Cheap Flight Stick with many keys and precise control

I already for a long time often fly the Flight Simulator X - Gold and had been the SPEED-LINK Black Widow Flight Stick in use, which, however, over time could no longer be calibrated with me and generally not sensitive flies allowed (ME). My review is therefore based on my experience with these two products on the PC (Windows 7 64 bit). Other simulators or flight sticks I have not tried yet.

Appearance of:

The housing is made of solid plastic, but looks very high and stable. All elements are comfortable to hold, only the court for the right hand on the stick could be a little more generous or even adjustable; but I also have great hands ... Not at all expected I would, that the thrust lever is really very large (2/3 of the height of the stick and much wider than the palm of your hand), but that's very positive, because the hand thereby comfortably rests , The stick and the push lever can either be mounted to each other (stable Allen screws connection) or are placed individually on the table, so you let his arms lying comfortably on the armrests or can spread and still good comes to the elements. If an individual unit, but they slip easily back and forth naturally. In addition, the connecting cable is passed through a lying at the bottom of the cable duct. Unfortunately, it slips out of this now and then, so that the stick is in the cable and thus wrong. If you move the stick often, which can be annoying, but you can easily create with a little duct tape remedy. When assembled, the stability is very good and the cable problem, then not. Suckers might have been even better, but actually it is very rare for accidental slippage, because the base is quite heavy and solid also.
Measure the resistance of the stick you can screw harder or softer with a button at the bottom, where it is as min / max values. Extremely rigid so you do not get it, but it should be suitable for the standard applications. So a resistor matching I would actually like to wish for the thrust levers: If you really want to keep the thrust constant, but a lot of back and forth makes the rudder, the thrust levers can often shifts. But if you want the mega accurately operate, the investment might be worth anyway in Rudder pedals ...

Functionality:

There are 5 axes exist: right / left, front / back and rotate the sticks, and the thrust levers front / rear and the rocker switch (eg for the rudder when flying). In some reviews the large dead zone has been criticized around the center position on the stick. For me personally, it's okay because it only when moving an axis can not happen to come to the "triggering" of the other axis so, but you must admit that he is not exactly small. But is habituation thing I think. In addition, the response curve is not linear but makes a jump to the sides where the axes then react very strongly at a time. I find the positive rather than negative, because you can very well perform fine tuning of the Attitude therefore - and for extreme situations then just goes to full scale.

The stick has also for this price range over a large number of keys:
- 4 + Head Switch on Stick
- 6 at the push lever (4 at the front - operated with your thumb, 2 on the back - forefinger)
- 3 in the housing center
- 2 on the right side of the housing
- 1 PS3 / PC switch on the rear panel
In contrast to the SPEED-LINK Black Widow Flight Stick I find it very convenient that the thrust levers so many buttons are attached, because they so the hand must runternehmen hardly more of this or push control + buttons simultaneously press is possible.
The buttons on the stick and lever and two in the center of the housing can be freely assigned in the corresponding software, so there are 12 assignable buttons + Head Switch. The other keys are there to switch between the various mappings and forth and in the Playstation acts as a home button. By "mapping" is not to be expected that one can prove all buttons twice, but that buttons to one another "swapped" or reverses the directions of axes or misplaced or conversely an axis from the thrust levers to the stick. Between these 2 mappings (there is the pre-programming and a user mapping) but you can arbitrarily, even while the software is running, switch back and forth.
An example: you can map to the axes of the joystick and if no tax level is necessary to look around the room by simply moving the stick the Head Switch buttons (for around eyes). Then again press the preset button and can be determined with the joystick axes again pitch and roll of the aircraft.

Hareware / Software:

The stick is connected via USB and was with me (Windows 7 64 bit, Flight Simulator X) within 10 seconds without any additional manual driver installation ready. The keys are for FSX already configured by default, but can and should of course be adapted to their own taste.

Conclusion:

For this price you get a really solid stick, which combines good handling and pleasing ergonomics and design. Compared with the Black Widow it's better to classes that few euros so I would invest again at any time!
Presumably, the more expensive by a multiple sticks of Saitek, CH Products, etc. even with some more trump (I can not simply judge), but for this price and for my purpose as an ambitious flight simulator fan, he is perfect!