I've been thru all the FAQ's on Saitek's site & I figure I might get a quicker response here than from Saitek. The documentation with the stick is minimal almost to the point of being nonexistant.

Problem: The EVO has 2 shift buttons, one on each side of the base. Mercs doesn't recognize the Left Shift Button (button 11, sees it as Left Hat), it binds to the Right Shift Button (button 12). I want the game to see the Left Shift Button instead of the Right.

How do I change which button the game sees as Shift?

Thanx
Titus

Did you install the profile software? Here are some profiles for the Evo including 1 for mw4 you can modify it suit you in mercs. Evo Game Profiles

D'OH!

Nevermind...

Kept clicking on stuff, profiler wouldn't work right so I was messing around in the Mercs/options/controls. To change the Joystick Shift assignment place the mouse cursor on the Joystick Shift button number & start clicking on the button you want to be the Shift. If you hit the stick button enuf times the button # will magically change.

Real intuitive there, everything else on that screen you only click once.

Titus

how is the Evo for gameplay anyway?

I love my Cyborg Gold to death, considering its the best joystick I have ever had. but in case it ever dies, I want to know what else to get and I am probably gonna get another Saitek joystick

Raw 1st impression...

General construction seems solid but I wonder how well the adjustable hand rest on the stick will hold up.

Axis/twist control is very precise. This is going to take some getting used to as my old stick has gotten very sloppy & I've learned to compensate for that.

Trigger/stick buttons are a bit too light for me but again that has more to do with what I'm used to.

Base buttons... Half are almost useless but that's what makes this a lefty friendly stick. btw, I'm a righty which made for probs in Mercs right away as Mercs defaulted to the shift button on the right side of the base. Must be some kind of bug with Mercs but I had to press the left shift numerous times to get it to bind contrary to the message box. Works great now, go figure.

Throttle... Can you say "AWKWARD?" The only real minus, but I felt it was liveble.

Adjustability was a big +. I'm one of those short fingered/wide hand types & most joysticks just don't fit right.

Mostly I need to get used to it.

Titus

X45

I like it better for flight sims though But it's good for MW4 too, just hard to get used to

Working on my second EVO (I exchanged once)... here's what I found with it:

Adjustable tilt of the hat and button pad at the rear are alright, sturdier that they look. (Looks like metal gears holding it)

Throttle placement... the worst feature of the stick. The worst throttle design i've seen in a stick in a long time. Get ready for some digit-gymnastincs to make it work for hillhumping.

Resposiviness: Both the torso and stearing are very quick and responsive... provided you calibrated it right. A problem I;ve run into is that the calabrations doesn't seem to hold the calabration long-term. I've taken to recalibrating it before going on-line with it.

Base is a little light, and the whole feel of the stick, althought better than say... a Wingman... feels a little cheap compaired to the venerable Cyborg 3D Gold. The triggers seem to feel "fragile" to me.

Rear button pad placement: over all pretty good, althought the hat, #5 and #6 buttons are a little high to use comfortably with the rear button pad elevated at all. Also, the #2, #3, and #4 buttons are a wee bit too close together. Get used to mis-keying a lot, it's very easy to do. (I tilt the pad a bit to the left to compensate, but the buttons back there are very sensitive.) Same with the base buttons... a little space between them would have went a long way.

The biggest problem I ran into (besides the poorly placed throttle) was that less than a month in on the first stick, the primary trigger button began to hang, and quickly degenerated to uselessness. Now... I"m rough on sticks, so it you have a bit gentler touch, it might not be an issue for you, but for me... just the feel of the triggers as a whole seemed a little weak, like I was going to break them if pulled too fast or hard.... and the above problem proves that theory. The second stick seems to be a bit better, but that could be because I'm taking it a bit easier on it.

All in all, it's an alright stick, but the Cyborg 3D Gold seems to still be the superior stick compaired to the Evo.