joy-stick.net
Archived from The Control Center, 2000. Hardware, prices and links are historical.

CH Products USB Pro Pedals

Originally published on joy-stick.net, 23 March 20004/5 sticks

USB Pro Pedals

Manufactured By: CH Products

Retail Price: $110

Review Date: ** 03-23-00

Revised: 05-07-00**

When CH Products announced the new FlightSim Yokes that caught my attention their plan included 2 USB versions of the flight yoke. To add to the setup they later announced the USB versions of the Pro Pedals and the Pro Throttle. 2 of the yokes were released last year, one being USB. It lacked one thing though- rudder pedal support. The gameport version of the Pro Pedals functioned with them but it degraded system performance since the gameport and USB port was being polled for information on the controllers positions at the same time. The USB Pedals were needed to complete the flight system.

Recently the USB Pro Pedals became available and my gameport flight yoke was pulled off my system (along with the gameport pedals). I plugged in the USB FlightSim Yoke LE and added the USB Pro Pedals to the setup. A few things are different from the gameport version. The most obvious is the simpler USB plug replacing the pass-through gameport connections. Also missing is the car/plane switch on the base. Its not needed since the axis control is assigned in the games themselves.

One additional thing you will need to consider is a USB hub. The stick or yoke will occupy one USB port and the Pedals a second. On most systems that is all that is available for use. Luckily, you can add a USB hub allowing one port to host more hardware at the same time.

The current list of compatible games is short until a combination driver is made available. Features promised in Microsoft DirectX 7.0 would have made this easier for the programmers to create but were left out of the final build of version 7. Version 7.0 was actually very USB controller un-friendly and you should download version 7.0a before attempting to use USB controllers at all. Hopefully soon, CH will overcome the issues and release a driver that allows you to use the USB pedals and a USB controller as one device, just like a gameport setup. You can bet this review, and the gear, will be revisited as soon as that happens.

The current playlist includes:

Sim

Functionality

Fly!

Rudders, Toe-Brakes

Flight Simulator 2000

Rudders, digital toe brakes with cfg edit

Flight Simulator 98

Rudders only with fltsim98.cfg file edit

Combat Flight Sim

Rudders only with cfg file edit (same as FS98)

Need for Speed "Hot Pursuit."

Gas, brake, & Z axis

Need for Speed "High Stakes"

Gas, brake, & Z axis

Aces High

Rudders only

Mig Alley

X, Y, & Z axes with MIG 1.23 update - CH "FAQ" help

Any other game or sim supporting multiple input devices

Features-

  • Sliding motion of forward/backward gives rudder input for the yaw axis.
  • Heel-toe motion pivot differential toe braking control.
  • Three axes of control
  • Plane or car simulator control
  • Seven foot cable
  • USB interface

Appropriate For-

  • Flight Sims (MS FlightSim 98, CombatSim, Fly, etc.)
  • Racing Games (Need For Speed, Powerslide, Midtown Madness, etc.)
  • Space Sims (Descent Freespace, Forsaken, Mechwarrior III, Incoming, etc.)

System Requirements-

Windows 98, free USB port

Price-

The price of the USB Pro Pedals is slightly higher than the gameport version. As more USB controllers become available the gameport version will fall off the "wise buy" list in favor for the USB counterpart.

Warranty-

Three year warranty

Performance-

In supported sims the USB Pro Pedals work great. Paired with either the CH Products FlightSim Yoke USB LE or the CH Products F16 CombatStick USB Joystick I flew many hours in my virtual cockpit. I played MS FlightSim 2000, MS Combat Sim (using the same setup modification suggested by CH for FlightSim 98) and Need For Speed: High Stakes.

With FlightSim 2000 I used both the standard configuration and the toe-brake active configuration. With the toe-brake configuration I was able to control the left and right brakes of the plane while taxing and landing. Be warned that the action is not incremental and you will need to "pump" the brakes or you may end up flipping or tipping the aircraft if your speed is to high. Until the combo driver is available this is the best you can do with the braking option of the pedals (there was only limited support- 1 sim, with the gameport versions toe brakes).

