The stick is designed to look like a military stick, which is rather odd because the product is extremely light. The stick has a single-spring gimble, and dual-throttle sliders. The base has four programmable toggle switches, which can be set to for common flight tasks as landing gear and flaps. There is also a big red A/B switch, so the four toggles can pull double-duty.
The actual stick itself has a very large trigger which is very light to the touch. The 8-way hat switch is positioned directly in the top center of the stick, another button on the right, and there is a big-ass red button covered by a flip-lever. This button is probably more useful in combat sims, and this button would most likely be the ‘missle’ button.
I don’t really understand the whole flip-lever protection thing. Sure, it’s cool to flip of the lever, thereby “arming” your virtual missiles, but in the gaming world, this extra time wasted could cost you. Those levers were invented to prevent accidental missile fires, which is a good thing in real life. In the virtual gaming world, you don’t pay by the missile, so who cares if you accidentally drop a megaton bomb over that residential area?
The single-spring gimble makes the stick respond decently, and tension increases the more the stick strays from the center. There isn’t a ton of tension, so it feels comfortable. There is also an optional hand rest that can be installed on the bottom of the stick, which allows you to rest the right side of your palm while you grip. This makes the stick more comfortable on long flights, but has the tendancy to make your tricep hurt after an hour of playing (since your arm is in an unnatural ‘active’ position).
The dual-throttle sliders will be a boon to those sim fanatics who fly jumbo jets, which allow you to set the throttle of each of your plane’s engines seperately. The left throttle has a button which activates a pin to lock both of the sliders in place. The button toggles like a retractable ball-point pen… click once to lock, click again to unlock.
