Hey all - I think my X52 Pro is starting to give up. It seems to be spiking around the center, and overall just feels like it's starting to wear down. The Thrusmaster stuff is too much for my needs, I did try the G940, but there were too many things with it I didn't care for (great pedals, wish they sold those separate). Anyways...was looking at the CH Fighter Stick and throttle and was thinking of maby going that route. I've read reviews - seem mostly positive - all seem to agree they are well made - any particular negatives you can think of? Thanx.

Off the top of my head, no. Some would say I'm biased. But, I look at the whole package. I've been using my first (only) FighterStick for almost eight years now. It's still hasn't let me down. I've beta tested a couple ProThrottles as well the Throttle Quadrant.

531 Ghost biased in favor of CH products? Who would say such a thing!

I have the CH Fighter Stick, throttle and pedals, and they are very nice, among the most reliable, and the company is great to deal with. The programming software is good, and all being from the same company allows for them to be programmed together.

That said, no product is perfect or the best at everything, so here are a few things that may be some negatives:

1. My pedals had a bad pot after a couple of years, and one of the joystick buttons is going bad. They've gotten a lot of use, and I don't know how that compares with other procucts (I had a Thrustmaster Cougar and it was much worse, but that stick is known for having some weak spots - others might not be as bad). My guess is that CH stuff is among the better built and more reliable, but nothing lasts forever.

2. This could be bad or good, I guess, but I found the joystick, and especially the throttle, to have too little resistance. It was hard to feel where you were in their range of travel. The throttle in particular was tough for me, because it didn't arc at all, and had no detent for the after burner.

3. Similar to the joystick movement, this might be good or bad, but the buttons don't move much travel on them, they just kind of pop.

4. They don't have as many buttons as some other controllers.


I want to stress that even though I listed more negatives than positives, I really like them and don't think anyone would be horribly disappointed by them. They're good, quality equipment, and plan on keeping and using mine for a long time on one system, while I have a different setup on another. I think there's more writing in the negatives simply because I wanted to add enough detail to make it clear that the issues weren't show-stoppers by any means.

As of yesterday I had the pedals, fighterstick and throttle. I still have the pedals but sold the fighterstick and throttle in favor of the warthog because I wanted the dual throttle for DCS.

I think the left brake on the pedal has gone on the rudder pedals but I have had them a long time, otherwise working well.

I really liked the stick and throttle and if it wasn't specifically because of a10 I would still have them.

Quick easy fix:







Another quick "fix".



And more than not, they just work. So i wouldn't consider it a bad thing.



They also have more than others.

My fix was even easier. I knew I was going to be down the street from CH's factory one day, so I just brought the broken pedals with me then swung by and they were nice enough to swap them out for me

Like I said, they're a great company to deal with. And they make good stuff.

Its all personal preference...you like something that someone else can't stand.

For me I thought CH made really good products. I just couldn't stand the way they felt when I was using them in games. Again its a personal thing; I also don't like the Saitek stuff that is all plastic and wobbly but I didn't like the cheap stuff TM made/makes either.

Well there ya go Ken! Like you said, even easier! However, for those not in the area, that video (thanks Jag!) is pretty valuable.

Thanks for the feedback fellas - the situation with the X-52 seems to be that it has gotten really "sticky" around the center making fine adjusments in aiming difficult. Also, it seems to spike or jump on its own sometimes with just a slight input. I guess the Fighterstick has pretty soft spring tension but I'd trade that for smooth/accurate performance.

Another Southland resident I see getting finicky on HOTASability What is it about us SoCal folks that we demand the best ? Before I answer, here is my setup:



As you can see, I run the Fighterstick/Pro Throttle/Pro Pedals at home, and I have tried at work (or in the digital media lab below our lab) the TM Warthog, Saitek X-52 and X-65, the Logitech G940 and the venerable TM Cougar, which means...... CH stuff comes out on top for me. You ask about negatives ?, here they are :

1 - The CH Pro Throttle does not come stock with rotary dials to use for trim or prop pitch. And that sucks donkey dcks if you like to duel people, like I do. You can have Ken (531 Ghost) add this for you in a custom mod called the Franken Potato, which rocks, but it adds to the cost of the Pro Throttle obviously.

2 - CH engineering/management is not willing to listen to the need for slight revisions to the main HOTAS products.

3 - There is not a margarita dispenser port in the back of the CH Fighterstick.

That being said, some strengths would be:

1 - Stellar build quality. I actually use different joysticks with macaque monkeys that I trained to ram people (using neural implant chips (no.... lol, I am not making this up) and here is how long they lasted as comparison:

Logitch 3D Pro - 3 days until roll axis broke
TM Cougar (stock) - 4 days until pot damaged, at day 8, bent metal frame of the stick
Saitek X-52 (non-pro) - 2 weeks until twist axis (yaw) broke
Logitech G940 - 3 1/2 weeks until the monkey tore up the force feedback motors
Saitek X-65 - Monkey could not figure it out and pi$$ed on it. Will not touch it
CH Flightstick - Made it to seven months before monkey broke a hat switch
CH Fighterstick - still going strong (although the red button on the back is slightly weak)

2 - Fast phone support - You call... a real human often answers and bam, you problem often gets solved in less than 5 minutes.
3 - Same for forums - You have Ken above, plus Bob Church, Revvin, Michael... deep knowledge base.
4 - For a gaming HOTAS , light spring tension. If you go on a long 3 hour real-time mission in LOMAC, Falcon or IL2 and make it back to base, your arm does not hurt like with the Cougar and X-65 (which has no movement, but still your body feels as if it should move). Fighter sim jocks complain about this, but try it for a few days and then you will see ,.... big positive.
5 - Still the best software. If you like programming as I do, you can probably use CH Control Manager to telerobotically remove your significant other's underwear. Target is not bad, but still cannot hang with CM 4.51.

The weakest aspect of the CH line is the pedals, which are too narrow (especially for home cockpit builders who want the center mounted floor stick). If CH would just use a modern CAD program to update their line a little bit and redo the pedals, add duel throttle handes, some rotaries for the throttle, .....Warthogs everywhere would be going back in the closet.

S! - WD