Honeycomb Aeronautical Alpha Flight Controls Yoke & 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.

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.

Perfect for me, feels great

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.

Great yoke and love the 90 degree motion for turns. Solid build and quality feel to everything. If you are looking for a real experience, this yoke delivers. I use the 3M Micro Suction pad for mounting and have to frequently remove it to allow for my space to be used for work. The mount works great and I have had no issues with it not feeling secure. So if you can't clamp it down, the pad works wonders (smooth surface needed). However, the only drawback to the suction pad, in my case, is that removing it has created marks in my wood table top. To remove the pad, it has two fins you fold up which apply downward pressure against the surface to allow the suction to start releasing. Takes about 5 seconds to slowly pull up the mount. Keep the plastic bottom cover to place over the pad when not in use. I recommend using a small pile of papers or thin piece of cardboard to help reduce the the damage to your table top if you are using wood and do not wish to damage the finish.

More precise that the yoke it replaced. However: 1) requires more force to push and to pull (rotation (bank) is fine), 2) under desk mounting is very difficult using the screws provided, and leaves the back of the unit loose which requires some doing to secure so the whole yoke doesn't move around, and 3) about twice as expensive as the unit it replaced.

If you've ever owned a Logitech or CHP yoke and have been frustrated at the lack of quality, flimsyness, and fine control... raise your hand.... This yoke completely transformed my appreciation of and enjoyment for flight simulators. It feels good in the hand, is sturdy, and has good resistance and consistent sensitivity across all ranges of travel. You actually feel like you are flying an aircraft, with the ability to make small, gradual adjustments and complicated mechanical inputs to guide the flight controls. Read the manual and details on the downloadable software for mapping and tuning the controller. If you don't it will be a frustrating learning curve as the software translates the complex controller hardware into commands the simulator can recognize. Once you figure that out, there is nothing on the market that can touch this yoke for the price they are asking. The quality and construction is very good, and there is no cheap-plastic feel. The Alpha is worth every penny and is easily my star piece of flight sim hardware by quality alone. I'd pay double for it without a question, given the alternatives vs their price points. I can't wait for the Bravo throttle quadrant, and sincerely hope Honeycomb produces flight pedals in the future. Cons: The mount is so good I found my desk and/or chair will move before the yoke base does.

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.

Gran controlador para simuladores de vuelo. El tacto es muy bueno, los botones funcionan perfectamente. Ya viene configurado con msfs. Puedes cambiar las asignaciones en el panel de control de msfs. Vale mucho la pena. Nada que ver con los de 100-200€. No te arrepentiras. Importante conectar el cable telefonico entre el volante y la base, si no los botones superiores no funcionan. Si lo complementas con el controlador de aceleracion de la misma marca tienes un kit de simulacion buenisimo. Recomendado para frikis de los simuladores de vuelo.

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!

After receiving flight simulator products of another brand, the Honeycomb Alpha yoke is pleasantly surprising. It feels solid and of good quality. The front panel is plastic, but still feels high quality with nice clicking switches. The only downside I would point out is having to connect an ethernet between the yoke handle and dashboard.

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.