Personally, I would recommend against getting a set of pedals. However, I also say junk the twisty stick. I recommend instead that you get the Saitek X45 with the rudder rocker under the throttle.
I got a set of Thrustmaster pedals way back in the mid-90s and they served me very well for many years. I used them with 2 generations of TM sticks and throttles, and then later with a CH stick and throttle.
But several years ago, my CH stuff wore out and TM at that time was out of business. I was tired of the limited functionality of CH stuff compared to what TM used to have, so I decided to risk something else. Besides, I wanted to go digital, being tired of pots getting dirty, and USB as well. Thus, I got the Saitek (which at that time was called the X36), which had even more functionality than my older TM stuff.
The Saitek, as noted above, doesn't have rudder pedals. Instead, it's got a rocker bar on the bottom side of the throttle handle, which you work with the middle and ring fingers of the left hand. This did NOT sound like a good idea to me, and caused me real reluctance in making the purchase. But finally, it came down to only Saitek at that time offering the functionality I wanted, so I figured I'd take a risk on it. It took me a week or so to get used to it, and to figure out how to set the damping and deadbands to give me the desired degree of control. However, once I got it all sorted out, I fell in love with the Saitek rocker. I now like it way better than I ever did my pedals.
As I see it, the rocker has the following advantages over pedals:
- Doesn't slip out of position on the floor, or require a mount on the floor to keep it stationary
- No wire coming up from below the desk to tangle your foot on, run over with your chair's wheels, etc.
- Doesn't get all full of dirt, chip crumbs, pet hair, and spiders because it's not on the floor. These aren't as big a concern these days with digital gear, but even without pots the crap can still gunk up pedals and you might get a spider bite if you fly barefoot.
- Allows you to change your sitting position easily during flight because you're not tied to where the pedals are. This is wonderful during long scenario hops.
Anyway, I'm sold on the Saitek thing and recommend it as a better alternative to pedals.
