Customer Reviews

Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three-Lever Throttle (PZ44)

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Well I just did some research on this yoke and discovered that Sietek has resolved the phantom keystroke issue. New replacement units are shipping to all US distributers. If you happen to have a defective unit, per a post on Sietek's forum, owners are to call 310-972-9930 for return/replacement instructions. I am going to order one myself but am not sure if Amozon has the new units yet. Sietec refused to post a current serial number of the defective lot but a person on the forums said that he just got his and is working flawlessly with a serial number of SZ005111624. This person with a "good" unit purchased his thru Newegg in CA.

Well I am going to place my order now and I will post an update when I get it up and running.


UPDATE: I recieved the yoke and pedals three days ago and after spending an hour or so configuring the unit I fired it up. The SN# I recieved was 00492657 a call to tech support assured me that I had a unit that had the phathom key stroke problem resolved.

I spent about a total of 20 hours flying around in several planes whith included single engine ceasna's all the way up to the heavy 747. I WAS NOT ABLE TO FIND ANY PROBLEMS WITH MY YOKE. I was very impressed with the quality and performance. I took a gamble but in my case I think it payed off.

Also for anyone wondering if this yoke works with a mac don't worry. I hooked the yoke up to my mac and am running xplane ver.9. The drivers were not needed it was simply plug n play. Xplane recognized the yoke and throttles with no problem. It was very simple to program.

I hope this helps.

Things just went entirely too smooth and totally glitch free which should have signaled that this in itself was not a good omen! Basically I went from the CH Products yoke, throttle quad and CH rudder pedals to the SAITEK system and even bought an extra SAITEK throttle quad to then have '6' programmable axis levers and additional buttons to program. So too, and one of the biggies, at least for me and my sim flying, the SAITEK yoke uses a METAL pitch tube for the yoke pitch control and as opposed to the CH yoke which uses a plastic shaft and hence subtle yoke movement 'sticking' no matter what lubricant I placed on the plastic shaft so I switched to SAITEK and the METAL pitch shaft on bearings. Excellent!

And then ... coming into O'Hare and I hear the jet panel voice begin the "500 above" ... "400 above" ... suddenly from nowhere comes from the aircraft I was flying, "LANDING GEAR UP PLEASE!" ... say WHAT? You guessed it, the "random phantom key press" issue! SAITEK admitted on their own forum that this was a SAITEK yoke factory defect issue [see that forum AND Amazon user comments right here!] . You'll be flying along but when the yoke is turned [or straight ahead for that matter!], things begin to happen on their own! Hence the name "phantom key press" ! The landing gear can go up and down BY ITSELF or normally hat switch activated aircraft views begin to cycle by themselves without any input whatsoever by the user! A decided defect! Worse, SAITEK says some yokes are affected, others perhaps not! That really helps, yes? Sure!

Anyway, I now have to wait until December, 2007, for a replacement yoke and I have 30 days to return the defect item via an Amazon printed-out postage free return label. I was also given the option to wait for the replacement item or cancel the order. I'll wait because the yoke and its separately included 3 lever throttle quadrant is very nice! Problem is, the phantom key press issue is a major consideration because virtually anything can be activated or deactivated by itelf! It's like an unseen hand randomly pressing keys on your keyboard and the simulation acts accordingly!

But I'll still wait because I like the metal tube on bearings making the pitch smooth, the looks of the thing, the on-board three USB slots although the accompanying 3 lever throttle uses a sub-mini pin connector to the yoke, dunno why, because a separately purchased and hence 'by itself' identical 3 lever throttle SAITEK quadrant uses the USB connector. Had it not been for the phantom key press issue I would have rated the whole system [I have the yoke and separate throttle quadrant, a second throttle quadrant and the SAITEK rudder pedals] as "10" stars even though 5 stars is the max allowed. Hopefully, this phantom key press issue defect will be SAITEK factory corrected in a new series. I hope so anyway!


Doc Tony


UPDATE! A LOST CAUSE! A 'replacement' unit arrived and had the identical 'phantom key press' problem! Identical! Wheels going up and down by themselves, views cycling, knee board popping up, all happening at random and making the Saitek yoke/throttle worthless! This is a MAJOR DEFECT in this item and every single Amazon user without exception has commented on it! Every single one! Read it for yourself!

