Previously I'd been using an old CH Products Flight Yoke I had. It was pretty old and beat up, worked ok, but was a pain to attach to my desk. So for xmas the wife got me the Saitek Cessna Pro-Flight yoke.

 

Its a very nice yoke, has a far superior means of connecting it to my desk which works flawlessly, has a flat top to it so I can even set my keyboard on it, has nice software for programming it, and has a full range of left/right motion.

 

However....it has these really noticeable "detents" in both the elevator travel and aileron travel. As you move the ailerons or elevators through their full range of travel you really notice those detents. In addition, the springs on the Yoke seem very weak which seems to make the detents even more noticeable.

 

I've got quite a few hours Cessnas and there are no "detents" and this feeling of "detents" in the travel when there shouldn't be is killing me. Instead of a smooth range of travel, it tends to 'stick' on that detent either moving the ailerons or elevators which makes for very erratic flight control...especially on approach. You ease the yoke forward for a small correction, it hits that detent and then 'snaps' out of it causing you to overcorrect. Then you pull back to correct and it starts to correct your pitch just fine, until that yoke hits the detent again, snaps out of it, and then overcorrects the opposite direction. This causes a sort of porpoising through the air.

 

I was wondering what others with this Yoke felt about this, especially if you fly or have flown in real life as well? Did you get used to the yoke? Or is there some sort of modification that folks do to somehow remove those detents? That would be great if it was the later and if you happen to have a link to some sort of "how to" document that would be terrific.

 

I really like the yoke but I'm having a hard time controlling the aircraft with it.

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Saitek products are of very poor quality I'm afraid, but I've built an entire cockpit from them. I hated the design of my old CH yoke and TQ which it replaced. For the money there is no alternative, but I wish Saitek had a top range of products were quality was in focus.

 

The yoke isn't very smooth as you say, but the design is nice. I've had mine replaced twice because of an electrical issue with the buttons.

 

The TQ levers becomes very loose after a while, which can make them jumpy as well. I've had to replace my set once allready, and my second pair is starting to deteriorate after just a year of use.

 

The TPM has very good build quality, and is better than the rest of my Saitek components. That said, quality is bad there too. The throttle lever is not good, but the other two works very well (smooth and with perfect resistance).

 

The dials of the autopilot and radios are hard to use accuratly.

 

The switch panel is the best of the bunch. Cheap, plasticy and with noisy buttons, but it hasn't failed me once.

I just erased my entire post because I realized I had given a long winded answer to something that you had never asked in the first place. I was talking about "sticktion" and how to cut apart a plastic bearing ring inside the unit to alleviate it, but you were talking about the central detent. Ooops, sorry :pardon:

Hi KingGhidorah

 

Lately I've become extremely frustrated by the pitch response of the various FSX A/C but have worked around most of those problems by modifying the aircraft.cfg file. What still irritates me,however, is the problem you aptly describe as sticktion. I've a Saitek Pro Flight Yoke and I've considered dissasembling it to see what could be done to reduce or eliminate this sticktion problem. Perhaps you saved your "long winded answer" to the sticktion problem" in notepad or Word and can quickly post for my benefit. I'd be most interested to read it.

 

cheers, Al

Sure, Al, here is basically the jist of what I had said: If you unscrew the lid of the yoke, you will find a hard plastic bearing ring immediately inside the place where the shaft exits the box. This is too tight and is the cause of your sticktion. If you take a rotary saw or perhaps even work at it with a single edged razor blade, you will be able to make a relief cut in it to alleviate the tightness.

 

I don't really remember if I actually completely removed the plastic ring, or if I just let it "float" in there with the saw cut, but this should at least fix the stickiness factor. I seem to remember that I actually sawed through the thing and then cracked it off and removed it completely, because when you screw the lid back on it will be held straight by that, but you'll have to look in there and see if it is necessary to remove the plastic ring altogether.

 

Keep in mind, you will still have a central detent, but the movement of the stick will now be pretty light to the touch. That might annoy some people, but I found it was no problem and certainly a lot better than the stickiness. Keep that in mind though...

 

Understandably, people don't want to get a brand new thing and immediately take a saw to it! If you're worried about that (which I certainly was at first), you might try a plastic friendly lubricant at first and see if that will work without having to resort to the primitive surgery I describe.

Many thx KingG..

 

I'll give it a go. I've crashed my RC helicopter a time or twenty and repaired it well enough to get it to fly again, so I should be up to doing this. If nothing else an inspection to see how it works

 

happy new year

 

Al

Thanks KingGhidorah,

 

Thanks for going back in and posting that information...

 

I'm really glad you did because I do believe I'm experiencing this 'stiction' problem you describe as well.

 

At the moment, I'm still on the fence on whether I'm going to keep this yoke or not. I've got 2 yokes...an old CH Products Flight Sim Yoke I got back in 2005 and this new Saitek/Cessna Pro Flight. I wish I could leave them alone in a room together, maybe some wine and soft music, let them breed and then use their offspring

 

I like the "feel" and the performance of the CH Products Yoke head and shoulders above the Saitek/Cessna. But I really like the utility, the features, the programming, and the way the Saitek/Cessna attaches to the desk.