave like a "normal" joystick in that regard when attached via the USB converter.

<S>

[Ghastly]

I can live without force feedback feature... but will it all its buttons, HAT, throttle and X/Y/Z axis work?
I kinda want the original because it's the heaviest joystick known to man, and I don't want the joystick to leave the table when I yank it hard

Actually, if that's what you want, you want the Logitech Wingman Force.

This...

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-963155-0403-WingMan-Force-Joystick/dp/B00000JDG3



not this

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-963223-0403-Wingman-Force-3D/dp/B00004VUFH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1284699009&sr=8-1



Behemoth described it nicely - with the forces all the way up it could take all your strength to pull out of a dive.

<S>

[nrshida]

Have to bear in mind that as with most products they are built to a strict price. It's true about the optical sensors but the joystick of course has lots of other moving parts.

One can keep a product going well past its expected lifespan if you're handy and resourceful but it's best to strike a balance.

Take potentiometers for example, the ones in the cheaper joysticks are so poo that I'm surprised they work for more than a few weeks at all. Given that the joysticks rely on them completely to work, they literally are still the cheapest ones a manufacturer can buy.

I built my own throttle and I also liked the idea of less moving parts, I investigated Hall effect sensors and optical sensors but ended up using Vishay industrial pots rated to 5,000,000 rotations. I've even got a few spares.

I wish you luck with your decisions Perrine, perhaps you'll let us know how it all works out and give us a review.

Regards, nrshida.