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CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB

by Douglas Helmer

Article Type: Review
Article Date: April 19, 2006

Introduction:

This is the first in a new series of reviews of CH Products controllers. Today, we start with the CH Yoke USB. Future reviews will include the CH Fighterstick USB, CH Pro Throttle USB, CH Pro Pedals USB, CH Throttle Quadrant USB, and a how-to piece on using the CH Control Manager to program all this gear.

On to the CH Yoke USB!

Quick Facts:
  • The Company:
    • CH Products formed in the mid 1980s.
    • Has both a gaming and an OEM equipment division.
      • Gaming: Joysticks, throttles, rudder pedals, throttle quadrant, yokes
      • OEM: Industrial potentiometric and Hall Effect joysticks as well as panel mount and desktop trackballs.
  • CH Yoke Construction:
    • Material - hi-impact plastic
    • Color - Dark charcoal grey
    • Finish - matte fingerprint-resistant textured finish
  • Compatibility:
    • USB port
    • OS's: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, iMac or Mac with USB port and OS 8.1 and above.
  • Features:
    • 5 axis: pitch, roll, throttle lever, prop pitch lever, mixture lever.
    • Trim control wheel (for elevator)
    • 20 button functions:
      • 4 push buttons
      • 2 2-way up / down switches
      • 2 2-way rocker switches
      • 8-way POV hat

External Construction:

I'm no plastics engineer, but I can spot quality when I see it. Everything about the plastic housing, steering wheel, and buttons and levers scream attention to detail. The main plastic housing is very sturdy and has an anti-fingerprint textured finish. The top and bottom sections mate perfectly and there are neither wavy sections (indicating thin plastic and poor injection moulding) nor misalignments between the upper and lower halves. In short, the overall quality of the injection moulding is superb.

Superb Construction. Click for a larger version showing functions of individual buttons.

In terms of durability, I can speak from personal experience. I have used the gameport versions of the CH HOTAS for six years and the plastics handles on the stick and throttle look as good as the day I first removed them from the packing. There are few things made of plastic that don't show at least some wear and tear with heavy use, but CH gear simply doesn't have that problem. If gameport controllers weren't being phased out, I could sell my six-year-old gear for next to new given its durable construction. Something to keep in mind if you decide you want to swap or sell your gear some time in the future.

Internal Construction:

The quality construction found on the housing, wheel, buttons and levers extends to the internals as well. The wiring is very tidy and all solder joints very clean with no slag anywhere.

The springs appear to be stainless, and this may be why I have used my other CH gear for over six years of daily use with not one spring failure. My other gear (which I won't name) used black steel springs and they were good for about 8 months of intense game play before the end hooks would snap.

The same quality of materials and contstruction found on the outside of the CH Yoke USB can also be found in the internal construction and components.

The five potentiometers appear to be of the variable resistance type. I wasn't able to find anything in the literature as to whether they were the wire-wound or the conductive plastic type, nor was I able to find a definitive spec on their rated life cycles. Again, if my personal torture test of six years with my old gameport gear is any indication, these pots should last long enough for even the most fanatical simmer.

In the off chance you do wear out one of the pots, you can always get inexpensive replacement parts from CH Products here.

Setup and Installation:

  • Two base clamps, no tools required.
  • Clamps will fit onto 99% of desks and tables, unless you have a low-profile IKEA desk like mine. Two chunks of cardboard solved that problem.
  • Plug and play USB.

Programming:

You have two programming options. The first is very easy, and the second is more involved:
  1. USB Direct Mode (very easy to setup)
  2. Programmed (aka Mapped) Mode (more involved, takes some patience)
Option 1: USB Direct Mode
  1. Plug in your CH USB controller
  2. Let Windows recognize it and install it automatically as a USB device
  3. Start your favourite sim
  4. Go into the controls setup of that sim
  5. Select a setting (e.g., throttle, views, weapon fire)
  6. Press a button, or move an axis or lever depending on the control you are defining.
  7. Do this until all your buttons and axes are assigned to the controls you want your yoke to handle.
  8. Save your settings and play the game.

That's how easy it can be.

Option 2: Programmed or Mapped Mode

This option involves creating a profile for your CH controllers using the CH Control Manager software that ships with your device. A better route is to just download it here from the CH website to make sure you have the latest version.

