CH Products Pro Pedals USB Flight Simulator Pedals ( 300-111 )

Pro Pedals USB can also be used for driving simulation games.

I use this setup: Fighterstick USB, ThrottlePro USB, Pro Rudder Pedals USB, all CH branded. All 3 of these combine with CH's software to make one huge virtual device. So if you then go to Windows control panel's game control applet you see 1 device not 3. That one device has six axis and 32 buttons! Never calibrate it there (doing that will screw it all up). Instead ONLY calibrate it in the CH software.

I assigned those six axes to: 1 HorizStickX 2 VertStickY 3 Wheel on the stick (Fuel mixture lean/rich), 4 Throttle, 5 Right brake, 6 Left brake. FS2002 would let me assign them to other controls if I had prefered).

So far no problems with these fine CH products.


Good product--limited use   November 1, 2001
Joseph H Pierre (Salem, OR USA)
55 out of 68 found this review helpful

I have a new Gateway 1.8 GHz computer, with 512 MB of RAM and my older Flightstick Pro was reluctant to work with the new machine, although it and the Pro Pedals both worked fine on the old AMD K6 (350)with Jane's WWII Fighters and other games.

So, I ordered a new pair of CH Pro Rudder Pedals for USB port connectors. Also a new Flightstick Pro USB. The Flightstick immediately worked fine, but Jane's WWII Fighters does not support the USB rudder pedals. Unfortunate, because in my opinion Jane's is the best simulator game around. Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator 2 works fine with the USB devices, but you must go into settings after the game is running and set the assignments for the rudder pedals. First, remove all the assignments that may be currently assigned to the rudder pedals (typically ailerons and elevators --X and Y axes) and scroll down to rudder function and change assignment until it shows the Z axis (slider). The throttle will also show the Z axis. Don't worry about the apparent duplication. Both are sliders and both will work.

In a nutshell, the rudders work except for the toe brakes. So far there is no application (game) that supports CH's toe brake on the market, but they assure us that some will come along in the near future.

I like CH's products, perhaps because I've used them for years. I like the sliding function of the rudder pedals, which simulate an airplane's pedals very well. It's just too bad that they are ahead of the market, with a product that doesn't work on the older games. A solution looking for a problem.

Joseph H. Pierre

author of The Road to Damascus and other books

Very realistic for $100: lets me practice the real thing!   January 27, 2004
Michael R. Stiteler (Charleston, SC)
34 out of 35 found this review helpful

PERFORMANCE: Flight Simulator recognized that I had both pedals and the yoke installed when it started up. I selected a Cessna 172 at JZI (pilot talk for Charleston Executive Airport on John's Island, SC) and gave the system a try. My immediate thought was "Man! These pedal springs are light!" I took off my shoes to give me a better feel to start off with. My other thought was that the toe brakes are also very light, and they have more travel than I am used to on a real plane, a compromise of being able to use these pedals for driving as well.

Teething Pains. I managed a reasonable roll down the runway, using the pedals effectively (I thought) for rudder control. But once I was in the air, the rudders were no longer effective. Back on the ground the differential brakes didn't seem to be working correctly. Even with my feet off the pedals, the differential brakes were constantly coming on. THEN...I tried several times to set the sensitivities within Flight Simulator, hoping I could set a null zone to keep the pedals from being applied when I wasn't pressing the toe brakes, but each time I tried this the system seemed to reset the settings to the defaults. It turns out that I had forgotten to disable the auto-rudder feature of Flight Simulator. The rudders are effective on the ground even with auto-rudder turned on, but differential braking is affected when you turn the yoke. Auto-rudder activated the differential brakes every time I turned the yoke side to side, which made me think the pedals were not properly set.

Learning Curve. It took a few hours for my feet to remember how airplanes turn. To turn left, you step on the left pedal, and you step on the right pedal for a right turn, naturally. Maybe so, but we had a few trips off the runway before I could convince my dogs to cooperate.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Ultimately the pedals worked great. The sliding action is very realistic, and they enable me to perform all sorts of maneuvers that just can't be done without them, like a full power takeoff in an Extra 300 aerobatic aircraft (so much power that without rudder controls the torque pulls you off the side of the runway!). I was also able to do full slips on landing, crosswind corrections, even aerobatics with vertical tail slides for almost 100 feet. See my website for a few photos of these great rudder pedals in action (I won't post my site, but you can find it by looking up my name).


