I've used the following (along with some others I don't remember enough about to comment on):
-Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar (with Force-Controlled Cougar mod) + Thrustmaster RCS (with Hall sensor mod)
-CH Products Fighterstick + Pro Pedals (both USB versions, and thus Control Manager-compliant)
-Logitech WingMan Interceptor
-Logitech WingMan Strike Force 3D
-Microsoft SideWinder Force-Feedback 2 (2nd-gen/red)
-Spacetec SpaceOrb 360
-3dconnexion SpacePilot
And now, to elaborate on each of them. Brace yourself-it'll be a long read.
-First, the Cougar. It fits my hands like a glove, there's almost everything you would expect to find on the F-16 stick and throttle, and its drivers are very flexible, allowing for sophisticated programmability and custom axis mappings/curves/deadzones, as well as keyboard emulation. Quite nice to use.
The FCC mod that came installed with mine (I bought it used) allows for a pressure-driven/force-sensing feel much like the real F-16, but the mod also allows for a small amount of stick movement for tactile feedback purposes, unlike the Saitek X-65F. It will take some getting used to, however, and while it's bearable in space games, Falcon 4.0, and even DCS: Black Shark to some extent, I would NOT recommend such a mod for IL-2 Sturmovik or Rise of Flight.
For a stock Cougar, it doesn't seem too different from the old TM F-22 Pro-lots of resistance that doubles in the diagonals (now that you're working against two stiff springs) and a tendency to build up a bit of center play. Some people don't mind it, others loathe it and go for aftermarket U2-NXT gimbals and Hall sensors ASAP.
But it's not without its quirks. The speedbrake and dogfight switch housings are often misaligned, and you'll have to take the throttle apart, pop out said housings, file off a couple of edges, and reinsert it. The microstick is really whacked on mine now, and the ring around said microswitck is irritating when trying to use it (something that is NOT on real F-16 throttles, I should add). The rotaries have no major response issues within their electrical range, but the apparent electrical range does NOT correspond to the physical range, and the physical center detent isn't even in the middle of said electrical range! Also, the paint's rubbing off of the stick pretty badly now. Finally, while metal, it's cheap zamac/zamak.
-The CH stuff...precise, durable, and even more programmable thanks to the Control Manager. But it certainly isn't ergonomic, as the Pro Pedals are spaced a bit too closely for my liking and the Fighterstick dug into my palm just holding it in a way the TM F-22 Pro or Cougar stick never did.
The general CH feel is light resistance and a WIDE throw. Some say it makes them feel like toys, while others say it helps keep their shots on target.
-Ah, the old WingMan Interceptor. Quite possibly the most ergonomic stick I've ever used, and unusually for something that isn't TM or CH (or Saitek, for that matter), it has THREE hat switches, along with seven discrete buttons and a two-way rocker under the trigger. Resistance is a bit more than CH, but significantly less than TM. Center play is barely existent. The X and Y axes use Hall sensors of some sort (though they sure don't look like conventional Hall sensors), allowing for precision and durability beyond their later offerings. All in all, it's a great stick.
But it has a major flaw nowadays: a digital gameport interface. One that is wholly incompatible with your typical cheap analog gameport to USB adapter, and one that nobody has cracked as of yet to make a dedicated USB adapter (much like the 3DP-Vert for MS SideWinder 3D Pros). It also lacks any sort of rudder twist, though the Win9x drivers could accommodate gameport rudder pedals somehow.
-The Strike Force 3D...I'm actually quite let down by this one. It's very ergonomic, it has TWO hat switches on the stick, and the force-feedback motors are pretty strong. How could you go wrong?
The gimbals and potentiometers (sorry, no more Hall sensors, just cheap mini-pots!), that's how. The pots are coupled to the gimbals in such a stupid manner that X/Y-axis bleed (having input on one axis while only moving physically along the other axis) is a problem due to the pots being loose and having a bit of play. Doubly worse since it's a force-feedback stick that's going to vibrate and shake a lot.
I have an idea of how to fix it, but I'll need to fashion up some linkages. It should take care of most of the X/Y-axis response problems.
But there's a second problem-the centering force that compensates for a total lack of springs. It has a MASSIVE deadzone that gives the stick some egregious center play-about 20% of both X and Y axes, as a rough guess. Sure makes for difficult precision flying/gunnery.
-At first, I didn't get the big deal about the famed MS SideWinder Force-Feedback 2. It was just a basic stick-four axes, eight buttons, one hat switch, just like the original SideWinder 3D Pro. MS doesn't even provide proper Vista/Win7/64-bit drivers any more.
