Hi all after using my venerable old Microsoft joystick for the last few years i feel the time haS COME FOR ME TO switch to a good control yoke. can anyone recommend a really good one for under $500 and do u feel a control makes any difference vs..a joystick good or bad?

I picked up a Vmax Flight Systems control yoke at the Avsim conference and I simply love it. It's got a great feel and solid metal construction that's head and shoulders above my old CH Yoke. Of course the CH yoke gave me years of good service and it was very affordable, so I'm not down on it really, it's just that my new yoke feels oh so nice! Having said that, I'm also beta testing Russel Dirks' new FS-Force module that is a replacement for the force feedback effects in FS. It's just a completely awesome bit of work, and it will prove quite popular I predict. I'm using it in conjunction with an older Logitech Force Feedback stick (no longer available, but you can still pick one up on Ebay) and it's providing superb force feedback and some of the most realistic trimming functions I've ever felt. I'm hard pressed to choose between this great yoke and my $15 stick now! So if you're open to different controllers, I'd think about getting a FFB stick once Russel releases FS-Force. It'll knock your socks off!thanks,

Ever since Bill Womack designed the finest scenery ever designed for flight simulator (how am I doing, Bill?) due for release on December 25 (worth a backhander?) as freeware (OK, maybe not), he's had very grand ideas about how he should be flying his R4D-6. The Vmax Flight Systems yoke is far too shiny and new-Boeing-like for scruffy taildragger pirates like me and I will continue to spill coffee over my CH Products yoke for some years to come, hopefully (the CH yoke, that is, not spilling the coffee). Seriously (why? you got this far) if you're trying a yoke for the first time, you won't go far wrong with the CH unit. Mine doesn't even squeak yet.The important thing is that if you go this route you can buy the pedals as well and still have change of $500 ... and then you will find your sim is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE. Yo. You will wonder why you spent all that money replacing graphics cards that do nothing special and what's more it's great exercise for the toesies too.Fly helicopters! Fly anything! But fly!Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontP.S. Still have my Logi Wingperson Extreme set up in parallel, of course, as you can, so that you can fly stick/pedals too.http://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

I love my Vmax AFCSII yoke. Combined with the ch pro pedals flightsmmin is great. I also have a MS swidewinder 2 that I use for helo ops when I feel the urge.Next item on it's way is the Elite King Air throttle quadrant.

Ever since Bill Rambow let me fire up the R4D and terrorize Avsim conference goers by taxiing wildly about the airfield, I've been searching for a way to recreate the experience in my home cockpit. Here's a shot of me in my basement with my homemade R4D and Vmax yoke. Note that my copilot, like Mark, is using a CH yoke -- it's attached to his carseat along with a nifty little horn so he can beep-beep at pedestrians as we tool down the virtual highways knocking over phone poles. What's that you say? These things will fly, too? Where's the fun in that?http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/52919.jpg