Saitek PS41 Aviator Joystick for use with PC or Xbox 360 Game Console

by Saitek

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 10.6 inches ; 2.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001EYU1W8
• Item model number: PS41
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,771 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 15, 2008

Product Description

Manufacturer Description

Get on your enemy's 'six', chalk up another kill and rule the skies with the Saitek Aviator -- the best way to play flight games on your Xbox 360 and PC. The Aviator gives you total accuracy and complete control, improving the way you play air combat games, heightening realism and enhancing gameplay.

Features include:

• 3 buttons, heavy duty trigger and POV analog stick
• 2 buttons, Start and Select and D-pad
• Dual mode switch - changes control layout to support different games
• Communicate with your wingmen online with integrated Xbox Live headset connector
• Large, flat base gives total stability

System Requirement:

• Connectivity: USB 1.1/2.0
• System Requirement: Xbox 360, Windows XP, XP64 and Windows Vista (all versions)

Works great with:

• Tom Clancy: HAWX
• Blazing Angels
• Blazing Angels 2
• Ace Combat 6

Product Description

Xbox 360-compatible version of the Aviator stick. System Requirements: Xbox 360. Produce Benefits and Features include Trigger and three buttons on head of stick,POV hat switch (d-pad), 8 buttons on base of stick, Throttle lever, Twist axis for rudder, Xbox guide button , Provides much more intuitive control method for flight games than a gamepad can offer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Large deadzone with Xbox 360 games, October 5, 2009

By 

Jerry K (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Saitek PS41 Aviator Joystick for use with PC or Xbox 360 Game Console (Personal Computers)

This joystick does not function correctly with most Xbox 360 flight games, due to a large deadzone programmed into most games.

If you don't know what a deadzone is, it's basically the size of an area where any movement of a stick is not recognized. If the deadzone is too small, even miniscule movements will register an input. But if it's too large, a player must make large movements with the stick before anything is registered.

The deadzone is meant to make it easier for gamepad players, but the side effect is that flight sticks like this Saitek stick suffer from lack of precision. Only the 360's HAWX game has addressed the issue. For Ace Combat and other games, the huge deadzone makes small, fine movements nearly impossible. You're much better off with the thumb sticks of the standard gamepad.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Stick, Worth the Money, April 4, 2009

By 

Jay (California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saitek PS41 Aviator Joystick for use with PC or Xbox 360 Game Console (Personal Computers)

I prefer having a separate controller and thrust unit but I don't have a table and chair setup; just a couch; so I needed something I could hold in my lap. For Hawx, this stick works out really well except for the occassional reach back to drop a flare. Left hand on the thrust, right hand on the controller and you have 99% of what you need including rudder control (stick twist). This is a good responsive controller that makes the game a lot more fun than the regular controller!

I am happy with my purchase and I would definately buy it again. But I'd rather pay [...] bucks more and have a better designed controller.

Overall this is a three star controller (meaning good, not great), but the low price and lack of options on the market force me to give it 4. Hope this helps!

Here are a few general design complaints: 1) The buttons on the back accidently get pushed from time to time if you have the controller on your lap. 2) The missle button is in the middle with no way to remap to the left button. I suspect they did this for left handers but I think they could have used black unlabeled buttons, made the left button the missle button and added a manual switch to reverse the missile button from the left to the right. 3) The flap over the button is kind of stupid.

>> P.S. I paid $49.99, beware of price gouging by third party vendors.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now this is fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! Buy this thing!!!, April 14, 2009

By 

Ryan Andreas "Ink" (California USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saitek PS41 Aviator Joystick for use with PC or Xbox 360 Game Console (Personal Computers)

I received this controller from a competitors website due to the fact at the time, strangely enough this same controller was mis-priced on Amazon for nearly 120.00 for the Xbox 360 console version (non PS3). The price listed now is accurate (around 50 bucks) - and I would have surely bought from Amazon - this site is great.

All I can say is, whooooooahhh. Plug this baby in the Xbox 360 usb port and you are ready for intense battles. Sooooooo much fun. I got Ace Combat 6 - Blazing A's 2 - and Hawx just so I could experience the joystick (bought the games from Amazon :-P). The light weight that others may mention are about the only shortcumming I can think of, but they DON"T (emphasis on DON"T) affect gameplay at all. This cool joystick sits right on your lap if you like, works for both lefties and righties - and sits amazingly stable on a flat table. The control is accurate, fantastic, ergonomic and non-flawed. Changing views to a first person in the cockpit, and using this stick is absolutely thrilling. Don't hesitate to buy this device. The next gen flight games are crazy - but they get placed on a whole new interactive level with this stick.

Not a gimmick, you simply have better control of the planes and weapons with this stick - straight up balls to the walls blast :)