Any thoughts on the Saitek - Pro Flight Rudder Pedals? Thinking of getting some before I buy the Honeycomb Alpha/Bravo. Any thoughts good or bad?
Hi,
mine is working well at the moment.
I’m still finding it too hard for my taste, especially when using a stop, which requires being fixed to the floor or leaning against the wall.
Now I think it will not last in time if I refer to the Yoke and throttle, they are 3 years old and dead, I still use them, but it is becoming more and more complicated and unpleasant.
So my feeling is that they are attractively priced, really good for beginners, but if flying becomes a passion for you, and you will accumulate an impressive number of hours of flight, then pass on if your finances allow.
I would recommend, if you can, the thrustmaster.
to give you an idea of the product
Yeah Cpt. Canda uses those. A little out of my price range.
mine is a year and a half old, it still works well, I also use it as a pedal board for car sims :), I have trouble with the rudder whether in MFS or x-plane, I have trouble getting smoothness in the rudder, I don’t know if it’s due to the hardware or the sims
My set of Saitek Rudder pedals lasted 3 years , small control board inside failed, no way to repair or find a replacement, maybe with an Arduino board. I got a a set of MFG Rudder Pedal, they compliment the Alpha and Bravo perfect, very smooth, and well built, you have very good control of tail draggers in particular, I recommend them if you don’t want to worry about Rudder pedals anymore. If you open the Saitek you will see how crude they are built, their pods are not very precise, all plastic, now go and check the MFG’s.
I had a similar experience. Pedals were only a few years old, and the little plastic tab holding the left toe brake spring snapped. I ended up dumping them for a pair of MFG Crosswinds, which have been great.
I’ve been using my Saitek rudder pedals every day for 10 years, no problems.
Get them. They´re really good. I got the old version with the aluminium pedals… really nice ones. Only setup of sensivity in MFS is a little bit tricky, but I guess this is in case of all rudder pedals…
1 Like
I’m holding onto CH pedals from 2006 until Honeycomb releases the Charlie pedals.
1 Like
I think the TM/Saitek Pro Rudder Pedals are reasonably good for their price point. You can spend a LOT more on more robust pedals, but even the higher-end stuff can break a spring or have other issues (electrical problems e.g. failed potentiometers, yada yada). Nothing mechanical is forever, ask any RW pilot. I would think you should get a few years out of this rudder set, and for less than $200 USD, that’s not bad. Others have stated (and I concur) that you will likely need to lower the sensitivity settings in MSFS to work with whatever aircraft your fly… and settings may need to vary from one plane to another. Fortunately MSFS allows multiple profiles per-each-flight-peripheral so you can have one for each of your favorite aircraft. There is an excellent YouTube video where a fellow explains sensitivity/dead zones/yada yada for each of the flight controls, including yokes, throttles and rudders. VERY helpful and highly recommended. MSFS Sensitivity Guide for controller hardware
Hi, tried this already. I need to reduce sensitivity down to nearly 85% that it´s work with the airbus. But for the Dreamliner it´s way too low. Here I need around 55% reduction. Seems like the Rudders are not programmed well in MFS… in XPlane, my setup works with every plane. Of course they all feel different because they are different airplanes… but not wired like in MFS…
1 Like
Virpil. All metal, contactless magnetic sensors (no wear) basically built like a tank with springs that are easy to replace or modify with off the shelf parts if you want a very different feel from the options provided.
My g.saitek rudder failed within 2 days. Turns out that, as many others have reported, one of the wires is too short, rubs against internal parts, and breaks. And you couldn’t get cheaper wires if you tried.
Once you disassemble them you’ll see why they’re really “rough” in actual use - not exactly a great design. I’m going to rewire them the way they should have been in the first place, but in the meantime I’ll probably just get a flight stick for rudder control (and the helicopters) , and use my second flight quadrant for the brakes.
Gotta say the quality control isn’t the greatest. Hope this helps.
I don’t have any experience of the specific pedals in question, but in general my experience over the years with Saitek / Logitech peripherals matches the experiences of other posters, and I would avid them unless for beginner / short term use or unless they are an exceptionally good bargain.
Quality control and longevity do seem to be issues when compared to other, more specialised brands.
I have the VKB rudder pedals which are not much more expensive but the build quality is in a different league. Note they do not have toe brakes but can have virtual brakes set up in software. For helicopters this isn’t an issue and for other aircraft I use sliders for L & R brake axes.
I was going to set the second quadrant to left and right brakes, and rudder, but while in control panel they x,y,and z axis of both quadrants is separate, in-game they’re not - they’re both seen as the left quadrant. Stupid bug.
Same here, I have the Cessna variant, still going strong, just added haptic feedback to them
I’m 6 or 7 years into my Saiteks. Trouble-free so far. I’m sure there are much better pedals out there…but the prices escalate rapidly!
There is a limit to the number of axes that can be recognised (8, I believe), so after that the game can’t discern different controls. Not sure if this is a Windows or an MSFS limit.
The configuration software for my VKB hotas allows you to add a number of virtual controllers, which can each also have up to 8 axes, and so gets around the limit if required.
Is there a software setup option for your quadrants, or can they be separated in-game in any way?
In the windows control panel, the left and right quadrants are recognized as independent, so there’s a left and a right quadrant, each with 3 axis, and no overlap. But in MSFS, both end up being left quadrant. Anyway, I’m thinking that maybe the Thrustmaster TCA Captain Pack Airbus Edition along with a THRUSTMASTER TCA Officer Pack Airbus Edition for the right seat will eliminate a lot of problems. Not in a rush, maybe this summer (waiting for the whole video card situation to settle down first).
That’s strange - is it not possible to add a new device in MSFS? It’s been a while since I set it all up, and I can’t really remember to be honest. Hope you get it sorted out, and I definitely hear you on the GPU situation!