During FSConference, Honeycomb Aeronautical had a relatively large display showcasing their newest hardware. That included the Alpha Lite and the new Foxtrot Aviation Stick. But most interestingly, they had the Echo Aviation Controller. When I first looked at it, I thought to myself that something seemed different about it. I hadn’t been hands-on with the controller since July when we delivered our first impressions, but this new controller had a radically different design. Whilst I was impressed with some of the design choices when I tried it in July, after having hands-on with this new design, I came away thinking just how vastly improved this was in comparison to what we had seen before. Let me explain.
So I had to revisit my old article to see just how significant the changes were. The most striking thing is how the throttles have moved from the centre to the right-hand side. This has been coupled with a reduction in the trim wheel size and a complete change of placement for the primary joystick. Other changes include moving the secondary buttons (e.g. menu and Honeycomb buttons) to a central area – rather than off to the left. The D-Pad has been removed and replaced by more traditional face buttons, and there have been a few cosmetic and quality improvements to the flight-specific controls at the base of the controller.
Left: Old / Right: New
All of these design changes lead to a very different experience with the controller when in use. It feels much more like a traditional game controller than the previous iteration did, and the overall ergonomics make it far more comfortable to hold. Not only that, but the materials used on the controller feel much more textured than before, offering a good amount of grip when holding.
Probably my biggest complaint from my short period of time with the controller was the fact that I wasn’t able to pan the camera and fly at the same time. With the placement of the camera controls directly above the primary flight control joystick, you aren’t able to do both simultaneously. Your mileage may vary for how important this is to you specifically, but it is worth pointing out. It could also be a case of it being something I need to get used to with extensive time with the product.
The version of the controller I had still lacked the ability to use the joystick as a pointer on screen (in lieu of a mouse), but I was told this was still being worked on. Furthermore, you currently can’t select menu options with the face buttons – yet!
Other big changes, all based on feedback from the community and the press event, included full wireless functionality via a dongle in the PC, more weight to the controller itself to provide a more comfortable and premium feel (a happy result of the battery), and also the ability to change the colour and type of control on the four throttle axes.
Speaking of the throttle axes, another improvement is how the little pieces that sit on top are now interchangeable. You can change the colour (to represent throttle power, mixture or prop), as well as various other controls like flaps or spoilers. All of this is included with the product, meaning you can customise the controller to your liking and your current flying situation. It’s a level of customisation I do appreciate.
One cool new addition is the new case. This is a light grey case that has a hard outer shell design, but soft fabric to the touch. It felt pretty premium and certainly durable to protect your controller when on the move. This is exactly how Honeycomb expects many to use the Echo Aviation Controller when it releases.
An area that Honeycomb has yet to address is compatibility with consoles. For a controller-like design, it would be advantageous for it to be functional with a console. That work is ongoing for the future and not something this controller will be compatible with. That said, there is a concerted effort to enable the controller to be functional with iOS and other platforms in the future to enable users to control their sims when using Cloud services or other simulators such as Infinite Flight.
Final pricing and release specifics were not disclosed during the event. We should be learning more soon, and bringing it to FSConference was done in order to start preparing the flight simulation community for its upcoming release.
I still need much more time with the Echo Aviation Controller to really know how worthwhile the controller is. I can certainly see myself using a product like this for times where I want to casually sim smaller GA planes without the hassle of setting up a bunch of equipment, and I want a more relaxed style of flying. I just hope it holds up for longer sessions of flying, but also provides enough flexibility that my whole fleet can benefit from the Echo Aviation Controller.
