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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
When the pressure is on, your stick performance is the difference between victory and total oblivion. The Extreme 3D Pro twist handle joystick will never let you down. The 12 programmable buttons and 8-way rubber hat switch give you optimum control, personalized to your taste. Whether you're dropping bombs at a distance or firing guns in a dog fight, the stable and precise Extreme 3D Pro will have you dominating the enemy in no time.

Main Features

Manufacturer: Logitech

Manufacturer Part Number: 963290-0403

Manufacturer Website Address: www.logitech.com

Packaged Quantity: 1

Product Type: Joystick

Connectivity Technology: Cable

Buttons & Controls: 12 x Programmable Button, 1 x 8-way Hat Switch, 1 x Trigger Button, 1 x Throttle, 1 x Rotating Handle

Interfaces/Ports: 1 x 4-pin Type A Male USB

Weight: 2.88 lb

Standard Warranty: 1 Year(s) Limited

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 248

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Sleek and Smooth Control September 5, 2010
Persian Poetess (California)
I'm mainly a console gamer and play on my PS3 quite often. Due to this fact, I occasionally miss the feel of a controller in my hand when playing games on my PC. For an average thumb jockey like myself, I have no clue how keyboard ninjas manage to hit countless hotkeys with so much precision. I am overjoyed to have a joystick like this come along and be available to use on complicated flight sim games or fighting games. Below I will give you the highlights and lowlights of this joystick...

(To skip to the main points, simply read the headers of each section.)

THE GOODS:

Quick and Nimble Response Time-
This pro is a biggie for me. Joysticks I've used in the past had some annoying lag problems and caused me to crash and burn. This particular one responds so well to every button press, quicker than even my PS3 controller in fact! The only drawback though is that buttons beside the trigger button have a tad too much firmness to them. Which means I have to put a bit of force in my button pushes to get the desired results.

Excellent Control and Precision-
While this is not a crucial criteria for games that merely require you to walk your character forward, this is absolutely critical for flight sim games. A stiff joystick delivers terrible result in such games and can truly make the experience less enjoyable. This particular one gives you an incredible amount of control and allows you to gauge your movements with precision. It rotates with very little resistance and feels incredibly natural.

Comfortable Grip-
I love how the joystick just fits in the hand so perfectly, almost like a glove. Despite the smooth texture, its far from slippery and I can maintain a grasp of it for hours. The two things I dislike however, are the stiff trigger with uncomfortable ridges (will go into that later) and the far too low hand rest. I have smaller hands, so if I lay my hand on the rest, my index finger only reaches the bottom of the trigger. Those with larger hands may not experience this issue but its still a big enough annoyance for me to complain about. Regardless of these flaws, using this joystick still feels like an effortless experience.

Sturdy Base-
The base on this device is just brilliant. It doesn't add a ton of weight to the apparatus so you can easily pick up and reset the joystick. It has performed so well that I only had a couple near topple occurrences. Usually such instances happen when I'm doing an emergency nose dive and have no choice but to act fast. In such cases, I only had the base lift an inch or so off my desk.

THE BADS:

Big Footprint-
Unfortunately the price to pay for a sturdy base is the big footprint this joystick leaves. You have to clear just enough room for it to fit amongst all the other paraphernalia on your desk. This isn't that much of a negative however, this joystick may be a bit too bulky for gamers with modest desk space.

Right Hand Only-
Left handed gamers will find this joystick to be utterly unusable. Not only is the hand rest curvature sitting on the right side but all the programmable buttons are placed on the left side. Meaning that a left handed gamer cannot lay their hand on the rest and they will have to uncomfortably reach over the stick to use any of the buttons. This may seem like a small flaw but in reality is quite fatal as it limits those who can purchase this joystick.

Stiff Trigger-
I would appreciate if the trigger on the joystick was not so stiff. I believe a trigger that could be depressed more would cause less pressure on my index finger. I also dislike the ridges placed on the trigger. I understand they are included to prevent slipping off the button, but perhaps a texturized trigger could have solved this problem better.

