Anyone with Saitek Yokes adn TQ's should read this

[Richard]

Hi Folks

I had two Saitek Yokes and TQ's which started to cack out after a few months.  Following emails to MadCatz (who service saitek warranties) who were not really any help as to why they were going wrong, I threw the old one's out in frustration and bought two new sets!  Here is where the wheels fall off!!

Saitek in their wisdom now calibrate them at the factory and the chip inside the unit no longer calls up the calibration tab in Windows, so you cannot calibrate them yourselves.  To top that, they wouldn't work and I found out on a dusty page of a forum that I had to delete a VID key in the registry to get the new yokes operational.  Oooo-errrr!  Nothing in the manual or the mult-language scrap of paper that you get in the box.

I now have the yokes working (after a days fiddling and changing things around) along with one TQ, but the other one is erratic and unusable.  Madcatz are ignoring my emails asking for help, so I say to anyone considering a Saitek system ... DON'T!
As they can no longer be calibrated, what happens when the pots wear?  (Chuck 'em away and buy more probably at £130 a pop)

Also the TQ pots are skeleton trim pots, and by definition, trim pots are normally set and left alone, not moved back and forth.

To date, I have had five TQ's the first three lasting only a few months of normal pit use.  Just wanted everyone to know about this as it is not mentioned anywhere in the docs that they have removed your ability to control the kit you pay hard-earned money for.

To date, I still cannot use the 2nd TQ for anything.  If I assign say flaps to an axis, the lever either gives five degrees, or full, nothing inbetween, so I say thanks Saitek for taking my money and selling me something that doesn't work, and thanks to Madcatz for ignoring my mails requesting support.

Mr Angry

[jackpilot]

Hi Richard

Welcome aboard

Thank you for reporting your experience.Good to know.

On a personal note I would say that some vendors cater to the "Gaming" crowd, others to a more demanding section of the simulation market.
This translates into price levels, material used, and reliability, not to mention support and service.
The main rule as usual is to keep  consistent in quality level and expectations throughout the Sim.
Yokes and throttle Quads are vital components, being the link between the pilot and the thousands of dollars invested in the rest of the sim, and they need to be as strong a link as possible.

Thank you again for sharing Richard and , if needed, do not hesitate to ask for other members comments on the hardware they use.

[Richard]

Totally agree.  You would think now that people like Saitek would realise that there is a very large community of us out there that have high expectations and reflect that in the quality but I guess Saitek are just another "stack 'em high and churn them out" game controller.

I just wish I was in a position to either make proper yokes or buy them, but there are other things like a proper MIP that I need first to create the "feel" of my pit.  I'm sure you know what I mean.

I just hope someone has had the same problem and has sorted it and can pass the solution on to me as it is very frustrating having to drag the keyboard back in the pit to operate the spoilers when I have a TQ that should be performing that action that just won't work.

Shame on Saitek and MadCatz for their apalling support.

Kind regards
Richard

[Bob Reed]

Hi Richard and welcome. I have heard other such stories about the Saitek gear. But I too have heard of folks hsving great luck with them. So lets see if any of our users have had any of the same problems. Building a new yoke setup may not be as costly as you may think sence you have 2 yokes you could use for parts anyway! Look around at what some of our members have done! (Jackpilot, Kennair, Boeing 727 to name a few) All you would need to buy would be a joystick controller. Thanks for sharing your experiance with the rest of the members and better luck to you in the future!

[727737Nut]

I have their yoke and rudder pedals, one word, JUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don't bother contacting support, just dealing with it till i build my new cockpit.  My yoke has jittery pots and the rudder pedals fall off track and jam all the time. I have to disassemble them and re-install into the tracks they slide on.  PITA!

[Richard]

Whew!  At least I am not the only one, lol.

The displays cack out too cos they tend to be littered with dry joints.  Maybe they will get the message one day and produce some decent kit.

Had the rudders and sold em, and bought CH pedals, far superior and at least they look something like aircraft pedals.  The Saitek versions belong in Star Wars, lol

Regards
Richard

[Joe Lavery]

Hi Richard,

I had a set of throttles and a yoke from Saitek but the yoke had a sticking point about half way through its travel, most disconcerting on approach. So I dumped it and bought a CH yoke and pedals, the phrase chalk and cheese comes to mind.
Anyway thanks to Ian Sissons, I'm in the process of building a set of yokes using bits from Open Cockpits. One positive note for you, the Saitek isn't a bad shape so you could cannibalise it and make a decent yoke with some new (proper) pots and a control card like Bob suggested. Have a look at Ian's site he explains all, (very clearly) on how to do it. 

http://www.737ng.co.uk/Boeing_B737_Control_Column.pdf

Hope that helps,
Regards

Joe.

[bussgarfield]

Perhaps I am the lucky one.

I have had my Saitek yoke, throttle and rudder pedals for nearly 2 years and I have not had a problem with them - or at least I don't think I have. I have encountered problems (normally on approach after an hour or so's flight) where the yoke has no input and the on-screen yoke just oscillates backwards and forwards. I put it down to software issues and pull the usb lead out and re-insert it which when not crashing the current session, seems to work.
I have never been able to assign an axis through FSUIPC to the one of the TQ levers so rely on a button on the yoke for the flaps and key board for spoilers.
All in all I am moderately content with my Saitek system and have never needed to contact them so cant comment on the communication issues.
I hope they will last until I can construct or purchase a better system.
I also have the Saitek switch panel which works a treat and will be cannibalised later to assist with the overhead.

Just my 2 penny worth.

Gary

[Kennair]

As Joe says, they do look the goods so I would hack it apart and put in a Leo Bodner joystick controller or something specifically designed for discerning flight simmers and builders.  I was looking at them some years ago when they were first released but their first batch had lots of errors on their switches with many firing off unannounced.  As a result I steered away from them.  Some were lucky however as Gary alluded to (however some of his issues seem a little worrying).  As for standalone reliability you can't go past CH products as you've already found out with your pedals.

Good luck,

Ken.

[jackpilot]

Very often, and besides mechanical weak construction,  pots are one of the issues for "inexpensive" (did'nt say cheap ..lol) joysticks/TQs
To get the most of a yoke or TQ you need the  high resolution pots that you find on items like Ace's or PFC yokes.
Recently real 737 yokes with column were going for 200-350 on EBay.
They are fairly easy to interface and the real sturdy gears are all in already.
Including Gwyn's  mechanism and a good Joystick card they will end up costing less than $500.
These or others are light years away from "inexpensive" plastic items for precision, sturdiness and pure enjoyment.

These posts may help:
http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=698.0
http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=687.0
http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=829.0
http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?topic=686.0