Buyer beware: Logitech Flight Products

[LesOReilly 176]

Just wanted to pass on a little dealing I had with Logitech.

 

Since they are now the proud owners of Saitek don't go looking for parts.  one of my Throttle Quads has a broken Plastic arm....1.2 year old pulled it and it snapped.  Anyway they will not sell any parts even down to the entire sub assembly of the arm, pot and casing.....The only option they gave is to buy an entire replacement Quadrant.......80 Dollars for a cheap plastic part is nuts.....

 

Anyway just be aware that going forward unlike in the Saitek days you will not be able to get parts.....they don't do parts..

 

Happy flying.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

5 minutes ago, LesOReilly said:

Just wanted to pass on a little dealing I had with Logitech.

 

Since they are now the proud owners of Saitek don't go looking for parts.  one of my Throttle Quads has a broken Plastic arm....1.2 year old pulled it and it snapped.  Anyway they will not sell any parts even down to the entire sub assembly of the arm, pot and casing.....The only option they gave is to buy an entire replacement Quadrant.......80 Dollars for a cheap plastic part is nuts.....

 

Anyway just be aware that going forward unlike in the Saitek days you will not be able to get parts.....they don't do parts..

 

Happy flying.

I have been fortunate with my Logitech 3d Pro controller, best controller I ever had, and I had a Logitech mouse that lasted eighteen years.  However my Saitek yoke had challenges not long after purchasing it, and I tried another and had to toss it when it had died.  I was thinking about another when I got my current Logitech, which has a great feel, just like the real sticks I have flown in aircraft equipped with them like my Allegro LSA trainer, the Zenair, and the Luscombe I have flown, as well as the XAir H I flew with Phil Leroy out of his dirt strip in Leroy, AZ. 

I agree that these replacement part schemes are bad though, and I had a small child who used to grab for things and break them, it happens, but at age two I wrote a program for her called MirrorArt which is on the web, to teach her how to use a computer mouse. 

Kids+computers, I feel for you man, I do.  I still remember my daughter's attempts at cave art with crayons on our downstairs wall, or the time I was half asleep and she took scissors to cut my hair (she was taught how to use them, so safe).  I had what could be called a punk rocker haircut at age 42 and my poor wife thought I'd murder my daughter, but I just laughed and laughed as my wife and daughter finished the job and gave me the best free haircut a dad could ever ask for!

John

[bobbyjack 61]

It didn't used to be the case, but newer superglues actually work well on most plastics. The cat knocked our Echo over and the whole upper case broke off  at the screw holes. Small dabs of glue got it back together. Worth a shot.

[Paul Deluca 164]

I had Saitek pedals etc. at one time.  The pedals kept jumping off track,  the joystick had a weak spring.  Flying a commercial jet like a fighter lol!!!  I got mad, and threw it all in the trash. Took the loss, and i bought CH Products. Not bad!!!. I wish they would come with a new design. Same thing with CH . No replaceable parts. Springs in the pedals are a bit weak. They need to reinforce the spring mounts for the brakes with steel. There is a way to replace the springs after the warranty is up. Shown on the net. Even with the adjustments for your gear in XP11, it would be a good idea to look into it. I have my eye on the Thrustmaster TPR pedals when the price comes down. Happy Flying!!!!

[SolRayz 392]

Saitek/Logitech produce a category of products designed to be disposable. Anything of quality is generally orders of magnitude more expensive. You enter into a purchase agreement understanding that basic fact. More a sad testament to our disposable culture and business models pushing quantity and profit, over quality and longevity. Planned obsolescence is by design. 

[fppilot 4,355]

Anybody into 3D printing?  Would that work for parts?

[Paul Deluca 164]

Good point  Frank. I could use replacement knobs  for my throttle quadrant.  Hard to find in the USA. Other parts? Yes. I see there is a company in Italy that makes lever parts to authenticate Boeing, Airbus. It seems that the company is always out of stock. I don't have a printer. Perfect machine for parts.