This is not the fault of Amazon but a failure of the Saitek folks to recall and correct a major defect in this product! This time, I returned the replacement for a refund and I'll stick to my CH Products yoke/throttle combination until Saitek can get their act and yoke together! Amazon has been great in this matter, can't ask for better, but they are being given a defective product to sell with known serious issues and issues that Saitek or their distributors have NOT corrected!

Quick clue! You'll know almost immediately if you have a defective Saitek yoke -- when the flight sim loads up and you're on the runway ready for take-off, press the pre-set BRAKE button on the yoke and if you get a sudden change of view from the cockpit where you then have to cycle back to the cockpit view, you have a defective "phantom key press" yoke. It then goes further downhill from there with random commands on its own eqaully random unassisted initiative! ZERO stars now! A defective product by engineering! Read right here at Amazon what the users themselves say! And consistently so for the same consistent problem!


Doc Tony

To start with, I wish I had purchased this setup much earlier. It feels so good and delivers such rock solid performance that I cannot imagine flying the civilian aircraft in FSX without it. If you want the C-172 to become as compelling as the P51 in your control, then this is the setup you'll want.

But I vacillated on this purchase for some time before buying it due to all the reviews reporting phantom key presses. I didn't want to order something I'd likely have to return or exchange. Although I love flying with my CH Fighterstick , Pro Throttle and Rudders when flying warplanes or helicopters, I always felt like I was missing out on the joy of civilian flight simulation when using a stick instead of a yoke. So I finally mustered up the courage to order the Saitek Yoke in spite of the many poor reviews while holding my breath on the "pkp" issue.

By the time I got mine, I had thoroughly familiarized myself with the scope of the phantom key press problem and the possible cures. I had hoped mine would not suffer the symptoms but those hopes were dashed very shortly after loading up my first flight with the new controls. Sure enough I had the dreaded phantom key presses switching my views. By a process of elimination - including flying other sims without any hitch, I concluded the issue lies within the FSX setup itself. I was right. Upon closer inspection I noticed two unusual controllers listed in my FSX control menu: "Mouse Yoke" and "Mouse Look". Each of those had mysteriously been assigned default button assignments which conflicted with what I had manually set up with the Saitek Yoke. Particularly, I noticed the "extend gear when throttle rapidly decreased" and "retract gear on rapid throttle increase" commands were assigned to a button in the "Mouse Yoke". I also had a large list of view commands mapped by FSX to buttons in the "Mouse Look" controller. All I had to do was clear each and every one of the "joystick assignments" in both and all was well.

I now have about 10 hours of flight without a hitch using the Saitek Yoke and even added a second throttle quadrant for even more enjoyment with multi-engine aircraft. I coupled these controllers with the book "Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots Real World Training" and I began working through the lessons. The experience is unequalled in all the 20+ years of computer gaming I've done to date. The Saitek yoke made the entire experience more immersive and rewarding.

Needless to say, I strongly recommend this yoke and even the second throttle quadrant to go with it. The reviews to the contrary can be quite demoralizing, but it appears the fixes to all the woes were only all too easy in the end. If you're considering this setup and you ask me, I say go for it. You won't be sorry.

Purchased the yoke, additional throttle and pedals. Pitch axis is a touch too tight, but other than that, very study and well constructed piece of hardware. The clock makes timed approaches and holds eaiser, and the fluid movement of the pitch/roll axis make hand flying approaches a lot of fun. However..

The unit I recieved is experiencing the same phantom key presses that others have reported. This behaviour is acknowledged by Saitek Support, and they indicate that it only affects some units and are not issuing a full recall. Phantom key presses are quite annoying (i.e. gear coming up on it's own when on a 1/4 mile final). I've tried the "fix" which seems to work for some (using a PCI USB card), to no avail.

One very positive note is Amazon's support. I e-mailed just asking if I should work directly through Saitek USA or Amazon for a replacement (as it's a Saitek acknowledged problem), nothing but an e-mailed question. The result was an e-mail from Amazon informing me that they were sending a replacement unit to me via overnight with instructions on how to send back my faulty unit.

My only worry now is that since bulk units were sent to Amazon, that the replacement yoke will have the same problem. Being that Amazon probably purchased in bulk, if the problem only affects certain serial number blocks, the odds are the replacement will have the same problem (Have a friend who bought same yoke on same day from different vendor, not experiencing this problem).If that's the case, I'll just either return for a refund with Amazon, or exchange directly with Saitek (when they get more in stock).

