What is a good choice in a , use for FS and CFS, joystick? I can't seem to find a selection anywhere lately. Thanks...Roger

I use a basic wingman force feedback.I am sure there are better, but I like this one, it works well.

Theres one joystick that stands above the rest - the Saitek X45. I got my X45 a month ago, and I LOVE IT :). I don't see how I even survived with my old Logitech Wingman Digital 3d after using the X45, its that good. Quite pricy though (~$80 US), but to me, it was well worth the price. If you like lotsa buttons and knobs and an extremely precise joystick, look no farther than the X45 :).

Some months ago I felt like you are feeling now. I didn't know what joystick to buy. One of those days I got into e-Bay and typed "yoke" just to have a look if there was any worthy offer. I found a CH yoke and pedals at $150. They were gameport instead of USB, and I had read they didn't work with Windows XP (the one I have). I bidded $155 thinking I was never going to win it and forgot for a couple of days until I got an e-mail saying I had won. I was a bit relunctant to buy the thing since it was supposed to be non compatible with XP, but I did anyway thinking I was going to manage some way.I got it, proved it and IT WORKED. The only thing I could never make work was the throttle, which I replaced with my old USB joystick. So since then I fly with Yoke, pedals and throttle from my joystick.Believe me, if you have the chance of buying yoke and pedals, you will never go back to a joystick.Leo

I find the Saitek Cyborg Evo to be very good; loads of buttons,smooth action, very precise, and it looks dead cool too ;)As another point worth mentioning, like many Saitek sticks, it's good for lefties too!! Infact I use it with my left hand, although I'm right handed, have it to the left of my keyboard, and as I do a lot of flying with Airbus's, it kind of feels more 'realistick' to use it like a side-stick!

Zack,I just picked up an X45 last week to replace a dead Sidewinder. So far I really like it, but I'm trying to figure out two switches on the throttle - one is labeled M1, M2, and M3, and the other is Aux1 and Aux2. I can find absolutely no documentation on the CD or the Saitek website about these. Any idea what they do?

What you want is a Microsoft force feedback two joystick. This is the case owing the general high quality in evidence throughout. I used to have a cyborg and it was fine for freespace and other more combat based games but I found it to be too imprecise for fs9. The force feedback really adds a new level to the sim and now I couldn

I used to use the Microsoft Sidewinder FF2, then I bought FS9 and it would not work at all with it, so I went to the Logitech Wingman Force 3d and it is ok, I really miss my sidewinder. Has anyone else had this problem, and is there a trick to get it to work with FS9?Thanks

I agree with Zack, for the money the X45 is very good. I'm still on the X36 and it's brilliant.DNelson, as I understand it, the M1,M2,M3 is so you can assign the same switch to three different things. Trouble is, you need a mind like a computer to remember what you assigned to what. Personaly, I find there are more than enough buttons for FS without multi functioning them.Russell.

what version of windows do you use?

Thanks everybody for all the good opinions. I'll be using it with XP. I had an old Sidewinder but gave it away several months ago. I am looking to replace it with something. Leo, I have the gameport CH Products yoke and pro pedals also. At first CH said that they would not support them with XP (I was upgrading from 98). However, they have a driver on their site to make the gameport version compatable. All my features work, including the throttle. Roger

Thanks for the advice Roger. I downloaded the patch several months ago and never was able to make it work. I have to mention that having a throttle in my joystick I didn't try more than a couple of times, just decided to use both controllers (actually in real life the throttle is not attached to the yoke, so it doesn't matter to me at all).I assume you want the joystick to fly jet-fighters.Regards,Leo

The M# switch is to program different modes into the stick...You need to use Saitek's software to do this or else one of the 3rd party versions out there...The 3rd party software is suposed to be more powerfull but Saitek's is easier to use and it does everything I want it to do. Basically with the software you have 6 comands that you can program most of the buttons to do....IE the M# switch puts the stick in one of 3 modes so that's 3 commands per button, but you can also program the bottom slide toggle on the stick to be a shift button....Thereby giving you 2 commands per button for each mode...2x3=6 :)The Aux switch basically just operates as 2 (or 3?) buttons, with each position of the switch programmable to do something when it gets switched to that position. You can program that button within FS or with Saitek's software.Hope that helps

I use the shift button to do what is very similar but different, so to speak... If button1 = Gear, then Shift1 = hand crank the Gear (when hydraulics are out).To reverse panning mode in 3D cockpit: the shift key plus the hat moves eyepoint straightRight, straightLeft, straightUp, straightDown, but the same hat without the shift is panRight, panLeft, panUp, panDown... I reserve the Mode switch for scary things: such as bailout, drop tanks, arm big bertha, or tell my wingman he's free to stop covering my behind...

I use the CH yoke, flightstick, and pedals, and I'll probably get their throttle when I can afford it. The pedals also have differential braking. Their software allows for non linear control of ailerons, elevators, and rudder. You can set these axis to be less sensative near their center of movement for more precise control and still have full range of movement for control surfaces. Its as good as you can get for an affordable price but you won't have force feedback, which is a major thing to consider.David