PRICE: £19.95
SUPPLIER: Datel

If you like a really big handle, then Triga Command 2 could suit you. The grip is curved away from the player and has tough plastic on the sides with the fire-button at the top front. The stick is fixed quite loosely in the base and does not feel very strong, but it is responsive.

BATTLEFIELD JOYSTICK

Joysticks are your most immediate connection with any game you play - the man-machine interface. The melting joystick makes a nice image for an advertiser who's suggesting that his games can beat anything, but do joysticks in real life really stand up to the beating they receive, are they tough enough for the job, do they move well, are the handles right, will the buttons fire?

The CRASH reviewing team settled down for a weekend of joystick bashing on several types and makes, and here we look at the results...

There are now many makes of joystick available, and almost as many types as there are makes. Each boasts design innovations so that it is better than all the others - and they come in a range of prices too. We all know that joysticks on arcade machines take a battering, so too do those at home. Do they stand up? We tested 19 joysticks from well known manufacturers to see how they all compared.

A joystick must be able to withstand games that require fast and repeated movement, so what better than Ocean's Daley Thompson's Decathlon? We used the Commodore version of the game because it is more violent than the Spectrum! But it isn't only toughness; joysticks must also be capable of fine and positive movement, comfortable to use with sensible fire buttons. Several arcade skill games were used to test four major points for both the stick action and the fire button action.

TRAVEL means the maximum movement between opposite poles (e.g. up/down) on the stick, and how far the fire button had to be depressed. On stick action over 1.5 inches was considered to be very long. Oddly, some of the short sticks had longer to travel than the taller sticks.

ACTION FORCE means the amount of hand or finger pressure required to keep the stick pressed over or the fire button down.

REACTION SPEED indicates how fast contact is made, how quickly the action affects the game, and how well rapid movements can be made (especially rapid fire buttons).

RESPONSE/FEEDBACK indicates how positive the stick or fire action feels and whether there is any physical or audible feedback to tell the player that contact has been made.

ERGONOMICS how useful is the stick for hand held playing, and how well does it operate on a table top. Is the stick well designed for comfort, ease of fire action and general stability.

After preliminary testing, the joysticks all went through ten minutes of the Decathlon to see how long they were likely to stand up to use. During this test, some joysticks broke.

Finally, all the sticks have 9 pin D connectors and are Atari compatible on the pin outs. They all need an interface of one sort or another to work with the Spectrum (except the clip-ons). Some offer 2 independent fire actions, but these only work with either a Cambridge interface or the programmable Comcon from Frei Ltd., which was the interface used for this test.

Each joystick review is split into two halves; firstly a brief technical breakdown; secondly the review team's report.

TRIGA COMMAND

Supplier: Datel Electronics, Unit 8 Fenton Ind. Estate, Dewsbury Road, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, Tel. (0782) 273815.

Price: £19.99 (excl. P & P)

Lever Action: Nylon shaft supported between pivot point and upper ball support. Nylon actuator ring activates 4 dome switches on pcb. Deformation of ring creates self-centering action.

Fire Action: Trigger button forces large copper contact to solid contact post.

Ergonomics: Average size square body for handheld operation or with 3 separate suction cups for table operation. Large handgrip with trigger button.

Lead: Moulded U type connector and moulded sleeved grommet.

Weak point: Actuator ring and handgrip rotation stoppers will snap.

STICK ACTION

Travel: very long, although travel to response is short with long over travel.
Action force: very light
Reaction: very fast.
Response/feedback: good response, long travel after contact makes life easy, no audible feedback.

FIRE ACTION

Travel: short to response, long over travel.
Action force: very light.
Reaction speed: medium - trigger action tires finger rapidly on fast firing games.
Response/feedback: audible click - long travel after contact makes for a tiring fire action.

Ergonomics: too large a base for comfortable handheld use, but light action and solid base make it very steady on a table. The large girth stick is comfortable to hold but the trigger fire is awkwardly pieced so that the finger tends to squeeze oh it, and its edges are quite sharp. This stick only has a trigger fire.

Life expectancy: The large handle lends to twist too much and this combined with the long over travel makes it feel unsafe on a hard game, as though the stick would break off it survived the ten minutes however.