Other than the the phantom key issue, excellent product!

Okay I must admit I was initially put off by the number of reviews and posts I'd read with regards to the notorious 'phantom key' issue, that is views intermitantly changing, gears going up and down etc. with no input from the user.

Although I believe CH Products make terrific flight controllers and I use the CH pro pedals, pro throttle and F-16 fighterstick I was attracted to the Saitek Yoke's larger, separate throttle, smooth metal shaft and multi-mode capabilities.

With some trepidation I purchased the unit on the proviso that I could return it hassle free should I have a 'defective unit'. Sure enough, within ten minutes of setting it and trialing it in both FS9 and FSX my views were changing randomly from once every minute to once every few seconds! I tried deleting the keys and re-programming them in FS and turning of the USB power saving fuction in Windows hardware manager but the problem persisted. Determined to get it working (as I was immediately impressed by the look, feel and movement of the yoke & throttle) I did a little research and discovered that by merely downloading and installing the latest versions of Pete Dowson's FSUIPC dll's for FSX and FS9 the phantom key press issue was resolved. As many MS Flight Simmer's may or may not be aware, Pete's FSUIPC is installed into the modules folder in the FS directories and tweaks/improves input, clouds, weather and interfaces many 3rd party addon's with MSFS. FSUIPC can be found at www.schiratti.com/dowson.html I am currently using FSUIPC4 v.4.2.0.0 for FSX and FSUIPC v.3783 (beta) in FS2004 under XP SP2.

Where the problem has originated I cannot be sure but is a shame that an otherwise excellent product has had it's reputation and most likely sales tarnished by this unfortunate problem that the majority of users seem to have experienced. Without the frustration of the phantom keys issue this yoke is an outstanding product and a pleasure to use.

First unit exhibited phantom button selections and was unusable. The Saitek web site was not helpful, and I was told to return unit for replacement by thier tech rep.
Return and replacement by Amazon went very smoothly. Good job there.
Second Unit had similar problems as well as x and y axis signal spikes that made control impossible. Have returned second unit for refund.
If you go to Saitek site as I did and try to move into forums, I was unable to get to the "good stuff" until I registered on the forum. So a casual look reveals no complaints; and a more determined investigation shows very few favorable users and a bunch of disgruntled users world wide.
One very troubling comment included photos of the interior of the yoke itself. Poor workmanship was in high evidence.
The yoke felt much better than the CH yoke, and I liked the position of the controls; but it didn't work. Hopefully, Saitek will get the quality control problems solved and this thing will become usable.

I have 3 words for this yoke, or I mean 3 letters...RMA. I don't know where to begin. First of all is 4:00 am and I have been screwing around with this thing for over 14 hours... urrrg. Yes you guessed it-phantom buttons. After all the warnings from you guys on here, I had to buy it anyway. But you see I thought I was getting a "new fixed" one. But guess what people, the are not.

I am a real pilot and I have used CH yoke for years. I know everone compains about it sticking(CH)but let me tell you what I did. I have tried to lube the elevator with all sorts of things. But the best thing I have found was vaseline and a paper towel. It has lasted for 6 months, smooth as silk.

Now the reason I bought this thing. My CH has worked great for 4 years, then all of the sudden my trim stopped working. I took it apart, and I tried to figure it out but then one of the micro wires broke on it. Tried soldiering it but no luck. Even holding the wires on gave no response. So I set out to buy a replacement and was hoping to upgrade to the Saitek.

I dont know if I am just use to the CH or what but I can grease any landing anywhere, mountain tops, between trees, sloping roads, and of couse dead center of the rwy (precisely i might add) The saitek, oh boy, I looked liked I have never flown a plane in my life, out of control.

But what I found really odd is that I CANNOT beleive that no one else on here or anywhere else has complained Royally about the DETENTS in the PITCH and AIRLERON AXIS! Everyone keeps talking about the stupid metal rod that makes everything smooth and better than the CH. I would honestly have to say that it is the most unrealistic feeling, and far from smooth (I would hate to even attempt a ILS with Saitek) My CH is so much smoother!!! The little "bump you feel" in the middle of the axis is so annoying. Its even more anoyying than my gear randomly coming down and my view changing at the same time while on short final. I think the detents should be removed. So after all the hype and excitement, I am so dissapointed and tired, that I am packing it up after 14 hrs of pure frustration.

