The HoneyComb Alpha Yoke, I believe, is one of the hottest flightsim gears these days.  I got mine in February and it is the sixth yoke I got — from the very first Saitek Yoke (2007), to the CH Eclipse Yoke (2011), Saitek Cessna Yoke (2012), VRInsight Flight Master Yoke II (2014), and the last VirtualFly Yoko Yoke (2018).  It’s no surprise that none of them is perfect, but surely each one has something good to praise.

You may have seen other reviews about the good and bad of the HoneyComb Alpha Yoke.  By no means to lower the product, followings are just the things I dislike from a user’s standpoint — both objectively and subjectively.

The Body

No doubt the Alpha Yoke, although mainly made of plastic, is a quality built, with a matte finish in a stylish curved design.  But it is exactly the curved design I dislike most because it was exactly the determinant factor why I dumped my CH Eclipse Yoke 11 years ago.

I don’t think it is subjective because in my opinion the curved body part is a waste of practicality.  Because when FIPs (Flight Instrument Panels) for example are added to the yoke, the rear body, if not curved, could be used as a stage to hold the hub where the FIPs are connecting to.

Thanks goodness, the yoke does come with a rectangular bracket that allows the holding of Logitech Panels or makes the yoke easier to be mounted under the table, if so required.

Mounting

The yoke offers two options via a standalone base that can be mounted with or without using clamps.

The new clamp-free idea is good — using ultra-sticky nano suction pad to affix the base to the table without using clamps.  But unfortunately, it didn’t provide enough force to hold the yoke steadily on my wooden table while I pushed or pulled the control handle to its very ends.

Claiming to produce 40lbs of tensile strength, may be the pad can hold the yoke steadily on other surface, such as one made of metal or plastic, I agree.

But note that if one day you want to remove the base using the nano pad from the table, you don’t need to be Hercules but it still wouldn’t be easy I assure you.

Using the clamps, the yoke now holds firmly.

The mouth of the heavy-duty clamp is up to 2.5″ wide and it is versatile enough to cater various thicknesses of tabletops.  However, the tightening screws are a bit long and the plastic screw heads are a bit large, in my opinion.

My table is 1.5″ thick and I am not tall nor with long legs.  I still found the screws causing annoyances unless I lower my seat significantly in my setup.

I replaced the original screws with some shorter M8 screws (if I remember correctly) I have on hand.  Now they are no more troubles to my legs and they look nicer and tidier too.

Face-plate LEDs

The red LEDs behind the honeycomb-like grill on the face-plate gives the Alpha yoke an attractive look at first glance.

Isn’t it beautiful?  Yes, it is.  But it’s only a yes from an aesthetic standpoint because the LEDs couldn’t shed enough light onto the switches on the face-plate in a dark environment.

If HoneyComb could design the LEDs as supporting or back lights for the switches in the first place, that would be wonderful and a very useful feature to the users.

Furthermore, the LED control button is next to the USB port in the back of the yoke.   To change the brightness of the LEDs, users have to press the button manually.   No software control is provided.

On a more full-fledge cockpit with a face-plate, the button would be hard to access.  What’s worse, the LEDs won’t go out with the powering off of the computer if it is set to ON.  I find this quite annoying.  So I basically have the LEDs turned off at all time.

To be continued…