CH Eclipse Yoke Impressions

[Alec 370]

Hey guys!!I have just been offered an opportunity to buy the CH Eclipse Yoke second hand. How many people here has one? How is it after years of use? I read about the CH plastic shaft not being good for precision flight after continuous wear.How would you recommend it to me against the Saitek? I read the Saitek has really crappy potentiometers, so I'd probably open it and change mine for higher quality ones.Thank you!

[Guest jahman]

I have the regular CH Yoke and it works just fine after many years of use.Any stickiness in the plastic shaft can be removed with via a $5 can of Dupont Teflon Silicone.Cheers,- jahman.

[Alec 370]

ThanksIf I can buy it I'll let you know

[vololiberista 205]

I have had one for 5 years. All I did was to open it up and give it a good spray with silicone oil. It's very smooth.vololiberista

[Gary A 8]

No comment on the Eclipse or Saitek, but I have had the regular CH yolk I think they called it the LE, for many years no issues.

[Alec 370]

Too late, the guy already sold it to someone else. I'm goint for the Saitek thenThanks guys

[GHarrall 494]

I had the CH yoke for the last 10 years with zero issues (and using the teflon spray)Wife just got me the Saitek yoke. Love it, especially the sperate throttle quadrant. Only minor gripe is the center detent for the yoke. No biggie though, makes the calibration a little easier and makes more sense in the sim I think anyway. RW is another story......

[Alec 370]

People seem to prefer the Saitek to CH when comparing to the real thing. That's why I'm going Saitek now, the only problem are the potentiometers, they are definitely cheap ones, and I don't think I've seen anyone doing this kind of mod. The throttle quadrant is another huge plus, I''m just waiting until I can find a cheap unit

[Kosta 122]

Had Saitek for a week, tried all kinds of mods, worst piece of hardware I ever owned, sold it. Good luck.

[Alec 370]

Really? Did you try replacing the pots for high quality ones?Here in Brazil I don't have acess to high quality yoke, like PFC and others, so there isn't much to choose, it's Saitek vs CH

[Guest jahman]

Really? Did you try replacing the pots for high quality ones?Here in Brazil I don't have acess to high quality yoke, like PFC and others, so there isn't much to choose, it's Saitek vs CH

You cant buy the PFC yoke in the US and have it FedExed to Brazil?Cheers,- jahman.

[Alec 370]

We have to pay very heavy tax over imported product here. 60% of the price, including the shipping cost, so a 500 dollars yoke is out of the question for me unfortunately

[Guest jahman]

Sorry to hear that!Some options:

1. The brazilian government heavily subsidizes the aerospace industry, so there might be special lower import duties for PCATD (PA_Assisted Training DEVICE) hardware. Check with FedEx Brazil and ask to speak with a customs specialist to assist with importation regulations consulting.
2. Also check with PFC as they may have prior export expertise.
3. A local flight sim club could help.
4. Also any brazilian manufacturer of professional flight sim equipment.
5. See if Embraer manufactures their own flight simulators for their aircraft and since they surely import many of the parts they could offer advice. Tell them you are building a full-fledged Embraer 900 simulator in your garage :Whistle: and are getting started with the yoke!

Good luck!Cheers,- jahman.

[Alec 370]

Thanks for your interest in helping meYes, there is a brazilian manufacturer of flight sim equipment. Unfortunately I've had the displeasure of owning one of it's equipment, and it was garbage. Luckly the seller accepted to refund me, since it came with a problem he didn't know about. The name of the company is GS Produtos, and the pots and stuff inside their product is the worst ever! So I'm done trying to get brazilian made FS hardware. It's really not that easy to do things here in Brazil, so it's better to get one of the cheap ones, or get prepared to spend big bucks on the high quality ones, which I'm not.

[Kosta 122]

Really? Did you try replacing the pots for high quality ones?Here in Brazil I don't have acess to high quality yoke, like PFC and others, so there isn't much to choose, it's Saitek vs CH

It wasn't a pot problem. For me it was stickiness of the yoke, flying with one hand (takeoff for instance) was nearly impossible to do precisely. No matter what, the yoke was never really smooth and the huge problem is a plastic rings on the metal shaft. They simply don't go together well. Plastic on plastic might work better, I dunno...