200-571 CH Products Fighterstick USB

Purchased for use with the recently released (Dec 2014) Elite: Dangerous, my gaming history rarely needed a top-of-the-line joystick but due to the details and sim nature of ED, high end is required. After searching, there aren't many solid choices for joysticks currently on he market. Saitek has been plagued with quality problems, Thrustmaster is prohibitively expensive, and then we have the lower middle class offerings like the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, etc. I tried everything just mentioned and though the Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog was exceptional, I'm nit s serious flight sim guy thus retuned it.I mention the Warthog setup because the Fighterstick has the exact same button layout and is superior to the Thrustmaster product in many ways. First, is sits lower, closer to desk level making operation more comfortable. Second, it requires a light to medium touch for pitch and roll and that is also superior to the Thrustmaster offering. Third, the buttons also have a light touch - the Warthog (made from metal) demands effort for simple key presses (it is a direct copy of the real thing after all) which can be annoying in a twitch dogfight. Finally, the Fighterstick comes with exceptional (though a dated interface) support software with all manner of tweaks available.Thus far, there are only two downsides to the CH Products Fighterstick. First, there is NO twist for yaw, which is the same as the Warthog product. If you buy the Fighterstick, you'll have to find yaw controls in either the second controller (joystick or Hotas) or pedals. Second, and this is a minor quibble, it could look a little better.Bottom line: Quality materials, light touch, massive button options, at a reasonable price make this the best upper middle-class joystick on the market. Enjoy.

This is a quality product. Everything about it is solid, simple, and built to last. It is very smooth with a surprisingly subtle feel for its size. While made of plastic, it is a heavy rigid plastic similar to the plastic casing on my $1000 Nikon DSLR. In short, this is the Audrey Hepburn of joysticks. Its beauty does not derive from any particular feature; rather it is the complete absence of any defects combined with an elegant implementation of the whole. I will buy CH Products again in the future, but judging by the build quality that won't be for a long, long time.Some things to note:1. It does not have a rudder twist. I rather like this, as it makes the x and y axis more precise. If the rudder is deal breaker for you, then I suggest you reconsider. I could easily asign the rudder to either of the two lower 4 way hat switches (both of which would be comfortably in reach of the tiniest of hands) and this stick would still provide a far smoother experience than any of the other sticks I have used.2. It is large, but not as large as some other reviewers have made out. I have medium sized hands (I can barely palm a basketball for reference) and I have no problems reaching the controls. The top hat switch and upper left button require my hand to slide up slightly, but not in any way that detracts from the control. The joystick responds to a light touch which makes it easy to move my hand up from the resting platform and back without a problem.3. It doesn't slide around--not even a little.4. The trim wheels are very stiff (which is good); the throttle wheel looser and smooth (which is also good).

These used to be made in the US. Now they're made in Mexico. This is upsetting, even more so in that the "made in USA" imprint on the bottom is covered up by a "assembled in Mexico" sticker.But anyway, enough of that. I love this throttle and its cousin, the Pro Throttle. It's got half a million buttons on it and is comfortable, apparently modeled after an F16's control stick. It is certainly not the most sexy looking HOTAS setup out there, but it surely is one of the most durable. Nothing feels cheap on these, the buttons feel solid and the plastic is durable. I've had mine for about 2 years now, playing Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, and War Thunder (all of them poorly).The downsides are: the throttle slider on the Fighterstick is pretty basic and its easy to bump the trim of the analog stick out of whack. Unlike other similarly priced competitors (X52), there is no Z-axis twist of the stick that can work as improvised rudder pedals.So it's ugly and simple, why is it 100 or so bucks?Because the software is amazing, and it's built to last.The software allows you to take multiple CH products and tie them together, or to add programming for special functions. One of the simple examples I do, is make it do that in 'mode 1', which is toggled by a button on the throttle, the throttle's analog stick is a makeshift rudder, providing yaw. In 'mode 2', the same analog stick provides up/down/left/right thrusters. The game thinks there are 4 analog axes involved, one (X) used for yaw and 2 (X/Y) used for thrust, but it doesn't know that all three are the same analog thumbstick. The sky's the limit when it comes to the fancy scripting/mapping, and there's a huge community online dedicated to this setup. You can use a special button on the throttle like a "shift" key to enable secondary functions to all your existing buttons and hats, giving you double the functionality as before. It's pretty cool!