Oh yea yea yea, one more thing. Just to let everyone know, I have set up the CH and the satiek side by side. to compare. The saitek looks way cooler. The yoke handle is way fatter, its nice. But what was interesting was the motion of travel. Airlerons where exact movents, both stopped the same. Elevator, having them both strapped down, the forward travel seems to move a little further (down elevator) than the CH. But the rearward motion (pulling back) The CH eeks out about an extra 1/2". It might be even smaller that that, but man what a difference that little bit is, like when you are hanging by the prop, landing in some rough terrain. I tried, everyithng to get this thing to fly smooth. All you could do is fly with the trim, but even that was all over the place.

Look like a drunk in the sky with this thing. Well there you have it from a real flying, Ch and Saitek owner.

On a lighter note, it is a great concept, love the throttles that "almost" worked. (most of the time my prop control was my rudder???? That made for some great ldgs.


Hate most

1.Detents in the pitch axis, and the airlerons.
2Random button
3This one is so annoying. After you spend 10 years assiging buttons, 1 minute later, they are all reassigned, all by themselves. Over and over.
4 Lack of ldg gear switch

Liked the most
1 Throttle, the feel

New Plan
I am hoping this is going to work, a New CH Yoke, 2 saitek throttles(hopefully will work by themselves) and stick to my CH pedals.

hope this helps -peace Mole man
Now I have wasted your time as much as Saitek wasted mine

The yoke and throttle quadrant are well designed and very sturdy. They attach easily (no instructions on assembly) and hold tight. The description of the throttle states that it comes with extra knobs (different colors) and every review I've read states the same. Mine did not however. In addition, the throttle quadrant stopped working after 2 days. The light shows it's on, but there is no response. Checked the Windows properties of the controller and everything worked except the throttle quadrant. Reinstalled drivers, SST, etc. and nothing. I'm buying another unit and returning this one. Here's hoping this was just a fluke.

Edit -
This yoke creates a random key press as another person commented on. This is the second unit I've had & both do the same thing. The camera view will switch, flaps or gear lower/raise, autopilot engage, etc all without any user input. You have to be quick on correcting whatever the yoke does. This is an obvious issue that has been reported extensively in Saitek forums. Not sure if this is a software or hardware issue but terribly annoying nonetheless. My yoke also squeaks loudly with every turn.

Two star, and that is without the phantom key issue... Coming from CH product, I was hoping the metal axle with "ball bearing" some reviewers mentioned would be a nice upgrade. However, there is no ball bearing, just the axle rubbing against two teflon/plastic rings, preventing smooth motions. The separate throttle quadrant with prop and mixture was also attractive to me. This is the only thing that prevented me from giving only one star, since this is a big step up and feels quite nice.

First, the "phantom key press". When I first received the yoke, it was in "mode 3". Not understanding why it came preset in "mode 3", I changed it to "mode 1" and starting flying. Not long after, I experienced the phantom key press (random view changes, gear up and down, etc.). Luckily, I had the presence of mind to return it back to "mode 3" and the problem vanished for good. I was ready to do some serious flying.

The clamp needed to secure the yoke to a desk is enormous and doesn't allow a keyboard drawer underneath. Hence, I had to drill holes in my desk and secure the yoke with 4 M4 screws (the yoke has 4 threaded holes designed for that)

Now for the really bad. The center detentes in the pitch and roll axes are just a joke. The force needed to get out of the center makes it unflyable since no small adjustments are possible near the center, mostly needed on final approach. The springs are strong and are not like in the CH yoke product. Once centered, it is very difficult to move out smoothly, making small correction nearly impossible. With the CH Yoke, motions near the center position have the least resistance, as it should. It's the opposite with the Saitek.

After just a couple hours of this, I decided to open the yoke and remove all the springz responsible for this crazy strong centering (no warranty needed for me). The feel was much better, smooth in both axis. BUT, as it turns out, it doesn't matter whether the springs are there or not, Saitek has a dead zone BUILT IN. When calibrating the flight controller and reducing the dead zone to its minimum, the dead zone is still significant and the yoke won't respond to any motion within 5-10 degree on both side (pitch or roll). That means no fine adjustments are possible when flying a final approach, even without the crazy springs!!!. Mostly unusable for flying, and since this is a flying yoke, just plain unusable.

