I ask because I am thinking of getting the honeycomb alfa.

I like to fly GA planes so a yoke makes sense most of the time.

For those who own a yoke that is NOT the thrustmaster, do you use it when you fly airlines.

I ask because it would seem to me a joystick would simulate the pendulum sensation much better then a yoke.

But I have no idea if this is true or not

47 minutes ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

I ask because I am thinking of getting the honeycomb alfa.

I like to fly GA planes so a yoke makes sense most of the time.

For those who own a yoke that is NOT the thrustmaster, do you use it when you fly airlines.

I ask because it would seem to me a joystick would simulate the pendulum sensation much better then a yoke.

But I have no idea if this is true or not

My recommendation would be the Turtle Beach Velocity One Yoke & Throttle (Universal Control System).  Bought mine on like day 15 of MSFS 2020 and it has served me flawlessly to this day.  Lots of predefined bindings also.  YMMV but for me it’s been the best controller I’ve ever owned and I’ve been a serious flight simmer for 40+ years.

-B

https://www.turtlebeach.com/products/velocity-one-flight

Edited May 5, 20251 yr by btacon

Thanks. I've seen that one. Looks good.

But the question is more do you use it when you fly airline planes like a 737 or do you stick to a joystick since the pendulum motion is not the same

 

I've progressed through an xbox gamepad, T16000 joystick and now a honeycomb alpha. And at each of those I flew helicopters, GA and airliners.

Personally, other than Airbuses where it makes sense, I just can't go back to flying yoke-based airliners with a joystick. Sure, the pendulum motion might not be the same, but to in my opinion, the yoke still feels closest in terms of immersion and motion. To me the yoke has more travel and therefore you can be smoother when hand flying. 

 

3 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

For those who own a yoke that is NOT the thrustmaster, do you use it when you fly airlines.

I use my Fulcrum yoke for all my flights ranging from a Pilatus PC12 through a Lear 25, Boeing and finally Concorde.

With 8” of travel and hall-effect sensors it’s perfect for all my flights. It costs more but is extremely well made.

3 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

For those who own a yoke that is NOT the thrustmaster, do you use it when you fly airlines.

Absolutely, I fly both GA and commercial, can't fly without it, also, you can't got wrong with Honeycomb, love all three of them, the quality is excellent.

1 hour ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

Thanks. I've seen that one. Looks good.

But the question is more do you use it when you fly airline planes like a 737 or do you stick to a joystick since the pendulum motion is not the same

 

I use my yoke on ALL aircraft except Helicopters.  Airbus, Boeing, or Cessna it matters not to my ease of use or immersion.  Good luck in your search.

-B

4 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

I ask because I am thinking of getting the honeycomb alfa.

I like to fly GA planes so a yoke makes sense most of the time.

For those who own a yoke that is NOT the thrustmaster, do you use it when you fly airlines.

I ask because it would seem to me a joystick would simulate the pendulum sensation much better then a yoke.

But I have no idea if this is true or not

I have a ch yoke and pedals, throttles setup, but I mostly use a Velocity flight stick because I like it with Airbuses and Helos.

I use the CH yoke for all GA aircraft and Boeings, and a Thrustmaster Airbus flight stick for Buses. 
Rich

Yoke. Have old CH Pro with the pedals. and now the Honeycomb.

Bought a joystick on sale. Have not even managed to connect it...

Edited May 5, 20251 yr by Flyfaster_MTN002

Well, I have both a HC Yoke and TM Boeing Yoke as well as a Virpil stick. Every time I connect my HC Yoke and knock out a flight, I always end up re-connecting my TM Yoke. For me, it just feels like a better feeling yoke for all types of GA and yoke style airliner flying. For any aircraft with a stick, GA, helo or Airliner, I use the Virpil stick. 

I do like my HC Yoke, and I have had zero issues with it and have had it since they were first released. But I just like the way the TM Yoke feels and handles better.

6 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

I ask because it would seem to me a joystick would simulate the pendulum sensation much better then a yoke.

But I have no idea if this is true or not

I've been using a Honeycomb Alpha for about two months now. Before that I've used nothing but a MSFFB2 for the past twenty five years.

