Saitek JI3G Cyborg 3D Gold USB JoyStick

Rating:
Summary: Goodness
Review: This stick is the best I have ever played with. Great handling, better than microsoft ones. GET IT!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Awkward and dissapointing
Review: This thing is about as ergonomic as a prison bench. The ability to change it from a right handed controller to a left handed one seems like a good idea, but it came with too high a price. -Four of the control buttons are located directly in front of the stick, hard to reach anyway, but they're only about a mile away from the throttle control; useless for those 'I gotta hit this button now or I will die' moments every gamer faces. Because once you move your fingers from the throttle waaaaayyy down to the f1-f4 buttons, its all over. They did this, logically, to save the expense of having to place opposite, mirroring buttons beneath both the right and left throttle ports.
Speaking of throttle....the wheel based throttle control has about 45 degrees of travel between zero and maximum, way too much for comfort. It forces the user to stretch out the arm too far, which, over hours of gameplay can really become uncomfortable.
The stick itself: No doubt you've noticed from the pictures, there's this strange looking protrusion from the back of the stick? 'What could this be?' One ponders upon first glance. Well, I shall not keep you in suspense....This little plastic protrusion is an incredibly intelligent and novel idea gone sadly awry. The upright 'u' shaped piece is designed to nicely support your hand, the big muscle beneath you thumb sits atop it, while the flat portion of this device supports the edge of your hand. It's a great idea executed poorly. Because of its placement, your hand always ends up coming away from the most comfortable resting position in favor of better stick control. It would work very well, if the human body did not have shoulders, that is. This resting point can be moved up and down according to you preference, but it's just another feature I found completely useless-it stayed where it was when I took it out of the box ...All this thick quagmire of discomfort results in one thing- sore wrists and elbows.
The trigger is pretty nice, performs well and is, unfortunately, the most functional thing about this controller. There are three buttons atop the sticks head, they're very easy to hit, in fact, too easy to hit. Often the user will find themselves executing commands because they've accidentally hit one or more of these buttons. Like most controllers, there is an eight way point of view or 'hat' switch up top too. -It works, but it too is much too sensitive due to the length of its design, which gives your finger too much leverage on it and makes it very easy to press sideways when you wanted to press upwards.
The customizable features of this controller make it unique; It's a fantastically intelligent idea. Too bad Saitek didn't do some research and development utilizing HUMAN hands. The head has three positions: Straight up, angled left, and angled right. I found it to be absolutely, positively, useless. -It stayed straight for my gaming needs; the angled positions just made it easier to accidentally hit the three buttons up top. Not something this controller needs. There are also three up and down angle positions, which is nice, because you never know when you might want to put the top control buttons as far away as possible so you can place your hand in slightly different uncomfortable position to even out the aches in your wrist, elbow, and shoulder. I mean, hey, why not make your thumb uncomfortable too? Just to be consistent.
Overall construction isn't terrible: It won't fall apart if you drop it. But if you're buying this for your teenager or tend to destroy controllers yourself, look for something a little more substantial. Even the base is lightweight plastic.
Now that I've said everything bad about this controller, how about some of the good: The handling of the stick is very good. There is a nice spring at the base of the stick, making excellent, consistent resistance....which translates to good in-game control. The spring also is responsible for returning the stick to center, and it does a dang fine job of it. Twist control, too, is very responsive, and it returns to center very well, which means your gaming screen only rolls or twists when you want it too. ...The only other good thing I can think of about this controller is...um...well...it looks cool, doesn't it?
To summarize things: This controller incorporates some very novel, intelligent ideas but executes them about as well as an albatross makes a landing.

Rating:
Summary: Flight Joy
Review: WARNING,,,,,,,,,,if you have windows XP your in for a bumpy ride setting this thing up, took me ages to figure out how to. But on the up side once calibrated it works well and can give hours of fun.
If you have XP, buy a different joystick, save yourself some heartache.