Customer Reviews

Saitek JI3G Cyborg 3D Gold USB JoyStick

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've had my share of joysticks in the past, and have never really been satisfied with any of them. This is due, in part, to my being left handed and not wanting to 'stick with my right. The Cyborg is different. This is a joystick that is truly a joy to use. The most readily apparent feature of the Cyborg that sets it apart is the ability to adjust the various parts of the stick. Not only can you swap things around from right handed mode to left handed mode, but you can also adjust the depth and angle of the thumb triggers on the top of the stick. You wouldn't guess that this is a comfortable stick just by looking at it; it is very industrial looking. But I have not had any of my usual hand cramps or sore thumb joints using it. The buttons are arranged in such a way so as to make four of them easily accessible without adjusting your grip on the stick (trigger and three thumb buttons). You also have an 8 direction hat in easy reach. I find the buttons to have a nice amount of play (very little), though this is a personal preference, and they all have an audio and tactile response. One of the nicest features of the Cyborg is odd looking external spring at the base of the stick. This spring not only gives the joystick a nice amount of resistance to movement without making you really torque on it to get to the extreme angles, but it also keeps the stick perfectly centered when you aren't applying pressure. Every other joystick I have used relies on internal methods in the base of the unit for centering, and all of them inevitably fail, resulting in annoying drift. The only potential drawback to the Cyborg is that it isn't force feedback. That's great for me because I have found FF devices to be pretty silly, but some folks like them. For a sturdy, reliable, comfortable joystick, I have yet to find anything that comes close to the Cyborg.

This is maybe the best joystick I have ever owned. The 3D Rudder Twist,The 8 way hat switch,The ambidextrous design fit for left,right,and switch holders.The joystick also comes with a tool that is used for adjusting many parts of the joystick itself.This joystick has power and precision,two main "P's" reqired for a great joystick.Look how high the sales rank is for this joystick.To my opinion,this joystick could be better than Microsoft's Precision 2 joystick! The bad part may be that is is not force feedback which is alright with me since force does irritate my handling. The other problem is that I heard that there are some problems with loading the stick to the computer. This never happened to me due to the fact that my download was quick and easy. I think that problem only occurs to some people.Overall,this joystick is amazing,even having some extra downloads to the stick! As you have noticed Saitek joystick has a decent price for good quality stick. This is exceptional for MS Flight Simulator 2002.Finally, this stick comes with USB port.No joystick port? No problem.I highly recommend this stick to anybody who loves a quality joystick at a decent price.

I am very happy with this joystick. It installed without any problems. Although I don't really care for the software game extensions. Anyway I have used this joystick with Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D, Star Wars Episode 1 Racers (the pod racing), and Star Wars Battle for Naboo. In each case my scores inproved over those I could obtain with a Sidewinder pro force feedback stick. I thiink the USB connection has alot to do with the better response speed. I found the Saitek 3D Gold comfortable and very precise after calibration. I just ordered a second one. Amazon has it (...)! This is a bargin I highly recommend this deal. My system is a P4 1.5 ghz 128mb ram 32 mb video card. It lets me play the games fast and furious. I am not that great at games but this joystick has helped me play much better. I have far more 1st place wins with the pod racers than I though possible for me as well as more gold medals in Rogue Squadron 3D. I also recommend these games.

I just installed the stick and took it for a test run (Independence War 2), so I can't say how I'll like it overall, but so far it is great. Better than any stick I used before.

There is a tricky aspect to installation when running Windows XP though. The software CD that comes with the stick is no good for Win 2000 or XP, and you need to download the drivers from the Saitek web site (3 MB or so). When you run the installation, it installs fine, but doesn't walk you thru the final steps. It installs, and you are required to "OK" the "unsigned" drivers (twice). Then the install just stops.

At this point you need to restart the computer (but it doesn't tell you this). Once restarted, go to Control Panel, Game Controllers, and highlight the Cyborg. Then click "Properties" button, Settings tab, Calibrate button, and calibrate the joystick. Then Apply the changes, and exit control panel, and the stick should work great.

Have fun!

