[Mongoose]

Exactly.  Real life sucks.  Childish fantasies are A-1 supar.

[General Battuta]

Exactly.  Real life sucks.  Childish fantasies are A-1 supar.

Well real life fighters ARE flown with stick and throttle, just...also with a bunch of keys.

[SypheDMar]

Keyboard all the way since '99, no mouse no stick, no items, Final Destination

Battlefield, noob.

Left-handed mouse with keyboard.

[Mongoose]

Exactly.  Real life sucks.  Childish fantasies are A-1 supar.

Well real life fighters ARE flown with stick and throttle, just...also with a bunch of keys.

Then where's your stick and throttle?

[Spoon]

Hah, people still use joysticks in this day and age?

How silly.

[Mongoose]

ino, rite?

[MatthTheGeek]

My thoughts exactly.

Real men fly with their brain.

[rhraziel]

I remember playing Quake 2 back in the day when you were a total noob if you used a joystick. There was one guy in the server who was turning real slow so we asked him if he was using a mouse. He said "Mice are for birds, I've got a sidewinder". That is still an inside joke with me and my friends to this day.

[Dilmah G]

Exactly.  Real life sucks.  Childish fantasies are A-1 supar.

Well real life fighters ARE flown with stick and throttle, just...also with a bunch of keys.

Well to be fair, aircraft are flown with stick/rudder/throttle, but they're operated with switches and some buttons and levers, depending on your aircraft. From an F/A-18F pilot: 'Anyone can fly a hornet, but not everyone can operate one.'

Hah, people still use joysticks in this day and age?

How silly.

Have fun landing short circuit in a crosswind with your mouse and keyboard. Wing down top rudder, what's that?! 

Okay, no, but seriously, k/m for FS I can understand, k/m for anything requiring actual stick and rudder competence, I cannot.

[jr2]

So, how about the joystick in my sig?

[Dragon]

CH Fighterstick, Pro Throttle and Pro Pedals. Full HOTAS. 
And to boot, Logitech G110 Keyboard, which has 12 additional buttons which I mapped to wingmen commands. And I'll be getting either G500 or MX518 mouse in a forseeable future (I'm now using MX500). Not for FS though, mostly for ArmA II and RTSes.

[Thaeris]

I've heard some say otherwise, but I've not yet had to solve the issue, as I've been some time since even touching FS... I'm still of the opinion that FS has really shoddy control inputs, at least with regards to the stick and the mouse. They work, but I've played other games where the mouse/stick controls are absolutely wonderful. FS, to say the least, cannot make that claim. Now, certainly, we all love FS here, but there's a huge number of other games and sims out there which feel very proper with a joystick. I've never been able to use the lowest deadzone settings with a stick in FS, as there's nothing I can do about the "inherent noise" the sim seems to generate. With my stick's own external software set so that no noise should be picked up, FS still finds a way to implement minor "ghost" control inputs when and where there shouldn't be.

[Sushi]

So, how about the joystick in my sig?

Scripted mouse is best mouse. 

[SirCumference]

I've never been able to use the lowest deadzone settings with a stick in FS, as there's nothing I can do about the "inherent noise" the sim seems to generate. With my stick's own external software set so that no noise should be picked up, FS still finds a way to implement minor "ghost" control inputs when and where there shouldn't be.

Really? I usually turn the dead zone down all the way when using a joystick, but I've never had this happen.

[KyadCK]

Logitech extreame 3D pro, weapons/targeting controls on the stick with ship control on the base. havent needed to touch the keyboard for anything but chat and AI orders since i set it up

0 deadzone will pull a direction (in my case, down and right) but in the end it doesn't matter since you shouldn't be sitting still long enough to notice this anyway and if your planing to maxim a turret from 3k your hand will end up on the mouse

edit: where's the poll?

[Shade]

I use an old and battered CH Fighterstick. It has seen heavy use over the years, and something like half the buttons have stopped working properly by now, so I'll probably have to replace it soon - It's getting to the point where I'm missing shots because of random buttons not working 100% of the time.

[Trivial Psychic]

I actually have 2 sticks, but one is expensive enough (X52) that I don't trust my 3 yr. old daughter to not damage it.  Instead, I'm using a Saitek Cyborg EVO that I picked up for $5 at a value village this past September... no box, no manual, no driver disc.  No Box... no problem.  No manual... pdf download.  No driver disc... duh!  It serves me well without concern of a major investment getting smashed to pieces (plus, it doesn't take up as much desk space when I'm not using it).

The last stick I used heavily was a Logitech Extreme Force 3D, which must have failed 3 times during the manufacturer's warranty period, due to the FF overheating and dying.  Ever since that, I've always said that any FF-enabled flight stick should have dedicated cooling fans.

I had a few other simpler sticks that I used during an absence from FS several years ago, but one in fact broke off while I was playing Rogue Squadron 3D.

[Dilmah G]

I think the Cyborg Evo may actually be a better stick for FSing than a HOTAS setup like the X52. I've found recently that the X-52's handle makes it incredibly hard to use some of the buttons whilst dogfighting which negates about half the advantage of using it. Which is a pain when you're supposed to be testing a mod.

[Trivial Psychic]

Well, for the EVO, I had to remove the adjustable palm rest... it was just getting in the way.  My main complaint for the X52 was the low-tension spring... something which was apparently rectified in the X52 Pro.

[jr2]

If the parts are interchangeable, call Saitek and order a Pro spring.