At first I thought this was going to be an excellent joystick. Unlike most joysticks this one has rudder-control (the side-to-side twist motion of the handle). It also has an 8-way hat switch which is very important in modern games. The throttle leaver doesn't impress me but I have few games that needed it. It has ample buttons that you can program. And above all it has force feedback so that when you are doing something physical you can FEEL IT! Yes, it seemed like a dream come true. It seemed like the perfect joystick.
Too bad the joystick is built so cheap it won't last more than a week or so! The hat-switch depends on 4 very small PCB-buttons which won't last long under the the most careful of conditions. And the rudder control (the side-to-side twist motion of the handle) on this model also gave out on me after only a week. Expect about a week or two of excellent gaming before it starts to fail. I paid $57 and consider that kind of expensive for one weeks worth of use.
I wouldn't expect this joystick to last more than a few days at most with a child or teenager.
Update: I fixed the rudder control. Just taking it apart fixed that. Something had just jammed the sensor. But the hat switch is still toast. Perhaps some heavy-duty switches will fix that also. MS should be ashamed of the cheap switches in their hat switch.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 57