Hi all,

I thought it would be good to write my impression of the ACE 737 Desktop Yoke, as I feel it has not been given the necessary attention given its great potential. I waited for some time before I write this review, as I wanted to be sure that I give enough time before I come to any conclusions. 

Order & delivery

I ordered the yoke this August and unlike some reports of huge waiting times, in my case it took around 1.5 months to get it, which is pretty acceptable for a small production team. The package was sent via UPS and arrived in a few days. It was nicely packed to protect the equipment, fully padded and gave the impression that ACE took the time to properly protect the product from drops and shocks during shipment. 

Assembly & Installation

The assembly and installation of the yoke is straightforward. You mount the yoke to the shaft, tight the screws, attach the clamp to your desk, plug the USB and you are ready to fly. I also took the time to perform a Windows Controller Calibration to make sure the potensiometers are properly calibrated after shipping, though I believe it was not necessary. 

External look

One of the most striking gain points of this yoke, is its looks. The yoke itself is full metal, 100% replica of the real 737 yoke. This means you get the exact same touch feel of the 737 jet yoke. Now, of course this is not much different than any other jet yoke in terms of size and shape. All the buttons are working and these are: Elevator Trim Up/Down, Autopilot Disengage, and the push to talk switch (PTT). The feel of using them when flying your jet is tremendous as it adds to the realism of the pilot flying. I am not a real pilot, but I can assure you that you will appreciate the functionality of these switches when operating your jet simulator. 

Closing on the external parts, I want to emphasize that the look of this yoke was one of the reasons I was attracted to ACE compared to the competition. I thought, why to pay double amount of money for a yoke when I can get a replica 737 yoke for less? That's for me a great deal. Of course, the next and most important question is if it delivers internally.

Flying experience

The short answer is yes. The controls are very precise. Also very important is that there is no dead zone and no center detent on this yoke. Of course there is a central zone where the controls will relax, but this is not a strict click point. This is something very important to me as I hate the unrealistic effect of yoke controls that stick to the neutral position. While the yoke centers always, this is not done with a big force and there is not any center detent thatn  you can feel. This means that in some cases the relaxation point is not your actual elevator/aileron center position, but this can be fixed by defining a small dead zone on your calibration software (I use default P3D controls for assignment). As we know in real aircraft, the center position is not defined by yoke springs, but defined by the elevator/ailerons aerodynamic and gravity forces. I believe that ACE's approach gives the best compromise of not flying a real plane, by not having a central detent, as when doing small adjustments, it forces you to 'feel' how the aircraft flies. In real life this is done by force feedback. In the simulator this can be done by your instruments and general flying feedback.

One point that I need to mention. There is a time frame where you need to spend using your yoke to allow the shaft to fully smooth out. This can lead to questions in the beginning, but after talking to ACE it is a normal effect that needs some time of usage. I also used some extra grease on the shaft to help the procedure. 

Problems that I faced

After receiving my yoke, I had some complains about some of the controls response. I mentioned my problem to ACE and I can say that they did not let me wait or unanswered. They responded fast and after describing the issue in detail they informed me that they will replace my yoke with a new one, which they did, paying both transport and customs of the replacement yoke, something that I really appreciated.

In conclusion, I think that the ACE 737 Dekstop Yoke is a necessary companion for the flight simmer, and certainly worth it coming from years of joystick flying. The full metal construction both inside and out gives a solid look that will last. I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a good desktop yoke that will not break the bank. 

Nice write up I own the Proline 737 yoke zero issues, arrived about a week before I was told, packed perfectly works flawlessly, quality is excellent. I have had no issues they are slow on responding to emails  They really need 1 person so can monitor the FB page, forums, and emails to get back to customers w/in a few hours except evening hours.

The look and feel are spot on, no cheap plastic the quality exceptional.

Other than that I have zero regrets from ordering from them

Certainly not my experience.

On 3/1/2018 at 11:07 AM, gpf3m said:

Certainly not my experience.

..please elaborate, we would like to get you experience and impressions from the Yoke 

 

Reg.

