200-571 CH Products Fighterstick USB

Back in 1992, my parents bought a Quadra 700 computer, used. It came with a CH Products Flightstick Pro. I was eight at the time, and thus began my love affair with simulator-type games. I just assumed that all joysticks were as excellent as the Flightstick Pro that I had learned to love. Time passed, and USB became the standard interface. We switched to PC, and the time came for a new stick. That stick broke inside of two years. The Flightstick? Still working. In fact, I've bought about a dozen joysticks, all branded something other than CH Products. They're all in the dumpster now, victims of shoddy engineering or low-price potentiometers. The Flightstick? I gave it to a guy who wanted to try out flight sims. Last I heard, it was still working. I'm 28, and I just returned home to CH Products with this stick, the CH Fighterstick. I'm not going to go over the pro-cons of it all; instead I will go over the individual features and try to stay as objective as possible. Large base, light weight. The first thing you notice is how beefy and well-built it is. The buttons are sharp and precise with next to no wobble(check out your Logitech - put your finger on a button, and wiggle it around without activating. That's what I mean.). The axis movement is sharp with only a small amount of slop. I'm somewhat concerned with the slop in the X axis - I don't recall the Flightstick Pro having it, and it is noticeable. To be fair, it's also much less than the slop found in any Logitech and CERTAINLY any Saitek stick. I have a fair idea of how to fix it, but doing so would void the excellent 2-year warranty. I'm not sure if it's bad enough to send in for warranty work, since it's already worlds better than cheaper sticks. The light weight will make you wonder how it's going to stay on your desk, until you realize that the throw resistance is very low - you can easily move this joystick through all its ranges of motion with your pinky. This is important since ability to keep the stick in a rested hold can greatly impact accuracy. The price, good god the price. People say that it's expensive, but if it lasts 4 years(not at all a difficult feat for a CH joystick), you're going to make the money back compared to Logitech or Saitek sticks(which will likely need at least one replacement). So, really, the price is actually quite low for what you get. The major downside a lot of people see when looking at this stick is the fact that it's not a twist stick. For years and years I was a fan of the twist stick, but my accuracy never was quite as good as I felt it could be. I have since learned that this is due to unintended axis movement, the bane of all twisty sticks. A good set of pedals and a good, solid, non-twist stick will fix that right up. Compared to other offerings: Logitech budget-bin sticks: No comparison. More accurate, less fatiguing, more reliable. CH will be less expensive once you factor in replacements. Usually are twisty, so that can be seen as an advantage. Saitek budget-bin sticks: Same as above. Logitech G940: Harder. This one has some documented return to center issues, but is otherwise a solid buy. I doubt it is made to the same specs as CH products are, but at least it's somewhat cheaper for throttle+stick+pedals. Still, I had trouble choosing this after going through so many of logitechs cheaper sticks. Warthog: Expensive. Hall sensors are nice, but the high-quality pots CH uses are just as good. Metal construction is a huge plus. A solid choice, but Thrustmaster has terrible customer support. If you can live with that, and afford the higher price tag, this is the stick for you. Cougar: Warthog do everything the cougar does, and far better. Defer to the Warthog if you're considering a Thrustmaster stick. TM16000M: Hall sensors are nice, right up until you use super-cheap methods of locking them in place. Better off using one of the budget-bin offerings from Logitech or Saitek. Saitek X52: Does not compare. The huge center detent of the X52 is extremely difficult to work with, and since Saitek and Mad Catz got intertwined their QC has plummeted. Saitek X65f: Does not compare. Gimmick force sensing that Saitek cum Mad Catz will say is military type, but in reality the concept was rejected by the military for good reason. Reduced QC seems to be even more apparent here, with many reports of return-to-zero issues.

I have owned the CH Products Fighterstick for a little over a month now and I am now ready to compose a full review. I have been a MS Sidewinder force feedback2 user for years. I was very happy with that stick but when I started playing Lock On I decided that it was time to step up to the plate and purchase a real HOTAS system. At first glance the fighterstick appears to be built to last. It is constructed of very heavy gauge plastic and all of the devices seams are sealed properly. It is not flimsy or fragile in appearance or feel. The stick only comes with an instruction sheet. There is no owners Manual or software disk included. The new owner must download the drivers and CH Control Manager software from the CH website. Setup is a very simple operation which involves plugging your stick into it's own USB port and running the drivers software. Setup was completed without a hitch and I did not miss the absent owners Manuel. I then proceeded to use the CH Manager software to configure the stick for the first time. It was at this time that I encountered my first and only problem while using the software. While attempting to configure the Y axis I noticed that the stick's signal would jump from one end of the scale to the other with very little movement from the stick itself. I could not figure out what the problem was on my own so I called CH customer service and they told me to be sure and center the two trim wheels before configuration. Sure enough after I corrected the position of the two wheels, the configuration process was completed without a problem. Next, I ran Lock On in order to put the stick through it's first flight trials. The Fighterstick fits my medium sized hand very well. My only complaint is the fact that button #2 is located very high on the stick and is hard for me to reach without repositioning my hand. I believe this is due to the fact that this stick is based on the design of the F-16 joystick configuration. The problem with this choice of design styles is that the real F-16 stick is mounted between the legs and at about waist height inside the cockpit, where as the CH Fighterstick will be mounted on some ones desktop. This creates an ergonomic problem that the F-16 design was not meant to handle. Beside my issue with button #2, I have experienced no other problems with manipulation of the stick ingame. Stick response and accuracy are very good. I can pull all kinds of high "G" maneuvers, fire all kinds of weapons and deploy my counter measures with a level of speed and accuracy that I have never experienced before. All the buttons work as programmed and the x/y axis is very smooth. Some say that the springs in the stick base are very lite. I don't feel that there is anything unusual or loose concerning the feel of this stick. I am very comfortable with the level of tension in the stick. Keep in mind that I have been working with the Sidewinder up to this point and that this may be the reason why I don't have a problem with the level of tension in the stick. CH Control Manager is a wonderful program that gives you the ability to adjust all of the sticks important settings. It also allows you to create your own personal button program maps which can be loaded or saved for future use. CH Control Manager does not come with a tutorial so you will need to consult with an experienced user in order to fill in the blanks left after you have read the online user guide, as I did. After asking a few questions on an internet user forum I was ready to begin programing the stick for the first time. Once you know how to use it, CH Control Manager is a joy to work with. However it is not as intuitive as I would have liked it to have been. The CH products Fighterstick is considered the top of the line PC flight controller. Unlike Thrustmaster's best stick it doesn't have any outstanding quality control issues. The Fighterstick has an excellent maintenance record and I am confident that it will last me for many years of flight siming fun. Update: I stand corrected on the position of the stick in the real F-16, however I stand by my criticism of the feel of the stick when used in the desktop position. Thanks to the PC cockpit I now use, I no longer experience this problem.

I was very happy with an older CH flightstick which had rudder control but I finally wore it out. The new CH Products Fighterstick USB is heavy and well made and had excellent reviews. However the stick diameter was a little too large for my hand. The hand rest is way too small. I returned this stick because it had no rudder control and I just cannot fly without a rudder, especially during landings and events like picking someone up off of a train or for aerial combat. For an extra $100 you can order a foot activated rudder from CH but the combined $200 for a flight stick and rudder was just too much for me. I went back to my old Logitech Wingman Extreme (which I was very happy with) after disassembling it and lubricating the rudder pot.