I finally did it

[Widewing]

Originally posted by SkyChimp03
lol the reach is not really  aproblem..  im young not too young i dont have large hands or small i find it hard to belive a full grown man cant reach it. I have to reach to hit red button on fighterstick usb. But my thumb rest on hat easyly.


Grats mak wont say it takes weeks

My point is that you shouldn't have to reach, it should be comfortably under your thumb. For an average sized hand, it isn't. It measures 7 inches from the palm rest to the center of the hat, an inch more than Saitek or Thrustmaster.

My regards,

Widewing

[Gryphons]

Great choice on stick. after going through logitech's and saiteks i went with ch and never looked back. after over a year of use they are still as good as the day i got them, and the software is great for letting you use the stick in games that use ancient code like falcon 4.0, battlefield 2 and apache longbow.  You definatly will not regret the money spent

P.S.  one complaint i've heard over and over again is that Ch throttles will come out of calibration. so after some use you may only be able to get your throttle to go as low as 20% throttle and as high as 80% throttle. it can be a real pain especially in helicopter sims.  But when this happens simply recalibrate the joystick in windows control panel and it will be good for a few months before recalibration.

[Gryphons]

Widewing, have you tried using the hat switch on the throttle for views?  it takes getting used to but it works great and you don't have to reach.  then the hat on the stick can be used for trim or whatever.

[bcee]

Originally posted by Nomak
After years of waiting and a debacle online tonight trying to use an X-52...... I orderd a full CH set up tonight

That is all....... carry on

Dave

There ya go..!...you won`t regret it..........

[KTM520guy]

I love CH stuff. I even bought a CH stick for my real airplane.

[Widewing]

Originally posted by Gryphons
Widewing, have you tried using the hat switch on the throttle for views?  it takes getting used to but it works great and you don't have to reach.  then the hat on the stick can be used for trim or whatever.

I tried that, but it was counter-intuitive to muscle memory. I use the throttle hat for 3/4 high views, especially useful when turning with an enemy.

Rather than relearn, I simply spent a few hours in our machine shop and milled a contoured hand rest for the stick. It matches the contour of the stick. It's retained by a pair of socket-head cap screws in recessed counter-bores. I used black Delrin (a high-impact thermo-plastic) and it looks like it was OEM.

Therefore, the stick now fits me perfectly.

My regards,

Widewing

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by Widewing
My point is that you shouldn't have to reach, it should be comfortably under your thumb. For an average sized hand, it isn't. It measures 7 inches from the palm rest to the center of the hat, an inch more than Saitek or Thrustmaster.

My regards,

Widewing

When I used to be the senior PC tech at CH Products, one of the most common complaints we would receive was that it was too hard to reach some of the buttons on the Combatstick and Fighterstick.  That was because the owner, Chuck Hayes has very large hands, I'm talking about freakishly large hands and the sticks were designed to fit his hands.


ack-ack

[Fencer51]

I am still using the CH stick and throttle that I bought in 1994 for AirWarrior.  Granted it had a 6 year hiatus in there but that still says something for their quality.

[Apar]

Whats wrong with X52?

(<=using it)

[Messiah]

Originally posted by Apar
Whats wrong with X52?

(<=using it)

Heya apar how you been my dutch friend?

The reason I retturned my X 52 was because there was too much travel.  It felt TOO loose for my taste.  I like a tighter feel on a stick for more precise movements and the X 52 just felt sloppy.  However, the throttle and everything else was sweet.

[Kazaa]

I tried moving to the darkside, I brought the whole X52 HOTAS setup and everything.

But at the end of the day my good old ball mouse does the trick for me

[Nomak]

Originally posted by Waffle BAS
so...did you go with the ch throttle or the ch throttle quadrant?

I went with the seperate throttle assy.

Dave

[Nomak]

Originally posted by Reynolds
Damn. How much did THAT run you? Im jealous too! Im so broke im using a Saitek ST290 ($20 stick) and the stick half of a Saitek X-45, because the throttle crapped out. Man I am jealous...

Well..... Thruth is I didnt go looking for any deals.  I paid full price.  It was a bit of an impulsive buy.  The whole deal was $322 from Amazon.  Although I did get free shipping.  Because I got the free shipping though they said the stuff wont be here for 10 days or so.

Dave

[Nomak]

My post may have been a bit misleading....... I am actually am a hard core Microsoft FFB2 user.  I have about 4 of them right now.  Many I bought used on ebay.

I really have 2 problems with my current set up.  I dont like using my FFB2 when flying Falcon4AF.  The game has so many commands to use/remember (way more than AH) that a HOTAS is really the only way to go IMO.

So I had my X-52 all set up for that.  Then when I would go to fly AH I had to switch everything around to get my MSFFB2 working.  A real pain in the butt.  Also.... my "Best" FFB2 is now spiking on elevator input .  

In the past I have stolen parts out of 1 FFB2 to make another one work.  I am just tired of that nonsense.  I am hoping this $300 spent will get me a set up that will work in both games.

In the past I have put off buying new stuff just because I didnt want to deal with the learning curve of a new stick.  However at this point I am so tired of switching stuff back and forth that I really dont care if I suck/cant fly for 6-8 weeks while I learn pedals and a non FFB stick.  Hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

Thx for all the input guys.  I will post a follow up once its up and running.

Dave

[SlapShot]

Originally posted by Widewing
I tried that, but it was counter-intuitive to muscle memory. I use the throttle hat for 3/4 high views, especially useful when turning with an enemy.

Rather than relearn, I simply spent a few hours in our machine shop and milled a contoured hand rest for the stick. It matches the contour of the stick. It's retained by a pair of socket-head cap screws in recessed counter-bores. I used black Delrin (a high-impact thermo-plastic) and it looks like it was OEM.

Therefore, the stick now fits me perfectly.

My regards,

Widewing

WOW !!! ... how hard would it be to make another one ... (hint hint) ... I have large hands, but not looooong fingers so reaching for the hat switch on the stick was causing me fits ... along with the very annoying nipple on the top of the hat ... I was getting a very nasty blister from that sucker.

I filed down the nipple and have somehow adjusted to the reach, I tried to jimmy up something that would accomplish what you did, but I am just not that creative or mechanically inclined to pull it off.