Yatr  

Thanks for the review. What would you estimate the pitch travel of the ACE desktop version is?

Hello. How feelings after 1 year of usage?

On 1/23/2019 at 9:44 AM, Romeors said:

Hello. How feelings after 1 year of usage?

I have had this yoke for over a year. It still feels good. When I fly PMDG NG or 777 I sometime hand fly up to 10,000 ft becaue I want to feel it. So far no issues with it. 

My Experience was NOT GOOD...I have the unit and have had to service it myself...

 

Hi there,

The trim button for nose up stopped working, and nose down , autopilot and the back button are working after I opened the case up and jerked a bit on the electronic board on the back of the yoke.

Do you happen to have the schematics so i can know which wire color controls that function on the button so I can try to fix it.

Your help is much appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance.

Paulo Carochas

Paulo,

I have this same yoke and similar problem as yours. In my case in looks like the wire bundle when it comes out of the main shaft inside the yoke is either nicked (which I have not been able to find) or it's loosing contact with the USB interface board. There are two possible boards that the manufacturer ACE used. In my case is a Beta Innovations Plasma MM2 board and I also seen it with a Leo Bodnar BU0836A borard.

I also ordered mine with a POV hat switch option. Guess what? He installed a four way switch which Windows does not recognize as a POV hat switch.

Anyways now I am considering a Fulcrum yoke to replace the ACE 737 Yoke.

Thanks for your reply,

Mine is as Plasma MM2. but my question is, do you happen to have the schematics on the colored wires so I have a way to troubleshoot which wires connect which switches?

On a second note, would it be possible for you to post a picture of the POV switch they installed on your so I can see if I can make the same mod on mine?

I've sent also a message thru Messenger to ACE and they have seen my message but no reply yet.

All the help will be much appreciated.

Thanks Again

Paulo carochas

14 minutes ago, Paulo Carochas said:

Thanks for your reply,

Mine is as Plasma MM2. but my question is, do you happen to have the schematics on the colored wires so I have a way to troubleshoot which wires connect which switches?

On a second note, would it be possible for you to post a picture of the POV switch they installed on your so I can see if I can make the same mod on mine?

I've sent also a message thru Messenger to ACE and they have seen my message but no reply yet.

All the help will be much appreciated.

Thanks Again

Paulo carochas

I found this PDF online. As for the pics I’ll get back to you in a couple of days with pics. By the way the hat switch does not work as a hat switch but like a 4 button switch. 
Windows does not recognize it as a hat switch. 

I had the same issue with the 747 yoke out of the box from the same vendor. Some wires on that main cable were nicked. Had to have a repair made from a guy at work who kindly repaired the wires for me.

After that everything was working as expected. Its a solid, good looking yoke but let down with some poor quality workmanship.

Just to give you guys a heads up, I have downloaded the PDF file for the Plasma MM2 board, did some tests and was able to see that one of the wires from the rocker switch (button 2) was not working.

Removed the switch, which is only glued to the yoke and everything came out, however all the wires were removed and they have hot glue fixing the whole cable inside the yoke, so now I will patiently try to unglue them in order to be able to pull them out and solder them back again and see the results.

As far as a POV button is concerned, even though the Plasma MM2 can support it, ACE people cutted all the unused wires (they only use five wires (Ground and Button 1 to 4)) from the plug, so it will be a huge burden to install one, unless I can get my hands on a brand new ribbon of wires and redo all the connections (They even put hot glue on the Plasma Board itself).

For the sake of discussion and as a reference for other people I will post the progress here.

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by Paulo Carochas

2 hours ago, aldridgem said:

I had the same issue with the 747 yoke out of the box from the same vendor. Some wires on that main cable were nicked. Had to have a repair made from a guy at work who kindly repaired the wires for me.

After that everything was working as expected. Its a solid, good looking yoke but let down with some poor quality workmanship.

On the Mechanical part of it and its looks, this yoke is just absolutely amazing, the electronics (Plasma MM2 board) works quite nice and the sensors for the X and Y axis are quite good, however the wiring connections are really poor quality and, I'm guessing here, is the part that will give users the most headaches.