I had the Cyborg Evo. It was very flimsy and uncomfortable. Replaced it with a Logitech Force 3D and found it to be much better. Doesn’t compare to the old sidewinder force feedback, but i don’t know if I would find that practical nowadays with only 4 buttons on the stick.
I use joysticks for racing/3rd person games so maybe my priorities are different.
@FoRmaT: logitech mice are truly terrible. If you’re stuck with one, I have a solution for the sticky buttons: Install logitech’s drivers, then set all the standard buttons to Generic (by standard buttons I mean left/right click, thumb and forward/back buttons). Problem solved.
The best solution is to switch to a Razer, at least for me.
Are you posting from some alternate universe? I never had a problem with Logitech mice, every single one I had worked great. You don’t need to install a driver at all if you just want the generic button mapping, by the way – Microsoft’s mouse control panel works just fine.
I happen to have faced the same issues FoRmaT has. Delayed clicks, weird scrolling behaviour, forward / back buttons being registered as “ctrl+right” and “ctrl+left”.
Maybe you’re just too casual a user to notice :D
So you’re talking about millisecond discrepancies between keyboard and mouse input or what? Anyway, I definitely never noticed the mousewheel scrolling the wrong way or buttons getting stuck, and that seems independent of how you use the mouse.
You probably don’t install Logitech’s drivers.
I’m using a left handed mx-610. I need to use the extra buttons as keyboard shortcuts, and the software is fine for that.
Once the driver is installed however, I get the previously mentioned issues. In addition to that there is general mouse lag even after using a USB cable extension and putting the wireless receiver right next to the mouse - regardless of whether the drivers are installed or not.
I don’t know why Logitech driver devs thought replacing the thumb click with a retarded software based “scroller”, or forward/back buttons with keyboard macros would make us love them. At least they included “generic” as an option…
Why yes, that’s true. :) I don’t recall any trouble with Logitech drivers when I did use them occasionally, but normally I’m running without them. And I’m using a wired mouse (G9 currently) – I had a wireless Logitech mouse once (G7) which worked great but I resented the frequent battery swaps. A wireless Microsoft mouse had very similar issues to what you describe for Logitech, though – laggy and dropped input. So my guess is that your issue is with the wireless connection, not with the mouse manufacturer. Try a wired mouse.
Razer Lachesis FTW
The mx-610 is for work. I’ve tried wireless mice before and the issue is not as accute. I’m talking 0.5 second lag - while tracing! argh!
I use a Logitech MX Revolution and it works perfectly. My only problem with it is that the Logitech software didn’t give me all the options I wanted for assigning the various buttons, but UberOptions fixes all that.
By saying I have (well, my mouse has) sticky buttons I mean that the buttons physically get stuck when pressing them, as if there were some ridge on the inside of the mouse that creates some annoying friction. Also the RMB is fucked up in the sense that when I don’t use it for a while and then press it, it’s kinda hard to press it down and feels weird. That gets better after repeated use, though, until I let it sit again. It’s my second €60+ mouse from Logitech, both were different models, both had annoying problems. This one is going to be my last.
I wish I had not lost the receipt for it a few days after the purchase :(
P.S.:I think I last installed a mouse driver in the Windows 95 ages…
One disagreement. The Logitech G25 wheel is the great.
Oh, yes. I’d love one of those.
Oops! I grabbed an old MS Force Feedback Pro (with gameport adapter) at an old electronics store for a few bucks, just to play with on my Win98 machine. But I forgot to get the power brick and don’t recall seeing one anyway. Can anyone dig theirs out and check the specs for me so I can grab another one? Thanks.
Well, a couple of eBay listings for that joystick mention that they’re missing the 12V 1.3A adapter, so that may be what you need. But I’d wait for corroboration.
I can say that years ago someone gave me one of these joysticks, without the PSU, and while looking for a cheap replacement I noticed that all those cheapo PSUs with 500 different connectors didn’t have enough power to make the joystick’s force feedback work. Then I found a PSU from a broken HP Deskjet 670C printer that had 1.0A or so laying around in a box, so I cut off the conector and soldered a fitting one for the joystick in, and it worked splendidly. So maybe if you can’t the “proper” one, you might find an old HP PSU for a $ on ebay and it will help you out…
Just noticed there is a help file with the software and it confirms the 1.3A brick. This used electronics store is pretty nice and has all sorts of connectors so I should be able to find one that fits, plus a suitable power supply.
Tell me if this works, because I wasn’t able to get the one in my house working.
I grabbed some random 12V brick online that delivers 3.3A. Had to strip the wire and use this connector I got. It appears to be kind of nonstandard but if you can figure out what type it is, you might be able to order a brick with the right one. Haven’t soldered it yet but it works.
I played with it a bit in Windows control panel. Do force feedback joysticks just not have a lot of oomph? I was kind of expecting the strength I get from a wheel, and I expect to have to wrestle with the joystick if a capital ship blows up near me in Freespace. Is that just not going to happen?
It should have a LOT of oomph. The centering alone will make the joystick feel like it’s 10 pounds without lowering it. Maybe the default windows drivers don’t support force feedback for Microsoft products anymore.
Could be the power brick or the properties manager I was playing with. This is in Windows 98 with the old MS Sidewinder drivers installed.
[EDIT] Yeah my bad, the centering spring is only enabled on a certain tab, and only if you’re grasping the joystick. So it works! Now I have to try to bring this old sound card over to my XP machine, and if that works I can play some Freespace.