Usefulness limited by poor marketing decision   April 27, 2006
Erik Rogers
29 out of 40 found this review helpful

As confirmed by CH tech support, they have decided to make their products incompatible with other manufacturer's products. Trying to get me to spend an extra $100+ to replace my existing excellent Logitech joystick just to get their pedals to work is not a good way to get extra business. Instead, I'm sending these back. Hopefully, they will learn (as many others in the industry have) that trying to lock customers in to buying only your products doesn't get you more customers in the long run. Most people will choose a non-proprietary solution when they can.

CH tech support:
"You are correct it was a marketing and sales decision to have Control Manager only combine our controllers. We of course are a business and would like to make a profit as well as produce quality product, so we do such things to prompt potential customers to buy our products. There are no future plans for allowing Control Manager to combine other brand controllers. "


Must have for the serious flightsimmer   March 23, 2006
FSJUNKIE (Oxnard, CA USA)
28 out of 29 found this review helpful

This review will talk about both the CH Rudder Pedals and the CH Flight Yoke USB.

I finally got around to purchasing these rudder pedals from Amazon after accepting that I was NEVER going to find this item in stores. (...)

Getting to the point...these pedals are a must have for serious flightsimmers...especially if you own Microsoft Flight Simulator and like to fly general aviation or the large commercial heavies. I also purchased the USB CH Flight Yoke for $99.74; the difference these 2 items make to the simming experience can't be stressed enough. If you ever got the guilty feeling after mastering the greased landing with the Boeing 747 or other heavy aircraft (the feeling that it's unrealistically easy), then this is the next level. It takes a lot more concentration and coordination to master flight using yoke and rudder as opposed to just a joystick or keyboard...just keep your hands off the yoke while going down the runway or taxiing, and you should be able to keep things in order! You may also consider purchasing the CH Throttle; that's going to be next on my list, because using the throttle controls as they are postitioned on the yoke are a little inconvenient for some aircraft that require constant changes in throttle position.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the construction of the pedals; they weigh in at around 6 pounds and feel fairly solid and sturdy. The motion is fairly smooth with the application of both rudder and toe brakes. They work well. Not much more you can say about that. The same can be said about the construction of the yoke...fairly solid considering. I would like to have seen a little less tension on the yoke personally. Unless you are trimmed close to overtrimmed status, you have to give it a good pull to get airborne. I haven't studied it long enough to see how that REALLY compares between heavy versus light aircraft. But again, I think that only speaks to the construction of the unit and the strength of the clamp setup; pulling back on that unit with a fair amount of force and the unit doesn't budge from the desk. The yoke may take some getting used to based on where it will sit on your desk...in my case, there is about a half an inch beneath the fastened clamps to allow for my slide out keyboard tray, which was enough space in my case. I could see a potential problem in that area for others.

I've read about complaints with the clamp system on the yoke, but I'd like to meet the guy that can think of a better solution to keep the unit stationary on your desktop...no problems with my particular desk and the clamps. What I've read is that people with lips or other unperfect edges may have problems since the surface area of the clamps is small. Again, not a problem with my particular desk. Another con that I read about and can somewhat concur with is the trim quality. I find myself having to adjust the elevator trim more frequently with changes in speed than with my joystick...on approach this can be viewed as a nuisance or part of the greater challenge. I'll have to give it some time to decide on that one. It may be that it's just easier overall with a joystick. I was looking for more realism and a greater challenge when I purchased the yoke and rudder.

Installation was a breeze in Windows XP; just plug them in and they are ready to go. They come with a cd with any drivers that may not be installed already, and also games (so, I've heard...MSFS is my favorite past time, probably wouldn't fly anything else that I don't already own anyway). Another good thing about this unit and MSFS is that it is recognized as a separate controller. I have used the pedals in combination with the flight yoke as well as my Saitek X52 Flight Control system when I needed a joystick and not a yoke for flying fighters or even general aviation aircraft that have sticks and not yokes.

Finally, both the yoke and rudder are a very good investment for the hobby. You'll find yourself enjoying the hobby more and actually steering clear of the autopilot controls. Hope this gives you some things to think about.