Speedlink Phantom Hawk Gaming Flight Stick for PC SL-6638-BK, Throttle Controller, 3 Control Dimensions, 8-Way Coolie Hat, Force Vibration, 12 Assignable Fire Buttons, Black

WARNING - REPEATING MY ACTIONS WILL VOID WARRANTYI love this joystick. For the price I expected something much less solid - it is big and robust, feels like a decent joystick, not a toy.The only problem was the Rotation Z axis (which is very important for the space flight kind of games I play), as it had an offset (relaxed joystick is not in the centre). Windows can calibrate X and Y, but does not calibrate RZ, which means the offset is always there in the games making my ships keep spinning over and over giving me motion sickness after less than one minute.I opened the case trying to figure out a way to correct this, which I did by soldering a trimpot and adjusting it until I cancelled the error. But while doing this I found out the internal connections in this product are AMAZING for makers and people interested in do-it-yourself projects. The mechanical side (the joystick itself and its axes) and the circuit board can be disconnected and everything is identified property in the PCB, so you can:1. mod the joystick, e.g. replacing the base buttons for a separate button box, or replacing the very small Z axis in the base for a sideways large throttle lever, or even the RZ for rudder pedals2. remove the PCB entirely and write your own firmware in an arduino or bluepill board, so you have the great mechanical build of this joystick with your own logic controlling whatever you want3. remove the joystick (a shame, as I really like the build) and use the board with your own potentiometers and buttons to build a USB joystick of your own shape (I don't see a value in doing this, but technically you can)All the axes (X, Y, Z and RZ) are 10k potentiometers (X, Y and Z are powered by their own connectors, RZ is powered by the VCC and GND from the 2 large connectors). I didn't really do any work on the buttons but in my tests they seem to connect to VCC when pressed (not GND which would be the standard in electronics).More than recommending this for games, I fully recommend for makers and people alike. And I also strongly recommend the manufacturer starts marketing products for this niche, as there are a number of people around like me building simulation cockpits ("simpits"), they get their hands dirty on electronics and are very enthusiastic on spending money on this kind of thing.

The product was quite a surprise. Has plenty of buttons and you can reprogram them too. This being my first true flight stick I didnt realise it has a rudder control. I have only ever owned an 8 bit style joystick. When calibrating the rudder axis beware of that, it is easy to miss. I also didn't realise it vibrated as well. Overall a good first flight stick. Calibration can be slightly off but uninstalling the software fixed that. Not sure if its a bug or not.

Bought this to replace my thrustmaster joystick, the previous joystick was losing its sensitivity the joystick it self and the throttle was doing the same. With this new hardware it's a lot better easy to install and to configure. It's works well with windows xp used with fs2004. The throttle control is OK but when you push it up no response until it's nearly quarter of the way. Brilliant suction cups, nice amount of buttons. The vibration was a bit to much but can be adjusted on the propertys window. Overall it seems to be a ok joystick. I hope the durability will last as long as my other one.

The best part about this stick is the layout, it's comfortable, and the buttons are well placed. However, it goes rapidly downhill from there.The build quality is poor, it's plastic of course, but the rubber surround on the stick is useless and does not hold the stick in the center.The throttle control is reversed per the labelling, 100% is zero etc.As the stick does not center by itself reliably, calibration is nigh on impossible. This leads to the real kicker, the drivers.You can install the drivers from the speedlink site, and it comes with a control panel that replaces your default system one. However, you cannot calibrate the stick with its drivers installed - this is even mentioned in the FAQ. You must uninstall the drivers, run the system calibration and not reinstall the drivers at all because if you do your calibration settings are reset. This makes the 'drivers' totally useless. Without calibration this stick is unusable for anything precise. Because it doesn't center reliably you must use a very large deadzone to compensate which means you have a very reduced amount of travel.Buy anything else in this price bracket as it will be better than this.

QC must not be up to standard.as other reviews mention, pretty significant deadzone on the twist, not so much on forward / sideways axis.but for the price, it did exactly what i expected it to.however after a couple of hours i noticed electric smoke smell, and unplugged it and returned it. probably an internal electrical failure.i purchased this as a throwaway test to see if i fancied getting a nice joystick, but id prefer it not to catch fire.

I bought this for DCS A10C because I can't afford the Thrustmaster Warthog (who can?).Good as a joystick, with far more switches than expected for this price point, but the most important thing is the six buttons on the base, with which you can set up modifiers and mainly use the 4 way hat and the switch in the middle for multiple things.The only downside is single throttle, but I can live with that, and the pinky switch seems to share the same button value as one of the buttons on the base which seems a bit odd, but for the price this is an excellent stick.