Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: FLOOB on May 19, 2016, 09:06:40 AM

Title: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: FLOOB on May 19, 2016, 09:06:40 AM
What was the worst joystick you ever had? For me it was a saitek x36.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: puller on May 19, 2016, 09:07:45 AM
Blasphemy!!!!  :old:

I loved my X36...used it until about a month ago....if I had the money I would get another one off ebay... :rock
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: FLOOB on May 19, 2016, 09:40:09 AM
Maybe I got unlucky but the one I had was coarse, didn't lend its self to precision adjustments. Spikey X and Y and needed calibrating like every other day. It felt like a toilet plunger. And the switches on the throttle (I stopped using the stick after a couple weeks) began failing within a year.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: waystin2 on May 19, 2016, 10:21:19 AM
The one I broke.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: FLOOB on May 19, 2016, 10:26:27 AM
The one I broke.
You only had one break?
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: BuckShot on May 19, 2016, 10:52:53 AM
Saitek Cyborg X = junk

They changed the name and color but still sell it.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: waystin2 on May 19, 2016, 10:57:12 AM
You only had one break?
Recently.  Up to my fourth X42 in 9 years.   :lol
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Drane on May 19, 2016, 10:58:00 AM
Logitech Extreme 3D Pro was the worst I ever had. Had to take it back and 2nd stick was just as bad. Giant deadband, spiking, ended up ripping the stick off the base in frustration.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Bizman on May 19, 2016, 12:15:37 PM
I haven't had a bad joystick so far. Each one of them has served well for the price. Starting from CH Mach2, Konix Speedking 2 button version, Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital 3D, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Thrustmaster Top Gun Afterburner II and TM T.16000M. The last two are still in use simultaneously with some modifying.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Devil 505 on May 19, 2016, 01:15:15 PM
Logitech 3D pro.

I bought one in a pinch from the local Best Buy after my TM Hotas-X broke it's hat switch the day before FSO. That damn 3D pro had a terrible button layout and the stick action was extremely stiff to the point that the base would lift off the table before the stick reached max travel.

Bought Friday afternoon - returned Saturday morning.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Mano on May 19, 2016, 02:23:52 PM
my experience with Logitech ------> Disposable. :bhead
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Gman on May 19, 2016, 02:53:59 PM
I've been lucky, had a long line of pretty much every HOTAS and decent stick ever made, and not had a lot of problems with any, as I tend to change/upgrade very often.  Kept CH USD hotas the longest, and never broken anything with them.

The worse I guess though would be the very first Cougar that came out from TM.  Mine had a ton of center slop, and no amount of mods, tricks, software curve changes/etc, could get rid of it - you could move the stick a good 1/3 of an inch and no response would happen.  This doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a TON, believe me, and I ended up getting rid of it and getting another one, which didn't have that problem.  Very frustrating I remember, as I had given away my CH set when the Cougar came in, and in those early days of AH, I couldn't hit anything with that first Cougar (it was a review set anyhow, and probably that was why it had problems, early, very early build).
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Brooke on May 19, 2016, 03:24:33 PM
No bad joystick so far.  They have all been CH Products since the early '90's (except for a cheap Saitek or two, which while cheap in function, was expected to be so because of low price and was thus OK on performance/price).
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Scca on May 19, 2016, 03:35:57 PM
No bad joystick so far.  They have all been CH Products since the early '90's (except for a cheap Saitek or two, which while cheap in function, was expected to be so because of low price and was thus OK on performance/price).
Hope it doesn't break.  CH doesn't sell parts anymore.  CH also = disposable...
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: FLOOB on May 19, 2016, 04:03:15 PM
No bad joystick so far.  They have all been CH Products since the early '90's (except for a cheap Saitek or two, which while cheap in function, was expected to be so because of low price and was thus OK on performance/price).
Well the thing with that statement is. The best joysick I've ever had and still use was also the cheapest.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Brooke on May 19, 2016, 04:14:51 PM
Well the thing with that statement is. The best joysick I've ever had and still use was also the cheapest.

I'm all for performance/price and not just performance.  :aok  I have a $500 Dell and a $130 nVidia graphics card, which I'm very happy with on performance/price.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Chalenge on May 19, 2016, 04:50:13 PM
The enthusiast crowd are the ones that provide funding for the advancement of the GPU technologies, so whether you spend $50 or $1000 you help the entire industry, and gaming genre. I have been disappointed before when I bought into a very expensive line and just a year later the product failed completely, but that only brought on the opportunity to buy something even more powerful.

