Product Description: With the look and feel of a real F-16 "Falcon" jet stick, the F-16 CombatStick USB offers gamers excellent control with the right amount of buttons which are layed out perfectly on the handle. Link this USB F16 Combatstick with a USB Pro Throttle and a set of USB Pro Pedals and you will have a USB "hands on" game control setup. If you want the best, get CH Products.
Great No-Frills Hardware As a licensed pilot, I never got used to the unnatural motion of joysticks that use a twist handle for rudder functions in flight sims. When I finally gave in to the purchase of a set of CH-Pro rudder pedals, and had to replace my twitchy and inaccurate joystick, I re-visited the CH product line of joysticks and ended up purchasing the 568 Combat Stick. This is a smooth, rock-solid product with enough handle functions to satisfy most who fly propeller sims. Well-built. A quality feel. No centering issues. Having two axis-trim-wheels built into the base is a plus. Those with very small hands might feel they have to stretch to reach all the buttons on the large handle. If you elect to use the suggested CH Control Manager software that many pilots use with this product, expect a challenge, though there is plenty of online help available. Not flashy looking like many of its competitors, but a rock-solid and smoothly operating product that feels like it can go the distance.
USB Combat Stick I have not had great success with this joystick yet. I am a MAC user and trying to play Flyboys. The major problem is that I can not get the sensitivity adjusted to a usable point. It is either so sensitive that a slight twitch in my hand sends the control to the max. Or it is so non-responsive that I move the stick half way to the limit before it starts to move the indicator and then when it does move it jumps to the max. I have not completely given up yet and will keep playing with it.
Never used my Combatstick for a flightsim BUT... I just have to throw in my 2 cents here. As a loyal CH Products customer for over 10 years, playing a game called Descent, I have used up many a stick made by CH. Starting back in '97 when the "Flightstick" was known as the "Jetstick" I have always been a fan of CH Products. I have a Jane's Combat Stick with which I have shredded the mines of Descent for something like 8 years. (I have actually been playing Descent since '95 but worked my way up to the Combatstick.) Kind of ironic that most of the reviews I have read about CH Products are from hard core flight simmers invlove them having problems that I have almost never had. Not that flight sims are not an intense experience, but playing Descent is a farmore fast paced action oriented 3D 6dof shooter that is far more taxing on any control system, and aside from wearing out pots (potentiometers) and having one spring break, the only problem I have had is that the wire from the stick down into the base tends to break from the long throw of the stick. Okay I lie, I have worn out several buttons and a hat switch or two, but long story short... CH Products has to be one of the best (If not thee best!) joystick & controller manufacturers around.
Great for what you get. High quality product, just as described and I'm sure it would have lasted for many hours of use, but....... They need to make it clesr that it is useless as a stick for flight simulators without peddels for ground stearing.
Owned these products for YEARS! I have owned the gameport (pre-USB) version of the CH products combat stick, rudder pedals, and throttle (non-pro) for almost a DECADE (since they came out). And they still work PERFECTLY! All my devices have been used heavily for years and there is no looseness or play in the stick or any of the devices. I'm only upgradding to the USB versions because all the new machines and laptops don't have gameports anymore.
I can't stress how happy I've been with my CH gear... Really.
I STILL use them today, but with my laptop outpacing my old gaming machine by a large margin, and all new machines not having gameports (USB only) I'm buying CH products again, in USB. The USB have superior button programming utilities as well. I can't wait to use the Pro throttle.
I've tried the HOTAS systems by Thrustmaster, and have a friend that swears by them, but I just like the feel of the CH devices.
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