Honeycomb Aeronautical Alpha Flight Controls Yoke and Switch Panel

Bottom Line Up Front: Excellent product! I think it is much better than the other popular yokes at/around this price point though it's slightly more expensive. I've owned this yoke now for over 5 months and I've used it often. No issues at this point in terms of reliability. Discussion: I've been flight sim guy for off / on 10+ years. There are 4 fairly popular flight yokes that I've seen on the market..CH Products Yoke, Saitek Yoke, Red Bird Yoke and this yoke from Honeycomb--the Alpha. All are good products for flight simulation. The Redbird Yoke is by far the most expensive and is somewhat in another league in terms of what you get--I know these yokes are used in FAA approved flight simulators around the world and are much more expensive than the other 3...but given the FAA credentials may be worth it if you are looking for this. I own the other 3 yokes--hands down the Alpha Yoke is by far the best of these. The Saitek yoke is a good looking yoke and the material feel is good (better quality plastic than CH Yoke). Also, it has more buttons and extra functions like timer, etc....which are useful and handy. However, it has a critical flaw in that there is a detent at center making smooth flight control very difficult for me. The control of sim felt very unnatural compared to flying real airplanes (I started to notice it more when I began taking real world flight lessons--I could not use the Saitek anymore). I then purchased the only other option at the time--the CH Yoke. The CH Yoke feels has a better control feel -- smoother inputs...no annoying detent making it easier to control the sim and better represent real world flying to me. However, the plastics are very cheap feeling texture which does detract from the experience. That said, I used the CH because it did not suffer from the detent issue like I felt in the Saitek which made flying simulator much better for me. Once Alpha yoke came to market, I decided to give it a chance because of reviews from other flight sim users. The Alpha costs ~$100 more than both the CH and Saitek but it is well worth it in my opinion because there is no compromise. It represents the best of both worlds in smooth flight control feel as well as very good construction, very good quality plastics and the price--though higher than CH and Saitek--is worth the no compromise in my opinion and at a price point which is very fair considering what you get. Also the Alpha has greater range of motion (180 degrees vs the other 2 that don't have this). It's just better yoke in all areas over the other two I own. other notes: The mounting is easy but it can be hard to get off desk (depending on your desk material) if installed for a long time due to the sticky material on base of the yoke. However, sticking base is easy thing to prevent (keep the thin piece of plastic protector which comes to protect it on the base and this has helped me prevent to sticking when I want to remove it). All and all this is an excellent product.

This is the best quality yoke for the money that you can get. The build quality is excellent, so are the materials used. You can feel the quality when using this. It's unfortunate that Honeycomb Aeronautical are undergoing some sort of internal financial problems & management struggle within the company right now, and the future of the company is very uncertain. There is unfortunately no real guarantee of product support going forward with this (we'll have to see what happens with the company over the next year or two if they survive that long). With that in mind, these have a very low failure rate and I'd still recommend this over any of the other yokes which are either built like fisher price toys or eye watteringly expensive. This is still by far the best value out there. It's currently unknown whether Honeycomb Aeronautical will even continue to exist so I would say you should snatch one of these up while you still can if you're looking for a good flight sim yoke. Also get your hands on a Bravo throttle quadrant as well if you can (they are mostly sold out everywhere at this point), the quality of that is also exceptional for the cost.

Excellent yoke

For starters, a yoke never appealed to me but I figured at some point I should try it. This one appealed the most because of how sleek it looked (no offense Logitech) and it just looked like quality. The price, though high, was reassuring that the materials were likely to last and the reviews into the product and the company were promising as well. I pulled the trigger and bought it with it arriving only a couple days later. I must say, the packaging is beautiful too - the box, the foam, everything was aesthetic and I felt guilty throwing it away lol. The product itself was gorgeous - more so than the pictures. I didn’t even want to get my fingerprint oils on it. Set up was super easy! Instructions are simple, thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing as well and in addition, there was no complex programming required unlike other products. Honestly, every time I have had to download a software to program a peripheral, it usually messes up the other ones so rumor of this one being ‘plug and play’ was the biggest factor that contributed to my purchase. It had two options to be mounted on a desk - both on the topside. One was the used of a pad underneath that is abrasive and somewhat sticky or there is an option for clamps (what I chose). After you deploy the ‘feet’ on this that help reinforce the clamps, this thing is practically now fused to the desk which is reassuring that it wont slip during it’s use. The yoke itself requires an EJ-11 type cable to connect to the body which is included and the whole setup connects via USB-C to USB 3.0 type cable. Instructions prompted me to download a software to run it along with drivers however, the website had a lot of ‘error 303’ or something like that and I wasn’t able to download them. My computer did recognize it right off the bat so I booted up Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and lo and behold, it showed up as recognized. I did not have to download a profile either! There are quite a bit of buttons on the device itself including lights and magneto ignitions. It can be a little complex to program these as they’re one way functions but with a little looking around and testing, I was able to assign functions. The dual trim-type buttons on both sides of the yoke were a benefit to have to so I was able to assign trim, flaps, heading adjustment, and aileron trim easily. I also assigned controls for disabling autopilot, acknowledgement, emergency functions, and activation/deactivation of eye and head tracking. As for performance, you can adjust and tune sensitivity for the yoke. Having flown with a joystick and spending a lot of time in Cirrus Vision Jet G2 where a joystick is the norm, this was a steep learning curve and felt like I was starting all over again. After many hours of practicing though, I find yoke flying engaging and so much easier when it comes to controlling turns, especially in smaller planes like Cessnas. It is easier to fine adjust your movements in the wind as opposed to a joystick. I still fly joystick for joystick-applicable planes though. Keeping the yoke plugged in during a helicopter operation can confused the helicopter so I unplug it. Overall this is a wonderful product and I highly recommend giving it a try. I really hated flying a lot of planes with a joystick, so this has made flying more interactive and changed how I think.

