Best Joystick for $40 or less?

Buccura

Rear Admiral
I'm looking to get a new Joystick, but for various reasons I don't want to spend more than $40. I have my eye on a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, but if anyone knows of better joysticks I'd love to hear of them!
 
Logitech are a decent make. I have (or had) a couple of Cyborg Evos (which they don't make anymore) you won't go far wrong with the Extreme 3D Pro for the price
 
I used a Saitek/Mad Catz Cyborg Fly 5, which I picked up about 4 years ago for just under £40. It's a good stick, which served me well for a few years. The only niggle is if you push the stick all the way forward, it can tip forward if you apply too much pressure. It's a small niggle though. It includes a dual throttle which would serve flight simulators, and can be used as a single throttle. You may have to shop around to find it in your price range. It served me well through Wing Commander 1, 2 and 3.

If you don't care about a throttle and lots of buttons there seems to be a sister version without called MAD CATZ V1.
 
G.o for the ThrustMaster T.16000M. Like the venerable Sidewinder it uses magnetic sensors, and is really smooth and accurate. As oppose to everything else which uses potentiometers and just wear out pretty quickly to the point where you can't center them anymore (Even the Logitech 3D pros: I've gone through several of them) .

looking around they are a little more then 40 but it's completely worth it! Do your self a favor, spend the extra 10 bucks and save money in the long run.
 
I like the timber of that thrustmaster, I have ordered one for my laptop so I don't have to keep moving the cyborg evo about :)
 
http://www.speedlink.com/?p=2&cat=414&pid=21606&paus=1

Have had it for about 4 years now, still running perfectly. Extremely durable, cheap(+/- 25 euro's in webshops), and a pound for pound match against Trustmaster's HOTAS X.
Solid feel, full-sized throttle, arcade-style extra buttons, "rudder/pedal" on the trottle. It even has "force feedback"(working with starlancer under windows 7 x64)
(Note that you might need to update the firmware and use the laters drivers to get everything running).

I will test it on Windows 10 64bit Enterprise this week on my newly build PC. If there are any install issues, I'll gladly share them here.
 
Last edited:
Yes but the Thrustmaster HOTAS X (my brother actually had one) you can at least separate the joystick and throttle to either side of the keyboard so the keyboard isn't in the way, or you don't have to move far from your monitor (if you have a giant monitor, that might not matter so much). Still the HOTAS X uses potentiometers.. it too now won't center. So I really wouldn't recommend that.
 
Yes but the Thrustmaster HOTAS X (my brother actually had one) you can at least separate the joystick and throttle to either side of the keyboard so the keyboard isn't in the way, or you don't have to move far from your monitor (if you have a giant monitor, that might not matter so much). Still the HOTAS X uses potentiometers.. it too now won't center. So I really wouldn't recommend that.

I put it in front of the keyboard, and use the hat switch(4 points of it, it has 8.. but the rest I disable) to select my guns/missiles, things like communication I reach over and use the keyboard. Also, the device is pretty large, and the throttle and joystick are wide enough apart, what made the difference for buying this one instead of those things with a finger-controlled throttle somewhere on the base. The technology it uses is more like the CH flightstick, including the weird "rectangular hole" at the joystick base, that everybody thinks would get in the way, but you never notice it while gaming.
 
It's late but I'd also like to throw in my vote for the Saitek FLY.
I got one myself and I use it for the DCS flight sims and Rise of Flight and I have no complaints!
 
As for potentiometers and them failing, while looking up if my stick used potentiometers, I found a video on how to exchange them with Hall Effect sensors, seemed simple enough... and looks like it would work in most joysticks.. That might just be something for those who own expensive joysticks that are failing..
 
I skipped over the weekend because we are short-staffed at my work, but I got around to connecting my stick today to windows 10.
Used latest driver version(The device is still in production at speedlink, and there has never been a revision of the hardware since 2008)
I bought two of them since I really liked them and it was the cheapest stick I had bought since 1993, and figured one would go bad(the potentiometer problem), so i bought the first, ordered from "Mediamarket"(A store like saturn) on their website, they do not keep them in store shelves) for 28 euro's in 2011. Saw on the net that after intense use they would give out and would not center anymore after two years(Not the case here). There is no profiler software, it only adds functionality to "joy.cpl"(built-in windows program). The latest driver is from 2013, and works fully under windows 10 x64.(Don't use the CD since you'll likely get drivers from pre-2010 and have to deal with lots of issues, like all those "unboxing" guys on youtube, trust me on this, the device runs FLAWLESS and ALL features work)

But info someone like wcnut would probably find more important:
and part 2 you'll find linked behind it.

This would not be easy to implement in a device like the Thrustmaster Cougar, but a breeze in the original FCS/WCS.. now this makes me feel bad for throwing the old setups away(overseas shipping with the old weighted trustmasters COMPLETE would have been very expensive)

(Right, so how do I turn a youtube embed in this forum into a normal link?)
 
Last edited:
(Right, so how do I turn a youtube embed in this forum into a normal link?)

Instead of just pasting the youtube link in the text window, use the link button in the editor toolbar. Otherwise the forum software automatically converts it into "media" and embeds the video.
 
Good call on the TM16000M, its arrived, really smooth, great performance, solid base and construction!
 
Back
Top