Scripting / programming using the CH Control Manager is not for the faint of heart. It looks fairly simple, but it is a very sophisticated piece of software that will require some dedicated time and effort on your part if you want to master all of its powerful features. To get into a full explanation of the CH Control Manager's workings is beyond the scope of this review, but if you are interested in learning how to use it, read all the help docs that come with the CH Control Manager, or, read 531 Ghost's "CH Control Manager For Dummies" posted at Kevin "Revvin" Watts' CH-Hangar.com.

Speaking of Revvin's excellent CH-Hangar.com, you can visit his forums where you'll find an entire forum section dedicated to pre-made, ready-to-use controller profiles for most popular simulations. Just download a suitable profile and use the CH Control Manager to install it into your own controllers. You may have to change a few settings in your game's controls setup to match those in the downloaded profile, but that's a small price to pay for all the work that goes into creating the sophisticated profiles complete with CH Control Manager script (CMS) routines. There's even a section of base profiles that do not include any mapping for games but have been set up ready for use with CMC files and have the axis set up for generic use.

CH Profiles Quick Tip:

Once you use your CH Control Manager to download a profile into your CH controller, be sure to select the "Mapped Mode" button before you start your game or Windows won't know to use the programmed version of your stick as opposed to the direct USB hardware version of your stick.

Hands On:

Yoke vs. HOTAS:

Compared to a Hands-on throttle and stick (HOTAS) arrangement, with the separate joystick and throttle, you might think a yoke is somehow limited in button functions. Although the CH Yoke USB does not have as many buttons afforded by a separate joystick and throttle HOTAS setup, given CH gear's programmability, and your ability to program one of the keys as a "SHIFT" button, you can, at the very least, double the number of functions each switch performs. If doubling the number of functions isn't enough, you can use a little .CMS script (documented in the manual) to have 4 to 8 functions per button (thanks to Revvin for that tip). Still not enough? If you need more functions than that, you can use the "List" programming function to assign up to 32 press and release commands into a single button! For example, you could program all your view zoom-in and zoom-out commands to one button. You simply have to continue pressing the button to cycle through all the views.

Throttle, Prop Pitch, and Mixture Levers:

Having your throttle, prop pitch and mixture all beside each other on individual levers is very handy and certainly enhances the immersion levels. During landings, I found I was able to adjust all three levers with one hand while still maintaining focus on the approaching runway and my instruments.

What's also nice about the levers for prop pitch and mixture is that all it takes to confirm their respective settings is a quick glance at the levers' positions. In many sims, the amount of prop pitch or your mixture setting is not evident on-screen in certain cockpit views. To confirm your settings, you have to either pan down and look for the control lever's position (if it is actually modeled) thereby losing your external view and situational awareness; or, you have to hit the control for that setting to see what message appears on the screen. Having the actual levers right on the top of the yoke housing really helps avoid such frustrations.

Flying and Fighting:

I used the CH Yoke in both bombers and fighters. I was able to hold my own in online dogfights using the yoke, but that's really not what it was designed for. Mind you, if you are a fan of the P-38, you will enjoy flying and dogfighting with the yoke as it is more authentic.

My primary use of the yoke was in flying bombers. The CH Yoke is not a force feedback device, but it does have a nice "weighty" feel to it. This is due in equal part to both the design of the yoke shaft and the quality of the springs. There is a FAQ item on the CHProducts.com website that tells users how to deal with a shaft that becomes sticky, but I never encountered any such problem. Perhaps, after several hundred or thousand hours of play, this may be an issue for some.

The elevator trim wheel on the front of the yoke housing turned out to be one of my favourite features because it was such a quick and easy way to trim my aircraft in the vertical. I could've programmed a key or even one of the three extra levers to do that same function, but having the wheel frees up those buttons for other uses.

The steering wheel design shows a great deal of thought. There are ergonomic groves for each of your your four fingers to grip on to, and there are these really nice ledges on the inside of the handles for your thumbs to rest upon. These ledges reduce hand fatigue and also give you more leverage when you need to yank and bank should a bandit start shooting up your bomber from behind.

