Looking for decent Rudders, recommendations needed :)
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Saitek pedals are pricey now that Logitech acquired Saitek. I believe it is due to lack of availability.
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Buy a set of MFG Crosswinds from Milan and never look back. On top of getting the best pedals currently produced (IMHO), youâll have plenty of customization options, superb support from Milan himself, and youâll be supporting his small business. Win-win.
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MFG Crosswinds.
I donât have a set myself, but I wish that when I was looking for pedals those had been available, and I would hope that someone would have given me the advice to avoid cheap pedals, and buy something that would last.
I have a set of CH Pro Pedals. I have had to take them apart and âfixâ them numerous times. Iâm hoping the last fix might take and the pedals wonât start to drift back to centre again.
The MFGâs, from all the user reviews Iâve seen, are so much better, and will last. And they will retain value.
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Wow, that MFG sure is expensive! Iâm sure the build quality justifies the price, but Iâm not sure the usage in BMS justifies spending that much. If this were a WWI or WWII sim or if the OP was a rotorhead, then the constant rudder input would justify spending that much on something that can take a beating. FWIW, I bought a Saitek Pro Flight rudder 7 years ago and itâs still working now. Something snapped inside the left pedal so the spring no longer holds the pedal in the âoffâ position but this isnât a problem as I rest my toes on the heel section of the pedals and thus âholdâ it upright. Somebody was upgrading to the more expensive pedals and was selling his Saitek Combat rudder so I got that as a replacement.
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I managed to time it right and buy a set of Saitek Combat Pro pedals before they got acquired by Logitec and people started asking insane prices for themâŚreally, really like them. I also have a set of CH pedalsâŚgot a toe pot busted on the right foot, havenât tried to troubleshoot it because I prefer my SaiteksâŚand I like the feel of the Saiteks far better - the ability to dial in some resistance makes them feel far superior to the CH ones, IMO.
RecommendedâŚIF you can find a set for a reasonable price.
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When did Logi buy Saitek? Looking at prices now, wowâŚ. ÂŁ125 for a used set⌠maybe I can flog my old one for decent money! I remember going for Saiteks because the CH option was a tad more expensive. I guess thatâs no longer the case. Luckily, I was able to get my Combat pedals for 100EUR but this was for the pedals and a CH throttle quadrantâŚ
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âŚmy CH throttle has a pot busted tooâŚfortunately I have three Cougar TQSâs (and a Warthog) to back it up with.
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Wow, that MFG sure is expensive! Iâm sure the build quality justifies the price, but Iâm not sure the usage in BMS justifies spending that much. If this were a WWI or WWII sim or if the OP was a rotorhead, then the constant rudder input would justify spending that much on something that can take a beating.
I was fully satisfied for many years flying BMS using TM pedals without toe brakes; but, when I decided to try flying some WWII era prop aircraft in DCS, I quickly ordered the MFG crosswinds. Good pedals really help when flying tail draggers. Not so essential for jet fighters, IMHO.
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Best and most expensive rudders ive ownedâŚSLAW F16
https://m.facebook.com/slaw.device
He makes other versions now, but you could ask if he can still make a F16 set.
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As I recall he stopped making the F-16 specific pedal shapes, but the new âslattedâ pedals still use the same mechanismâŚstill a very nice set of pedals.
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Just a heads up on the Saitek Combat Pedals.
Iâve had mine for a couple of years now and love the design (even though they are plastic), but last night I had to open her up for a second time to fix a broken wire to the rudder potentiometer. The white wire broke at the pot a couple of months ago and the green wire broke last night. Not a terribly hard fix, but they put hot glue over the solder joints on the pot to reduce wire flex at that point (doesnât work obviously), so a little care needs to be taken while removing the glue.
The gauge of the wire is 20 or less, so when the last (black) wire breaks, I will probably retrofit the harness to a heavier gauge. My opinion is that the wiring is not robust enough to handle any kind of flex at all. I will also anchor the harness so it flexes in the middle, rather than flexing at the pot.
Other than that, I love them when they are working, which is most of the time. If they ever come back down to their previous pricing I would consider buying another set as long as they no longer say MadCatz on the bottom.
I have never had any luck w/ stuff that has MadCatz stamped on it.
BTW, the reason I chose the Saitek peadls over the CH pedals, was that the CH pedals were set too close to each other. I like the spread on the Saitek pedals better.
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Best and most expensive rudders ive ownedâŚSLAW F16
https://m.facebook.com/slaw.device
He makes other versions now, but you could ask if he can still make a F16 set.
