I wonder if anyone could help?

My analogue ( gameport ) joystick that has served me well for years is about to give up the ghost after numerous mods and repairs.

What views on the best replacement ?

I have a number of criteria and questions.

1. Since I fly mainly light types and helos a joystick is preferable to a yoke.

2. I currently team my analogue joystick with a set of analogue rudder pedals, both connected through the soundcard gameport. Therefore I would have no need of a twist grip rudder control joystick and would wish to disable or lock that feature.

3. Can you team a USB joystick with analogue rudder pedals ?( I would consider obtaining USB pedals if not )

4. I have wondered about force feedback, but is it realistic/worthwhile and does it hit frame rates a lot ? My current hardware/software slider settings are already marginal with some aircraft/scenery situations.

5. I prefer a joystick throttle to work in the vertical plane rather than in horizontal slide fashion, so that it better simulates the movement of a collective for helos.

6. The controller would have to have at least a 4 ( preferably8 ) position hat switch and a reasonable selection of buttons.

7. I am not limited to currently available models as I would consider a used model if necessary ( eg Microsoft model ).

Reading through the "Hardware" section of the forum, it seems that the Saitek 45 or 52 are  the favourite of many ( no force feedback it seems?).

Can you use the X45 with seperate rudder pedals instead of the thingumy on the throttle?  Do the rudder and elevator trim rotary switches on the X45 have a null centre point indent ( so that you know how much ( if any ) trim you have on without looking for a gauge in the virtual cockpit?.

I use Saitek Cyborg evo for Fs9 and for cfs3, and its really good, i love it

Zitin

I've ordered a Saitek X52 and await delivery.

Saitek's help forum assured me that I would be able to mix my gameport connected analogue rudder pedals  ( especially if kept mated with an non used analogue joystick) with the USB connected X52 in any sim/game that supports multiple controllers and of course FS9 will do this.

My only real concern now is about the sheer physical size of the X52 and the amount of deskspace it will take up.

Not so sure about the appearance of the X52, it  looks more at home in the Starship Enterprise than in  Tiger Moth or Spitfire, but it appears to offer the control I require.

I look forward to being able to operate the vast majority of the sim from the controller,also to having rotary controls for trim functions and a slider for things like prop speed /rotor speed/mixture adjustments.