Is there a joystick without dead zones? I’m using the Logitech Extreme 3D. I can feel the dead zones in how it flies, of course, but to be sure it was in the joystick itself, I went to the “sensitivity” page and set the center dead zone to 0%. I then moved the joystick while watching the little dot that indicates the position of the controller. There’s a fairly large region where it doesn’t move. What I mean is that I, say, push the stick forward and it moves a 1/4" or so without any change in the dot position. Same in both axes.
Please don’t be offended, but that stick is not very good at all. I’s rather cheap on both the internal mechanism and a design that’s pretty long in the tooth (16+ years). Mine has been back in its box for at least 5 years as I hated the ‘drift’ and the unreliable centering. Seven7Tango’s suggestion is a good one. That sick uses hall-effect sensors rather than potentiometers, thus reading movements more precisely.
If you want a really good upgrade, I can thoroughly recommend the VKBsim Gladiator II, which I’m using: VKB Sim Gladiator Mk.II Review - YouTube
@AmiableGalaxy9 Thanks for the suggestion. Why would I be offended? The basis of my post was that the Logitech has problems. I could already tell it was junk. It was cheap too, so what do you expect.
A question for both of your is how stiff are these joysticks. I have some shoulder pain. After I figured out how to position it, the Logitech was fine. But I wouldn’t want a n ew joystick to be much stiffer. I saw a review of the 16000M that said “too stiff for my liking” but we don’t know what “his liking” is.
The spring loading on the Z axis (rudder/twist) can feel a bit stiff. Other than that I find it very enjoyable to use, and quite responsive. Plus, it can be “tuned” for sensitivity and the response curves can be adjusted to your liking. That feature has helped mitigate some of the over-sensitive ground handling that the sim provides in “stock” trim.
The Gladiator is not stiff at all on the x-y axis (it can be manipulated with a light touch in the fingers rather than having to grip it firmly); has a mellow centre detent, and very comfortable to use generally: very sensitive and good progressive resistance before full deflection. The Z axis has slightly more resistance, but less that the Logitech, as I recall. I don’t use the twist anyway as I have pedals. Hope this helps.
Not sure why the dead zones are excessive for you with the Logitech joystick.
Have you set up / calibrated the yoke - including setting the dead zones on each axis to zero - from within Windows, via Control Panel/Devices and Printers, first ?
My cheap but trusty 25 [ish] year old Logitech Pro Flight yoke still performs faultlessly. It reacts to the slightest input on any axis, no problem.
I did do a little maintenance on it about ten years ago though. I carefully opened it up [plenty of utube videos if you ever feel the need] and cleaned and re-greased it.
I also had occasion [although this is nothing to do with any dead zones] to replace the dead LED’s in the clock/timer display.
how did u fix the leds in your logitech pro yoke.
mines been dead for years? I would love to fix it.
however I did fix my deadzone problem.
the yoke is not sensitive and only has 1024 possible positions which shows as lag or deadzone for small increments.
i found a guide to fix it. you need a leo bodnar mod. (leobodnar. com). it’s a usb board 80386 which fits inside the yoke and increases sensitivity to 4096 positions
now the slightest twitch of the yoke gives movement. no deadzone. it also allows for extra switches to be programmed too.
so now my 15year old yoke is still performing well.
It’s not a joystick, but my VirtualFly Yoko the Yoke+ has no observable dead zones. I would imagine that whichever stick you go for, to achieve this you need to get one which uses Hall effect sensors, and not potentiometers.
I just gave up on the LED screen, maybe five years or so ago. I wasn’t too bothered about the flickering when that first started as I never looked at the clock display. Some had suggested to simply put a piece of tape over it if it was bothersome. Anyway, like yours, it died entirely, so that was that, I thought. About two weeks ago it suddenly came back to life, and also remained on when I turned off the PC. - steady with no flickering. After a few days of this it turned off and on again with the PC; on, with only a minor flicker. No real explanation, but I think it may be the driver/software/USB/BIOS/power rather than a hardware issue.
I experimented with the USB cable connected to a 5v USB power supply rather than the PC and the screen lit solidly - no flicker, but no time display, of course.
Re dead LED’s.
Carefully open the yoke to get access to the dead LED’s.
Mark which end is positive and which negative, for each LED. Then remove them by de-soldering them from the board.
Then simply fit new equivalents. The ones I used I bought from the now defunct Maplin:
2x 3mm LED, green. But any low current types will do.
The ones I use are a tad brighter than the originals. Which is nice.
Addendum:
Needless to say, don’t attempt to open and replace components in your kit [any kit] unless you
know what you are doing.
@anon81017491 I checked out the Windows calibration screen and didn’t see anything about dead zones. It did help me confirm that the issue is a center dead zone in the pitch control. There was no dead zone in the roll or yaw. But the roll and yaw are very twitchy about the center, it helped me confirm that too.
First my apologies. I have got my wires crossed in that I see you are talking about joysticks and I am referring to my Saitek yoke. I hope I haven’t misdirected you!
As far as your ‘twitchy’ joystick is concerned, if it is still misbehaving after being calibrated properly,
you have two options:
On the assumption it uses pots [potentiometers] for the axial movement, these pots do become flaky with age. They can however often be replaced with new ones of equivalent electrical value, at little expense.
Or, you can attempt to clean the existing ones with a little isopropyl alcohol.
Of course, both these methods require some disassembly of the joystick.
Not recommended if you have no experience of electronics.
The other option is to either have it replaced if it is still under warranty or, failing all the above,
to junk it altogether and buy a new one.
I’ve got my green leds now.
do I. need to fully open the yoke or can I just pop off the led display to get access to the leds.
does the display have its own pcb or long wires going down the shaft to the usb pcb inside the yoke?
