Thrustmaster Top Gun Afterburner II Joystick (2969049)

List Price: $59.99

Features:

• Full-size detachable throttle with idle & afterburner detents
• Dual rudder with twisting handle & rocking button on throttle
• Eight programmable buttons and an 8-way textured hat-switch
• Rubber-textured grip on handle and throttle
• Weighted base with spare wing & non-slip rubber pads

Customer Reviews:

Nothing more than a Good Paperweight [Posted on 2004-01-22]
After attempting to struggle with this product for 3 days in a Flight Sim Arena, I very easily drew up one simple conclusion. "What was I thinking when I made this purchase?"

Pros:

1. Feel and Tension of the Joystick itself is not bad.
2. Feel and Tension of the Throttle is not bad.
3. Price seemed reasonable.

Cons:

1. No Software packaged with the product.
2. The Software for the product has to be downloaded from Guillemots website.
3. Basically the software (Once downloaded)is useless as far as fine tuning and adjusting the joystick.
4. No ability to adjust the sensitivity of the Joystick movement.
5. No ability to adjust dead spot when the Joystick is centered.
6. No ability to adjust rudder sensitivity (Either Twist option on the Joystick or Buttons on Throttle).
7. Without above three, executing precision movement was rather difficult.
8. The sensitivity on the rudder was set so high that the slightest twist would result in tremendous movement.

Basically this one is all Eye Candy - Looks good but doesn't deliver. As I await for my CH Fightersitck to arrive I have pulled my Sidewinder Precision Pro 2 out of retirement for the interim. It is a shame that MicroSux is not manufacturing Joysticks anymore. It was one of the few products they offered without any gliches.

Afterburner 2 [Posted on 2004-03-15]
I have used this product for about a year, mainly playing IL-2 Sturmovik with it. I have used microsoft joysticks before, and this is a definite step up. I love the big throttle with buttons on it, and the stick is about as comfortable as you can get. The stick has adjustments for tension, but there are no adjustments to the rudder or throttle (which would be nice).
There are 2 extra positions on the throttle, 1 just before the max, and 1 idle- before min. it would be better if these 2 places were adjustable with adjustable tension for the throttle, but it works fine.
I do think the rudder that is on the throttle is useless, or at least hard for me to use. I would like a HAT on the rudder as well, but this has served me very well. With XP, it automatically identifies it, with no setup at all. If you don't have XP, you might have a problem because it does not come with a cd full of drivers.
This is a good bargain at $40, i bought mine for 60 or more.
Don't buy a used or refurbished one. My friend did and his rudder only works 1 direction, and it has little resistance.

Great Joystick for the price [Posted on 2005-10-27]
I've owned many Thrustmaster products over the years. From the F22 Pro and F16 TQS to the early WCS and so on. This is a great joystick for the price. Very responsive and well constructed. It comes as one piece but can be separated for easy placement on your desk top. The spring tension can also be adjusted. The only draw back is that there is no software included. It has to be downloaded from the Thrustmaster web site. Not a big deal. Over all an excellent product that I would buy again.

Just simply perfect [Posted on 2006-05-28]
With this Joystick, you get the quality and looks of a much more expensive product. I bought it as an alternative to another, much much more expensive one, and now I can't imagine going and using the more expensive one; the Afterburner is simply perfect.

Perfect, except for one problem I've had with the Joysticks rudder twist. It sometimes reads center as all the way right, but I prefer the throttles rudder switch anyway, so that doesn't bother me. It is probably a factory error, unique to mine based on other reviews.

Looks great, very inexpensive, high quality, and I love the seperate stick-throttle setup. If you want a joystick, this will satisfy you perfecly, unless you need a wireless.

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