I'll go back to my CH yoke which has no dead zone and for which I have a new appreciation (but also no throttle quadrant).

I have been flying Flight Simulator since the days of wire frame graphics and keyboard controls. Usually behind the curve on technology, I have, in the last couple of years, been enjoying advanced control systems to make flying more precise and immersive.

I have enjoyed many different HOTAS (Hands On Throttle and Stick) configurations, but when I finally got Saitek's Saitek X52 Flight Control Systemand Saitek Pro flight Rudder Pedals I was in virtual aviation heaven. I learned quickly of Saitek's sturdy construction and the smooth precision of action.

But, as good of a controller the X-52 was for military aircraft and helicopters, it detracted from the immersion factor for general aviation and transport aircraft. So what I got for Christmas was the Saitek Pro Flight Yoke with Three Lever Throttle (PZ44):

Features:

The Yoke has two two-way switches and a button on top of the right post. It has one two way switch, an eight-way POV on top and a trigger switch on the front of the left post. The Mode switch is on the top-front of the right post. The front of the yoke has a backlit LCD display that displays the Mode and time (24 hr format) or elapsed time {I would like to research if there is a way to have the yoke display GMT }. There are three buttons on the front. One is a mode select between time and chronograph, the second is start/stop and the third is a reset.

The quadrant has the three levers with zero detents. If you go below a detent, it counts as a button (I have the power lever detent setup as F2 repeating for thrust reverse). Below each lever is a two-way rocker switch.

So, let's see here...excluding the 5 axis and POV, you have seventeen potential inputs times three modes for a total of 51 possible inputs. Mode select is only effective if launched through SST though. Haven't got the time yet to mess with software.

First Impressions:

It took a while to setup the functions I wanted within FS. Then I spent sometime offline flying to get the feel for it. I still have some tweaking but here is what I found out initially.

The yoke is very smooth and precise. It does have definitive centering which you can come out of smoothly with little effort but I ended up putting in just a tad of "null zone". This reduced the tendency to over control. I have seen electric trim in some light planes positioned on the yoke. I have set the tree two way switches as my trim. Initially I had the "repeat" slider set to full and found it very difficult to precisely trim. I have backed it off to the middle setting and it is better but still easy to over trim. I believe that taking "repeat" off completely will be best.

The quadrant movement was likewise smooth and precise. I found the zero detent very obvious, it takes very little effort to move past it, but you will know when you did. The step below the zero detent is a "button" and I have the power lever's set to F2 repeating and the prop lever's to feather. For the first time in my sim flying I can touch down and immediately move to reverse without hunting the keyboard or assigning another valuable button to do it for me. It is very intuitive.

I hate the idea of reaching over a yoke to operate the engine controls as it is on the CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB ( 200-615 ). The separate control quadrant allows me to place it in a position that approximates a Cessna or other light plane. Of course there is a great deal more cable, so if you have an eight foot arm, knock yourself out.

I flew the C172, B1200 and CJ700 in Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe DVD while making small tweaks to fit my preferences. In Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight, I toured around in the Herc (C-130), C40 (737), C9 (DC-9) and T39 and B1200. What a difference!

I went online in real weather and went up in the B-1200 and shot some non-precision and ILS approaches. The power response was smooth and authoritative and the precision was such that speed control and descents and climbs by power were easily accomplished. The yoke made fine control input the norm.

There are several things I want to try yet. Setting all of the engine levers to separate engines and tooling around in a 727 and then yanking into reverse on all three pipes at the same time, as an example.

The one limitation, and this is true for all but the high end quadrants is that in multi-engine scenarios you will still have to select an engine to make individual adjustments as in a fuel cut off/feather problem. Or select out the bad engine and pull off with the mouse. The neat thing here is, you can stack another quadrant and have a true twin engine quadrant for about the price of one of the stand alone sticks.

There is a lot of territory to explore yet, but so far I am more than pleased. The overall quality seems very good to excellent and the smoothness and precision are as good as I have ever experienced or heard of.

PROS:

Good size, ergonomic, sturdy.
Simple setup.
Smooth, precise inputs.
Adaptable.
Plenty of Buttons.
Affordable.



Cons:

Would have liked the engine control levers constructed with metal instead of plastic.
The power quadrant's case is entirely plastic, would have liked some more metal used throughout the set.
Some very minor assembly required (mounting clamps, etc).

Ethel's Very Happy Husband