Hi All,

Finally thinking of getting around to playing some of the old space sims I used to love so much, but I only have an M$ ForceFeedback joystick, which a) is Huge, b) needs its own power supply and c) probably poorly supported.

Can anyone recommend a good CHEAP joystick? One that's easily available - I'm in Ireland, so I need to be able to buy it online.

Cheers,

DF

We had a thread about this recently, and a lot of people said that they liked their Logitech Extreme 3D pro. Not a top of the line joystick, but one that is relatively cheap, has everything you need (except for possibly force feedback) and works well.

I like my Saitek Cyborg Evo - was only £30-40 quid when I bought it. Don't know what their current equivalent is like though...

It took me some time but recently I was able to persuade my wife that second joystick is eee...absolutely necessary for me...So I purchased a beautiful, classy, produced in 1995 Sidewinder Precision Pro for a bit $15 :-). I’m really amazed about it’s quality – it works like a charm. The only drawback of this transaction was that a week later some guy was selling TWO Sidewinder Force Feedback joysticks and the auction ended on $17 :-(. If I only had some more time to start another persuasion process ….
All in all – try to buy second hand Sidewinder Precision Pro (but NOT Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 – it uses potentiometers instead of optical sensors ) or Sidewinder Force Feedback (but they are more costly). Because of this optical sensors - they are very durable & acurate. I don't think you would be able to buy sth of similar quality in that price range.

EDIT:
When buying FF - make sure you buy also PSU
When buying Precision Pro - make sure it is equipped with game-port to USB interface (unless of course you have in your pc sound card with Game Port). Buying such interface separately is risky because AFAIK they differ somehow.

Thanks all - that gives me some possibilities.

I recently bought Thrustmaster T.16000M. It uses magnetic hall effect sensors for the X and Y axes, which means it is far more precise and durable than other entry-levle joysticks.

Downside is that there is no cover for bottom of the stick where it meets to base to prevent dust from getting inside, meaning I have to keep the joystick in its box when not using it, which is not big deal for me since my computer desk has no room anyways.