Installation was simple the first time I did it--running the CD and plugging the controller in when it told me to worked fine. The second time, however, the default Microsoft drivers took over instead of the Saitek ones, and I had to remove the device from the computer and had to select the Saitek drivers explicitly for it to work. Strange, but not insurmountable. Once you get it working, the controller is quite easy to configure with the Saitek Gaming Extensions. You simply select an executable you want it to run with--if you want to control
Independence War 2, for example, you select EDGEOFCHAOS.EXE from inside the IWar2 directory--and then you set about messing with the buttons. Each button on the controller can either be a straight DirectX button, or it can be a keypress. This allows for maximum configurability, as you can even support games that don't support joysticks by default. There are some subtle issues here, though, especially if you have buttons set up to do combinations like 'Alt-H'; to do that, the button has to simulate the Alt key, which means that all the /other/ buttons you press will be like 'Alt-button'. Be forewarned. You can even configure buttons to be combos, like a
Street Fighter-esque series of button presses. It's handy, but you'll spend hours tweaking your configurations to the way you like them.
The controller itself is nice and solid. You can add suction cups on the bottom, and depending on your situation, it may help or hinder. I found that the suction cups didn't hold the controller very tightly to my desk, but they did keep the flightstick from actually lifting up, which is more important than sliding around a bit. I also wish they had force feedback, as many games nowadays support that feature.
We did have some technical issues with the first controller we got, and even my final review copy has a problem; one of the hats doesn't read diagonally up-right very well, and while after some wear it's doing better, it's still a little disconcerting. Especially with sticks that are this high-end, one expects a little more solid quality. But I've put many hours of gameplay on this set of stick and throttle with no ill effects; they hold up well to repeated use.
