I've made a few posts on this. I didn't feel that the new firmware was such a problem, nor do I feel the throttle repair is a big deal (they've supposedly corrected the issue in the builds now). I took mine apart and fixed the issue which is just a matter of re-routing a wire. While 'technically' this might void my warranty, I don't think it will be an issue, nor do I think they would even be able to tell I opened it up.
I love almost everything about the stick. It feels good. The quality seems to be decent. Aside from the reversal bug, the stick is actually very precise.
There are two (ok.. three issues) that I have with the stick. I'll list these in order from lowest to highest of an issue for me.
1> Trims. There are no detents. You have to look down at them to make sure they are centered. I'm also not fond of the joystick's "self calibrating" feature which makes it do goofy things until you run it all through all fields of movement, but that's only something you have to do once each time the computer boots.
2> Customer Service. Many people have many questions about about various issues, and Logitech refuses to give any kind of answers. They must hire retired politicians to do their customer service. I called them and was told they would forward my problems and they would get back to me. They never did. Online support resulted in me getting a "form letter" type of reply in broken English, and the issue was officially "closed" with no answer given and nothing resolved. Their online Forums are a mess, full of people who are tired of these obvious design flaws but even more tired of Logitech's lack of support.
3> Reversal Bug. I demonstrated it in a video at youtube
HERE. I know the numbers are hard to read, but if you switch the video to 480p and squint, you'll see what it's doing. The bug is easy to recreate. Pick an axis (any axis). Throttle, toe brake, stick, trim.. it doesn't matter. Pull up the corresponding value reported by Aces High (in the joystick settings menu). Very slowly move that axis until the value changes.. then slowly keep moving it until it changes again. You'll see the numbers 'jump' the same amount each time (Example... 23040, 23070, 24000, 24030, 24060... in this example it jumps "30" each change). Now stop and slowly go the opposite direction. You'll notice that a lot of movement happens with no change in value, then the value will make a huge jump all at once.. then if you keep continuing in that same direction, it will once again change just as before (example... 24060.. still 24060.. still 24060.. now 22000.. 21070, 21040... in this example it "jumps" over 2000 and then continues changing 30 each time). And it will be consistent until you once again start going back the other way. Keep in mind my 'examples' are slightly exaggerated to show my point... but not by that much.
Now for 'normal' flying in which you simply have to take off.. fly level.. and then land this isn't much of an issue.. but if you require precision then this is a huge downfall. Zoom way in and try to plant your guns onto an enemy tank... it gets tougher than normal.
Logitech admitted that there was a problem with their potentiometer axis (everything but the stick itself which uses hall effect sensors instead of potentiometers) and added 'hysteresis' adjustments to those axes in their 5.09 software version (and firmware upgrade). This was all fine and dandy except 1> no matter what you set the hysteresis settings to it seemed to make no difference.. and 2> it doesn't even apply to the most critical axes!
Logitech's engineers used to frequent their message boards, helping out where they can (much like how Skuzzy and company do here) and made mention of a "ground up" drivers and software package that was going to fix all of these issues and make great things happen with this stick, but they would be delayed because they wanted to update their original drivers first (from 5.08 to 5.09) to try to stop-gap repair these immediate issues because people were really starting to complain. Several months later, their engineers
BRAGGED about the new 5.09 drivers and how they have been tested thoroughly and fixed all of the issues.
Once word got out that the problems were in fact, NOT fixed... they disappeared off of the face of the earth. Now, whenever people start demanding to talk with someone to get some kind of a resemblance of information, they get reminded by someone who seems like a bot that "the forums are for peer-to-peer assistance only", and that the staff at Logitech aren't required to say anything.. or even visit.. the message boards. I understand that some users were 'verbally abusing' (so to speak.. er type) the engineers as things got very heated for awhile, but you know what... some of these people paid upwards of $400 for this hardware, and Logitech wasn't exactly proving the stick's value. And while it could have been handled better, I can't really blame a lot of them. But to just disappear and refuse to give any information or help whatsoever.. that's just ridiculous. At least if they could verify that this was in fact a software/firmware issue, them maybe someone could make a custom firmware to correct it.. but no one has every really yet tried.
Our best hope at this point is that Logitech finally finishes the ALL NEW 6.0 software and that the reversal bug is a firmware and/or software issue (and not a hardware issue) and is also repaired with the 6.0 software, but a lot of us aren't exactly holding our breath any more.
It is a shame too because it IS indeed a great piece of hardware.. it just has this one 'bug'. I purchased my stick knowing of this issue (and banking that a later software release would correct it all) because I found an awesome deal on it ($199 new with free shipping from Amazon). There is no way I would have paid $300 plus knowing all of that. Now, if the issues were NOT present, I would have GLADLY paid $350-400.
Do I regret my purchase? Oh no. I still use it every time I fly. The force feedback is INCREDIBLE (even compared to older logitech and MS ff sticks), but had I paid twice that I would probably be extremely bitter.. not just moderately bitter as I am now.