Convenience:

The first thing that may come to your mind regarding the addition of a yoke to your controller setup is the convenience factor. If you strictly fly civilian simulations like Microsoft's line of civilian flight sims, then the choice is clear: get a yoke and not a separate joystick and throttle. If you like to fly civilian and military sims, you'll want both the HOTAS and the yoke. But can you have your cake and eat it too? YES!

Kevin "Revvin" Watts of CH-Hangar.com fame, tweaked me onto a feature you can program into your HOTAS / Yoke setup whereby you can press a single button to switch control from the HOTAS over to the yoke. Here, I'll let Revvin explain how great this discovery was in his own words:

During BETA testing I found another little gem I had not considered that was right there in front of me as an example in the manual and that was a controller switching script. When I tried it out and it worked you would have thought it was like finding the holy grail! The script allowed me to switch the X and Y axis from my Fighterstick and transfer it to the Yoke at the touch of a button without the need to load a new profile in Control Manager or change any settings in IL-2: Sturmovik’s options screen. The change is totally transparent and can be done while I’m in the air if necessary. It was a huge benefit to me as I like to fly bombers and fighters online.

Yeah, totally cool.

But now I hear you asking about how you can fly with the yoke blocking access to your keyboard. Well, that depends on whether your keyboard sits on top of your desk or is housed in one of those under-desk slide-out trays.

As far as flying with the yoke clamped directly in front of my monitor, and with the keyboard on top of the desk behind it, I really had no problem reaching the keyboard. I have ample space on my desk for both. Granted, I do have a corner-style desk, so it has more room than most. I don't have a desk with a slide-out keyboard, but I would image the clamps on the yoke would probably interfere with its operation. If that's your situation, you may want to consider my next suggestion.

While I was testing the CH Yoke, I mounted it off-center in order to give me full access to my keyboard while I was writing this article. Funny thing was, I found that it wasn't long before I adapted to having the yoke off to the side. I mean, if people who buy Saturn Ions can get used to having the instrument cluster in the middle of the dashboard, then I guess it's possible to use a yoke that's mounted off-center from your monitor. So, if you have limited desk space and a slide-out keyboard on your desk, you can use my aforementioned line of reasoning to rationalize your purchase decision. :-)

Tech Support:

I didn't pose as a disgruntled customer in order to test CH's tech support, so I can't tell you if it's good or bad. If you do want to contact CH Products, you can use phone (760-598-7833), or their online feedback form. But there's really a better way to get tech support than going through the corporate CH Products route.

In the past, when I've needed tech support, I just went to Kevin "Revvin" Watt's CH-Hangar.com forums for all my CH Controller tech support needs. Post your question on his forums and you probably won't have to wait more than a few nano-seconds for a reply with a solution. Often, CH staffers like Bob Church will answer your tech support question on the CH-Hangar.com forums, so you can't do any better than that. Oh, I spoke too soon...if you want, you can Instant Message the CH staffers via Revvin's forums.

Software drivers and the CH Control Manager can be downloaded from the CH-Products.com website.

Product Warranty:

If you are keen to void your warranty, just open up the housing (like I did in order to show you the yoke's internals). CH even warns you of the consequences of doing just that by affixing a non-removable-in-one-piece sticker over one of the screw holes. Here's the official warranty terms:

Warranted to the original purchaser to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of two (2) years from date of purchase. During this warranty period CH Products will, at its option, repair or replace, at no charge, any component determined to be defective.

Conclusions:

I like the CH Yoke. I think it's a must-have for civilian flight simmers as well as combat flight simmers into bombers or dual-role fighter/bomber aircraft.

The quality of the CH Yoke's construction is top notch across the board. Everything from the plastic to the buttons to the springs to the ergonomic design show a great deal of thought on the part of the manufacturer. You are getting more than you pay for with this product.

But even the best made product will hinder users unless it has decent utilities and community support. Thankfully, CH Products have both. Their Control Manager programming utility is a very sophisticated piece of programming software that will allow you to do amazing things with your controller you never thought possible.

As for community, there is a dedicated and fanatical one that is ready to talk all things CH controllers with you all day (and all night too) if you so wish, so you'll never be stuck wondering how to use, tweak, or fix your CH gear.

Without a doubt, the CH Yoke USB gets a COMBATSIM.COM TOP PICK Award:


Related Articles:

Review: CH Products Throttle Quadrant USB

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