Customer Reviews
After the weekend
I bought this from Amazon, took the super-saver shipping and received it two days later, on a Thursday evening. The packaging was more than adequate and the controller arrived without a scratch on it. I've now had an entire weekend to play with it so these are my thoughts.
I run Windows XP and, like other reviewers, I ignored the CD and downloaded the latest drivers from the Logitech website. The programming software works ok, but is nothing special. My previous stick was the Thrustmaster Cougar and the flexibility of the Foxy software is in a different world to the Logitech one. That being said, however, I didn't personally use the vast majority of those features and instead downloaded other peoples' profiles from the web. Hopefully, the community will also supply a large number of profiles for the G940.
There is a minor nuisance with the software in that you can't assign stick functions, program a profile or, in fact, start the software at all without the controller plugged in. This is inconvenient, but not a showstopper.
The stick itself feels good in the hand and has a slightly rubbery feel to it. It has a larger footprint on the desk than any other stick I've owned which, presumably, is to accommodate the force feedback motors. The micro-stick on the joystick that looks like a POV-hat isn't, and the castle switch is instead used as the POV. Not sure that I particularly like that choice but the micro-stick can be programmed to act as a normal hat if needed. I've found I need to keep the dead-zone on the microstick axes relatively high to prevent unwanted inputs in flight as the calibration seems to drift slightly.
The throttle unit also feels decent in the hand but isn't exactly going to win any beauty contests. The twin throttles separate easily and also recombine easily. The action is smooth and the friction adjustable. The lit buttons on the throttle base also function nicely as buttons and, I'm told, will function as working LED indicators in the future. One of my gripes with the throttle is about the R1 and R2 rotaries. It would have been nice to have had either a detent or at least some physical means of telling when they were centered without having to look at the painted line on them. But if you're picky about that you can always file a small groove into the center-point yourself.
The pedals are lovely. Nice and solid, and wide enough for me. I'm 6"3 and find them pretty comfortable. I've never actually used any other sim-pedals before but I fly little single engine planes in real life so have a pretty good idea how rudder pedals should feel.
I've been playing IL2 and DCS Black Shark and have been loving the force feedback. At the default settings the feedback is nice and strong, and the force can be ramped up or down in the Logitech software to suit your tastes. Using the trim function in Black Shark and having the stick actually stay in the trim position is fantastic and actually 'feeling' your warbird about to enter a stall in IL2 really helps with both my flying and my sense of immersion in the sim.
The 3-axis trims on the stick are great in IL2 and incredibly useful. Once again, no 'feelable' center position but you can't have everything.
One thing I did after a few minutes of using the stick was to put a little piece of tape over the "dead man's switch". This is a little sensor that detects whether the user's hands are on the stick or not and turns down the force feedback if necessary. It's a nice feature in theory but, especially in black shark with the stick in a trimmed position, I find the stick will jump around if I loosen my grip on the stick and no longer cover the sensor, so I took the decision to cover it up permanently. I just make sure to unplug the DC power to the stick if I leave it unattended.
Overall, very happy with the product with just a small wish-list for extra software functionality.
The Top Gun HOTAS - Dual Throttle! Force Feedback - Perfect for FSX Acceleration & IL-2 Sturmovik 1946
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2I8Q18P34UYQO The video review:
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The first part of the video/intro just shows some games I've used the G940 with (rather long).
If you just want to see the G940 unit in the video, skip to 3:28
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The retail box with everything in it weighs: 15.4 lbs.
Joystick weighs: 2.64 lbs
Dual Throttle weighs: 2.2 lbs
Rudder Pedals weighs: 6.17 lbs
Games I've tried this controller with:
* IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 (highly recommend! if you're going to get this controller, then you need this game; or if you already play this game a lot, then you need this HOTAS!)
* Microsoft Flight Simulator X / Acceleration
* Lock On: Modern Air Combat
* DCS: Black Shark
* Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
FORCE FEEDBACK:
The forcefeedback will vary depending on the software; it can get really insane or seem like a wasted potential. I find the force feedback excellent and works best with "IL-2 Sturmovik 1946"; when I fire my weapon, there's a nice rumble and really feels like I'm shooting. The rumble when taking off/landing is also great in IL-2/FSX. Now, if I set the force feedback to 150% then it'll vibrate just from the engine/flying - but that makes my hands feel weird/tired. However, for "DCS Black Shark" and "Lock On", the force feedback isn't as impressive; I don't feel anything when firing missiles. If "enable centering spring" is not checked in the Logitech Profiler, the joystick for the game "Lock On" is really loose unless I encounter G-force or crash.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- Make sure the power plug is not loose at all; I wondered why the joystick became loose and no force feedback was going... and it was that simple mistake at times.
