This will be kind of lengthy and i think one of my first reviews ever. But i hope to help guide your purchase of a flight stick as best as possible with my experiences and the amount of time i spent researching and sweating on what joystick to buy...

I am a flight-sim weekend warrior. My main use for the stick has been the game IL2: Cliffs of Dover playing on the ATAG servers w/ the team fusion mod. I also use it for War Thunder if i play full real battles (whatever they renamed it to..), and occasionally DCS A-10 if i feel like punching my computer trying to figure out how to do anything.

Used in conjunction with: Saitek X-52 throttle body, CH Pro Rudder Pedals, Track IR5

Quick review: I LOVE this stick. Until i have the career and extra cash to dump on a Thrustmaster Warthog (like $400), i will be using this stick without a doubt!

PROS:
- GREAT tension, zone control, and return to center. the use of the halleffect is just impressive
- Ambidextrous for you lefties out there. I am mostly left handed in life and though i dont use it for the joystick, i get where them even thinking about us lefties is very generous. Well played Thrustmaster.
-It has a good feeling twist rudder setup for you without pedals
-The buttons are all crisp and have a good feel to them and within acceptable finger length, even for people with smaller hands like me. The included slide throttle feels good and have no problem with it (i use it for engine mixture)
-The trigger is crisp and not flimsy feeling
-There is a descent number of buttons to model things to. I would suggest labeling the buttons on the base if you plan on using them for certain things like landing gear ect.
-PRICE: for $50 it's well worth the value. If you are wanting to try the hobby out but dont want to spend much, dont waste your money on anything else (Logitech 3D pro is the only thing id say would be worth looking at, its a classic). If you are looking to buy something more expensive with more buttons and maybe a throttle body combo it may be worth considering getting this stick and a separate throttle body as i have done w/ the X52 throttle.

CONS:
-not as many buttons as joysticks in higher price ranges. For the price though, can you expect more?
-The trigger has a fairly long trigger pull. I have actually found where i like it after use. reminds me of shooting a two stage trigger rifle where you can pull back to the secondary tension and know exactly where you are for clutch shots. Some may not like this however im sure. Hardly worth complaining about though overall. just thought id mention it.
-as i mentioned the tension in the stick is great. its very accurate. but if you end up having to hold the stick in positions for long period of time (aircraft w/o trim for example) you can start getting fatigued by it. Hasnt ever made me stop though. Id rather be tired after playing than pissed off by the joystick being floppy. just thought id mention it, someone may grip about it.

My summary statement:

i spent a VERY long time debating what to do on joystick. I had a X52 (non-pro) twice in my flight sim'ing life. They are cool sticks and probably one of the most popular out there. TONS of buttons, a great throttle body with MORE buttons, all kinds of crap to customize it. I mean it really is pretty impressive....

BUT I HATED THE JOYSTICK (i actually love the throttle with it)! It's tension/centering controlled by an 'adjustable' spring. Even out of the box it is flimsy. If you play it enough and slam it around enough flying it gets more flimsy and spring tension reduces. After a year with one stick i got fed up and bought a second one. This one too was flimsy and died. My frustration with centering problems and AWFUL deadzones made me decide never again with Saitek. This is just my own preference and experience in what i want out of a stick, others will rant and rave about how awesome the saitek products are. It is up to you to find what style and set up you want. It is frustrating but once you find that match, it is very rewarding.

I got my Thrustmaster and it fixed every complaint i'd ever had with flying and my joysticks. Using it in combo w/ the X52 throttle is a perfect match and i couldnt be more happy. Sure id like more buttons on my joystick, but it hasnt changed my ability to fly. Just have to be creative with the use of SHIFT+, ALT+, and CTRL+ custom key commands.

Hope this helps someone, I have never felt compelled to every write a review for soemthing before on amazon. Post a question if you have one; and if it helped please like it for me just so i know someone has read it. Thanks again and maybe ill see you in the sky!

The sensors are good: couldn't find any deadzones in the stick movement. The resistance and springback also feels great.

However, the buttons are all very flimsy and cheap (including the hat and trigger), which is regrettable. Also, the stick itself feels a tad too big, but that might be due to my small hands.

Twisting motion of the stick (for rudder use) has slight detection problems. If you gently twist the stick one way until it stops, it seems like that's as far as it goes but a sensor readout will show that you haven't yet reached 100%. Applying more pressure will force it through the difference, but then it makes me paranoid that I'll break the stick.

The base is large enough to be stable for most maneuvers (left, right, and back), but not when you push the stick all the way forward, it will lift the whole thing off the table unless you have your other hand on the base holding it down.

It seems like dust can easily collect at the base of the stick where it pivots, which might inhibit its smooth motions (it comes pre-lubed, which seems necessary by design). So I recommend that if you buy this stick, use a cover for when its not in use.

Overall, it's pretty decent. I don't have a very good base for comparison since the last stick I owned was a Microsoft Sidewinder way back in 1996. I chose this stick over the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick because I heard a lot of complaints about Logitech crapping out after half a year of use. So far I've logged 30 hours of flight time in Falcon 4.0 and about 10 hours of flight time in FSX, and the Thrustmaster still responds the same as on day 1. Granted I haven't had it for that long, so we'll see :)

I really wish Microsoft would make joysticks again, as there's a serious lack of solid 100-150 dollar joysticks that provide the precision needed for flight sims in an ergonomic package..

That out of the way, I've been using Logitech joysticks since the old Sidewinder days and found them lacking in the precision and durability department. I saw their G940 system but most of the people who bought it use different pedals and the throttle controls had some issues as well, so I opted to buy things separately. Unless you go extremely high end like the Warthog, you're pretty much stuck with the the T-1600M for a reasonably priced, precision joystick. The joystick uses HALL effect sensors to precisely map out positions. With this, I can not be happier. My aim precision in Rise of Flight has gone up drastically since going with this joystick.

What I don't like about it, is that they designed it for left and right handed users, and because of this, it satisfies neither. The thumb rest pictured is beyond annoying for my hand and the hand rest at the bottom of the stick caused my right hand to get cramped. Into the box I went for the spare parts. They include another replacement panel for the other side so you can switch it to a left hand joystick. I simply added the second flat panel to get rid of the thumb rest. That solved that annoyance.. As for the bottom of the joystick, the hand rest does not come off, it simply turns. What I had to do to relieve my hand from cramps was to rotate that so that the hand rest aimed forward. The end of that aims upward at a curved angle, and I believe that was the culprit. With it facing forward I have had no issues with it.

The Logitech and my 15 year old Microsoft joysticks had far better button lay outs as well. The ones on the T-1600's head are once again, laid out to be ambidextrous, so in the end, no ones particularly happy. They work well enough, they just aren't designed well for people that are left or right handed specifically. The base buttons are fine. I never use them, but they're fine for what we need. The Throttle slider is not the best option for a realistic simulation, and as such I replaced it with a Saitek throttle quadrant. Joystick twist I suppose is fine as well, however I use Saitek Pro-Rudder pedals for precisions sake. I found that twisting caused me to also engage my ailerons.

Summary - Its unfortunate that this is the best joystick out there in this price range due to its lack of comfort and poor ergonomics for button lay out. It is very precise however, and if that's what you need, and you don't want to purchase a 500 dollar setup, this is really your only choice with out buying a used Sidewinder joystick. I've used it a number of months and am used to it now, but my complaints still hold.