CH Products Fighterstick USB

CH Products Fighterstick USB Review

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I just purchased X-Plane 9 for my Mac, and because I'd always wanted one and could now afford it, I bought the Fighterstick to go with it.

My young son fell in love with the stick and the game (but mostly the stick). Because he's awfully rough on the stick, I figured I'd buy an inexpensive one for him, so I bought the Logitech Attack 3 Joystick, thinking that if it worked well enough with X-Plane, I could return the Fighterstick and save some money. (I'm not a hardcore simmer by any means; I'm finally returning to flight simulation after a 10-year absence.) Briefly, it's a decent joystick but it has no trim wheels.

I really, really like that the Fighterstick has trim wheels for elevator and rudder, and it's vastly configurable from within X-Plane. However, I've found that I really want a separate rudder control without having to purchase pedals (trying to take off in a Cessna 172 with no rudder is no fun, due to P-factor, and being unable to correct for crosswinds on landing is also frustrating), so I want a stick with a twist feature (for yaw). Neither the Attack 3 nor the Fighterstick twists. I'm returning both sticks and going with the Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS X, because it offers a twist as well as a separate throttle. We'll see how that works out. (On the other hand, I just tried it with Warbirds and it works great. Second thoughts...)

I'll be sad to see the Fighterstick go, because IMO this is the gold standard, but I'm just an occasional sim pilot trying to get the most bang for my buck.

CH Products Fighterstick USB Feature

• USB programmable joystick
• 3 axis and 24 buttons (three push buttons, one mode switch button, three 4 way hat switches and one 8 way point of view hat)
• Total of 132 programmable functions with the new Control Manager software (included)
• Realistic F-16 handle
• Compatible with Windows 98, 2000, Me, and XP or Mac OS 8.6 and above

Awarded the #1 Joystick in Multimedia World's Readers' Choice Awards, the FlightStick looks and feels just like a real jet stick, built with potentiometers rated to 2 million cycles, sturdy base and fire buttons rated to 10 million shots; when you grab on, you'll feel the difference of CH's quality craftsmanship and durability.

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Customer Reviews

Precise - John Martin - TN
I'm using this stick with a saitek x52 throttle and saitek rudder pedals. The main game I'm playing is Rise Of Flight. This stick is easy to program; I'm using most of the buttons and one rotator for mixture. I reach all the buttons easily except the red button at the top left which is okay because it's still easier to reach than the keyboard. This stick has a great "feel"; it is light but not to light; you always know where the sick is in relation to the vertical. This is the perfect stick for ROF. I've never had a stick with this kind of quality and precision.


Jun 04, 2010 06:06:03