Flightsim Gear Thread

**Beirut** · 02-09-2006, 01:15

Is that what you have?

I've heard very good things about the X45. Looks solid. Do you like yours?

**orangat** · 02-09-2006, 02:18

I saw the saitek evo at compusa, it seemed a little stiff and creaky and had a tiny bit of play. The x45 by comparison was silky smooth. The logitech models were also quite smooth.

**Whacker** · 05-14-2007, 16:34

Heh... I splurged awhile back and dropped the $ for the Cougar HOTAS. I gotta say, it's by far the BEST joystick I've ever had in my entire existence. Solid cold metal, each unit weighs a few pounds easily, and the construction quality is amazing. The software that comes with it is a bit quirky, but insanely powerful. The only thing I'm missing are rudder pedals, but I've been trying to butter up the boss and see if she'll let me get some.

Here's the site for the gear: http://cougar.frugalsworld.com/ . These guys are nuts, some of them have mods done that cost just as much as the joysticks themselves.

If ya'll can afford it and/or are really serious about your military flight sims, I can't recommend anything else.

**Judge** · 05-14-2007, 18:32

well i played Sturmovik forgotten battles , with aces campaign add on and pacific fighters, but i sold all of them and bought the whole shabang in STUROVIK 1946.

i use the Logitech extreme 3D Pro

and man are some of them pilots awesome in mp

**Husar** · 05-14-2007, 20:41

I also have a Cyborg Evo, but what I don't like about it, is that for some reason I have to recalibrate it every time I restart Windows.
I'd like to get an X-52 Pro, but that's a bit expensive and lately I don't fly that often anymore, so...

**Beirut** · 05-15-2007, 00:31

Originally Posted by Whacker

Heh... I splurged awhile back and dropped the $ for the Cougar HOTAS. I gotta say, it's by far the BEST joystick I've ever had in my entire existence. Solid cold metal, each unit weighs a few pounds easily, and the construction quality is amazing. The software that comes with it is a bit quirky, but insanely powerful. The only thing I'm missing are rudder pedals, but I've been trying to butter up the boss and see if she'll let me get some.

I am green with envy. I heard the Cougars aren't the best for prop sims, but for jet sims they have no equal. I'd love to try Falcon 4 with a Cougar system. Wow!

What are you flying?

Originally Posted by Husar

I also have a Cyborg Evo, but what I don't like about it, is that for some reason I have to recalibrate it every time I restart Windows.
I'd like to get an X-52 Pro, but that's a bit expensive and lately I don't fly that often anymore, so...

When you say recalibrate, do you mean redo all your settings, because that definitely shouldn't happen. I have to select my flight profile whenever I turn on my computer, but that's no big deal and I'd have to do it anyway because I have several flight profiles for different sims. Did you install the Saitek drivers?

For my part, although the X52 is nice, I think using two Saitek Evos is a better choice. The flightsticks are ambidextrous and with two of them you have enough buttons and switches to ignore the keyboard and keep your eyes on the screen. Also, two Evos together cost about 25% of the price of an X52 system.

I'm using an Evo as my left hand throttle and I think it's great.

**Husar** · 05-15-2007, 01:12

With recalibrate I mean the "move stick to center, now move in a circle, now back to center....etc"-process and I think I tried it with and without Saitek drivers, didn't seem to make a difference.

I personally think the idea of two joysticks sounds a bit weird, heard it before though, but if the throttle can go four ways...

The dedicated solutions are also full of additional buttons and sliders which may be useful, but like I sadi, currently I'm concentrating on other games anyway.

**Beirut** · 05-15-2007, 02:59

Originally Posted by Husar

With recalibrate I mean the "move stick to center, now move in a circle, now back to center....etc"-process and I think I tried it with and without Saitek drivers, didn't seem to make a difference.

Very weird, and very annoying I'm sure. I'll look into this.

Originally Posted by Husar

I personally think the idea of two joysticks sounds a bit weird, heard it before though, but if the throttle can go four ways...

It may sound weird but it works wonderfully. You push forward for more throttle and pull back for less, the center being 50%. For combat prop sims, it gives fantastic control for A2A scraps. Faster, smoother, and more accurate than a conventional throttle like on the X52 (I think). For FS2004, I just use the buttons for throttle control. No need to play the speed so much in a Cessna or a 707.

**Xiahou** · 05-15-2007, 03:42

Originally Posted by Husar

With recalibrate I mean the "move stick to center, now move in a circle, now back to center....etc"-process and I think I tried it with and without Saitek drivers, didn't seem to make a difference.

I was pretty sure you could just move the stick thru its full range of motion without having to actually use the calibration wizard. In other words, just do a full circle and full to 0 throttle and it should be fine.

Could be wrong though, I used to have the evo, but now have an X52 and haven't used that in awhile either.

**Whacker** · 05-15-2007, 09:44

Originally Posted by Beirut

I am green with envy. I heard the Cougars aren't the best for prop sims, but for jet sims they have no equal. I'd love to try Falcon 4 with a Cougar system. Wow!

What are you flying?

Mate, for that kind of cash, you're going to BELIEVE it's the best for any military flight sim, whether or not it really is!!

Well, over the past few years I've been mainly flying the IL-2 series. Recently bought 1946, and I think it's a good value. A year and some ago I was flying LOMAC, but promptly uninstalled that when I found out it used Starforce and my DVD drive started to take a dump. Real shame too, it wasn't half bad at all, and I REALLY miss having a good multi-plane modern military sim.

So for now it's mainly just IL2 1946. Waiting until I get a new PC to get MSFSX, haven't ever done the MSFS series but I hear great stuff about them. Am not really impressed with MSCFS3, so never spent much time on it. I hear rumors that there's a new military sim in the works based on MSFSX, so hopefully we'll hear about that soon. Been trying to get my old but absolute favorite Janes/EA games running again on XP without much luck... That'd be a dream. Might also go buy Falcon 4: AA seeing how it's only $20. We shall see.

Got any other suggestions?

**Beirut** · 05-15-2007, 11:41

Originally Posted by Whacker

Got any other suggestions?

Flightsim suggestions? Always.

Be a shame to miss out on that lovely A-10 and the new graphics in LockOn - Flamming Cliffs.

If you have the patience to match the quality of your flight gear, then Falcon 4:Allied Force is your baby. The graphics are, well, they suck. Mind you, the dogfights look good. The padlock system is excellent and planes fly as planes should fly. The sim is so insanely deep and detailed, and the scraps so excellent, it will knock your socks off. Running SEAD missions in F4:AA, especially with the Cougar of yours, would be a helluva lotta fun

MS CFS3 is dog food. I agree.

Haven't heard about the FSX military sim , but I'd love to see it. Also, there a high-fidelity, super high detail F-18E being developed for FS9 and FSX. Looks to be the nicest military jet ever made for MS FS. I'll post the link if I can find it.