Saitek vs CH Products Throttle Quadrants

[19dcavscout 39]

I am sorry if this is posted elsewhere but I searched and could not find anything. I am in the market for a new throttle system and I am between the CH Products throttle quadrant and 2x Saitek throttle sets. How do they compare? I would love to fork out more money for something a bit more expensive, but that is not possible right now.  Any recomendations? Thank you.

[hiway 1]

I bought the classic twin pro from this company; I've been using them for about 1 year now without a problem.

 

http://www.fsxthrottle.com/

 

I had to change some levers and the knobs to suit myself, but the unit itself is very sturdy and reliable. And if needed, the  customer support is quick and good.   -  Paul

[BaldyB 20]

I am sorry if this is posted elsewhere but I searched and could not find anything. I am in the market for a new throttle system and I am between the CH Products throttle quadrant and 2x Saitek throttle sets. How do they compare? I would love to fork out more money for something a bit more expensive, but that is not possible right now.  Any recomendations? Thank you.

 

Never had Saitek. Did own C&H yoke, pedals and quadrant. The quadrant died but the pedals and yoke have been going strong for about 15 years, I did have a brief problem with the yoke's shaft sticking a bit, a one time spray with Prestone Dry Silicon cured it for good.

The Prestone stuff is very slippery but dry. I used it on a Lincoln Premier I had with leather bench seat and left the divider up, big mistake! Made a left and found myself in the passengers seat, barley able to recover.

I will by another quadrant for PMDG's Queen. The C&H has 4 actual throttle levers!

Best

BaldyB

[Glynn 405]

 

 

The C&H has 4 actual throttle levers!

six

[BaldyB 20]

six

 

Has six levers yes! The 747's all have four (4) throttles, haven't you noticed?

BaldyB

[stans 702]

I've been using my CH Fighterstick, Pro Pedals, and Throttle Quadrant for several years with no problems.

[KenG 492]

I have the Saitek but have never tried the CH Products.

 

I have the Saitek Yoke, Rudder, and extra throttle quad. The Yoke feels OK but it is plastic, has that plastic feel and wobbles around just a little. The shaft is metal and is spring centered. The springs are a little stiff giving a hard detent you have to push/pull through. (There are mods on the internet of replacing the springs with rubber bands.) It makes fine adjustment a little difficult such as on an instrument approach and during flare.

 

The rudder peddles would great and have decent forward and aft movement. I had to glue mine to one of those office chair pads to keep it from sliding on the carpet. The throttle quad adds three more levers to the Yoke and six more buttons. The quads also have a reverse detent (which is just a button) or through FSUIPC you can set up a reverse area. The potentiometers in the quad are rather cheap and I already have throttle displacement across two throttles on the same quad. Since most aircraft engines are not rigged perfectly it adds a little realism in that you have a 1/4 to 1/2 knob displacement.

 

The setup is rather large and takes up a good amount of desk real estate. I have my yoke and 2x quads glued to a piece of shelving so I can move them as a unit. Also, the standard clamps require a table and not a desk, so I use some Irwin quick grip clamps to clamp the shelf with the yoke and quads to my desk. When I am done I can release the quick grip clamps and remove the entire unit.

 

Overall I'd say that the price versus quality of the Saitek controls is good. You are not going to get professional controls in the $300 range. The one issue I have had with these is the drivers conflict with one developer's software. As such I can no longer enjoy my C750.  I would also suggest that a registered copy of FSUIPC is a must with these controls. Helps with setting things up and tuning the controls. 

[19dcavscout 39]

I have the Saitek but have never tried the CH Products.

 

I have the Saitek Yoke, Rudder, and extra throttle quad. The Yoke feels OK but it is plastic, has that plastic feel and wobbles around just a little. The shaft is metal and is spring centered. The springs are a little stiff giving a hard detent you have to push/pull through. (There are mods on the internet of replacing the springs with rubber bands.) It makes fine adjustment a little difficult such as on an instrument approach and during flare.

 

The rudder peddles would great and have decent forward and aft movement. I had to glue mine to one of those office chair pads to keep it from sliding on the carpet. The throttle quad adds three more levers to the Yoke and six more buttons. The quads also have a reverse detent (which is just a button) or through FSUIPC you can set up a reverse area. The potentiometers in the quad are rather cheap and I already have throttle displacement across two throttles on the same quad. Since most aircraft engines are not rigged perfectly it adds a little realism in that you have a 1/4 to 1/2 knob displacement.

 

The setup is rather large and takes up a good amount of desk real estate. I have my yoke and 2x quads glued to a piece of shelving so I can move them as a unit. Also, the standard clamps require a table and not a desk, so I use some Irwin quick grip clamps to clamp the shelf with the yoke and quads to my desk. When I am done I can release the quick grip clamps and remove the entire unit.

 

Overall I'd say that the price versus quality of the Saitek controls is good. You are not going to get professional controls in the $300 range. The one issue I have had with these is the drivers conflict with one developer's software. As such I can no longer enjoy my C750.  I would also suggest that a registered copy of FSUIPC is a must with these controls. Helps with setting things up and tuning the controls. 

Thank you for your response. I have a GoFlight Yoke and a set of MFG Crosswind pedals, so I do not need those. I am mainly looking for a new throttle is all. Again, thank you again.

[Freo 83]

Just bought myself a new throttle set. VirtualFly TQ6, they are a bit on the expensive side and are made in Spain. All metal construction, and the levers are geared, and tension adjustable. They have  positive reverse detents for Power/Prop and Mixture, but the one drawback is, that unlike the Saitek quadrants, the detents do not activate any switches. 

 

I gave up on my Goflight quadrant, too many problems, then my Saitek ones started playing up as well. Hopefully, this will be the last set I have to buy !!!

 

Cheers

[harrry 322]

Never had Saitek. Did own C&H yoke, pedals and quadrant. The quadrant died but the pedals and yoke have been going strong for about 15 years, I did have a brief problem with the yoke's shaft sticking a bit, a one time spray with Prestone Dry Silicon cured it for good.

The Prestone stuff is very slippery but dry. I used it on a Lincoln Premier I had with leather bench seat and left the divider up, big mistake! Made a left and found myself in the passengers seat, barley able to recover.

I will by another quadrant for PMDG's Queen. The C&H has 4 actual throttle levers!

Best

BaldyB

that would have been a popular product in the days of no seat belts and bench seats....In Australia we used to call Right hand corners   COD corners (Come over darling) and had the technigue of making them just right

Saitek throttle quadrants do link together ratther realisticly.

[JimmiG 244]

I've only used the Saitek quadrants that come with their yokes, first the one that came with my regular Saitek yoke, then the one that came with the Cessna Saitek yoke.

 

The first one felt rather nasty. It made a very unpleasant scratching sound when moving the levers, and didn't feel very smooth, although the response was actually good, no jitters or skipped values.

The second one, they've obviously used more lubrication. You can literally hear the gooey stuff getting squeezed around when you move the levers. If you move the levers fully forward or aft, they kind of stick slightly (not a huge issue, but noticeable). At least it doesn't make that scratchy sound, but only because they went overboard with the lubricant.

Also, the levers are plastic, and quite easy to break if you accidentally knock them sideways.

 

Considering they came as for free with the yokes, they're OK, but if buying a quadrant separately, I would pick another brand.

[Demious 23]

I started out with the Saitek yoke with throttle, but the throttle was defective. I returned it no less than 8 times, untill I decided to just get a CH. I've got it for over 2 years now and I never had any problems with it and if there's anything at all, the service from CH is amazing!

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

The CH throttle quadrant has six levers, so can be configured for twin engine GA aircraft (incl. turboprops) or for airliners with up to 4 engines (plus speedbrake lever, plus flaps lever).

It also has six 2-way-buttons to assing further functions (toggle gear, arm speedbrake etc.)

Finally it has a physical detent on each of the six levers, fairly close to the lower stop, which intuitively divides the range in forward thrust and reverse thrust (works even without a registered FSUIPC for the FSL A320-X, for example).

 

Love it so far, a bit expensive, though, I have no experience with the Saitek throttles, unfortunately.

[vortex681 806]

One other thing to consider is that the amount of lever movement is greater for the Saitek compared to the CH quadrant. I've had a Saitek quadrant for about 3 years now and, although the levers feel a little "plasticy", it's worked faultlessly with no calibration problems.

[19dcavscout 39]

Thank you so much for your responses.  I have decided on the Quattro Throttle with several upgrades from fsxthrottle.com. I will let everyone know how it goes.  So far the customer service has been exceptional.