When it comes to joysticks that is almost never true. Joysticks are like cars. Cars are fun to look at, sometimes fun to drive, but after some time they just get old. Cars are, after all, just cars. If your car gives you a problem you either fix it, or trade it in on a new model. The same is true of joysticks, except gamers tend to stick to a particular model. The reason I have not bought into the more expensive sticks is that I know down inside of that stick is a component that is going to fail, and while that stick is out for repair (that is, if the company is even still around) I will either be forced to use a junk stick, or go without.

That is why I, and I presume many gamers, stick to the brand they know even when said brand has an ever increasing failure rate.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: caldera on May 19, 2016, 05:35:52 PM
The worst for me was something called a FLY-5 something or other, by MadCatz.   Total garbage from the get-go.

Tried most sticks out there and X-52 is my favorite.  Great ergonomics but don't last very long, due to ham-fisted operator.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: pipz on May 19, 2016, 06:25:15 PM
Thrustmaster Warthog.
If I wanted a work out I would join the gym.  :old:  :joystick:
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: SIK1 on May 19, 2016, 06:34:56 PM
Thrustmaster Warthog.
If I wanted a work out I would join the gym.  :old:  :joystick:

If you feel that the Warthog is a workout maybe you should join the gym.  :D

The worse stick I ever had was a Gravis two button. It was just an all around bad stick. The stick I'm most disappointed in would be the Warthog, for poor build quality.

 :salute
Sik
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Pollock on May 19, 2016, 06:51:48 PM
Microsoft sidewinder FFB
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Scca on May 19, 2016, 07:32:26 PM
Thrustmaster Warthog.
If I wanted a work out I would join the gym.  :old:  :joystick:
It is a stiff one. I just got mine. After only a week I look like this
(http://goldenmuscles.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Arnold.jpg)

Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: MADe on May 19, 2016, 09:40:38 PM
1st one I built. :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: guncrasher on May 19, 2016, 10:17:35 PM
ch fighterstick.  owned 3 of them.  1 i returned.  second i put under a 50,000 lb of steel and the 3rd i gave away.


semp
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Gman on May 20, 2016, 02:02:16 AM
Heh, so far as a "workout" stick, anyone remember the TM F22/F16 TQS hotas from the late 90s?  That stick had by far the stiffest springs of anything out there, you would almost think it was a force sensor stick like the x65 if you didn't know any better.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Brooke on May 20, 2016, 02:05:27 AM
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9f/0b/37/9f0b37392cbfcd7577de728a74706289.jpg)
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Bizman on May 20, 2016, 02:17:42 AM
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9f/0b/37/9f0b37392cbfcd7577de728a74706289.jpg)

The T.16000M is ambidextrous, it comes with a thumb pad for both hands.

Having been offered a moment of flying in an ultra light plane with a center positioned stick I can say that maneuvering a plane with your left hand feels very insecure at first.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Bear76 on May 20, 2016, 02:07:08 PM
Saitek X45. Looks like a 6 year old soldered it and never got more than 6 months out of one.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: pipz on May 20, 2016, 08:49:52 PM
If you feel that the Warthog is a workout maybe you should join the gym.  :D

I prefer using my energies for grabbing the next bag of delicious crips!  :old:  :D
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: hgtonyvi on May 21, 2016, 01:59:41 AM
Logitech 3d pro.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Greebo on May 21, 2016, 04:41:56 AM
Many years ago my first HOTAS stick was a Thrustmaster and I hated it. Coming from a CH two button stick I found the pivoting action had no feel and was nowhere near as smooth, with the springs clanking as they came under tension. In the end I grafted the pistol grip with all its extra buttons and hat onto the CH stick base and got something I could be happy with. This lasted me until CH brought out the Fighterstick Pro.
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: MajWoody on May 25, 2016, 04:41:33 AM
Logitech 3d pro.
+1
Title: Re: Worst joystick you ever had?
Post by: Gman on May 25, 2016, 12:05:48 PM
I sure wish CH would produce new sticks - same idea in terms of the smoothness and ease of throwing them around, but with newer tech sensors (I realize there are +/- with both hall and pots sensors), maybe a newer/different design, but stick with their overall idea.  They could sure use a new throttle that's for sure, pedals as well, I'd be happy with a Fighterstick with hall sensors in it myself.

Too bad the original owner sold CH, he seemed to truly care, AkAk worked for him IIRC, and since that sale, they've really done a nose dive.  No more selling parts, awful work on the inside of many new sticks, and so on.  Terrible customer service response times, and once those responses come, they rarely have anything good to say.