Cordless Joysticks

[xane]

I saw this little baby in PC World last night, whilst just looking around, and as my Microsoft Sidewinder 2 has just gone pop for some reason, I was thinking "why not a cordless joystick".

Often, whilst playing Battlefield 1942, I jump in a plane and grab the joystick, but what concerns me about cordless ones is battery power, do they switch off after a certain amount of time to conserve it, would this be a problem mid-game ?

Anyone have experiences of using cordless joysticks and recommendations if possible.

TIA

 

[Xavier]

As far as I know, it wouldn't need to reinit the driver or anything when you grab the joystick, but there may be a second or two while the wireless 'wakes up'.
Bym has one and hasn't ever complained.

If you literally need response from the first movement you might find it takes a while to get used to the delay when the joystick first reconnects.

 

[xane]

Bym has one and hasn't ever complained.

The Logitech one I mentioned ?

 

[Xavier]

yes

 

[Dr_Weasel]

I have one of these. You just need to remember that if you havent flown anything for a few minutes (cant remember the exact time, but I can check if you like), then you need to press any of the fire buttons to reconnect the joystick. The reconnection takes < 1 second so isnt any hastle.

The only problem is if you forget all about it, then you are sat there wiggling the throttle to no effect.

 

[Xavier]

Excellent, an answer and it saves me turning Byms PC on.

Xav

 

[xane]

Okay, got the joystick and tried it out today.

What can I say but fan-bloody-tastic, I'd recommend one any day.

I loved the solid feel of the thing in the shop, and having no cord is a real bonus, even with it sitting in my lap it is easy to use.

Funnily enough, I keep seeing people on Battlefield 1942 jumping into planes and firing off a few rounds as they taxi off the runway, I can see why now, they must have this stick, as you need to click the fire button to get it working