CH Pedals - advice needed from those who own!

[Guest cosfordvigilante]

Having made do with just a stick for the past year and a half, I'm looking to pick up a decent second hand pair of pedals, so am scouting round for them at present. CH Pedals look like the best bet at present, but I'm getting a bit confused about the different variations out there. Here are a few questions that I thought people who own a pair might know the answer to:- Did the older versions of the pedals have only ON/OFF braking on the toebrakes and not gradual braking (hoping to not land myself with the former, as having proper braking control seems the whole point of the excercise!)?- Were there any disadvantages to the ones with Gameport connectors rather than USB?- I've got a Gameport joystick. Can you set up the pedals to be used with a Gameport stick (have read a couple of articles about the older pedals that suggest this might be a problem), either with the USB or Gameport pedals? - Lastly, how quickly do the moving parts wear out on these things?I know there are probably loads of happy CH owners on here, hoping to be one soon myself!

[FLEX1978 373]

If your going to get second hand pedels I Would really advise going for USB or you may have a lot of trouble with control spikes. I have some old CH gameport pedels and they were nothing but trouble. I bought the Saitek pedels and they are 100 times better, more solid a lot bigger and you can adjust the tension.Rob

[Guest jahman]

Sinnce you said "I'm looking to pick up a decent second hand pair of pedals", definitely go with the USB version (gameports are totally out these days).My USB pedals have proportional toe braking. I have no idea if previous models hade only on/off braking, but I would be surprised if they did because they would be quite useless for braking. In any case you can check with CH Products support at their web.Very solidly built unit, if I may add...Enjoy!

[tstiegler 0]

Hi,I've moved to the USB version a year ago or so. I still have my gameport yoke and pedals somewhere. You can get them for nothing but the shipment from Germany (I don't know if its worth, depends on where you are living). Yoke and pedals are in good condition, but the game port version did not have toe breaks at all. Another issue might be that "modern" operating systems may not support the game port accordingly and I don't know if there CH will supply drivers.Regards, Thomas

[Guest cosfordvigilante]

Hey, thanks guys, amazed by how many replies came in overnight. I agree, the Saitek pedals look a lot more heavy duty, but my buget is really small right now, so looks like it's CH Pedals or no pedals!Going to get the USB pedals definately, but still a bit worried about the uncertain issue of mixing a Gameport joystick with USB pedals. Anybody know what the deal is with this?Thanks again!

[Mariopilot 9]

Hello!Here I have a strange setup: gameport joystick 8MS Sidewinder FFeedback 1) and gameport pedals (modified sidewinder pedals connetced to home-made gameport peripheral). It does really not matter if you have one USB or one Gameport controller as long as you don't assign them the same function (e.g remove rudder axis control from joystick). Windows Vista appears not to support gameports so again go with USB pedals (if your joystickyoke is gameport and or USB it will not matter as long as you have a place to connect the pedals). From here I don't see that much price difference between SAitek and CH pedals, and SITEK looks definitely better (I may one day buy their new yoke once it works properly and their pedals if I can affor them..).As long as you can, get USB thingies, they are faster, more precise and best of all, plug-'n-play!http://www.mario.wspilots.com/signature_forum.gifhttp://www.mariopilot.6x.to

[Guest fullstoplanding]

If your budget can handle it, Amazon has new CH pedals for $97.99. I think if your purchase is over $25 the shipping is free. A while back I bought the CH yoke and pedals at a combination price which was cheaper than buying each separately. Though, when I looked just now I didn't see that offer. If you care to check the pedals out, Google: Amazon>CH yoke. The pedals were the 2nd item down.--Roger

[Guest cosfordvigilante]

Looks like the Saitek get quite a few votes here, plus they've come down in price on certain retail site here in the UK (Pixmania doing a good deal right now). Have read a few horror stories on the Saitek forum about them locking up, but apparently Saitek are sending out little plastic triangles for you to fit yourself (!) and putting the mod into new pedals from the factory.Any Saitek owners had problems like I described? The Saitek look a lot more sturdy to me, despite this problem.

[Guest sunbear]

I purchased the Saitek rudder pedals and had a lockup problem after a few months of use. I called Saitek and they told me that this was a design flaw and they have since corrected the problem on all new production. They issued me a RMA- Return Material Authorization- and I sent them back. They sent me new rudder pedals in about 2 weeks turn-around and I'm very happy with them.They allow you to adjust the tension which is very important in flying. I had the CH pedals and they aren't even close to what I consider the real feel. Same with the CH yoke which is as unreal as it gets.For the money and the quality and functionality that it gives, I would definitely buy the Saitek pedals. Haven't tried their yoke but it's got to be a whole lot better than the cheap plastic CH one. Can't understand why CH hasn't come up with a better intermediate priced yoke & rudder system that halfway replicates the real deal. The software end of the flightsim world is way ahead of the hardware. We spend thousands of dollars on computers and monitors and overlook the most important aspects of flying and that is a good solid feeling yoke, rudder & throttle quad...Keep in mind that this is my opinion only.jack

[Glynn 405]

HelloMy old gameport CH pedals had proportional brakes, all you need to do is plug the two spare plugs together and you get the brakes workingVista now has a gameport driver availableXP supports gameports just finehttp://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/bo...essage.id=13336I am using a Gameport PFC yoke and PFC cirrus pedals believe me thay are a lot better than my CH USB yoke and pedals.http://www.freewebs.com/reading1871/30.jpg

[Glynn 405]

HelloI have used USB yokes with Gameport pedals without any problemshttp://www.freewebs.com/reading1871/30.jpg

[Guest sunbear]

>Hello>My old gameport CH pedals had proportional brakes, all you>need to do is plug the two spare plugs together and you get>the brakes working>Vista now has a gameport driver available>XP supports gameports just fine>>http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/bo...essage.id=13336>>I am using a Gameport PFC yoke and PFC cirrus pedals believe>me thay are a lot better than my CH USB yoke and pedals.>>http://www.freewebs.com/reading1871/30.jpgMaddog,"I am using a Gameport PFC yoke and PFC cirrus pedals believe me thay are a lot better than my CH USB yoke and pedals."Can you elaborate on your yoke? Is it a column yoke or a desktop mounted type? and what do you like about it over the CH yoke & pedals.jack