@Travis Clark I'm planning on becoming a pilot in the near future and am currently studying aviation and airport management at university so for me I'll pay extra if it means I get it earlier😔😅
Thanks for this and your other videos, I'm gradually working through them all. Haven't done any sim stuff for years but wanting to get back into it so your videos are really helping me to decide what setup to go for.
Thanks Russ for another great review. I'm a recent Rift S convert also, in fact an all VR convert, and love your setup and hints & tips. I've tried using just the VR controllers and while that works, I don't like the lack of feel when hand flying. I have a CH yoke, which is great however I still find it binds in the pitch axis. Happily I just purchased this Honeycomb Yoke in Australia via ebay for a very good price.
Great presentation Russ Im a Private pilot and I started WITH Ch yoke and rudder pedales and Flight máster. Today I will soon buy the Honey comb yoke and rudder. Thanks for your help.
Flew the Honeycomb at Sun n fun. If I hadn't already had a Brunner yoke on order I would have bought the Honeycomb for the money. My Brunner yoke came in so I had some experience with it before attending flight sim conference in Orlando. I spent about 20 minutes on the Honeycomb again and walked away with a considerable different opinion however I still feel it's an incredible value for an entry-level yoke especially considering the visual and the switches. As always Russ great job.
My Honeycomb yoke is still boxed under my desk. Just waiting for FS 2020 to drop next week. Great review, can't wait to start using it. I hope you'll be making FS 2020 vids when it comes out. Subbed.
@@rbarlow Howdy! Thanks. Notice you didn't put flaps down in stock XP 172sp. Perhaps I didn't hear them. Have you noticed that if you pull power at the numbers with full flaps 30 or even 20 that the 172 drops like a rock (on the GS at 65-70 kias, 300-400fpm on vsi). Seems like there is too much drag with flaps 20 or 30 in ground effect. What is your take? I use Airfoil Labs 172sp also. Same issue. Using Corsair i160 i9 rtx2080ti and XP 11.42 in (experimental model mode). Sometime, if you get time, try KSNA ILS 20R with wind at 56 ft, straight down rwy, 200 magnetic and 10-20 kts. Actually, I would appreciate anyone's opinion. Thanks.
I retired from the USAF in 1997 while a Commander at the Blue Cube in Sunnyvale, CA. Also have some F-4 and F-105 flight time. Was on the Source Selection for the ACF (F-16/F-17) way back in 1973-74. What year did you retire from the USAF?
@@daryljoseph1294 I was ROTC and studied Aero Engineering at The Ohio State University and graduated in 1974. Vietnam had just ended so my UPT was delayed a year due to post war cutbacks. I worked that in flight test year for Northrop at Edwards on the YF/17 (losing) side of that competition. Finally made it to Vance AFB for Pilot training class 76-06, first assignment was F-4 to Seymour Johnson AFB and finally flew OV-10 at Sembach AB in Germany for three years. I left AF after 7-1/2 years as O-3 and started my Airline career.
The CH is far better than the old Saitek yoke but this is much sturdier and precise than CH. The built in switches and starter key are icing on the cake. Worth the extra $$ IMHO.
MS 2020 is here! Oh Yeah!!! Like to see your yoke review when it is available on AUG 18th! I am presently using aSaitek X52 Pro have had it for several years - it still works great but I want a realistic yoke and rudders. also the HoneyComb Throttle is coming out soon!
Great video man! Thanks for the review. This unit has been on my radar. After watching this I will definitely purchase one. Do you have any recommendations on rudder pedals?
I just started swimming and I an really glad I held off and spent the extra duckets for the Honeycomb Alpha and Beta combo. Now to decide on rudder pedals
Swimming is great exercise no matter how many duckets it costs😃. Forgive me but your spellchecker made me smile. Seriously, I think it might be worth waiting for the Charlie rudder pedals coming from Honeycomb. While you wait I suggest you look online at eBay and consider buying a used set of Saitek or CH pedals. They will do the job. I love the VirtualFly Ruddo but they are about $1000. The Thrustmaster TPR are also sturdy at about $600 but for value the Charlie looks attractive.
I used the rubber band solution for saitek yoke the first time I bought it. I don't know why they didn't go that way instead. I bought another one years after I sold that one and really can't stand it. I first heard of the Honeycomb a couple of months ago and was already wanting one , but your video really made up my mind. I built my mini Itx system for Ms Fs20. I'm crossing my fingers because if its a flop, that will be the last Ms fs I will buy. I currently have x-plane 11 on my it but stopped flying due to the yoke. Thanks for vid!