Even though the toe-brake configuration is an all-or-nothing deal, I prefer it over the stock rudder setup because it adds an extra level of control and comes closer to the real thing. The use of the pedals offers great control for the Bell Jet ranger Helicopter. The copter is difficult to control, if not impossible, with stick-twist and wheel controlled rudder sticks. This changes with the addition of the pedals. All of the aircraft is actually better to control using the pedals. Landing under windy conditions without the use of rudder control is difficult, if not foolish. Just be sure to disable the coordinated rudder option under the settings or the pedals will not function.

Microsoft Combat Sim (Microsoft's best sim to date in my opinion) worked using the modifications suggested by CH for FlightSim 98. The file modification is easy to do but has a bit of trial and error may be involved. I strongly suggest backing up the cfg file before modifying it or you may find yourself re-installing the sim. The added control offered by the rudder pedals permitted accurate targeting of enemy aircraft. It also helped with landing although Combat Sim is much more forgiving than other sims.

I finalized testing by placing the lock-blocks behind the pedals (to prevent the sliding motion) and fired up a racing sim supporting multiple controllers- Need For Speed: High Stakes. In the options menu I pressed the pedals to assign them for the gas and brake controls and setup the yoke for turning control. The pedals provided good control but the pivot action is not as natural as other pedal layouts. The resistance of the pedals is a bit weak for racing too.

Overall the performance of the USB Pro Pedals is stellar. The pedals lack just one thing- widespread support. Either a combo driver is needed or every sim manufacturer needs to add support for multiple control devices.

Setup -

Initial setup of the USB Pro Pedals is quite simple. With the system up and running you can connect the pedals and wait a brief second for plug-and-play to detect the pedals and direct it to the drivers on the disk. It will also ask for the Windows 98 CD at some point in most cases.

You can verify the presence of the pedals in the game controller applet. You will also need to do a calibration of the pedals. The crosshairs in the calibration panel represent the pedal pivot and the 3rd axis is the sliding motion of the pedals. When prompted to "press a button on the controller" simply mouse click the next button (there are no buttons on the pedals). Calibration is now complete. In the test window the crosshair should be situated in the upper left hand corner of the window- this is completely normal.

In game setup requires a sim capable of recognizing and using more than one controller. CH has details on setting up the pedals and toe brakes in Microsoft FlightSim 2000 on their website. It requires a modification to the flightsim configuration file to activate digital toe brake capability.

**Software -

**The software included with the CH USB Pro Pedals is a Windows inf file that allows the pedals to be properly identified in the game controller list. You can forgo the use of the inf file and set them up as a HID device also.

CH has plans on releasing a driver that will allow the pedals to be recognized as part of another controller such as a joystick or yoke. This will allow for broader support for the USB pedals and make it much easier to setup in games. As soon as the file is released this review will be updated.

Documentation-

The USB Pro Pedals come with a simple, but effective 4 page manual that describes setup for both the PC and MAC. USB plug-and-play has made installation of USB devices almost so simple it does not require any instruction. The manual also describes the calibration process which can be confusing to some.

The packaging of the pedals is the same used for the gameport Pro Pedals. the system requirements on the box are covered with a sticker stating the requirements for the USB version and a note qualifying any statement on the box where programmability with other CH Products is mentioned.

The CH Products website is well laid out and has a good amount of information posted. A compatible sim list is available along with setup instructions for sims needing special modifications and settings. CH also offers a newsletter to people interested in product news and information.

Overall Rating-

The CH Products USB Pro Pedals are close to a perfect product. They are easy to connect, well constructed and have a good feel to them. What they miss is support. There are many sims I would have loved to have flown with the USB Pro Pedals and Yoke but there is currently no support for a dual controller configuration (European Air War, Falcon 4, Jane's WWII Fighters, space sims and racing games).

The Control Center recommends the USB Pro Pedals as the next step in putting together a full USB HOTAS system. Although support is limited now, when CH comes through with a combo driver the Pro Pedals will be an integral part of a rock solid flight setup. Bring on the USB Throttle (after the combo driver!).

Pros-

  • Easy plug-and-play installation
  • Solid calibration

Cons-

  • Limited support until a combo driver is available

Similar to-**

Compatible Controller List

Review date as printed on the original page. Images from the original page are not reproduced.