[Objekt]

 
It's excellent.  Way back in 2004, I bought a Cyborg Evo joystick.  Less than a year later, after infrequent use, two of the buttons stuck or didn't work at all.  I sent it in for service, and Saitek replaced it.

Evo #2 sat for the better part of a year, because I was busy with other things in life.  A few months ago, I started using it again.  A very important button (the trigger) promptly wore out.  Saitek had me send it in again, and I received a replacement Cyborg Evo (#3) today.

They've gone beyond what was written in the product warranty.  While I am disappointed that the Evo has proven so fragile, and twice in a row at that, I can't complain about Saitek's customer service.  All I had to pay was shipping.

[Polpolion]

The good thing about Saitek is that I don't need the customer service.

Fore some reason, at least. I might just take good care of my stick.

[jr2]

Hmm, I have an X45, missing the Fire "C" button, when it got shipped to me by the previous owner.  I sent a letter to Saitek explaining that the button had fallen off, and asked where I could get a replacement, I included my address.  They didn't respond, until few days later when I found a Fire "C" button in my mailbox.   

[Nuke]

i only wish their products werent innaccurate as hell.

i demand 16 bits/axis precision!

[Mongoose]

For all the years I've been a member of the Descent community, and now here, I've never for the life of me understood how people can manage to break sticks so quickly.  I've had a Cyborg Evo for almost three years now and used it semi-regularly, and it feels almost the same as the day I took it out of the box.  Hell, I have a Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro that's over ten years old and seen more than its share of playing time, and despite acquiring a bit of a deadzone and some bumps and bruises, it's still trucking.  The only stick I ever had go south on me was a Logitech Wingman Force 3D, and I've heard from a lot of sources that that particular model often had wiring issues.  The way I see it, the best way to use any sort of game controller is smoothly and gently.  Treat it like a lady, and it'll last.

Still, it's good to know that their customer support is so good.  If I ever need a new stick in the future, I'll most likely be sticking with them.

[Nuke]

yea people always seem to slam their sticks. all my stick breakdowns have usually occured due to a failure in the cables. thats what killed my x45, my sidewinder force feedback, my gamepad and a few mice ive had. i attribute this all to a lifetime of owning cats. ive never had sticks cracking, buttons popping off or sensors breaking.

still my biggest gripes usually are associated with either non-linear movement, massive deadzones, or innacurate analog to digital converters. on usb sticks the adcs are usually part of a standalone microcontroller which is programmed to interface with the drivers on the computer end. ive looked up the data sheets on theese mcs, and the adcs on them usually only have 8bit (256 values) or 10 bit (1024 values) precision. unlike in the old days where the gameport on a sound blaster ran it through an adc with 16 bit precision with 65536 potential values, exactly the range that the sdl api returns stick axis data in. as you can see, a huge margin. when people wanted more axes, they coulda done it without making them less accurate.

[S-99]

Though that's a really nice deal of saitek to do, going above and beyond with the replacement like that. You might save yourself some time just ripping the joystick open and fixing the problem. Most problems with buttons come from dust and gunk that get inside the controller to gum things up, especially buttons.

Why is this the usual problem? The human hand is the dirtiest thing on our bodies (you touch everything with it, i hope everyone washes there hands after going to the bathroom...i do). Also while skin and dirt is coming off of your hands, most computer components get pretty dusty just plain old sitting out and that of course gets in there too. Only at sometimes buttons can be extremely too ****ed up to fix which is judged by how much your finger goes to town hammering the **** out of the button like a pornstar.

[Zenzic]

Some play Hard some play Soft.

My MS Forcefeed pro was very nice solid stick lasted much longer than i expected it to. in the end its DC power input gave out, never quite understood how that happened, never had a DC input give out before.

At which point i got X-45 and then X-52 (x-45 still works, but i like twist rudders, instead of paddle rudder)

I do wish they had a model of X-52 with Force Feedback. that would be sweet.

[jr2]

X-52 Pro is supposedly improved, but still no FF.

[S-99]

That's where i don't understand an aspect of me. I like making stuff do things that it shouldn't but it can. I'm rough and touch on all the **** i own, of course i can fix it all the time. But when it concerns joysticks and gamepads and keyboards and mice, i'm gentle enough for them to survive for years on end(of course i'm the guy who pipes out a little more money for that device that has a strong sturdy build, because quite frankly a whole ton of saiteks earlier nice joysticks are just flimsy plastic that will snap..of course i like saitek gamepads better, those really last).

Meanwhile, bikes, computers, tv's, speakers, refrigerators, lawn mowers, 4wheelers, shoes, shirts, pants, etc. will all see the end of life much much sooner than they usually do because of me.  I know how i'm rough and tough with **** like tv's, refrigerators, computers, lawn mowers, 4wheelers(ATV's), and bikes. But, some stuff just eludes me like how do people make a pair of sneakers or skate shoes last for years on end? 10 months is the life time on all my skate shoes, and even less on other kinds of shoes(skate shoes are pretty sturdy and offer great traction on most surfaces...even ice as opposed to other shoes). Skateboard shoes are pretty sturdy too. Of course i keep them clean and don't scuff my feet, but 10 month shoes while somebody will have the same pair on everyday for a couple of years.

Of course i know the ins and outs of computers to keep them working, and working great at that i might add But it still reminds me of my first computer i built when i was 15 and i wanted to do a case mod by reducing the overall width of the case. A pair of steel snips later...and i ended up with an open sardeen can with more than enough ventilation for the computer internals. Of course i liked having a hot room back then like 90F, and my parents were complaining about the heater being on all the time, so i did some overclocking(a celeron 366 will easily go to 533mhz if you have a good heatsink like i did)  and my computer kept my room warm at the desired temperature enough to turn off the heater. I had that sardeen computer for two years until i built a new one. On my old sardeen can is what i first played fs2 on even