Which yoke?

Hi all,

I am currently in the market for a new yoke since my CH yoke has finally given up after many years of service. It seems to me there are 3 main choices for the lower end budget of around £100-£250, being that of the CH Eclipse and Saitek's standard yoke. But I'm also very intrigued by their Cessna Pro yoke? It looks fabulous but is this a worthy upgrade from the tried and trusted CH Yoke?

Out of these three which would you recommend?

Appreciate your time,

The Cessna Pro Flight yoke is made by Saitek, and includes the separate Throttle Quadrant. If you don't have them, you'll need a set of Rudder Pedals.

The Eclipse has more switches and knobs as compared to the standard CH yoke, but with the addition of rudder 'paddles' placed on the interior of the yoke, at thumb's reach. They're a nice addition if you don't have pedals.

I've had an Eclipse for three years, and have been very satisfied with it.

Hope this helps!

Alan :pilot:

I have been using a CH for years. Last year I ordered the Saitek Cessna yoke from Amazon, thoroughly disliked it and sent it back. I don't think it is an upgrade at all, it seems below the CH in internal build quality. Don't be fooled by the metallic shaft - the bearings and whatnot are nothing to write home about. Strong binding on the center of the aileron axis. IMO. Of course I only had the one. I'm only saying, if you order a Saitek make sure you can give it back.

After going through a second CH with the same old issues (binding of the axes because of plastic shaft and bearings, despite teflon spray, silicone spray, etc) I switched to a PFC Saab yoke and never looked back.

Well just to keep you updated, I've royally messed up - I decided on the Saitek Cessna yoke and it's awful!!

Everything you said is true Nuitkati, I should of listened to you!

It doesn't look like I can send it back either so I'll just sell it cheap and get a CH Eclipse yoke instead.

Can I ask though, one of the features of the Eclipse is that it's 'free floating' - But it looks identical minus a few buttons than the older, cheaper flight sim yoke? If it feels the same I may just go for that instead.

VFR_Steve,

The 'free floating' feature of the Eclipse allows for smoother movement of the Yoke on the shaft. Other than more bells & whistles, the Eclipse is similar to the standard CH yoke.

Hope this helps!

Alan :pilot:

Interesting how we differ so much! I do fly real GA aircraft from time to time and the Saitek, apart from the actual feel in the hand, moved very unrealistic imo.. The 90 degree left and right aileron just doesn't work as you have to keep making very exaggerated movements just to get the thing to turn.. I realise you have this range of motion in the real thing, but to swing the yoke out as much as that in real life, you'd be striaght into a very steep turn (or worse).. even with calibration changes I couldn't get this to change.

...But what really bothered me is the awful binding at the centre, you can't pitch and turn at the same time without hearing the grinding of that metal shaft on plastic clips. Very disappointing.

I did like the throttle quadrant and may purchase this separately, but with my computer being used for more than just flight simming, I find the controls on the yoke very convenient as a quick clip to the desk and you are ready to go..

I will be in the market for some new rudder pedals though as my CH ones have seen better days. I'm not sure if I trust Saitek though after the yoke, but they do seem to be better than the CH alternative.

Alas to say, I've ordered an Eclipse for a stonking deal new, can't wait :)

I've been using the Saitek ProFlight pedals for five years or more. Never gave me any trouble. I set mine up with FSUIPC.

I also use a CH Eclipse yoke which I've had from the year dot. A few years ago I thought it was getting a bit twitchy so I opened it up very gingerly and gave it a light lube with silicone. Worked a treat - no bother since. At one point I thought the potentiometers were burning out, but it turned out I had a faulty hub switch.

I fly almost every day, so these units owe me nothing.

The 90 degree left and right aileron just doesn't work as you have to keep making very exaggerated movements just to get the thing to turn.. I realise you have this range of motion in the real thing, but to swing the yoke out as much as that in real life, you'd be striaght into a very steep turn (or worse).. even with calibration changes I couldn't get this to change.

 

That kind of range of motion is favorable if you use FSUIPC's slope on the axis calibration page. You can get varying rates of axis vs physical movement for the inner and outer portions of the axis.

 

That kind of range of motion is favorable if you use FSUIPC's slope on the axis calibration page. You can get varying rates of axis vs physical movement for the inner and outer portions of the axis.

So today, I've finally received my new Eclipse yoke and it's everything I'd hoped for and more. The shaft is perfectly smooth with no detente and a beautiful linear response which makes that final flare a real pleasure.

I've flown both the Cessna 152 and Cherokee many times and yes, it may not LOOK like a real flight yoke, (but that's really just a gimmick), because the way it FEELS is nothing short of incredible engineering and clever thinking.

For what this yoke achieves it's amazingly affordable .. Competitors don't even come close in this price bracket.

.. and I didn't even mention the trim wheels or twin hat switch ;)

Happy landings,

Steve

You can set 144 functions with the buttons and switches using the 'Control Manager' software. You can never use all 144 functions with Flight Simulator, of course. MSRP is $249.99, but is $189.99 at Amazon.

Hopefully you did not buy it from Amazon as they got stuck with 'defective' shipments of this model ('Eclipse') from CH. Seems like quality control went out the window for the Yokes shipped to Amazon (see reviews at Amazon).

It has one 'flaw' (not fixable). When wear and tear start to show it's ugly head (in 6 months? 1 year?) you will have a pull to the left. (Got Yaw Trim? - Nope! - too bad, so sad!). The Eclipe is an upgrade model, but the shaft mechanism (plastic) is the same as the 'old' model. Only the sliders and switches are new.

But they will ship you a new one in a wink if one isn't working 'right'. Then you can do it again.... until you just take it apart and fix it ('missing screw', etc) yourself. But it is a lot of yoke with tons of features. Beats my joystick' 14 functions, that's for sure.

Chuck B

Napamule

I bought brand new from ebay and actually got a great deal, I only paid £110 shipped.

Regarding reliability though you do surprise me, as I've heard that these things are pretty much bullet proof, my old flight sim ch yoke lasted a good 5 years before I ended up breaking it by accident (snapped the mixture lever and over tightened a clamp on a separate occasion which I did fix).. But I never had any drifting issues.

I really don't understand why anybody would like the Saitek pro flight and Cessna yoke, it takes ages to get the drivers working properly, then takes forever to set up the calibration (of which you need to buy FSUIPC otherwise it's totally over-sensitive and unstable), it has that awful dentente or slot, even the Cessna yoke has this and makes flying around the centre of the yoke (particulary during approach) almost impossible as you either under or over correct. Then when you do flare, it's like there is a delay or something in between your control input and what you see on screen, it's not very direct at all, which causes you to over flare and pitch up with a rather embarrassing end to your flight.

So to summarise my experience..

Anyone on the fence of which way to go, without any doubt based on both real world and plenty of simming experience with both products, the CH Eclipse is the smoothest, easiest and most logically laid out yoke you can buy, the next step up would be at least 5 times the price.

Happy landings!