$30 makes a big difference to tightwad bargain-seekers like myself!
<G>
Seriously, though, a Force Feedback wheel as nice as the Saitek for
the same price as your average non-FF wheel is truly a bargain.
Granted, a LWFF wheel for only $30 more is also a bargain, but the
Saitek wheel has a couple of features the LWFF wheel doesn't:
1) It uses a standard MIDI-compatible joystick port, found on most
sound cards, so you don't need to worry about having a spare COM port;
2) It has both paddle shifters and a stick shift, so you can choose
which to use;
3) It has a nifty height-adjustment feature for the wheel (think "tilt
wheel" on a smaller scale);
4) The Saitek pedals may not be the greatest thing since sliced
butter, but they are of a bit more conventional design than the LWFF
pedals -- not necessarily better, mind you, but Thrustmaster owners
should have no problem adapting to the Saitek pedals;
5) Your wife won't be quite as mad when you tell her that, "It has a
suggested retail price of $199, and CompUSA sells it for $175, but I
picked it up for $75, so I actually saved us money. Why don't you go
buy yourself a new pair of shoes or something on me!"; and
6) As a refurbished item, it's already experienced a breakdown of soe
sort that's been repaired by the factory, so you won't have to worry
about infant mortality failures or a device that doesn't work right
out of the box because someone forgot something simple like a broken
spring on the pedal or the fact that someone might have overlooked the
need to solder a wire in place properly or such. Most manufacturers
scrutinize refurbed items more closely than they do the new items
rolling off the assembly line -- so they may be more trouble-free, in
addition to being less expensive.
Also, FWIW, a co-worker of mine bought one of these refurbished wheels
from Saitek, and you can't tell the difference between it and the new
one we have in the office, so the refurbished angle shouldn't be a
deterrent in and of itself.
The bottom line is that the true tightwad bargain-seekers or those on
a tight budget will probably be delighted with a refurbished Saitek
wheel -- and the $30 price difference betwen the LWFF and the Saitek
wheel means that for $105 you could have either a LWFF wheel or a
Saitek R4 Force wheel AND the full retail version of Viper Racing plus
$5 change. That makes my checkbook smile. ;-)
-- John Bodin
Publisher, The IRL Insider Magazine
http://irlinsider.adnetweb.com/
>>The Saitek R4 Force wheel is highly underrated, and it's a real
>>bargain right now -- you can reportedly get a refurbished one from
>>Saitek (complete with warranty) for $75 US. The Saitek wheel is a
>>digital wheel that features the same electronics as the Microsoft
>>Sidewinder Force Feedback wheel -- for MUCH less money.
>I don't really see that as much of a bargain on a re-furb.
>I paid $30 more for a brand new Formula Force.
>Not trying to be argumentative, I thought the same thing when I saw
>the original Saitek post.
>Tim