😆 The yoke is very precise ... and 23k + flight hours may help too. As the say “Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing... if you can reuse the airplane it is even better”.
Thanks for the review. Question: Does this have a deadzone/detent in the middle out of the box? Did you have to configure it in any way to remove the deadzone? Thank you.
I've got a HOTAS Warthog, which is super for DCS but having gotten into GA with MSFS2020 now out it feels somewhat wrong flying Cessna's with a A-10C HOTAS lol. This has been one of my the prime contenders given its price. I've got a Saitek yoke but it's GOD awful. As you say, terrible deadzones and generally not a good feel. The fact the Honeycomb has some avionics/lighting switches and the ignition key really draws me to it. Nice to have that functionality without needing to shell out for an additional panel. Thanks for the video.
@Jason Lee of course the could and in fact did. I ended up purchasing this yoke and would have liked to help support the content creator with my purchase. I didn't make the suggestion in order for them to make tons of money on it (unlikely anyway) I just wanted to show my gratitude for their time and energy. You can hate me, that's cool. I hate your generation just as much.
This yoke looks amazing!!! I've seen good videos about it! The only thing that I would want WITH this yoke is a throttle, but other than that, it looks awesome!!
Man I’m glad I saw this before buying another saitek. Whew close call! Glad you pointed out the resolution and ability to flare and ease the nose down. It was always difficult for me to ease the nose down with the saiteks. It was more like plunk oh well the nose is down lol! Thx for the review!
Great review thank you would you ever consider making a video on teaching how to land on the runway correctly when to flare things like that. you seem to be very thorough on the way that you talk and your explanations. I believe you would make a great video on that if you haven’t done so already.
@@pizza_parker9689 yes like hitting a golf ball. Every landing is slightly different. I even went through slumps during my 40 years in the cockpit. I would have to go back to basics and figure out what bad habit I had learned....like a golfer visiting the swing coach. A Chief Pilot at our airline used to say "You are only as good as your last landing". .... partially a joke and partially true.
Surprised to see use of ailerons during stall recover. I was taught to only use rudder and elevator controls whilst recovering from a stall. I've just purchased the yoke.
Having a wing drop during a stall can lead you right into a spin. Don't want that. The ailerons were used to prevent the spin along with some added power.
@@Beet5090 The use of ailerons can actually cause a wing to stall even harder. Paul was correct, rudder only for recovery, it's natural to want to use ailerons but can lead to a very hard snap roll.
Rudder only technique is just to keep student pilots from overcorrecting with ailerons and killing themselves. You can use ailerons just fine in a stall recovery as long as you prioritize reducing your AoA
@@pyroman590 Disagreed. As long as the aileron input ins't too drastic, it can aid in stall recovery, especially during intentional stalls. Combined with nosing down, aileron input can save you from a spin.
Do your trim switches have play in them? I had my unit replaced due to the ethernet jack being crazy loose. The replacement they sent me had the issue corrected, but the trim switches are trash on this unit, very loose feeling, and don't feel nearly as impressive as the first unit's switches.
Hi Mark Using Rift S now and love it. Have a Reverb G2 on preorder. Had the original Rift and it was good but Rift S is much better and inside out tracking means no sensors necessary. I have several videos on my cockpits but the one on VR is here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-U33SiVYq36k.html
Thanks for your review, Russ. I agree about the Saitek yoke. I am a pilot but not at your level. But I was frustrated with the Saitek yoke. If you are using your sim to gain experience for your license, forget cheap products. You are looking for skills that are transferrable. That brings me to my comment on the Alpha yoke. I will not buy it because of the switch positions. You know this but I will say it for others. When starting the C172/182, your right hand will be on the throttle while your left hand is on the starter key. You used your right hand to start the airplane but no control on the throttle. For my sim, I want things to be as realistic as possible. My panel was customed designed and built by John over at Stay Level. Switches and the starter are on the left as in the real airplane. This is just my comment and preference. I use the Yoko+ but now considering the Brunner Force Feedback yoke. Perhaps you can do a review of the Brunner. Thank you.
a have this yoke too. but in xplane 11 all the buttons work but the yoke not working i mean in the game i am not moving left and right and up and down. how i fix the yoke working?
Hi Russ- question: would you consider the XPC Alpha yoke with hall effect sensors as superior to the Honeycomb Alpha (original model as reviewed here)? I am NOT happy with the handling on manual landing with the PMDG 737NG in MSFS.