The first thing I saw when I was looking at this stick, was its cheap look. Sure it looked cool, but it didn't look very sturdy. Well, I had the chance to try one out before I bought it, and it is sturdy enough for anybody. After I bought it, I found its pros and cons real fast.

Pros-
-This stick is very precise, and has an external spring to prevent drifting
-Very smooth movement
-Adjustable from almost any perspective, it can fit your hand exactly
-Handle twist works great for rudder in WWII fighter games

Cons-
-Button placement on the joystick head makes it hard to use the hatstick and press buttons at the same time
-Base buttons are hard to use for FPS games
-This stick is very hard to hold in your lap
-The middle button on the joystick head started getting stuck now and then after a while. I had this button configured to fire missiles in Descent, which would result in suicides.

A very minor problem I had was the metal plate, which keeps the head from rotating up and down, working itself loose. The hex wrench provided is too big you will need a smaller one to fix it.

All in all, a respectable product. I recommend it, if you don't mind your buttons getting stuck occasionally.

This is a good joystick, better than one I had from G*****. Its operation is smooth and precise. But I bought it for my Windows ME machine with a 1.3GHz Pentium 4, USB, and it would not install/work, hanging up. The good news is it installed and worked perfectly on my Windows 98 box, a Celeron 433Mhz CPU, also USB.

Saitek responded quickly via email to my problem with the ME machine, with some zipped software and explicit steps to follow. However this still did not work and they have not responded since being notified that their help did not solve the problem.

Bottom line is, I'd buy another one for the ME machine if only I could get it to work! For now it is used only on the Windows 98 box, where it really is a "joy" stick to use.

I have had this joystick for over 5 months and it's one of the best joystick I have ever had. If you are a fanatic of Flight Simulators, or any other game which can be used with a joystick; then I really recommend buying this one. For the price is cheap and the features and precision are incredible. I have given this product 5 stars due to the design, comfortable handling, it has many buttons programmable and its precision.

If you go an look for other joysticks, you will find that Saitek has the best ones. Read the reviews and you will find out!

I know I'm going to garner some criticism with this review, but hey, reviews are for giving your opinion. First off, this stick is a snap to install, taking no time at all. I'd recommend leaving out the gaming extensions stuff though, I haven't found it very useful. It's relatively easy to configure the buttons, although sometimes I've found the new setups failed to load up when I started a game (small problem, the stick's default settings are pretty standard). Saitek hit on a good idea to make this stick customizable, especially because I'm a lefty, and it's pretty cool to fly with my left hand (although I still stick to the right, I've been doing it for so long!). It's also convenient to be able to adjust the stick so it fits into my hand. I find most controllers to be too small, but with a twist of the allen wrench and a little adjustement, this thing fit like a glove. The only problem with the stick is the quality of construction. The thing just feels cheap. The small rubber pads on the base allow the stick to slip, and the base isn't heavy enough to withstand violent changes of direction without tilting. The trigger feels cheap, and it's pretty easy to fire without meaning to, so keep your finger off it unless you're ready to blast away. Well, I think I covered just about everything I wanted to. All in all, it's a pretty good stick for under ..., but if you're a little more active in your gaming, I'd go for a little heavier hardware.

This is a very unique joystick. Although I did have a little problem with the software not doing what it was suppose to do, I just emailed the tech support and I got it fixed in less than two days. The software may not be a big deal to most people, but a lot of the games I have do not let you change the controls within the game itself. It's so cool to be able to use just a stick instead of having to fumble around with the keyboard and get shot to death. And it's not that complicated either. Even the most complex thing you can program is simple. The distinquishing thing about this stick is the way it is adjusted. The little hex key is attached to the base and whenever you need to change something all you have to do is slide it off and do it. All most every important part of this stick can be adjusted. all in all I'm sure there are better sticks out there, but this is the one I like best so far.

For someone who doesn't use or really usually like Joysticks (me), I really thought this was a great stick! It's comfertable, easy to use, with LOT'S of buttons, meaning you won't have to switch between the Stick and the Keyboard.

Excellent joystick, although I don't own it.