Description:

The Extreme 3D Pro is a simple but sturdy USB-joystick that requires no extra connections. It has all the necessary stuff: 4 control axis (stick fore-aft and left-right, a stick twist for the rudder, and a throttle lever), 11 buttons (1 trigger, 5 extra buttons on the stick, and 6 on the base) and a 8-way hat switch on top of the stick. It’s not a new product, I bought mine more than 6 years ago, but in my opinion, it deserves a review here nevertheless. The fact that’s it’s still available for purchase proves the fact that it’s a decent piece of hardware.

The Extreme 3D Pro is built out of black plastic, with gray plastic buttons on the stick, and a gray base with black buttons. The base that supports the stick is quite flat, but quite wide with rubber pads under the 4 corners. This gives a very stable stick that doesn’t go sliding over your desk. The stick is centered on the base, with the 6 buttons on the base to the left of the stick in a 2 by 3 arrangement. The small throttle lever is placed on the base between you and the stick.

Centering and programming:

Although the Extreme 3D pro comes with a CD with software, I never found any real use for it. I even don’t have it installed on my current pc, and the stick still works flawlessly. It is the real example of plug-and-play functionality. You can plug it in in a new pc, and it only takes a minute for Windows to configure it before you can start using it. No need for custom drivers to be downloaded and installed, no cumbersome setups to go through or software to program. Most (if not all) flightsim related games will have the axis set up perfectly by default. The only thing left to do for you is program the switches on top of the joystick and on the base. FSX (and FS2002 before it, I never used FS9) will have the trigger by default for the brakes, and the thumb-actuated button on the side to change view categories. The rudder, throttle and hat switch also work by default. What is remarkable is that there is no calibrating software included. Even when you go through your Windows Control Panel, you can’t center the stick or calibrate it. As the stick does produce off-center inputs sometimes, especially after a while of use, this might be a problem, if not for a very simple solution. If the stick does do something unwanted, like sending a rolling command to FSX when the stick is centered, all you have to do is unplug it, leave the stick centered, and plug it back in. Everything will be working fine again when you do. Couldn’t be easier!

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