To be honest I haven’t tried the new XPC except at an exhibition for a few minutes. It is pretty much the same feel as the original unit but without the hall sensors, as you said. Unless you need XBOX compatibility I don’t know it is worth $100 more as my non-hall yoke seems fine after 4 years use.
That center detent in my CH yoke is horrid. Even level flight is a real pain. I need this and the throttle quadrant. Hopefully they have a rudder soon too. My cheapo rudders just broke lol. I was hoping to use Flight SIm 2020 to supplement my IFR training.
I wonder if PS5/Sony's Dual Sense controller haptic force feedback technology could be use to make flight yokes that have dynamic force feedback rather than just a rubber band or a string
Nice review. I am thinking of purchasing one. Any more thoughts or progress on purchasing the Stay Level panel and mounting your touchscreen monitors? I was curious how they would mount in the panel. Hopefully from the rear with some type of bezel. I’m not dropping 2K on RSG when there are other options available. Really enjoy your channel.
well you can see how the Alpha Yoke mounts into a Stay Level Avionix panel at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AvF3-L_M9Uw.html As for my plans, a custom panel was going to cost about $1000 including design and shipping so I decided to stick with the wood one I built for the time being. I am planning a single touchscreen with a knobster that will mount on the Alpha. Then a second could mount on the Bravo throttle quadrant. It would offer the same possibilities but no switches are necessary since the Alpha and Bravo have them. Watch this channel for updates.
still waiting controls that actually do very close real button setup. allways just new layout. cessna havent change for 50 or so lol. start key is left allways. is it?
For a cockpit that is fixed and has hardware switches I would choose the VirtualFly YOKO plus. They cost about $1000. Super sturdy and all metal with ball bearing rollers on the shaft. Downside is no switches beyond those on the yoke handles itself.
Creat video! I received the fantastic yoke a few days ago, and the first thing is that I am delighted! but I have noticed the picth very hard. My question is, is this how it is in real life? or is there any way to make it softer? Thank you very much in advance! excuse my english
in real life the pitch resistance depends on the configuration of flight - sometimes slushy, sometimes hard. I'll be excited when upgrading to a force feedback yoke.
I really want it, but I need to get rudder pedals and a throttle quadrant first. I'm probably gonna get 2 Saitek Pro throttle quadrants and a pair of Saitek pedals.
Hi Russ. Great Review as usual :) I have an unrelated question though. I can't find an Air Manager Panel for the Cirrus SF50 or the Eclipse 550. If there is one available for one or both of these planes, would you be able to send it to me - Beta is ok too. Thanks.
Are there any force feedback yokes you know of? So many force feedback steering wheels out there for car sims. How about joysticks? Ages ago I had the Microsoft force feedback joystick.
Yes Brunner in Switzerland makes some but they are expensive. Also Real Sim Gear has a side stick for Cirrus that is FFB I am not convinced it is worth the $$$ … most I have tried have a somewhat stiff artificial feel. I certainly haven’t tried enough to cast a universal opinion
Thank you. Made up my mind. Can you tell me what kind of pedals you are using? I'm in the process of setting myself up with a sim to continue my certifications. Much appreciated.
Gino... sorry but the pedals I am using on that demo are the discontinued Saitek Combat Rudder pedals (see www.saitek.com/uk/blog/index.php/the-new-saitek-pro-flight-combat-rudder-pedals ). I find the standard Saitek/Logitech pedals as all plastic and not very good. The CH are also lacking. IMHO the best without force feedback are the VirtualFly RUDDO pedals (see www.virtual-fly.com/en/shop/controls/ruddo-step-on-for-real ) but they are almost $1000. I own these and they are awesome. They have force transducers in the toe brakes so you apply pressure and not an angular movement like most others. Much more realistic for me. The Thrustmaster TPR (see www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/tpr-thrustmaster-pendular-rudder) are quite strong but I have only read others reviews but at about $500 should be a affordable contender. Precision Flight Controls (see flypfc.com/product-category/rudder-pedals/ ) has some rudders that are robust but are as expensive as the RUDDO. Hoping that Honeycomb will have an entry level option some day. Good luck.
Hi Russ, do you have some news about the new honeycomb yoke XPC ? Is it really available because i didn't read reviews/ tests or rex about ? Thanks for your answer
I think it is still not available….if Honeycomb could develop things faster they could have already cornered the market….instead they have shown the market potential to many new competing manufacturers
Does anyone know if you can mix and match different manufacturers' flight sim gear? For example, Honeycomb yoke, Virtual Fly Throttle Quadrant, Ruddo Pedals, CH Product switch panel?
