Review: CH Products Eclipse Yoke
Using the Eclipse Yoke – Buttons, Switches, and Encoders
There are a variety of digital inputs on the Eclipse Yoke. The simplest are the five simple pushbuttons. One button is located at the rear of each grip; these are activated with the pointer fingers. The three others are located at the bottom front of the yoke’s center portion. The center of these is identical to the buttons at the rear of the grips, while the two on the outsides are square-shaped and are backlit with a red light. These red backlights are illuminated continuously while the yoke is plugged in via USB, and thus are for aesthetics only.
At the top of each grip are an 8-way hat and a 2-way rocker switch. All of these inputs are designed to be used with the thumbs. Note that, by default, the hat on the left is recognized as the default DirectX point-of-view (POV) hat, and the hat on the right functions as a 4-way switch that sends button presses 11-14. The POV function can be swapped to the right hat using Control Manager. Control Manager’s CMS programming can be used to convert the second hat to an 8-way hat if desired.
On the yoke housing, to the right of the shaft, are two bi-directional flipper switches that can be pressed up or down. These flipper switches are identical to switches found on the CH Products Throttle Quadrant. I found the flipper switches hard to reach.
In the middle of the yoke’s center portion is a 3-way rotary selector with yellow, green and red LEDs. This is the Eclipse Yoke’s Mode Selector. Unlike other CH devices that use a pushbutton to cycle through the modes, the Eclipse Yoke uses a discrete selection. A CMS variable "ECLIPSEMODE" is available in Control Manager v4.51 that can convert the mode selector positions into normal joystick button commands if desired; those familiar with CMS will recognize the similarity to the variables "FTRSTKMODE" and "PROTHRMODE" that are available for the CH Products Fighterstick and CH Products Pro Throttle, respectively.
The last digital inputs on the Eclipse Yoke are the rotary encoders on the yoke center portion. These encoders at first glance appear to be wheels, but they are actually incremental rotary encoders with detents every 15 degrees. These encoders can be spun too fast for a sim to recognize all of the button presses. It is possible to use Control Manager's CMS programming to force each position to be read, although the output from the encoders could lag significantly behind the actual rotation. Each rotary encoder also has an added feature that sends a third button signal when the entire encoder is pressed towards the rear of the yoke housing.
The encoders are most useful for digital trim functions, although they can be used just like any other three buttons (as long as you don’t intend to press them simultaneously). There is only a short amount of distance between each detent. This can make fine encoder movements difficult to control and result in an undesired number of button presses being sent. If used as originally intended, the added third button press on each encoder also requires a significant amount of force to activate; such force can move the pitch axis of the yoke unless it is braced by your other hand, and depressing the encoder can cause inadvertent rotation as well. A trick is to click the encoders up or left instead of pushing them in; this sends a button press but can be done with much finer control.
Using the Eclipse Yoke – Racing Sims
CH Product's sales pitch says the Eclipse Yoke and its paddles are “ideal for racing sims”. While it is certainly possible that a high-quality, precise flight controller such as the Eclipse Yoke can serve double-duty as a racing controller, doing so requires some substantial compromises on controller fidelity in the racing environment. While the somewhat awkward thumb paddles could function as brake and throttle, they don't offer independent axes of movement, thus precluding the more subtle aspects of brake and throttle application available in a dedicated racing controller. The Eclipse would also require significant compromises in the drivetrain department, with no dedicated control handle for gear selection. Furthermore, while the Eclipse Yoke offers precise steering accuracy, it lacks force feedback, now a key ingredient in modern racing simulation control.
Obviously CH Products marketing is a little optimistic about its product as a race sim controller. While the Eclipse Yoke could pinch-hit as an alternative to a wheel controller, its best fit would be for the sim pilot looking for some casual driving excitement in between sorties. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement as a racing controller, and it's not. But it's definitely more than any racing wheel could claim for controlling a flight sim. I certainly would never recommend trying to land a 747 in FSX with a Logitech G25!
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