It also meant I've had to use pedals for the first time too. In effect I've had to learn how to fly again.

The Alpha initially surprised me by the amount of resistance built into the elevator axis. It takes some getting used to and is hardly realistic compared to a real aircraft when it's just sitting on the ground, however it's a compromise that has to be made at this price point I suspect. 

Once you're in the air things get a lot better. I do think it's making me a better virtual pilot. You have to be more precise and forward thinking when it comes to manoeuvring and you really have to learn to trim the aircraft properly for takeoff,  approach and landing.  If you don't you're going to end up running out of travel on the shaft or pulling the yoke off the desk!

The pendulum effect? In a real aircraft you set the flaps and trim correctly and something like a Cessna will simply fly itself off the ground. An airliner (not that I've ever flown one!) should need gentle rotation at V1. It shouldn't require any sort of levering. 

The Alpha unit itself feels nicely made and surprisingly sturdy to me. It has a range of switches dedicated to certain functions that MSFS2024 recognises but some I didn't feel played nicely with the sim. It was not difficult to reassign these.

I have the JustFlight F28 which is a pretty nice aeroplane anyway but using my yoke it is a joy to hand fly and much more satisfying than using a stick. What I'm really looking forward to is getting my hands on my DC6 in 2024. 

If I want to fly a helicopter, a glider or my FlyingIrons Spitfire; I'll plug my stick back in.

I exclusively fly the 747. I've had a number of controllers over the years, and have finally settled on the Virpil joystick, the one with the metal grip. The reason I use a sidestick with my 747 is purely lifestyle and preference; it's a great controller, robust and solid, and I like having the desk space in front of me free to use for other things. (Currently I've got paper where I'm taking notes, and my laminated checklist.)

I don't have any trouble with immersion. 

Perhaps making up for the inauthenticity of the sidestick, I have the ThrottleTek quadrant... there was a big discussion here the other day about separate reverser axes, and the ThrottleTek handles that well. But obviously that wasn't your question. 🙂

 

I'd just to add that a yoke is huge. And it sits on top of you desk and also interferes with the keyboard. I modified my Alpha to be under the desk but it's still big. However it settles the need for pedals...a must with a yoke.

I agree the resistance for the elevator is way too excessive and annoying. I finally gave up and went back to a VBK.

8 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

I ask because I am thinking of getting the honeycomb alfa.

I like to fly GA planes so a yoke makes sense most of the time.

For those who own a yoke that is NOT the thrustmaster, do you use it when you fly airlines.

I ask because it would seem to me a joystick would simulate the pendulum sensation much better then a yoke.

But I have no idea if this is true or not

It's important to know there are two Honeycomb yokes, the Alpha and the Alpha XPC. The Alpha does not have hall effect sensors. It uses old-style pots, and all pots eventually become noisy over time which translates into weird control inputs. Hall effect sensors do not suffer from that kind of degradation.

The XPC has hall effect sensors, but it's also $370 and at that price point... Man, I'd be tempted to save for something a level or two up in quality. Like @Ray Proudfoot I also have a Fulcrum yoke and it is amazingly good. Unfortunately, you can't get one right now due to supply issues affecting the guy who makes them. We're all hopeful he will recover from these problems because, man, if anyone deserves to he does.

If I were yoke shopping today I'd be giving serious thought to saving a little longer and getting the Moza yoke. It has force feedback! That company has been a mainstay of making excellent sim racing controllers for a long time now. They really found the sweet spot between price and quality. Unfortunately these days, that "sweet spot" in the flight sim world is around $800 but on the other hand the only other really good force feedback yoke out there that's accessible to normal people whose last name isn't Buffet is the Brunner, and it's over $1,000.

Otherwise, if I wanted to keep the costs under control I'd probably go with the Turtle Beach yoke as suggested above.

 

BTW, I don't think the lack of a pendulum motion really detracts much, and it's certainly not enough of a big deal to go with a stick over a yoke. You won't really notice the difference when flying, and the TM yoke which tries to simulate pendulum motion really doesn't. It still doesn't feel like the real thing from a commercial airliner.