But I just got one today, and it all makes sense now. This stick is SMOOTH and PRECISE-words I never expected to say about a FFB stick. Furthermore, the centering forces are tight with only a bare minimum of center play. Said forces tend to be a bit weaker near center (but still enough to keep the stick from moving inadvertently), but ramp up in strength near the extremes. Furthermore, I've found that the main X/Y-axes have 10-bit resolution instead of the usual 8-bit (but for some reason, the throttle is 7-bit and the twist rudder is 6-bit).
The lack of programmability due to lack of "proper" drivers isn't really an issue-not with software like JoyToKey, Xpadder, AutoHotkey, and GlovePIE around, nor is the lack of driver-level FFB settings much of a problem when you can generally set it in-game.
It's also fairly ergonomic, especially with the rubberized texture the second-gen red versions have on the stick.
My only complaint, really, is the aforementioned lack of buttons. Won't be a problem for more simplistic titles like IL-2 or Freespace, but it'll be troublesome for titles that need a ton of binds.
-The Spacetec SpaceOrb 360-a successor to the Spaceball Avenger and the only other gaming-targeted offshoot of their peripherals. The true Descent controller of choice (you heard me, SideWinder 3D Pro users!) with its full 6DoF orb that you manipulate exactly as you would your ship. (Also quite handy for other titles like Independence War and Terminus that support a full 6DoF.)
Precise, with 9-or-10-bit resolution on all axes of the orb, and six buttons with which to handle everything that isn't movement, plus a reset button on the back to center the orb just in case.
It WILL take some adaptation, however, being mostly pressure-driven and thus having a large axis movement range with minimal physical travel. The really tricky part is to input along only one axis without interfering with the rest.
Unfortunately, it's serial-based and has no Vista/Win7 drivers. That, and hidsporb (third-party XP driver) was hit-or-miss in terms of detecting my own SpaceOrb later on, even with the correct firmware. Only having six buttons also really hurts in the likes of Descent 3 and Independence War, but hidsporb has a chording feature that turns the A and B shoulder buttons into shift keys, effectively multiplying the four face buttons into 16 logical buttons (none, A, B, A+B).
-3dconnexion's 3D mice may be more reminiscent of the Logitech CyberMan 2 in shape, but they're actually the modern-day Spacetec IMC. (Spacetec got bought by Labtec, who in turn got bought by Logitech, who then spun off part of their acquisition as 3Dconnexion. That's how I understand the story.)
The SpacePilot was their previous top-of-the-line device, now debunked by a new SpacePilot Pro model. (This must be why you can get cheap SpacePilots on eBay now-even less than the SpaceBall 5000 FLX USB, SpaceNavigator, or SpaceExplorer. No, really!) That's not to say it's no longer capable-it's still a very potent device.
The puck has pretty much no center play to it, unlike the SpaceOrb 360. Axis resolution is 10-bit. Manipulating it feels just right-there's a good range of physical travel, and it responds much as you'd expect. If you don't like the way it currently responds, you can change sensitivity on-the-fly (both globally and for specific axes), make it only accept input from the dominant axis, toggle the translational or rotational axes, or even outright disable all but one axis, depending on your profile settings. There's 21 buttons/keys on the device for you to use, but only 16 are reprogrammable in 3DxWare. (The center "3D" button in the five-button perspective cluster on the right is hardbound to rotation on/off, Config is dedicated to switching profiles, and the sensitivity rocker and Dom buttons are stuck to-you guessed it-global sensitivity and dominant axis toggle.)
There's also a distinctive LCD at the top. No, you can't use it like a Logitech G15's LCD-it only shows current profile information. At the top will be the name of the currently selected profile, along with icons indicating translation/rotation-only or dominant axis mode, as well as showing the current sensitivity level when the rocker is pressed and the name of whatever function was just used with the last button pressed. Below it are the names of the currently-set functions for the number buttons below said LCD, as you'd expect.
Using this thing in games (except DCS: Black Shark, which can apparently use DirectInput devices that aren't set up explicitly as game controllers) takes some work. I haven't managed to get RBC9's driver working, but I can use GlovePIE to remap the inputs to a PPJoy virtual joystick. (I could also program keystrokes that way for the main controller cap, though the buttons can be set up for keystrokes directly in 3DxWare.)
Still, it's a nice supplement to the keyboard in games. At least I won't have to rebind almost every game from WASD to ESDF now.
(Whew, that took a while...)
