TechRadar Verdict
A comfortable, capable stick which is just beaten by its adversaries
Pros
- +
Comfortable to use
- +
PS3 compatible
- +
Easy to set-up
Cons
- -
Can feel quite sluggish
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Budget twig ahoy! This cheap and cheerful offering from Thrustmaster is designed to work straight out of the box with Flight Simulator X thanks to a preassigned config - though we've rarely found a waggler that didn't get the basic setup (pitch, roll, throttle and so on) correct. It's also Playstation 3 compatible, which will no doubt have all four of you PS3 owners dancing in the streets.
Sturdy stick
Still, for 20 notes you get yourself a sturdy stick, positively bristling with buttons and boasting Thrustmaster's increasingly standard nifty in-built button remapping options. No force feedback, of course, but there's a variable resistance knob on the nether-side which gives you a degree of control over the stick feel.
It's quite a soft ride whatever resistance you choose, unfortunately, meaning control can feel more sluggish than, say, the Saitek AV8R, which is positioned directly against this offering. It's not a bad stick, but on balance Saitek's more precise effort edges it.
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
The TechRadar hive mind. The Megazord. The Voltron. When our powers combine, we become 'TECHRADAR STAFF'. You'll usually see this author name when the entire team has collaborated on a project or an article, whether that's a run-down ranking of our favorite Marvel films, or a round-up of all the coolest things we've collectively seen at annual tech shows like CES and MWC. We are one.