Agreed. The CH line could use some new blood, that's for sure.

So if i understand correctly, a lot, if not most CH owners have their gear modded or enhanced in some way, right?
Wouldn't it be fair to say that all hardware, including the G940 can be equally enjoyable when given the same TLC? (using Leo Bodnar's stuff to get rid of the -not so- logitech comes to mind)

I don't mean to say that the two are equal one way or the other, but it seems to me that enjoyment comes at extra cost for CH stuff as well.
Just trying to see the big picture here so i can make a good decision on my next (and last for the upcoming decade or so) HOTAS.

Some (45) ProThrottles are modded with the Franken-Potato mod. I wouldn't call that a lot. So to that, I'd have to say, wrong.

+1

The thing about CH gear is that it simply works straight out of the box. Modding CH gear is more about enhancing the product than about correcting design / manufacturing flaws.

There's what Ghost said for one.

For two, most modding CH gear is borne out of wanting a mod.

For a lot of the cougar owners, it seems many of it's mods are needed, especially in the throttle and switch gear.

I'm sorry guys, got my CHs and Cougars mixed up!

I just get kind of lost. At this point i might as well end up with a pair of saitek throttle quadrants, a collective of some sort and an easily extendable joystick! (No, not THAT easily!)

So my G940 came today while I was sleeping, but siince I work graveyard, I haven't gotten a chance to test it out yet. But I did unbox it and check it out before I left for work.

My initial impression was that it was larger and more attractive than I thought it would be. The stick seems a little large for me, even though I have big ol' manhands. The throttle seems comfortable, but even with the resistance turned all the way up, its not stiff enough. I like a high resistance in my throttles. Also, the trim wheels on the throttle spin too easily, and there's no center detent to them. Due to this, they'll probably remain unused. All the buttons and hats seem to have a good resistance to them, and a good "click" feeling when they're pressed.

Also, the pedals are larger than I thought, which is good. They looked a bit too small in all the pictures.

Its too early to tell, so I'm reserving final judgement until I get a few hours of stick time with them. Unfortunately, I'm leaning way toward returning them already. If that turns out to be the case, I hope that Amazon can give me store credit instead of refunding my account. By the time I've tested and returned them, I'll have gotten paid again, and I'll be able to accecpt paying $200 for a Warthog setup.

I had an x65. Wow to find out what the insides looked like after it broke and ran out of warranty. I now have a thrustmaster cougar hotas. The difference is night and day. The x65 didn't hold center nor would it calibrate TO center when saitek came out with the patches to their software. In the end I tried to see if it was under warranty and since it wasn't I was going to mount the stick on a 52 pro. I will never use a saitek stick ever again. The pedals have held out great for about 4 years so far. In 6 years I have used an x45, 2 x52 pro's an x52 and have now gone through an x65. No more saitek.

In over ten years I have only used ONE HOTAS, CH

Well, that was quick. The G940 is packed back in its shipping box, waiting to be taken to the UPS store on Monday.

The thing performed reasonably well. I didn't find the stick to be as gravely as many people have said. There is a definite "gear" feeling when maneuvering, but its a soft feeling, almost squishy. The throttle resistance, while still too light, was okay in flight. But the pedals were rather uncomfortable for me.

The stick was very precise though. More so than my X52. But when your hand is off the stick, the FFB resistance lessens a lot. There's a small optical sensor on the right side of the stick, and when you first go to grab the stick, it's a little limp for half a second, and when your palm covers the sensor the FFB activates and the stick jumps to attention. It felt kinda cool. But in space sims, particularly Evochron Mercenary, when you set a heading and take your hand off the stick and it goes a little limp, the weight of the top of the stick makes it lean forward just a bit, causing your heading to drift downward. Yeah, it could be fixed by adjusting deadzones, but it shouldn't have to be.

The force feedback was sorta... meh. Not to say that the actual force was weak, but the overall effect was lacking. FFB is a cool idea, but it's not necessary and doesn't really add much to the experience.

I did have one smile-worthy moment with the stick, while I was flying in MSFSX. But that was more from the feeling of flying than from anything the stick did.

Overall, it's an okay HOTAS. But there is one huge, glaring, problem with the unit. It shows up as three separate controllers. The stick, throttle, and pedals all register as their own devices. This is a problem in nearly every single game that I want to play. Black Prophecy, DogFighter, MinerWars, StarLancer, The Polynomial, X3, and X-Wing Alliance all require one single device. If I can't play these games with it, then the G940 is useless to me.

So back to Amazon it goes. From here I'll either get a X52 Pro or a TM Warthog. I've done more research on CH Products, and I'm slowly getting convinced, but I'm not there yet. Its to the point that I'd probably choose CH over a X52 Pro, but I think I'd need more controls on the throttle with the space sims that I play.