Thinking of buying Fulcrum 1

[Axacuatl 2]

Just joining in to give my brief opinion on my new Fulcrum yoke.  

Disclaimer: I am relatively new to flight simming, so my only (short) experience is with the Saitek yoke, with the rudder pedals and its bravo quadrant. I wasn't enthusiastic about the Saitek yoke one because it had a very light, plastic feel to it, and the backward & forward travel was quite short (this may not be problematic to pure virtually active pilots - however, to me being in the process of training to acquire a real life pilots license (PPL/A) it is noticeable because the travel in e.g. a Cessna 172 is quite long, and you really need to pull the yoke far to the back directly prior to the touchdown; with a Saitek yoke that isn't the same).  

So with limited use time of my new Fulcrum yoke so far (approx. 8 hours), I can say the following: the build quality, the value proposition is just in a different league. It feels so sturdy, heavy, well-balanced, it's a joy (tbh, compared to the real Cessna yokes it feels even sturdier than those, because those are a bit thinner to save weight - but they of course still don't have this plastic feel to them of the Saitek; I guess the heavier the plane the less relevant it is to save weight on the yoke and I am sure they will be sturdier in a commercial airliner). The travel I mentioned above is of course realistic in the Fulcrum yoke, which is appreciated. The buttons feel good. 

So for anybody looking for a "proper" yoke and willing to pay a substantial amount, this is a good choice. And there is not much alternative: the Saiteks, Honeycomb etc. are all in the plastic camp, more affordable but giving you bit of a toy-ish haptic feedback; the other sophisticated yokes immediately bump the price to the low 4-digit area. I would like to compare it to the choice between the a regular HOTAS from Logitech, Saitek etc. and the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS - the latter was expensive too but I never regretted dishing out the money on that one either. Each time you touch it, operate it you are remembered why it's worth the money.

But if you are just a casual gamer who just likes to float around a bit but might lose interest in a couple of months, I would go with a cheap one instead. 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Axacuatl

[ark 1,290]

6 hours ago, Axacuatl said:

But if you are just a casual gamer who just likes to float around a bit but might lose interest in a couple of months, I would go with a cheap one instead.

That's a reasonable way to look at it. However, another might be that a good yoke will help keep you interested in flight simming, and if not, a high quality yoke like the Fulcrum will likely have a good resale value.

Al

Edited November 22, 2021 by ark

[Ray Proudfoot 8,956]

Not forgetting that potentiometers wear out eventually but Hall Effect sensors don’t. They will last longer than me probably.