Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three-Lever Throttle (PZ44)
by Saitek
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three-Lever Throttle (PZ44)
Customer Review: An Absolute MUST HAVE!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a bit skeptical of purchasing the Saitek yoke (also got the rudder pedals) due to the review on amazon dating from 2007. There have been no CURRENT reviews on this package, so figured I'd throw one out there.
The yoke and throttle combo itself is a fantastic deal, and works beautifully. Through either the FSX controller config, or with a registered FSUIPC, they both work flawlessly. The yoke seems to stick just a tad, so precision is off just a little (nothing major here), and sadly you cannot use any form of lubricant (will ruin the shaft mechanisms). The throttles are done so well, I have purchased a second one to increase realism with my MD-11 and PMDG 747. The throttle is very smooth, and you can configure it however you want!
I would NOT recommend using the Saitek software, as it is unnessisary, and just wastes resources. You do not get the use of the Mode1,2,and 3, but if you have enough buttons to use all of the modes, then you may as well be a real pilot :). The software is a bit buggy and out of date for a Vista/W7 system, and really isn't needed to run this smoothly.
Overall I rate the product 9/10 - 1 point less than I'd like simply due to the very slight sticking of the shaft. Other than that, a fantastic product!
Customer Review: Great Yoke
Summary: 5 Stars
Boys and Girls, this product is A+, let me start by saying that the configuration was like no config at all , i just plugged it in and everything was working great, i did not have to configure it in flight simulator, everything was already configured and commands assigned to the buttons, it is sturdy and the pressure is great it does not feel flimsy at all, it makes flying real fun and great, i'm flying more than ever now all day, my wife had to call me away from the pc, so in conclusion thats my review, the product to me is great its the close u would get to the real cockpit. Customer Review: Does NOT feel real, but otherwise good
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this Yoke/throttle for essentially one reason -- sharpening my instrument flying skills at home. Specifically, I was looking for a yoke that actually feels like a real small plane. What do I mean by this? Well, I don't mean the appearance or the ergonomics, which seem to be as good as you can get in this price range. What I mean is the spring force in the yoke mechanism. The actual *feel*. I've been looking for a yoke that *doesn't* snap back to center when let go. This might sound trivial, but when you're handling it near the center of the motion range (holding it at or near "straight flight"), the harsh transition (almost a "click") between left and right movement is very distracting and subtracts from precision. More generally, it's unrealistic. There's no such transition in an actual plane, and my frustration comes mostly from the fact that it would be trivial to correct the effect. I took the yoke apart to look at the mechanism, and I can see how they designed the armatures/actuation points specifically TO create this effect. UGH!
In my opinion it would actually be more realistic if the yoke didn't move at all when let go, but rather had resistance only when turning it. That wouldn't be realistic either, but at least more so. Ideally, there should be some resistance (damping) at every position in the yoke's range, with resistance increasing very gradually with displacement from center; there should be essentially no tendency to "snap-back" near center -- you could say it should even be a bit wishy-washy near center. A force feedback yoke would be wonderful. Not like the force-feedback sticks that just seem to fight your movement the whole time (stupid!)... rather, one where the controls actually grow stiffer as airspeed increases and that get sloppy and soft in slow flight. The only yokes I know of that do that are the ones on professional sims, and I *believe* the ones I used in university did it pneumatically. I can think of ways the effect could be packaged in something for home-use, though. Something for the companies to think about, maybe.
Most people might not care about these things. It may be one of those "ignorance is bliss situations". Just wanted to vent, because it's something that could so easily be corrected. I used to have a CH flight yoke and that was no different. I image one would have to invest in the real heavy-duty controls that many small flight schools seem to have to really get the effect right. Really, the only reason I gave this one a try was that I found so many reviews gushing about how realistic the feel is. Maybe the next iteration.
Other than this, I was happy with the rest of the yoke's features. I thought it was especially clever that the throttle can be mounted on either a horizontal or vertical surface.
Great value for the price, and it certainly looks right. I thought the timer built into the front was pseudo-silly, though. I suppose it was a cheap extra for them to design into it and it makes the whole thing look more impressive.
Final thought... I would LOVE to see a plunger style throttle/mixture/prop controller in a package with a yoke.
Customer Review: Rubbish
Summary: 1 Stars
Calibration issues, followed all Saitek's advice but still is random at best.
Many known issues, Saitek's customer support sucks. This is going back.
Customer Review: Great Complement
Summary: 3 Stars
This is probably the best Flight simulator partner, but in my case it comes with a little desviation to the right side, so the yoke control yoke is not quite precise when is centered itself. I corrected this issue with the software driver in the calibration section, increasing the "dead zone", but I guess this should not happen, because let it less sensitive. I'm not from USA so was complicated for me to return the item.
The throttle cuadrant works great, is a perfect companion for FS.