- The throttle has buttons that are green LED. There is a zip file called "JoystickSDK" on the software folder where you can mess with the LED to also red/amber/off. Unfortunately, since the G940 has only been released recently, there's no games that can take advantage of the color changing LED to indicate status of your aircraft/etc. It would be nice if it could at least make it change colors when switching modes on the throttle (there's up to 3)
- It comes with a set of cut-out button labels (and you can try to make your own, of course) where you can put underneath the LEDs, in case you forget what the button does. It's a nice touch, but since it has "P1, P2, P3... etc" printed bold right in the center of the plastic cover, it's actually hard to read.
- The Joystick base can get quite warm.
- The power plug, throttle, pedal all connect directly to the joystick.
- The throttle/pedal tension can be adjusted
- I wish there was some sort of click/lock or indication by feel when the trim is actually being centered.
- Has directional/hat-switch buttons on the throttle and joystick! But I highly recommend getting TrackIR! (I absolutely love that thing! It's a must for flying simulators and especially if you want to add more realism on top of this controller!)
Pros:
+ Looks and feels great; throttle and joystick handles are made out of rubber material so you'll have good grip. (although there are plastic parts that somewhat detract the overall quality)
+ Ergonomic joystick buttons (nice extra button for the pinky behind the joystick)
+ Force feedback (not your simple cheap gamepad controller vibration, but really simulates the effect).
+ Stainless steel rudder pedals
+ Throttle has a mode toggle switch button allowing more button configurations.
+ Love the dual throttle! (can also lock it to be single) - feels good in the hands.
+ Holes on the joystick/throttle for bolting it down.
Cons:
- Setting up the controls was quite a nightmare! Spent way too many hours trying to figure things out because button configurations could conflict from game or the Logitech Profiler. Don't even think you can just jump right in the cockpit and start flying with this. Would be nice to get more detailed step-by-step on properly configure things for the games (there is a PDF file included telling you how to set up correctly for FSX, Lock On, Falcon, IL-2).
- Makes this strange buzzing noise when the joystick is idle and not centered
- On old games/arcade style, it sees the HOTAS (joystick, throttle, pedal) as the same input device (ie: the X-Y axis for the joystick end up the same as the throttle). The only way for me to use the G940 with a game like H.A.W.X was to assign/emulate the keyboard buttons to the controller/assign "zones" (you can assign/trigger keys on certain positions, "zones", on the throttle if you'd like) to the throttle through the Logitech Profiler.
- Games that really fully take advantage of this HOTAS is limited (hopefully, this will change with more flying games/LED-changing support/etc.).
Although it's not perfect, overall, I give it a 5 stars because it makes flying more enjoyable (especially in IL-2) and it comes with all the essential parts to start flying/force feedback for an affordable price. I'm more of a racer and own the Logitech G25 Racing Wheel, but now Logitech has brought a "G25" version -- well, a "G940" -- to the open skies and now I've become addicted to flying. I really hope to see more flight simulator games supporting the G940 ready-to-go; the device should only get better as time goes by with better support just like it did with the G25. The G940 should become the standard in all future games. Logitech is really taking over the gaming peripherals and setting the bar for the mass consumers. Now, I hope Logitech will give us a nice yoke add-on with this!
Great Value and Quality
As a professional simulator engineer this system combines in one package the essential tools needed to fly fixed wing aircraft. The advertisements state that this system is good for all aircraft, I specialize in helicopters and would not use this system for them.
Compared to other systems the price is well below the combined price of the competition. Having used all of the competing products at one time or another, Logitech got it right with this system. I missed the force feedback on my old flight stick and was actively looking for a true dual throttle when I found this system. The quality of this product is equal to the competition which says a lot considering the price. The serial connectors used to connect the pedals and the throttle to the flight stick were the perfect choice. Some reviews addressed this issue wanting each one USB instead. I personally like this feature because if I wanted to extend the length of the cables it's easy to with a db9 extender cable (not a serial extender cable, some connections are missing), try doing that with USB. Besides some computers have limited USB ports and you need only one USB port for the entire system. At least this will save the cost a USB hub. The only draw back to this system is the price of the initial purchase. However, the professional flight simmer can not fly with only one or two devices. To really enjoy the sensation of flight you need these three components, so save your money to get this system.
from Logitech:
