Saitek Cyborg F.L.Y.9 Wireless Flight Stick (Xbox 360)

1st off the stick itself:

Great looking with a solid and well-built feel, the ergonomics are spot on with controls and buttons nicely placed. Most aspects of the stick are adjustable with allen key stored in base. Pretty responsive with what i'd describe as an average deadzone. Nice tactile rubberised coating. A little stiff at first but loosens up quickly. Exceptionally good idea to put a (detachable) leg rest on the base considering this is a console stick - it works well and makes for a stable base without any need for a table.

Next, the issue (i had):

Unfortunately the stick was broken when received. Rudder control was not working and upon launching my chopper (Apache: Air Assault, great game) was sent into an immediate left-hand spin! Nothing to do with it having been used or abused as it was new but, it would appear, a manufacturing fault. Upon asking the interweb "What's wrong with my Fly 9?" i quickly found the thing has a pretty common fault from new; one (or more) of the wires attached to the potentiometer on the base can break. Found a forum thread with at least half-a-dozen posters all with the same problem!

A simple fix if you have a soldering iron and know how to wield it but a shame none the less with a peripheral of this price. Not the easiest of tasks to complete as there are a million screws to undo to get into the base and (protective) plastic blobs melted over the pot's terminals to remove once in there. I'm confident now however that the problems fixed, the connections are now far stronger than before and that i shouldn't have to repeat the process.

Some may think it strange that i still give the Fly 9 4 stars but the quality is generally top notch and i fully expect to get many years of service out of it.....now it's fixed.

P.S. Best to ring Saitek first before attempting repairs as otherwise your warranty will be void.

I too must agree with the other reviews ! Bought mine in December 2010 . 2 weeks of play and it broke.
So there is a design fault ! Just before Xmas and with all the snow and Xmas post I knew I had no chance of getting
one for the festive break so I took the plunge and opened it up!
Like the first reviewer said one of the wires becomes chaffed completely through and causes it to just roll to the
left constantly, so a quick re-route of the wire and some solder and heat shrink did the job.
But beware it is fiddly and I guess my warranty is pants now!!
But hey ho I was on it all Xmas and no problems since .
I also notice the prise has increased by £50.00 which is strange considering they develop faults.
But I must say it is a great stick once repaired!!!

Purchased this poduct just before Christmas - GREAT looking, exciting, easy to assemble and set-up with the Xbox. used to play HAWX 2 using preset 'A' (read product manual for more details) which mapped to the in-flight controls seamlessly. Having great fund for the first 2 weeks and then BANG! Stopped operating during game play - DEAD! Mad Catz were very helpful and ran a few test before suggestinging a loose connection or faulty electrical internal component may be the cause. It may be worth noting there are other similar reviews detailing electrical issues with this product but then again, they have sold many thousands so maybe the failure rate, whilst disppointing from the customers point of view, may be within the manufacturers tolerance. Still, have awaiting replacement under warranty (note: 2 years warranty offered), hope the next one is more reliable....