Product Description:
Recommended for all fans of flight simulation games. Experience real flight controls with comfort using separated main stick and throttle control. Throttle features an added rubber coating to maximize grip and comfort, and the throttle response can be adjusted and customized to your liking. Buttons can be programmed and you can save up to 3 customized settings. There is also vibration function to achieve a sense of realism on the main stick.
Product Details:
- Independent joystick and throttle controls simulate Hands on Throttle and Stick (HOTAS) specification.
- Vibration function
- Added rubber coating on throttle to maximized grip and comfort
- Programmable button function included
- The analog stick can be set to 3 different levels of sensitivity.
Customer Reviews:
Best Stick I have tried! By Marty Gillis
The HORI Xbox 360 Flight Stick EX2 is the real deal. By far the most realistic and responsive flight controller I have had my hands on. Key is the independent joystick and throttle controllers. (HOTAS) Controls are of course user assignable and you can create and save up to 3 custom presets. Your flight simulator experience will be 2nd to none.
I had a friend over who lives for flight simulator and he was blown away. I had to pry the HORI out of his hands or he would have walked out the front door with it.
Beefy and well built! I couldn't believe how heavy and solid this is. Excellent feel and rubberized surfaces allow for effortless sure grip. I have never been in the cockpit of a real jet but I doubt it feels any more real than this stick does. You can set the stick to vibrate if you like and just zone. Birds of Steel and Ace Combat both rock with this thing. There are some decent You Tube videos of this stick being put through it's paces. Check em out to get a good idea of how well this works.
I had been using the Cyborg F.L.Y. 9 but that is going in the closet now. The HORI is much better all around. I have a feeling this HORI EX2 will soon be known as the gold standard of flight controllers if it isn't already. Get you hands on one and find out for yourself. Recommended for great build quality, function and response. PLUS it is just plain FUN!The best there is By A. Dent
If you have an Xbox and you are into flight and flight simulation games, can't get much better than this. The FS-EX2 is designed to connect through the USB port and it's built to work with an Xbox. So far, we've tried it on with the excellent IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey and with Hawx.
I will discuss our experience with the EX2 in the context above.
PACKAGING AND SETUP
Not much to complain in this area. the 'instruments' come nicely packed and it was easy to get it out of the box. There isn't much of a physical setup beyond attaching the suction cups to the 2 modules - easy.
There are 2 modules: the joystick/rudder and the throttle - and they are HUGE - and it's possible to use the joystick only. It took us a couple of minutes to get everything connected - the throttle plugs into the stick which plugs into the Xbox but in the end, it was no big deal. On the two games that I mentioned we got decent controls with no further fine-tuning.
Using the stick is as simple as plugging the USB connector into one of Xbox's ports, then starting the game.
OPERATION
I am not going to inventory all the buttons but, believe me, there's lots of them. The vibration function makes all the difference when it comes to realism.
Believe it or not, as complex as the 2 modules may appear, there isn't much of a manual because one is not needed. The manual states that, once you begin using it within a game, the stick will calibrate itself after you make a few moves. We haven't experienced calibration issues so it must be true.
The 8 ft. USB chord may be sufficient for most but it wasn't for us. We have a rather large screen and we play from 8-9 ft. away. The AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (9.8 Feet / 3.0 Meters) took care of that problem.
My 14 yr. old kid feels that the games are more responsive when using the Xbox's own controller. This is probably the case but what this device provides is some level of realism. It's more realistic to pilot a plane with a stick and a throttle than by tilting and shaking a controller. After a little practice, he now prefers the Stick to the controller.
MY RATING
I found the FS-EX2 to be a great way to play flight simulation games. I am happy with the EX2 and so are my kids. It's 5 stars which, in Amazon translation means "we love it".
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PROGRAMMING
We tried it, just for fun and it turns out to be quite easy even though not exactly needed for the games we are currently playing. It's basically a 4-step process that would allow you to:
- switch buttons
- switch axes between themselves
- switch the directions of the same axis
It's done by enabling the 'manual' mode by pressing a button, press and release the mapping button, press the button or direction you want to program, press and release the button or direction you are placing the function. For all of the above there is visual feedback of LEDs flashing.
Like I said, it can be done but it can get complicated quickly. Thankfully, it's easy to erase your manual preset and to return to the factory defaults.A thing of deadly beauty... By blubberduck86
I cannot describe how much fun this device is compared to the Saitek AV-8R, which is what i WAS using for bad @$$ games like HAWX 2, IL-2 Sturmovik, and Wings of Prey.
The HORI EX-2 delivers all the goods: -FROM- "Immersion Technology" like Force Feedback, rumble packs, and added tension during strong wind updrafts, turbulance and damage taken to the aircraft, -TO- adjustable Analog stick deadzones, -TO- 3 different programmable settings for some of the buttons, this peripheral has it all!
I have even gone so far as to spend a week configuring this H.O.T.A.S Flightstick for XPADDER tricked out PC Flightstick use! (i don't even wanna describe how annoying that experience was, especially assigning steady UP/DOWN thrust slider settings, hold/release, and rumble assignments)... But if u have the time, patience, and guidance, this Flightstick can be used for virtually any PC or Xbox. :D
Very well made. Heavy, stout and realistic, it brings Flight Sim games to life! Especially "Birds of Steel" by Gaijin Entertainment (IL2: Sturmovik 2). One can adjust the tension for the throttle as well, and after assigning a bomb or rocket function to the throttle "B" button, and target tracking to the nearby "LB" button, it makes both L and R control devices equally crucial during combat. Hat switch works well and one can pan around, yet without a head tracking IR, the view is a bit dodgy. Anyone know if an IR device can be used with this or the Xbox in general? If so please let me know.
My ONLY quarrel with this magnificent setup is that HORI didn't go the full distance and add a second expansion port for say, flat black high quality RUDDER PEDALS?!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU OFFER THESE MISTER HORI-SAN??? :(
I would've paid an extra $100 in a second for that option!
Well, besides that this HOTAS Flightstick gets a 95 out of 100 in my grade book.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
-thomas
UPDATE: 11/03/2012
I have successfully integrated this flightstick with Windows 7 64, and mated it to Saitek Rudder Pedals (Pro Flight or Combat) for use primarily with the superb UK version of Wings of Prey: Collector's edition. I only need XPADDER to mimic the mouse to look around, so that the view doesn't snap back or dodge all around, and to map the MAP button as toggle, instead of having to hold it down. It took a while, but now i use this Xbox 360 stick primarily with my Acer Predator U222 gaming PC! For anyone out there wondering if this was possible, IT IS! Comment here if any advice or mapping instruction is needed... :D
(Can't wait for WORLD OF PLANES: WAR THUNDER!)
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