Iâve owned this set now for 2 years, Operation is as smooth as glass, great feel, donât have to constantly play with dead zones or open up to fix something. I owned a set of Saitek Pro Combat pedals and within a year I was looking for another option. Went to the Slaw Device and have been very happy since.
Anything can go wrong thatâs just the hard truth but the quality and feel are so much better than the plastic pedals. If flight simming or simming in general is a passion and true hobby that you will pursue for years to come donât go cheap on the rudder pedals even if you just use them to steer the plane on the taxiway and runways. If thatâs all the use they will get then a good set will last you a simming lifetime.
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The VKB T-Rudder pedals are a great set of pedals.
https://flightsimcontrols.com/store/pedals/vkb-t-rudder-pedals-mk-iv/
For the price you canât go wrong. The build quality is great and they feel amazing. They are full metal and use non contact sensors so no need to clean dirty pots all the time. A pot will always fail eventually
I had a set of Saitek Combat Pedals and the right toe brake stopped working after a few weeks.
The VKB pedals arenât much more than the Saiteks but the build quality is a 100x better
These pedals should last forever
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For the foreseeable future Iâll be using the Saitek Combat Pro pedals. I so far have been lucky and havenât needed to fix anything but wonât be surprised when I do. In general though it should be an easy fix. But I do wish I would have bought a spare set. I do that with any sim hardware that I decide is essential to my setup, hence why I have 3 X65s.
With all my real flight time I canât stand heels on the pedal designs like MFG Crosswind (and most the other big name brand ones) and the Slaw Viper, while be a heels on the floor design, are still more than I want to spend on just pedals. The VKBs not having real brakes also turns me off.
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I canât stand heels on the pedal designsâŚnot having real brakes also turns me off.
Amen!!!
If money were no object, Iâd have the SLAW pedals. Just not there yet.
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why not build you own ones?
you will learn a lot by doing so.
and you will get an overall better set of pedals then everything that has been mentioned in this thread so far.
took me a lot of reverse engineering and 3 prototypes to get to a point this close to the real thing (operating forces included).
personally, i think it was worth it! -
why not build you own ones?
you will learn a lot by doing so.
and you will get an overall better set of pedals then everything that has been mentioned in this thread so far.
took me a lot of reverse engineering and 3 prototypes to get to a point this close to the real thing (operating forces included).
personally, i think it was worth it!I did on the set before the Saitek because at that time pretty much nobody was making heels on the floor pedals. Yours look great but a lot of us donât have access to CNC machines and design software experience. There is 3D printing but I still donât think most of their plastics are durable to be stepped on all the time.
Without a CNC/machine shop available I can tell you the hardest thing on mine was interfacing the mechanical movements to the pots. I originally wanted to use gears but had a hell of a time finding the right ones. I had to go with a less precise cable and pulley system that worked ok for the brakes at least. Finally found some gears that would work for the rudder and they worked pretty well. Probably overall the cost of the project was $50ish USD, maybe even less since it was mostly recycled materials. I actually did an article on them when I was writing for Computer Pilot magazine. -
I did on the set before the Saitek because at that time pretty much nobody was making heels on the floor pedals. Yours look great but a lot of us donât have access to CNC machines and design software experience. There is 3D printing but I still donât think most of their plastics are durable to be stepped on all the time.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Snake122/finished.jpg
Without a CNC/machine shop available I can tell you the hardest thing on mine was interfacing the mechanical movements to the pots. I originally wanted to use gears but had a hell of a time finding the right ones. I had to go with a less precise cable and pulley system that worked ok for the brakes at least. Finally found some gears that would work for the rudder and they worked pretty well. Probably overall the cost of the project was $50ish USD, maybe even less since it was mostly recycled materials. I actually did an article on them when I was writing for Computer Pilot magazine.these reminds me of my first pedals!
i used an old steering wheel with a strapped on wooden planka little bit of aluminum, ballbearings and standard tools will work like magic.
btw, donât use pots⌠use hall sensors instead. -
these reminds me of my first pedals!
i used an old steering wheel with a strapped on wooden planka little bit of aluminum, ballbearings and standard tools will work like magic.
btw, donât use pots⌠use hall sensors instead.Mine were built 2004-2005 and the pots were on hand. If I was going to build them today, I know better sources for the halls and would use them! Hereâs some quick snap shots of the article, the raw .doc that I sent to the editor is on a old hard drive that I can share if anybody wants it but will take a day or two to find.
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this is awesome!
so why not go down the diy route?if you want to buy pedals, the slaw or crosswind pedals are great for their money and you wonât regret buying them (as a few guys mentioned before).
if you want something solid donât buy saitek pedals. they are made of plastic all the way.