Digital joysticks

Koo Koo Mouse · Post by **Koo Koo Mouse** » Sat Dec 08, 2001 4:44 pm

Money is tight around here so I decided to buy that game "Motor City Online" and pay the $10 a month. My reasoning? The game never ends so I don't have to buy the last greast game out there only to beat it in a few short weeks.. thus saving money!
CS just isn't working for me because I just never quite know whats going on around me and I and am sick of being the village idiot.. lol.

So far my plan is working. The game is fun and chalanging day after day and the population seems to be holding up good after about a month of playing. (There is no offline playing in this game)
But.. The one thing I didn't think about was wear and tear on the human interface device.. The joystick. First one (cheapo) wore out right away and threw it out. Went and got out ol rusty but trusty standby. That lasted about a week and the potentiometer wore out right were ya need it the most. (center). The little position ball (in the setup) jiggles around without even touching the thing. Besides that I'm accidently bumping other cars and sending them into the wall and I feel bad about it. I don't want a bad name. Lag is always an ussie but I want things right on my end is case a shouting match starts after a tangle up to remove any uncertainies, lol!

Anyway I ended up borrowing a usb MS sidwinder from a friend and it works great. Is the sidewinder digital? I want to give it back before I trash it like the others if it is trashable.
Ok now by digital I take it there is no pot to wear out like ball mice ? I understand ball mice have little wheels with slots that turn and break a beam of light. Is this how a digi Joy would work? If so wouldn't machanical slop be a big problem?
I guess I'm looking for something thats very precise around center and won't wear out so fast.
I thought about getting a wheel and pedals but that going to be a ways off.

Opps sorry so long! Soo what is digital and are they better?

dadx2mj · Post by **dadx2mj** » Sat Dec 08, 2001 4:53 pm

Yeah the Sidewinder are digital and work great. My kids have a Sidwinder Precision Pro that is about 3 years old and still works great and has very little slop in it. I have a Force Feedback pro that I really like. Like all MS hardware they stand behind it and if it fails they pretty much just give you a new one with ony a few painless questions.

Koo Koo Mouse · Post by **Koo Koo Mouse** » Tue Dec 11, 2001 5:31 pm

Hey thanks Dadx,
I forgot to mention the one I borrowed is the precision PRO (like you have). I did not know that it was that old! Damn they must hold up well!

JMan · Post by **JMan** » Tue Dec 11, 2001 8:09 pm

Have you tried using a gamepad? I've always preferred gamepads over joysticks, except in flight sims. There are some good ones that can be found for relatively cheap.

JMan