No problem as they are all USB human interface devices and are plug and play in any sim. I intermix Saitek/Logitech, CH, Honeycomb, and VirtualFly in with no problem. You can even buy interface boards from Leo Bodnar (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MaLxcuqksmg.html ) in Europe or Desktop Aviators ( www.desktopaviator.com/Pages/Boards/index.html } and build your own hardware using encoders, potentiometers, switches, buttons, ect.
Hello Russ, good review in flight, what are your thoughts about the Oculus Rift and the newer versions ? Still like the Oculus but curious what the differerences are in X-Plane. Cheers
Jaap Steenis I have only done VR in X-Plane but is works natively with Oculus (no SteamVR required) and I have found it easy to set up and use. I have had 3 HMD, the original Rift, Samsung Odyssey Plus, and the RiftS. The RiftS hands down is the best so far. It has the best visual resolution, biggest sweet spot, is compact and light, and the inside out tracking eliminates the sensors and additional usb cables and restrictions on where you can play . The only down sides are I miss the actual over ear speakers the other headsets had to block ambient sounds although the RiftS speaker setup is usable. Also I have a normal IPD but if your eyes are not spaced in the acceptable range there is no physical adjustment since one LCD serves both eyes. As for the OLED vs LCD differences I really haven’t noticed but I fly mostly in daytime scenes. Hope that helps.
VETTE 1981 there is a utility program with Oculus software called Oculus Mirror and using the built in Windows10 game screen capture See the article below for details skarredghost.com/2017/05/25/use-oculus-mirror-make-virtual-reality-gameplay-videos/
@@rbarlow ... Wow ... Thank you Russ for such a quick response and taking the time to sending me this link... I will give it a try ... Also want to thank you for all of your tutorials in which I have learned alot from you... AND I MEAN A LOT.... Keep up the great work .... Thanks again..... Rob
Great reciew did u av to change any of yoke setting in xplane? I have the logitech yoke and cant getting settings correct for flaring theres never enogih range of motion
My first yoke was the Saitek(Logitech) and I never was able to get it right. My problem was the center detention that made it feel artificial and difficult to trim. Changing the response curve can only adjust the rate the control is input and not the magnitude. I don’t remember not enough pitch during flare but that the springs resisted smooth movement. You may have a defective unit. I initially switched to the basic CH yoke and despite being plastic it was actually not bad.... no detent and smooth. It is mot too expensive. The honeycomb alpha and my VirtualFly Yoko plus are both very good. Unless they have changed the design recently I would try another option even if it is the CH. Sorry to provide discouraging news but that is my opinion.
If the Throttle was purchased along with the Saitek yoke it has a PS2 plug which connects it to the yoke and cannot be used separately. I even tried a ps2 to USB adapter to no avail. The Saitek(now Logitech) throttle quadrants sold separately have a USB connection and work with any other yoke. Sorry for the bad news but I have an unusable PS2 throttle too.
@@rbarlow I will be in the same boat when my Honeycomb arrives next week. Curious if you tried connecting the Saitek yoke just to use the throttle and wondering (other than physical space considerations) if there was any issue with both yokes connected (with the Saitek yoke of course not mapped to anything)?
Hi Thanks for a great review I will be ordering today to use with X Flight 11 Can you post what you had to do to redo the buttons etc to get it to work correctly? Also which VR goggles do you use? What did you have to do to use the VR goggles with X Flight 11? Your help will be appreciated Thanks
Just go to the joystick settings and select the honeycomb yoke. Then as you select each control button it will highlight to identify itself on the settings. You can select from the list the function(XPlane command) you want connected to that button position. Does that help?
Yesterday a person from Honeycomb recently posted on their Facebook page that the reason some yokes have a deadzone, and some do not, is that some of the early production units were calibrated incorrectly at the factory, giving them a deadzone they should not have. My yoke from the original preorder has a 5mm deadzone in elevator, and a 9° deadzone in aileron (5% of total rotation!). Also, I have found out that the yoke has a built-in "hidden" calibration routine that can be invoked to recalibrate with no deadzone at all - but those that have been told this procedure have been instructed to not make it public, as they are concerned a user could screw up their yoke even worse.
@@rbarlow Yes, that is how I found out about the hidden calibration routine - I don't know of anyone else who has been told how to invoke the cal procedure.
