…continued from Part 2

FIP Adaptation

If my memory is correct, there were mentionings in Honeycomb’s earliest news that the designer(s) of the Alpha yoke had Saitek backgrounds.  Probably he is (or they are).  Because not only the yoke has a shadow of Saitek counterparts but it also comes with a bracket mount to accommodate various Saitek or Logitech Pro Flight Panels.  This is not found on other brands.

No matter where the designer is from, as an owner of many Saitek/Logitech flightsim gears, the “adaptability” is a sure winner.  However, I wish the adaptation could be done with more thoughts.

From a down-top view, my 12 FIPs mounted on the yoke are protruding about the depth (approx 16mm) of an FIP out from the yoke.
Design-wise, it is ok.   But this “extended” composition does make the two FIPs on both sides on the third (bottom) row in my setup further worsen the difficulties of accessing the switches mentioned in the “Switches on the Body” in last post.

Even though in a setup having 6 to 10 FIPs put on the top two rows wouldn’t deteriorate the switch access, the “protruding” design still posts another issue about the matching with other Saitek/Logitech panels on the same plane.

In the picture, the radio panel is prone to fall off the table if it is put in a position that matches the surface plane of the FIPs mounted on the yoke.

It is a serious concern to all who are building or planning to build their cockpits on these gears.

Driver & App

Installation of the driver and configuration app for the yoke is easy.   And the graphical interface for button and switch assignments is intuitive.

What’s more, there’re already 40 somethings ready-made profiles for commonly used aircraft.

My only complaint is: the loading and saving of my custom profile sometimes messes up with the currently active profile, or vice versa.  Hope that will be fixed in future updates.

Recommendations

If you don’t have one, it’s a no brainer.

If you already have one but a bit sick of it, go for it.

If you already have one and other panels, and want to save some space, it could be on top of your list.

If you already have one and quite happy with it, then don’t bother.

Verdict

Followings are the scores given to this Honeycomb Alpha Yoke as a user:

Design Concept:	7	Lost points to curved body, LEDs, odd locations of buttons and switches on face-plate & controls, and so-so FIP adaption
Build-Quality:	10	Very good
Operation:	7	Lost points to awkward button & switch access on face-plate & especially on control handles
Price/Performance:	10	Very good

Total Score: 8.5 out of 10

As stated in Part 1, none of the yoke I have is considered perfect — from the cheapest pro-flight yoke by previous Saitek or current Logitech to the most expensive Yoko yoke from VirtualFly.

Of course, if budget isn’t a concern, there are serious choices available out there.  But frankly, in terms of features, functions and price/performance, the Alpha Yoke is no doubt the overall best among my possessions so far.

And that is why I selected it as the control (original was the Yoko) in my cockpit rebuilding project, despite all the dislikes I raised in this 3-part review.

If there is one yoke that combines the buttons style on the control handles from the Cessna Yoke, the number of switches (even more) from VRInsight Master II, the body shape and size from VirtualFly Yoko, and the control mechanism from this Alpha Yoke, that would be perfect.