Author Topic: new joystick (Read 1078 times)

Bear76 · « **Reply #30 on:** October 03, 2005, 09:07:55 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Flayed1

I would say the X52 is a significant upgrade from the 45.... but like I said thats just my opinnion....

Well it had to be an improvement. The X45 was poorly made. If you play alot like I do and apparently you don't, they will break(X45). Can't speak on the X52. Never used it. I went CH and never looked back.

GunnerCAF · « **Reply #31 on:** October 03, 2005, 10:29:56 PM »

Ten years ago I got my first real joystick. I won a TM FLCS/TQS on the AW boards on Delphi. At the time it was about a $300 stick/throttle. It served me well and is still in use on my kids PC. I now have a TM Cougar. Two sticks in 10 years, and I fly at least one night or more a week for the past 10 years. Can anyone beat that?

Gunner

Mr No Name · « **Reply #32 on:** October 04, 2005, 12:47:33 AM »

I have used a variety of sticks, thrustmaster (lasted 2 weeks), logitech(1-day blunders), gravis firebird(best stick for bombing in AW), saitek x45 (took it back because throttle was too small for my hand), MS PP, MS PP2, MS FF2, but none of them can touch my 10 year old CH rig for reliability and 'feel'.

That big pricetag is easily offset by the quality of CH products when my rig does bite the dust i will replace it with a CH USB rig

Flayed1 · « **Reply #33 on:** October 04, 2005, 01:48:15 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Bear76
Well it had to be an improvement. The X45 was poorly made. If you play alot like I do and apparently you don't, they will break(X45). Can't speak on the X52. Never used it. I went CH and never looked back.

LOL boy you got that wrong... The part about me not playing alot lol I'm a stay at home dad and I spend wayyyyyy too much time flying. Some times all day for 3 or more days in a row

Take today for example started flying at noon and was flying till 9pm similar to yesterday.

Wife tends to get cranky about the house not being clean for some reason.

But I stopped smoking to play this game so she don't say to much.
Like I said the only thing wrong with my X52 after many many hours of play is smooth spots where my hands have rubbed the paint off. I don't know Y they just don't incorperate the silver color directly into the plastic.
Oh and same here I can only speek for my Cyborg 3D gold and the X52 as I have never had an X45 it seemed a little on the cheep side as far as quality when I was looking at buying one lucky I waited as this is not the case with the 52.

Furball · « **Reply #34 on:** October 04, 2005, 01:53:51 AM »

i ordered a very barely used Sidewinder PP2 off of ebay on sunday - cost me £39 it is boxed as new. The person only paid £39.99 new when they got it from the store so havent really made a loss.

I have seen these joysticks for sale for £150.00 brand new on amazon.

Charge · « **Reply #35 on:** October 04, 2005, 04:08:32 AM »

I wouldn't recommend Cougar to someone not able to do maintenance by himself. The quality seems to be rather varying as some people have been able to use them even a year without problems (or more?!?) and I know a guy who has his fourth Cougar and it is already broken, too. Yeah, its all metal, but the mechanism is not very robust and the springs are too stiff although they are pretty easy to loosen. OTOH it has many cool hi-tech mods available but they are rather expensive.

http://cougar.frugalsworld.com/

I'd recommend buying CH. Only annoying feature I have noticed in it is that the stick is not getting stiffer at its extremes but near the middle after which it gradually loosens. Maybe it could be modded but that could make its lifespan shorter because its all plastic mechanism prolly couldn't handle the strain.

PS. I had a lot of mechanical problems with my Cougar but not anymore, but its really not a "TM Cougar" anymore as only things left from original are the handle and the circuit board...

http://www.savanne.org/kuvat/HypCoug1_resize.jpg

Wilbus · « **Reply #36 on:** October 04, 2005, 05:11:49 AM »

Hey Brooke, I am not sure it is in the pedals. I use CH controll manager to calibirate them, maybe I should try uninstall it.

The spiking is is much like the spiking of any other joystick when the pots are bad, if I, say, move the pedals 50% and hold them there, the actual input displayed in AH (looking at stick settings and even looking at the planes rudder) change from maybe 45-55% so it is not stable at the 50% it should be, it goes up and down.

These are two pictures I took of the spiking, check the top right of the picture, will see what it looks like.

I have also noticed what you talk about, very small movement of the pedal gives you full response, don't think I still suffer from that though.

