G940

[BlackburnBuccaneer]

I am more than likely going to purchase the Logitech Flight System G940 in the next week or so, and I was wondering if anyone has it and if so what they think of it?

[Blitzer]

I have it and have been using it for about 20 months now I guess, so a quick opinion...

The Stick - 9/10

• Pros: Sturdy, does not move around even though it's not fixed down, the FF effects seem strong enough in most aircraft and I find it comfortable to use even after a few hours.
• Cons: If I were to be really picky I'd say it could do with a few more buttons but otherwise it's pretty good.

The Throttle - 3/10

• Pros: Solid enough on the desk and does not move around in normal use. Comfortable to use with a number of reasonably well placed buttons.
• Cons: After only a few months use the two "slider" controls (thumb-wheels) started spiking, as I was using these for mixture and propeller settings in FSX this soon started to become a pain, so I ended up unassigning them. This hardware fault also has me frying a number of engines in the PMDG J41 as a result. Both of the split throttles are also showing signs of spiking although to date this has not been a major problem. I have also noticed that is seems hard if not impossible to move the throttle in very small increments and although this is not normally that noticeable in most aicraft it does become apparent whilst flying the Dodo 206 helo.

The Pedals - 4/10

• Pros: The pedals themselves are quick large and I find them plenty big enough for my size 9 (UK) feet and reasonably comfortably under foot wearing just socks.
• Cons: Really irritating "indent" for the mid-position of the rudder, this may make it a bit easier for taxiing but whilst in flight it can be distracting and cumbersome to feed-in smooth rudder inputs particularly when transitioning from one turn to the opposite. The same it also true when trying to make small corrections during landings etc. where you may only want to apply a small rudder input, instead the indent can cause you to move the pedals too far as you over-come the initial resistance of the indent. Unfortunately, although there is a friction settings for the pedal resistance winding this low enough to negate the indent issue leaves the pedals with little resistance to your feet.

Summary...

If you are like me and quite like what force-feedback adds to gaming then sadly your choices for FF flight sticks is very limited these days, in fact the G940 is the only FF I know of! The build quality of the flight stick itself seems to be just fine, however that quality is not mirrored in that of the throttle and rudder pedals, both IMO are lacking for such an expensive piece of kit. I have always found Logitech hardware to be pretty good in the past, but I have so say the overall quality of the G940 is lacking and not worthy of the price tag. Overall I can really only give it 7/10

HTH.

[Wildbird]

I've had the G940 for two years now, my impression is pretty much the same as Blitzer's. The pedals are difficult to use accurately, there are spiking problems and real movements on the stick and pedals aren't relative to what happens in the sim anymore. Never really regretted buying it though, but these days with a higher budget I would have bought the Thrustmaster HOTAS and Saitek Combat or CH pedals

[CoolP]

Those spiking pots on the throttle (R1 and R2) are by design, unfortunately.

For the guys looking for a solution, call the support (they tend to replace the units, but they will always spike again) or do a small mod. This should lead to a spike free R1 + R2 experience there, I have it running since over a year or so.

This will break any guarantee on the throttle unit of course (maybe you are already outside of it though), but, as said, it acts as an option to a constant 'hello support, my throttle spikes again' method. Sounds stupid, but if you look at the opened throttle in that aspect, you will see why it will always start to spike. It's not the pots itself, it's the connector and its too short and stiff cable.

This little screw puts stress on the cable when moving the throttles, which flexes the connectors fitting and therefore leading to the spikes you see sooner or later. Maybe this was changed in later models, but I doubt this since I never saw reports about a new revision there.

Find more here. http://simhq.com/for...ge_picture.html

Note: The linked thread explains some other mods too, so don't mix that up. The R1 + R2 spike free mod is just that screw.

I'm happy with the stick and the rudder after the latest firmware update, which really increased the precision on the otherwise well made stick.

As you've guys pointed out, you don't have much choices when it comes to force feedback in the sim and this is set (with the mod on the throttle) is a solid performer in any way. Even the price side is ok when looking at the whole package.

Flying without force feedback is not an option anymore in my eyes.

The Logitech support is doing well here but since they can't redesign that throttle, it really ends up getting replaced all the time until your guarantee ends. This is from other user's reports.

I still have my first unit (I did reject the replacement) and it's precise now, being a close to day1 purchase.

For new customers, there may be a slight chance that the production was altered. But I really doubt this since even the users with a later replacement unit got spiking R1 and R2 sooner or later.

I'm using the combo with FSForce, which enhances the FSX force feedback by a large margin. But this is personal preference of course and you can test FSForce before buying.

[BlackburnBuccaneer]

Thanks for the advice.

[Blitzer]

CoolP,

Many thanks for posting those details, I just took the plunge and have just completed the simple modification that fixes the R1 & R2 spiking problem. I've yet to try FSX but it's looking extremely promising going by the Windows cabration utility - no signs of spiking from R1 & R2, if this has fixed the problem then this will take my previous rating from 3/10 up to 7/10. I'll give it a test and see how it goes - thanks again for the info!

[Blitzer]

Well I have to say I was expecting this mod to have improved things somewhat, but I'm very happy to report there is absolutely no sign of any spiking ATM from R1 & R2 - excellent!

[CoolP]

Happy mixture and rpm settings now!

There is a slight chance that, if you ran the unmodded version for a long time, the connector's fitting is very worn and reacts on the slightest cable movement (throttle action + stiff cable). But even this can be cured if you somehow fix the cable, so that the connector's socket always is tension free.

Sounds a bit weird, but if the spikes would ever come again, you may remember that solution.

But isn't it strange that the thing was build that way? Such an obvious flaw if one looks at the opened throttle. However, I'm glad that mod could help. I've found it by accident.