I don’t know about the rest of the Falcon4 BMS community, but I’ve decided that I’ll have a lot more fun if I use the X-55 Rhino joystick and the X-65F throttle quadrant.
Concerning the joystick, I like the fact that the weapon pickle button is above the TMS hat switch. I also like the fact that the stick moves, which makes it less likely that I’ll activate the CMS thumb switch inadvertently. I have yet to test the joystick in close encounters with other aircraft, but I’m confident that it’ll do just fine, because of my experience with their X52.
I much prefer the X-65F throttle quadrant (module, whatever) because of what’s available. I like the H6 and H7 hat switches for comms and other things (the equivalent on the Rhino are merely on/off switches), and I really LOVE how big the mouse stick is compared to the little nipple that the Rhino has.
I would love to see Saitek/Mad Catz design a hybrid like I’ve just described.
Update, one week after original post:
So far so good. I’ve had no problems using the X-55 joystick and the X-65F throttle. Technically, the only Saitek programming software I had to install was for the X-65F, because there are buttons that F4BMS 4.32 does not recognize, as well as the rotary controls.
Anyway, now I can get back to the basics, learning how to “play the piccolo,” as it were . . . taking advantage of F4BMS’s H.O.T.A.S. programming.