I will try and write CH tech support once more and ask for a replacement pot (IMO they owe me that much). I can't send the pedals back, costs too much to send them to the US. There are stores in Europe of course but that would cost quite much aswell + I have opened them up because they refused to send me a pot in the first place. I had to try and find out what was wrong with it. It is most likely the pot, possibly a cable as far as I can tell.

Replacing it my self will be no problem.

Thank you very much for the offer, I will keep it in mind after I have talked to CH support again!

Charge · « **Reply #37 on:** October 04, 2005, 05:27:03 AM »

Wil, have you checked the wire to pots that they are OK? If a pot gives a spike to its max deflection with only a slight movement I would assume a wire is loose or broken.

One problem could also be the bad positioning of pot in the first place. The pot is mounted slightly in a bad position which causes the carbon film to wear through and thus start malfunctioning. This can be easily verified by measuring between the middle pin and either of the side pins. The spiking should be evident then the axle is moved slowly.

The standard pots are not usually suitable as replacements as their resistance is divided on 270 deg of movememnt whereas in joy pots the resistance is divided to less than 90 deg of movement.

But they could be modified to suit the purpose, of course.

-C+

PS. As replacements I would use plastic film pots as they are more durable. They are usually not used because they are more expensive and they do not endure electric currents too well.

Wilbus · « **Reply #38 on:** October 04, 2005, 05:43:58 AM »

Yup Charge I've checked the Wires, AKAK told me about the bad possitioning of the pot aswell but non of the wires look bad or are squezed anywhere which is why I more or less have come to the conclusion that it is the pot.

As for replacing the pot, I will only do so with a default 100k pot from CH or a pair of CH pedals. No other pots should be needed IMO.

Thanks

Charge · « **Reply #39 on:** October 04, 2005, 05:48:49 AM »

Rgr, If the pot change doesn't do the trick it could be useful to resolder the connector pins if there are any on the circuit bord side. They may often have very small fractures in the solders which causes weird or erratic funtioning.

-C+

Wilbus · « **Reply #40 on:** October 04, 2005, 05:54:49 AM »

Will check that aswell Charge, thanks

Brooke · « **Reply #41 on:** October 04, 2005, 01:44:07 PM »

Wow, Wilbus -- that does look bad.

Just for the heck of it, because it might be quick to try compared to replacing potentiometers, you might want to try the following, even if it has a low chance of eliminating the spiking. Try uninstalling the CH software in "Control Panel -> Add/Remove programs". Then try removing the pedals with the "remove" button in "Control Panel -> Game Controllers". Unplug the USB pedals, reboot your computer, and plug them back in and make sure you get a message from the computer saying that it found new hardware then recognized them as CH Pedals. Now, without calibrating anything at all, go back into AH and see what it looks like.

If that doesn't work, feel free to e-mail me your address, and I'll send you my spare CH game-port pedals.

Wilbus · « **Reply #42 on:** October 04, 2005, 01:52:07 PM »

Thanks Brooke will try it!!

Yes that is REALLY bad, I've succeeded in minimizing it but still getting the occasional big spikes. And I always have micro spiking, very noticable when looking back at the rudder when on the runway, it just moves very rapidly in both directions (although small movements).

Will try it

Edbert · « **Reply #43 on:** October 04, 2005, 02:44:31 PM »

I used the FCS/WCS, the FLCS/TQS, and the F22/TQS between 1989 and 2002, so I am dyed-in-the-wool TM fanboi. I pre-ordered a Cougar when it was announced and a year+ later I got it. It worked flawlessly for almost two years before I started to wear it out. TM support used to be the best in the business for US customers, but since TM was sold to a french outfit our (US) customer service sucks. But I hear otherwise from my European friends so take that as one opinion only.

I now have the billet inserts, hall effect sensors, and the "Uber-2-NXT" gimbal assembly installed in her. I can say without hesitation that this is the greatest stick you can buy for $1,000.00.

Wilbus · « **Reply #44 on:** October 04, 2005, 02:57:05 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Edbert
I can say without hesitation that this is the greatest stick you can buy for $1,000.00.

That's just the problem. There are pretty much no other sticks out there on the general market anywhere near $1000.

I am using a stock cougar and like it alot, many feutures I love with it. But would like to replace the springs in the future to get a constant resictance in it. Would like hall sensors aswell. But I think it is a great stick even in its stock format.