Force feedback -- recommendations, wisdom?

[dswo]

I'm thinking about getting a force feedback joystick. Three questions:

1. Is it worth it?

2. What do you recommend? Yes, I know the old Sidewinders were great. But on Ebay they sell for US$100 and up. That a lot for something with moving parts and no warranty.

3. Do they last?

My CH yoke has some problems. The elevator has never been smooth, and last year I needed to do open-heart surgery when one of the plastic posts broke inside. (I replaced it with a metal bolt.) On the other hand, it doesn't slowly uncalibrate. My old Precision Pro joystick has some play around the center, but it's not going bad. What I don't want is something that's fun at first and then becomes frustrating as it goes sloppy on me.

[Mathias]

Uhm, dare I say, you can't get a better FFB stick than the old Sidewinder II. The original one as far as I know has driver issues under XP and above.
My Sidewinder has been soldered three times now, always where the USB cable is attached to the board. The mechanical parts don't show any signs of age yet and I believe I bought it back in 2002, going through many a fierce airbattle. :-)
Started several attempts in replacing it with Logitech or other products but always returned those as they felt like kids toys compared to the Sidewinder.
So..........:kilroy:
I have an old CH yoke too but it's taking dust, just doesn't feel right to me without FFB, particularly since I mostly fly warbirds.:engel016:

[JimC1702]

I had a Logitech force-feedback stick but it constantly lost calibration. It was a known issue, and they replaced a lot of them under warranty.

Now I have a Saitek Cyborg Evo force-feedback stick and have been very happy with it. Never a calibration issue, and there are plenty of buttons for the things I want to control from the stick.

I'm not convinced that force-feedback is a must in FSX, but it is gratifying to feel that "thump" on touchdown and when the gear retracts, etc.

Now that I think about it, I disabled the bumps on the ground, it was extremely annoying, always like you were taxiing on a washboard.

Jim

[dswo]

I'm not convinced that force-feedback is a must in FSX, but it is gratifying to feel that "thump" on touchdown and when the gear retracts, etc.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what FF does. Can you feel the control forces in flight? I.e., does the stick feel trimmed out when the plane is trimmed out?

[Mathias]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what FF does. Can you feel the control forces in flight? I.e., does the stick feel trimmed out when the plane is trimmed out?


Yes, that's what it does. For instance the forces get stronger as your control surfaces begin to stiffen at high speeds.
Naturally you won't feel a lot forces if you tend to fly sunday afternoon good weather Cessna style so if your mere objective is to get your plane in a straight line from A to B you don't really need FF. On the other hand, when flying at the edge a good FF stick IMO adds a lot to the experience of being in a plane.

[Nick C]

When I had force feedback it was with a Sidewinder II. It still goes strong today, but a friend's using it for the moment. When I had it installed, I used it with 'FS Force' which worked very well.

http://www.fs-force.com

[spotlope]

Yep, another vote for FS-Force. I've used it for years (along with my used Sidewinder II FF that I got on Ebay five years ago, and which is still running with no problems). In the stock FSX, as with its predecessors, the force feedback is sorely lacking IMO. FS-Force is a module that replaces the default FF with a much more advanced version in which you can indeed feel the forces being trimmed away on the controls until everything is in balance. Without it, I probably wouldn't bother with FF.

[ryanbatc]

I have the MS FFB2 stick

Honestly, I've run force feedback OFF ever since FS9

Why? Because the default forces are a horrible representation of flying.

However, there is a program, I've never tried, but some say it's a large improvement over default, called FS Force
http://www.fs-force.com/

I believe Logitech is coming out with a new system, like 300 bucks though, but the stick will have FFB, anyway the best stick with ffb is the sidewinder 2

[Nick C]

Ryan, you might want to try reading a few posts up ;)

Seriously though, this programme seems relatively unknown and while I don't presently use it, it's nice to see it getting a bit of press.

[ryanbatc]

Ryan, you might want to try reading a few posts up ;)

Seriously though, this programme seems relatively unknown and while I don't presently use it, it's nice to see it getting a bit of press.

Actually I started posting before any of you guys did but my wife came home for lunch and I was distracted hehe....and I just finished it and hit post

[spotlope]

I've always been surprised that more virtual fliers didn't crow about FS-Force. Most of the negatives that people harp on about FS9/FSX and FFB are fixed by this handy little utility. It's a must-have in my book, right up there with TrackIR and pedals.