Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three-Lever Throttle (PZ44)
by Saitek
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three-Lever Throttle (PZ44)
Customer Review: Saitek Pro Flight Yoke
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife bought the Saitek Pro Flight Yoke and Throttle for me a couple of weeks ago. When paired with MS Flight Simulator X (FSX), this hardware proved to be a major improvement over my Logitech Force Feedback joystick. Force feedback would have been a nice addition, but experience with two Logitech joysticks proved the feature stops working within a few months of initial use.
The Yoke and Throttle easily attached to my computer desk without damage to the latter. The Throttle is small enough that I left it attached when not using FSX; the Throttle connects to the Yoke using a PS/2 style connector. The Yoke is easily removed when I have to get down to business.
The Yoke is substantial in appearance and flawless in operation. None of the firmware problems cited in early reviews were evident. A little Vaseline petroleum jelly on the metal cylinder was all that was needed to ensure smooth yoke movements.
The Yoke and Throttle are very well supported by FSX. Its use with FS9 (2004) and X-Plane 9 were notably less encouraging. The hardware was released three years after FS9. My brief experience with X-Plane 9 suggests that even superior hardware cannot makeup for inferior software.
Customer Review: Now it really feels like flying
Summary: 5 Stars
I have flown flight simulator since the first version that came out for Apple in the early 80's, but I have always used joysticks, the latest being Microsofts ForceFeedback 2. I've always felt I had good control of the airplane, and it felt like really flying, but it just doesn't compare to te experience of having a real yoke and throttle. I've always worked hard a keep the plane balanced to keep it at altitude or do turns without changing altitude, but with the yoke it's not problem at all, and maintaining level of descent on landing is a breeze with the throttle now. As for the product itself, it is good quality, easy to install, and I love the mode switch on the back of the yoke's right handle. It means I get triple amount of buttons as you can assign three different functions to the same key, and then switch between these modes by simply turning the mode switch. I've set mode one to handle the radio stack and to handle ATC commands. Mode 2 I've set to handle all functions of the autopilot, and mode 3 is set for flight functions like gear, flaps, brakes, trim, etc. I would recommend this product to anyone who wants the real feeling of flying even though it's just a simulation.Customer Review: Economic realism for flight sim.
Summary: 5 Stars
As an old commercial pilot, SE & ME CFII, and aviation enthusiast (retired) I decided to get back into my love of aviation with FSX and a joystick was not realistic for my general aviation background. The Saitek ProFlight Yoke System is within my budget and still provides a near actual feel and capabilities that I desired. The only problem was mounting the units on my computer desk that has a front sloping edge. A quick trip to Home Depot for some foam weather stripping and commercial grade velcro allowed me to create a padding to compensate for the gap at the slope and also secure the units for good steady use. I strongly suggest the use of the ProFlight Rudder Pedals to complete the setup. They also work well mounted to a plastic chair mat with velcro. Using a Sharpie fine point pen to make an outline around the units makes it simple to re-install and find your velcro after a removal. I had my doubts about the plastic design but that has proven to be no problem. Windows 7 searched for the current Saitek software drivers and made the whole experience enjoyable. Amazon free shipping in 2 business days along with the best price was a plus.Customer Review: Better than CH yoke
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this product initially with hesitation because of all of the problems people seemed to have with it. The key to installation is to not use the drivers on the CD it comes with. Also go to the forums that tell you how to delete certain registry entries that give you a clean slate on your yoke and button assignments. After clearing your assignments on FS9 and/or FSX like I have, you go in and set the assignments anew for your yoke and throttle assembly. Then you won't get the gear down and view change anomalies. I use the CH pedals without any problems along with the Saitek stuff. When those quit working though I will switch to the the Saitek pedals. This product is heavy duty and real looking compared to the CH yoke that I used for 3 years. The metal shaft and LED clock look very awesome. Go ahead and buy this, you will be glad you did. Buy the way, I did install the CD drivers initially just to see if the problems would occur. They did. Went to Saitek forums and found the solution. Follow the directions on deleting registry entries and deleting your yoke assingnments and everything works great.Customer Review: Patience and Programming
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three-Lever Throttle (PZ44) and almost regretted my purchase after reading so many bad reviews. But after one month with it, I'm very happy with my purchase.
The trick to using this product in Microsoft Flight Simulator X is to remove all of the joystick assignments in the controls' settings. I recommend deleting ALL of the joystick assignments (to include normal and slew modes) for all controller types (both the yoke and mouse).
The only joystick assignment I kept was for the 'View (Pan)' command so I could use the hat switch (the round thumb switch located on top of the yoke's left grip) to look around.
I programmed the blue and red throttle axes using the 'Control Axes' section to control my 'Propeller' and 'Mixture' settings. The 'Aileron', 'Elevator' and 'Throttle' commands were already programmed so I didn't have to worry about them.
All-in-all, when I finally got over the excitement of using my yoke and throttle quadrant and took the time to program them, they worked without a hitch.