[G-RFRY 1,708]

Logitech are bargain basement products in terms of flight controls, a bit like paying $30 for a flight stick and expecting parts to repair them. 

[LesOReilly 176]

5 hours ago, rjfry said:

Logitech are bargain basement products in terms of flight controls, a bit like paying $30 for a flight stick and expecting parts to repair them. 

It is not a 30 dollar Joystick....It is an 80 Dollar component that has plenty of moving parts.  The manufacture the parts to make the sub assemblies that then make the final assemblies.  Being able to offer at least at the sub assembly level should not be an issue that they can not sort out.

The idea of planned obsolescence is not always valid.  They have not come out with a replacement model that they want us to move onto so that they can kill off support for the legacy products.  If you are still making new versions of the exact same product then yes you should be offering to sell parts....Parts usually have a 5x or 6x markup from cost....So I could essentially be paying 15-20 dollars for this part.

The point to the post is not about --- Logitech/Saitek Suck and don't buy them....It is literally a post that you will not be able to buy parts and to keep that in consideration.  Not holding them accountable for lacking a certain amount of service should be done and that is why I posted it.

[Jean-Jacques 120]

. . . or the time I was half asleep and she took scissors to cut my hair (she was taught how to use them, so safe).  I had what could be called a punk rocker haircut at age 42 and my poor wife thought I'd murder my daughter, but I just laughed and laughed as my wife and daughter finished the job and gave me the best free haircut a dad could ever ask for!

John

 

Love it! JJ

[Jim Harnes 13]

14 hours ago, LesOReilly said:

Just wanted to pass on a little dealing I had with Logitech.

 

Since they are now the proud owners of Saitek don't go looking for parts.  one of my Throttle Quads has a broken Plastic arm....1.2 year old pulled it and it snapped.  Anyway they will not sell any parts even down to the entire sub assembly of the arm, pot and casing.....The only option they gave is to buy an entire replacement Quadrant.......80 Dollars for a cheap plastic part is nuts.....

 

Anyway just be aware that going forward unlike in the Saitek days you will not be able to get parts.....they don't do parts..

 

Happy flying.

Why not purchase realistic throttle arm replacements?  Just takes a bit of the old arm for the realistic arm to slip over.

[flyforever 267]

As someone who makes quadrants, I need to point out that the hobby is too small to make any hardware, specific to the hobby , profitable. What you find is a good product marketed for a few years, and then one  day that product is no longer manufactured. The price point vs value is tough to get right.These days the biggest expense is "shipping " costs. Screws and materials, as well as making the various components, have become very expensive, especially when  you're dealing with small volumes. Often my dilemma is:" I need screw x and y". Where do I get them? I quickly find out that for two screws, I need to order large quantities, let's say a pack of 100 pcs. Sometimes one vendor has screws x, and another screws y. A pack of screws may cost $ 4.00, but shipping will cost me another 8 dollars. So, for two screws I may be looking at  24 dollars.

Shipping times, too, have become a big constraint. As more items come from Asia, shipping times are extended by months.

With all of these constraints, manufacturing high quality hardware at a good price is really difficult.

Someone suggested 3d printing. What they may not know is that 3d printing is slow, so slow that it's only good for prototyping.

Injection molding is still the way to go for production.

 

Edited March 16, 2019 by flyforever

[G-RFRY 1,708]

I have a Logitech flight yoke and throttle and switch panel which I purchased not long ago for £123 the lot brand new on amazon, a top class flight stick would cost more.  

[z06z33 763]

This is why I only buy all metal/handmade controllers now. I have quite a bit of goflight stuff,FSTHROTTLES and Thrustmaster

[LesOReilly 176]

2 hours ago, Jim Harnes said:

Why not purchase realistic throttle arm replacements?  Just takes a bit of the old arm for the realistic arm to slip over.

I actually have the 737 arms that have the AT DISC, TOGA and Reversers.  The arm broke right at the surface (Kiddo pulled to the side and it snapped at that leverage point.