These are a new item from Saitek and these have been available now for a few
weeks. I just ordered one directly from Saitek's Yahoo store for US $49.95
plus shipping and tax. It arrived two days after I ordered the unit. So the
service was very good. I have had it for two days and I thought that perhaps
other FlightGear users would be interested in what I have learned.
The Good:
1. Controls are very nicely setup for single engine piston aircraft out of the
box. In this regard I think this is the best unit on the market for single
engine piston aircraft.
2. It comes with additional control handles so it can be configured
differently. These snap on and off but it does require some effort since
they are very firmly attached once snapped in place. These are color coded
and have different shapes so that you can tell what control you are using by
feel.
3. Controls are very nearly a perfect size.
4. I was able to get it working nicely with flightgear after spending some
time working out the details for it's joystick configuration file (see
below).
5. The mounting system (a large plastic clamp) is very solid.
6. Relatively low cost.
7. Very quick shipping by Saitek.
8. Worked without issues on my Linux box.
9. The switches are setup like a rocker switches so these work well for things
like a lander gear retraction switch or a flap position switch.
10. There is a nice detente at the zero position so that you will know when
you are about to engage the switches that are actuated by the levers.
11. The unit has a nice solid feel and it looks like it will hold up well if
not abused.
12. The levers have nice long throws making it possible to do very precise
settings.
The Bad
1. USB cable is very short and many will need an extension cable or a USB port
on the desktop some place to use this unit.
2. The mounting system has some shortcomings. There are two locations for
mounting the clamp to the controller (the back and the bottom) which allows
for 3 usable mounting positions if you mount the clamp to the controller as
designed by Saitek. But in each location the clamp only goes on a limited
number of ways. This limits the number of surfaces that the control can be
mounted to if the clamp is mounted as designed. The main problem is that the
screw pattern for mounting the clamp to the controller is not square. If the
screw pattern had been square it would have increased the number of positions
that the clamp could be mounted from three to seven which would have made
mounting the unit easier for some users. I ended up using only two screws to
attach the clamp to get it into a position I could use. In all fairness the
three available clamp positions will probably work for most users.
3. The clamp is very big and I found that it can get in the way as it tends to
bump into the arm on my chair.
The Ugly
Actually not much. This is a nice looking controller.
1. The switches are black as is the controller. So these are a little hard to
see.
2. The markings on the controller are a little on the small side at least for
an old fart like me.
Other concerns.
Three of the nine switches are engaged by moving the levers all the way too
their lowest position. So for many aircraft (particularly single engine
piston aircraft) these will not be of much use. But this might be a very
useful feature for other aircraft types. For example it might be usefull to
use the switch on the prop pitch lever (this would be switch 7) to put the
prop on a turbine powered aircraft into beta (reverse thrust).
Over all I like the unit. It is not perfect but it's flaws are relatively
minor.
The configuration file.
I created a joystock configuration file for the unit I have and I am embedding
it into this email in case someone else can use it. Anyone with access to
CVS please feel free to modify and check the resulting file in if you feel it
is useful. Here are a few comments about it.
I spent some time tuning the offset and factor settings for the throttle,
mixture and propeller pitch. These settings in the configuration file
reflect what worked best for my controller. These ended up being slightly
different for each control and I suspect that this reflects variation in the
pots connected to each control. Others using this might have to tune these
settings for their controller.
The throttle, mixture and propeller pitch are setup for each to control up to
8 engines.
The switches are configured so that from left to right they control the flaps,
starter and landing gear. I have only used 5 of the six switch positions.
So one other control could be bound to the down position of the middle
switch. The flap switch changes the flaps position in 20% steps.
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<PropertyList>
<name>Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Quadrant</name>
<axis n="0">
<desc>Throttle</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[0]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[1]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[2]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[3]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[4]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[5]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[6]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[7]/throttle</property>
<offset type="double">0.75</offset>
<factor type="double">0.55</factor>
</binding>
</axis> -->
<axis n="1">
<desc>Propeller-Pitch</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[0]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[1]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[2]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[3]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[4]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[5]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[6]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[7]/propeller-pitch</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.85</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
</axis>
<axis n="2">
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[0]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>\
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[1]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[2]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[3]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[4]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[5]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[6]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
<desc>Mixture</desc>
<binding>
<command>property-scale</command>
<property>/controls/engines/engine[7]/mixture</property>
<dead-band type="double">0.02</dead-band>
<offset type="double">0.92</offset>
<factor type="double">0.57</factor>
</binding>
</axis>
<button n="2">
<desc>Fire Starter on Selected Engine(s)</desc>
<binding>
<command>nasal</command>
<script>controls.startEngine()</script>
</binding>
<mod-up>
<binding>
<command>nasal</command>
<script>props.setAll("/controls/engines/engine", "starter", 0)</script>
</binding>
</mod-up>
</button>
<button n="0">
<desc>Flaps Up</desc>
<repeatable>false</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-adjust</command>
<property>/controls/flight/flaps</property>
<step type="double">-0.20</step>
</binding>
</button>
<button n="1">
<desc>Flaps Down</desc>
<repeatable>false</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-adjust</command>
<property>/controls/flight/flaps</property>
<step type="double">0.20</step>
</binding>
</button>
<button n="4">
<desc>Landing Gear Up</desc>
<repeatable>false</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-assign</command>
<property>/controls/gear/gear-down</property>
<value type="bool">false</value>
</binding>
</button>
<button n="5">
<desc>Landing Gear Down</desc>
<repeatable>false</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-assign</command>
<property>/controls/gear/gear-down</property>
<value type="bool">true</value>
</binding>
</button>
</PropertyList>
<!-- end of usbadapter.xml -->
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