There really is a market for a mid price range yoke around the £250-£300 mark. The choice is either Saitek, CH or silly money!

 

Have to agree with that.  For myself, I've had a CH yoke for many, many years and been very happy with it.  I use the buttons and toggles on the hand for a trim control, a 'mic' button and the rest to change views with EZDOC...very nifty.  If I didn't have them all I would have to have a separate button panel (or use the keyboard...*shudders*).

Thanks for all the input guys.  Most helpful.

 

For lubricant I use Maplin's Silicone Grease PTFE, comes in a spray can, and a little goes a long way.  It's not al all greasy, but pretty slippery.

 

I think I'll go with the standard CH Yoke.  Mostly because it's almost half the price of the others *, and only needs half the life therefore, CH products seem to be reliable despite their build quality, and I already use a CH Pro Throttle, and Fighterstick.

 

BTW, in use I've always felt the Fighterstick more sensitive than the Eclipse.  I wouldn't want to nudge a chopper gently down to rest with the Eclipse Yoke at its best.

 

I wish I knew someone with a Saitek, just to see for myself the difference from CH.  I do have the Saitek pedals, very well built, but I got a chance to buy a CH system, of Eclipse yoke, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals.

 

*Edit:  I seem to have looked in the wrong places.  I see the Flightstore (in the UK) has them all at quite close prices.

 

Cheers, Jim

On the older standard yoke, what often caused the problem with stiffness of the shaft was the plastic bushing on the base of the unit that encapsulated the entry point of the shaft into the base. Depending where you lived and the current weather, this bushing could sometimes expand enough to grab the shaft and restrict movement or make it less smooth. But again, the CH Eclipse design fixed that issue for the most part.

 

 

 

In terms of CH vs Saitek, I do get more returns and warranty claims on Saitek gear than with CH Products gear in general, the exception with Saitek being their rudder pedals which have proven to be the most durable item in the Saitek ProFlight range with very few (almost zero) returns/warranty claims.

 

You don't say anywhere on how many Saitek units you sell compared to CH units....

I've had a CH Yoke for some 7 years. Once a year I take it apart and spray moving parts and joints with silicone spray.  I haven't touched the spring tension which is harsh but if you're flying GA then that mimicks the untrimmed forces quite well.

You don't say anywhere on how many Saitek units you sell compared to CH units....

 

Considering the CH products Yokes have been around for way longer than the Saitek Yokes, we have over the years sold far more CH products. In more recent years however, it is about 50/50 in terms of sales volume.

Hows the saitek cessna yoke doing for returns ( or faults ) if you sell them as i have heard it has the same issues as the pro flight yoke with the shaft sticking when making small adjustments. At the moment im heading for the VrInsight yoke as i can end up doing a lot a of flying when i have the time and i feel the ch yokes and saitek yokes are not really made for heavy use and i believe thats where i went wrong with the pro flight yoke as it was never up for the job that i needed it to do.

 

I have already gone through one pro flight yoke ( lasted about a year ) and me saitek rudder peddals i would say are starting to near the end of their life ( they are about 2 years old and i might service them soon to get a bit more from them ) and me Cyborg X fly 5 junk stick is just that ( not even a year old ) and im waiting the Thrustmaster T-16000M joystick i ordered to turn up

Hows the saitek cessna yoke doing for returns ( or faults ) if you sell them as i have heard it has the same issues as the pro flight yoke with the shaft sticking when making small adjustments.

 

I had a CH Flight Sim Yoke for about 10 years and was able to lessen the sticking by "dusting" the shaft with a cloth moistened with silicone spray lube. I would retract and extend the shaft through the yoke housing to get to as much of the shaft as I could.   I never sprayed the lube directly on the yoke.  I am now 18 months into use of a Saitek Pro Flight Cessna yoke and have never experienced any sticking or binding whatsoever.  The Saitek throttle quadrant is also solid.  The only issue I have had with the Saitek yoke is that it's built in USB hub lacks power to independently drive the led based Saitek Multi Panel.  I find I have to connect the Multi Panel to the computer or to a separate "powered" USB hub.  My Saitek Pro Flight Cessna Pedals are rock solid after the same amount of use.  I've logged about 400 hours of flight in that time (with no time acceleration).

If you're going to spend that much money you might want to consider the PFC yoke Word Not Allowed reviewed a while back.  It has a lot more switches on the yoke handle. 

 

https://flypfc.com/?/products/yokes/cirrus-saab-yoke/

 

 

At the moment im heading for the VrInsight yoke as i can end up doing a lot a of flying when i have the time and i feel the ch yokes and saitek yokes are not really made for heavy use and i believe thats where i went wrong with the pro flight yoke as it was never up for the job that i needed it to do.

 

If you're going to spend that much money you might want to consider the PFC yoke Word Not Allowed reviewed a while back.  It has a fair number of useful switches on it.

 

https://flypfc.com/?/products/yokes/cirrus-saab-yoke/

Sadly i need something i can get in the uk as the delivery costs and import taxs could be equal to the cost of the vrinsight yoke and i doubt they would put gift on the packaging to avoid import taxes as i would probably express it to the uk if that is an option.

 

Really hate waiting for hardware to be delivered by snail mail.

Hi Guys,

 

Just a footnote to my original post really.  I haven't ordered a replacement yet.

 

I've poked around a good deal, as you can imagine.  I came across a message claiming CH pots "almost never" failed, and urging someone to acquire a second hand CH controller, and canibalise it.

I'd also seen a couple of videos on modding the CH Yoke.  So nothing ventured, nothing gained, I took the Eclipse apart.

 

I tightened the slightly loose connections on the pitch and roll pots, and carried out the popular elastic band mod.  I put it all together and again, and it works!

 

I've done a couple of test landings with the very sensitive Real Air Lancair (really a stick aircraft), and landed smooth as silk.  Ditto with a couple of landings with a 737.

 

There you go!

 

Cheers, Jim

Result! :good: