I was back home for a night and found out that my local Frys had the G940s in stock so I just decided to grab one for testing if nothing else.
Before plugging anything in it was clear that the button placement on the stick itself is good and the stick seems like it will fit smaller hands well and still fit larger hands as well (edit: OK after an hour or so of flying with it I've found it got uncomfortable, it seems the handle is too small around for my hands to stay comfortable especially with forces at 150%, but perhaps some pipe insulation foam could be added to the right side of the handle to thicken it up a bit). The buttons, dual stage trigger and hats have a fairly high quality feel and the positioning of them is good on the stick, and adequate on the throttle (but it's no Cougar throttle, and the layout and features of the stick doesn't quite compare to a Cougar either). The stick and throttle have a rubberized hard plastic surface which provides a nice feel in your hands.
The rotaries on the throttle are not very well placed IMHO as you must use your ring or middle finger to actuate one of them and it takes two full swipes of my finger to go from stop to stop and the other requires a change in hand position to get my thumb to it and it's somewhat recessed so you have to hunt for it a bit. The rotaries do have a smooth feel and lack center detents and while others have complained about that, I actually think it is a good thing as it allows precise position at any point rather than having a detent that you have to move out of to get precision. In addition to the precision, this is also more realistic for trim wheels. If one of these was elevator trim though you would have to visually look to see it's neutral every time before takeoff rather than being able to center it by feel. . .of course real pilots have to do this, and given the precision, I'm happy they are this way.
Now to the bad stuff. . .I may change my mind later, but I'm already pretty sure I'm going to return the G940 for the following reasons:
1) FFB implementation: Similar my
Logitech G25, the FFB on the stick has a deadzone, on mine it is approximately 15-20 degrees around the center point. This means that smaller stick motions are met with almost no force feedback or damping. Because of this, precise control is quite difficult around the trimmed position and as you move the stick you will suddenly feel the FFB kick in. Additionally, when you move the stick further from center to the areas where FFB is strong the motion is somewhat notchy, as if you can feel the gears of the FFB system gnashing.
I was just flying an Se5a through a city tracking low along a road with buildings whizzing by. . .if you were to watch footage of the flight you would see the airplane is hunting in pitch and roll, it's a bit jerky, and actually makes this type of flying a bit tough (I imagine shooting would be as well) and simply isn't as smooth as it would be if I was flying with the CH Fighterstick or the MSFFB2 (or even my old X-45). I'm yet to tweak the FFB settings at all - but my experience with the G25 tells me it will probably not be something I can fully eliminate and with the deadzone precision is impossible (note that the tweaks to teh G25 FFB were not done in
Logitech software but with rFactor plugins so this might be hard to do with RoF?). For me, precision control is imperative for any joystick I'm going to keep and when the old second hand Fighterstick and MSFFB2 I have do a better job, well. . .you get the idea.
2) While they looked robust in the pics and videos the rudder pedals are even more chintzy than the CH pedals. . .if I put my feet in the heel cups just the weight of my legs on the pedals is enough to make them flex and wobble all over. Normally I use PC pedals as I use real airplane rudder pedals, with my heels on or just gliding across the floor, but with these pedals the mechanism binds and sticks if I just apply pressure to the lower portion of the pedals so I have to push more in the upper portion of the pedals for them to work smoothly.
Just like the CH pedals these are too narrow and too flat for my tastes, they actuate in such a way as to get even narrower when moved to the limits of travel too. The pedal surfaces look similar to transport category aircraft pedals (other than the heel cups and how close together they are), and they do have a softer center detent than the CH do which is nice, but given that they look like their made out of rubber when I set my feet on them, and that they bind with any downward force applied to the lower portions of the pedals I don't think they will stand up to very many hours of my use (aerobatics is gonna kill em!) even if they had the smoothness needed. While I never thought I'd say it, the CH actually offer much better control as they have slightly longer travel, don't bind (well mine started to after 8 years of hard use - but that was solved with a cleaning of the plastic rollers) and the linear travel the CH has is more natural and comfortable for me.
Compared to real aircraft rudder pedals the proximity of the base of the unit and the pedals themselves, as well as the heel cups, makes using the pedals as most pilots are used to (with their heels on floor) not very comfortable as the heel cups press into the arch of your foot and the base of the pedals hit your heels. The CH have these same issues but it is easy to fix with a wedge fitted to each pedal to give them a cup-less surface at a more vertical angle, so in itself this isn't a deal breaker for me.
WWI aircraft rudder bars have "pedals" that get closer to the center as they are deflected so I suppose you could count that point in favor the narrowing with deflection character of the G940 pedals, and if they were wider to start with I wouldn't mind it too much I suppose. The deal breaker for the pedals is the flimsy and flexy construction (and how narrow they are). So for me the CH will have to do.
In comparison to the MSFFB2, the MSFFB2 has far smoother action with much better centering (which actually feels somewhat realistic). A nod in favor of the G940 is that the FFB motors are
a lot stronger than the MSFFB2 even at default settings and forces can be increased in the control panel to the point that you better have your monitor bolted down and a sturdy desk! If the deadzone and smoothness of the FFB were eliminated the stick and throttle might be worth the 300 bucks alone. Sadly the Rudder pedals use a proprietary connector (as does the throttle) so you can't sell them to someone who doesn't have the rest of the G940.
Given that you can't (currently?) buy just the stick and throttle, and as someone who won't be using the pedals no matter what this means I paid 317 bucks for just the stick and throttle. . .that would be worth it for a smooth and precise FFB action, but overall the flying experience is better on my CH pedals, X-45 throttle and MSFFB2. . .and that's certainly a cheaper setup too! I didn't want to have that opinion - and it might change if I discover a way to get the FFB dialed in, but that's my preliminary feeling on it.