All in all, this is a great joystick for average or expert thumb jocks alike. Despite its quirks, it preforms incredibly well and can stand up to a good deal of abuse. I would definitely say this joystick is still a contender against the latest joysticks on the market.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent ! September 5, 2010
Talal
This item is excellent, especially if you have or own Flight simulator X. Very good and easy to control with that game !

4 out of 5 stars

A good joystick at this price point but has a few weak points September 1, 2010
L. G. CHARLOT (California, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I have had this Extreme 3D Pro USB joystick for about 18 months, and use it exclusively with FS2004 and FSX. It was easy to install - just plug and play. FX2004 and FSX both worked perfectly with it from the moment it was first plugged in and I never did install the drivers from the CD that came with the unit. I have owned many joysticks over the last 20 years, and most were similar in price and construction to this one.

First the good points:
1. Plug and play on my PC, which is running WinXP SP2. No extra drivers needed, and I have not needed to calibrate it even after 18 months.
2. Quality of construction and materials is reasonably good - not the best, but then again this joystick is priced under $40. Joysticks used for professional and military training sims, made of metal instead of plastics and with ball bearing pivots, probably cost hundreds.
3. Durability okay. The primary trigger, which activates the wheel brakes in FS2004/FSX and machine guns in Combat flight sims, failed only a week after arrival. This is not the first Logitech joystick I have owned in which the electrical switch under the primary trigger crapped out shortly after purchase. Logitech needs to source a more robust switch for this, apparently. The rest of the moving parts have held up with no failures.
4. Feature set is very good. This joystick has plenty of buttons and switches, more in fact than I ever use for FSX, and the throttle and rudder-twist functions work well.
5. Nicely weighted. You need a substantially weighted baseplate in a joystick to keep it from sliding around, especially with combat flight sims.

Bad points:
Considering that (as far as I know) this is Logitech's top of the line consumer joystick, it has a few weak points. The poor quality electrical switch I have already mentioned. In FSX, it's not too distracting that mine no longer works, since I have always just used the period key on the keyboard for the wheel brakes, but for a gamer that mostly plays combat flight sims, the loss of the gun trigger switch would immediately render this joystick pretty much useless. Like I said, Logitech probably needs to get a better quality part from it's suppliers for this switch.

The most disappointing aspect of this joystick is probably the overly stiff centering springs. I find this joystick to be very fatiguing to use in certain circumstances; for example, when making an instrument approach in bad weather in a small, slow, lightweight plane like the Cessna 172. Twenty-plus minutes of making small, but near-continuous steering corrections with this joystick will really tire out your hand and wrist. I can see where the stiff springs could be necessary in a combat flight sim, but in FS2004 or FSX, where practicing touch and go landings is a common use of the program, the need for frequent small, precise steering inputs makes me long for a joystick with a lighter, smoother touch.

Despite the criticism in the preceding paragraph, this is probably the best joystick overall in the under-$50 price category, so unless you want to spend a LOT more $$$, you might as well go with this one. As mentioned in other reviews, this joystick is strictly right-handed; the little plastic shelf upon which you rest the side of your hand fits only the right hand. Happy landings!

4 out of 5 stars

Great Joy Stick: But not for all people August 26, 2010
bman038
This is a great joy stick. For almost all people it is a very comfortable stick. But there was a slight problem that occured when I got the stick. You see, I'm a lefty, and stick is made to fit a right hand. It didn't make it impossible for me to use it but for long flight in Microsoft Flight Simulator, it did get irritating at times. So if you are a right handed person, I say go ahead and buy it. But if you are a lefty, I suggest you spend a little bit more money for a lefty stick or buy one that is symmetrical.

5 out of 5 stars

The Logitech Extreme 3D Pro will not disappoint! August 21, 2010
Martin Hedgecoke (Springfield, MO USA)
Got this stick mainly for fighter combat sims, and in that function it excels! The build in rudder controls (twisting the stick on axis) is very handy...and with so many buttons all conveniently placed at the top of the hat you can map all your controls. No suction cups of any sort on the base, instead, the stick is base heavy ensuring that it will be secure throughout use.

Showing reviews 1-5 of 248

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