We are trying to use this on a Mac with Xplanes 11 on Steam. The condtrols for pitch (front to back) and roll (side to side) are reversed. When you turn the wheel, the plane pitches rather than rolls. We have spent the last 11 days trying to contact the company, without success. They responded to our original email, but then did not follow up with support. We called the phone number they provide and it is not their phone numbers. We are returning the product to Amazon. We are also angry. This was to be our sons first Christmas present.

After having purchased the CH yoke twice over the last 20 years and two different flight sim home built setups, I had finally grown weary of the plastic and spring technology. CH was durable and did it's job, but it's definitely showing it's age in this day where so many people are putting out superior new tech. Decided to add this to my setup, and you can really feel a night and day difference. Controls are precise and smooth, and the overall feel of the product, it's range of motion, and lack of thick, dated springs is noticeable almost immediately. I got my private pilot certificate five months ago, and have flown over 115 hours in the last year and wanted something to more closely resemble what I would expect to feel in a real airplane. While you'll never quite get an accurate representation - this is far superior to the CH yoke I had been drumming on the last year and a half. It's expensive, but it should last a long time, seems very durable, and made of high end material. Buttons and switches feel a little cheap for the money, but the overall throw of the yoke, and range of motion more than make up for this minor oversight.

This is just an incredible piece of hardware that elevates your flight simulator experience to an entirely different plane (sorry about the pun). I have used every type of simulator from the earliest Microsoft flight sim to a pretty fancy Redbird advanced training device (when I was training for my instrument rating). This piece of hardware, which costs less than 1 hour of flight instruction, will turn your PC running X-plane into a very serious flight training device. I use this with the X-plane Cessna 172SP to practice instrument flying and emergency procedures and it brings a glorious level of realness to the sim. I previously used a VKB Gladiator joystick which is great but doesn't simulate a Cessna too well. Now, I have the Honeycomb yoke and the joystick both connected. I use the joystick to control my view (rotating the handle) and its buttons to control flaps, brakes, etc. They Honeycomb is a very solid and well-made piece of hardware with a very realistic feel. I now feel the need to tune in some trim just like in a real Cessna. To summarize, this feels like a piece of professional pilot training hardware that is super-fairly priced. Don't read anymore, just buy this and plug it in. You'll love it.

Great quality. Smooth. Glad I paid the extra $$.

Its actually living up to all the hype. Solidly engineered and works really well with MSFS2020 on a Windows PC. Delivery to regional Australia was fast and installing it was 'plug-and-play' simple. Now I have to convince my significant other that I 'need' the matching throttle quadrant ...

Parfait. Excellente finition et fixations robustes.

Ottima Yoke per volare con flight simulator, prima di essa utilizzavo uno Joystik della Logitech modello Extreme 3D Pro, e da quanto sono passato a questa yoke è tutta un'altra cosa! Il controllo del velivolo è molto più realistico ed immersivo, la qualità dei materiali si sente a tatto e si vede a vista. il feedback, nonostante non sia di tipo attivo (è una semplice cinghia elastica) è eccezionale Consigliata caldamente!

As a private pilot and student commercial pilot I can say this is a very accurate and well built flight yoke. It’s very smooth and easy to set up and feels very realistic. The hat is the only part that I don’t like as it seems to jump the view around in the cockpit instead of having a smooth transition but the switches are easy to reach and easy to click either on or off and the trim buttons are smooth and deliberate allowing for fine tuning of aircraft trim. Definitely worth the money and can’t wait to compliment it with the Bravo Throttle.

Pros: - Full 180 degree motion - Smooth operation - No discernable dead zone around centre of axis - Good amount of resistance in the springs creating a more 'natural' feel than the Logitech alternative - Good selection of switches on the yoke - Easy to operate, robust desk clamps - Comfortable feel to yoke - Price - More products in the range to follow (at time of writing this includes a throttle quadrant and mouse mat) Neutrals: - I don't use the switches on the main box. They don't match up to the specific add ons I use. Whilst not a problem and the switches can be safely ignored if you so chose, there will have been a manufacturing cost passed on to the consumer that feels (to me) unnecessary. - The red back light is a matter of taste. The intensity can be changed by pressing a small button to the rear of the unit, which includes the ability to switch off altogether. - Switch labels are printed clearly but are not back lit. Cons - As a new product to market, durability is unknown (I have no specific concerns, though) Verdict - Strongly recommended. As a relative newcomer to the market it is not known how durable these units are. The build quality "feels" very good and is a significant improvement on the Logitech (formerly Saitek) offering. The honeycomb yoke succeeds where Logitech has failed to improve upon the limitations of the Saitek pro flight yoke: whereupon the honeycomb yoke is smooth and expressive to operate, the Logitech has a tendency for signal spikes and false readings (especially if no dead zone is set - which in itself can be undesirable), limited motion and noticeable detent around the centre point - much of which worsen over time.