CH Products have announced their new Eclipse yoke. More buttons but perhaps most importantly a new 'non-binding' shaft which is my biggest gripe with the current yoke.http://www.chproducts.com/retail/y_eclipse.htmlDoes anyone have this yet and if so, is it a big improvement over the current one?Cheers,

It may be my lack of imagination, but I can't see what I'd do with those new buttons on the front.....Petraeus

It may be my lack of imagination, but I can't see what I'd do with those new buttons on the front.....The extra buttons wasn't my main consideration. It was these...

>>but it shows CH are aware that the shaft is its weak point.That was my first thought as I read through the product description too, Ray -- and those "improvements" seem to be the only offerings on this new, completely overpriced piece of hardware. And I see they didn't do anything to change that rounded top and absolutely stupid placement of those silly throttle handles. Do you suppose anyone at CH has ever actually used Flight Simulator? If this is the best response they could come up with to the Saitek yoke (a company which sucks in it's own right, but for completely different reasons), not only are they in trouble, but far more upsetting, so are we!** Sigh ** GD it! I was really hoping they would do better!

Their marketing dept must be out of their minds!250$ for the same lame old design, instead of improving the looks AND functionality...Those buttons on the front may be useful for F1 drivers, but have no practical purpose for FS!From what I see, they took one of their yokes, drilled some holes on the center, placed some buttons, maybe changed the axle to a better one. And they are asking 100$ more than the Saitek, which by no means is perfect, BUT, it has separate throttle, better looks, ergonomically placed buttons that you don't have to struggle to reach with your thumb, and metal axle from the start!BTW, has anyone EVER used the trim wheels on the CH ?!?!?!George DorkofikisAthens, HellasPS. Just my personal opinion of course!http://online.vatsimindicators.net/811520/1704.png

Hi Chuck,and those "improvements" seem to be the only offerings on this new, completely overpriced piece of hardware. And I see they didn't do anything to change that rounded top and absolutely stupid placement of those silly throttle handles. Do you suppose anyone at CH has ever actually used Flight Simulator?As FS9/X is the biggest flight simulator program in the market you would think they would run some sort of poll to determine what we want from a yoke.They seem firmly fixed on the concept that simmers are flying single-engined aircraft. I'm sure it wouldn't have been beyond them to come up with a yoke with up to 4 engine controls but that would have killed the two separate throttle systems.And as for that price. I don't mind if after conversion it ends up at 150UKP but importers here will charge 275UKP which is outrageous.Cheers,

I agree its a pretty poor offering and It seems to completely lack imagination. What are CH actually paying their engineers??? Same old design albeit a couple of shoddy looking buttons that they have slapped on the front. And paddle shifters?!?!?! I can't remember the last time I used my CH yoke to play a motor racing game, A yoke really should be just a yoke. I've tried the Saitek one and didn't think that was much better. I think the market is still open for a new and better challenger. It's way too expensive as well.

Greetings from the city of brotherly love, Ray . . . and everyone else! It's a muggy one here and it's only 10 AM.I'm in Marketing and t's a rare event to see arguably the most well established manufacturer of a product come out against new competition by taking their old design, fixing only one thing that's (drastically) wrong with the design, and then charging not only 70% more for it, but 100% more than your competition's newer design, the competition who has better adressed market needs ergonomically.I'm flying with my "good old" CH Yoke and separate throttle box right now and thank god for the MSFS auto pilot! After buying and returning 3 separate Saitek Yokes and Throttles over a 3 month period, I'd been waiting to see what CH was going to do, convinced they would improve in order to combat Saitek's incursion on "their" market. What a ruddy disappointment! I'm actually thinking of giving Saitek a fourth chance now.If AVSIM would let us open up an unofficial Saitek support forum here, I'd be on Amazon.com right now ordering.

After using a CH yoke & pedals for a number of years, the introduction of their newest edition is a direct INSULT to the people who are flying extremely sophisticated aircraft who's software is nothing more than absolute perfection. One example is the PMDG line of aircraft and I'm sure many other software companies that have their own accurate replications.I would be willing to spend a few more dollars than they are asking considering that computers along with video cards and all the other items necessary to fly these days are considerably more than a CH yoke that is of cheap design and I'm sure the same da** functionality with a few more fancy buttons in the wrong places etc. Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed after emailing CH several times to have them consider manufacturing a yoke that would be somewhere in between the Saitek and the Precision Flight Controls yoke.Talk about extremely poor engineering, marketing and sales.....It doesn't get any worse....Bye, bye CH......DUH!!!!!!!Regards & just my 2 cents worth of opinion.jack

>>If you run Radar Contact those extra buttons could be>configured for the responses removing the need for a keyboard.>:-)I do run Radar Contact. So the Co-pilot handles all my Comms.Why keep a dog and bark yourself? ;-)Petraeus

I do run Radar Contact. So the Co-pilot handles all my Comms.Why keep a dog and bark yourself? ;-):-lol Ah but the co-pilot only acks an instruction and then tunes and makes contact with the controller. That's one or two buttons depending on your configuration.How do you choose different menu options such as Request Higher/Lower, Direct To and the Emergency sub-menu? If you have buttons assigned to those key commands it makes life a lot easier.Of course I'm not suggesting you buy an over-priced yoke purely for those reasons but you can never have too many buttons. Look at all those options available in FSUIPC.

I think the new yoke is an attempt at a quick turn-around to stem the hordes of simmers moving away from CH... at least I hope so. Hopefully, this was their "quick fix" while giving them time to develop a new design. But I have already moved on to Saitek and have not looked back. Next on my list is their new Switch Panel. I think Saitek has a good pulse on what simmers want... good design, descent performance at an acceptable price. It's catch up time for CH.

I somewhat agree with most comments on the new yoke. Did not even know a new one will be released. It would have been to CH's benefit if they were to offer some sort of upgrade/trade in to users like myself who have put up with the problems of the existing yoke for quite sometime. But I guess it would be too much to ask.Street price might be 20% or so less so it may not be a bad deal for new users. I will wait and seeBill

Hello everyone.I just want to address the "buttons" remarks.There are Never enough buttons, if you want to have a Keyboard free flight. The only way I found to have a keyboard less flight is to use

I'm not flying with the Eclipse, but when I saw the story I was very intrigued about the yoke. My first generation CH Yoke is still functional, however it has seen better days.The one word to describe me feelings on the Eclipse:UnderwhelmedWhile you can never have too many buttons, the face of the yoke itself now looks silly with those additional lighted pushbuttons. The finger paddles, again additional buttons notwithstanding, look horrifically out of place for a flight yoke. If CH was to apply the new materials and free-floating shaft concept into their "standard" flight yoke, they could expect my purchase when my original finally breaks down. Otherwise, I'll probably hold back. I'd rather gain the extra buttons by purchasing a CH Throttle Quad vs. the new yoke. -Greg