Saitek encyclopedia topics

History

Saitek was founded in 1979 by Swiss Eric Winkler as a manufacturer of electronic chess games. By the 1990s the company had distribution and design offices in the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, as well as a factory in China. Saitek diversified into PC peripherals, focusing on game controllers for flight simulation, driving and first-person gaming. Saitek has also expanded into PC peripherals, with an emphasis on input, connectivity and multimedia. In 2005, Saitek launched a high fidelity audio product line for PC & iPod. Retail audit data shows Saitek to be the 2nd largest brand in PC games controllers and one of the fastest growing brands in mice & keyboards.

In 1997 the group began Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS), designing and building electronic products for OEM customers world-wide from its facility in China. Now under separate private ownership, it employs some two and a half thousand people, including one hundred technologists in design and development, and is punctilious in complying with international employment and environmental standards. Saitek's "Eclipse" gaming keyboards are made from anodised aluminium and have blue LED back-light keys (Eclipse I) and laser-etched keys with a choice of blue, red and purple for the back-lighting (Eclipse II). On the Eclipse I there is 3 lighting levels on the keyboard: bright, dim and off, but on the Eclipse II there are multiple levels for brightness. Another gaming product from Saitek is the GM3200 Gaming Mouse, it features movement tracking by laser, pulsating light effects and DPI settings of 800, 1600, 2400 and 3200. The driver CD comes with a program to modify the functions that the mode button controls. This program also interfaces with the Saitek Command Pad (comes with the Eclipse series keyboards).

In 2007 Saitek was acquired at a price of $30 million by Mad Catz.. Following the buy out, Saitek's North American operations were transferred to Mad Catz' San Diego offices.

Cyborg Products

During mid-January, Saitek came out with a new line of products called the Cyborg range of gaming devices . These products include a mouse, keyboard, gaming pad, command unit, and a headset.

Aviator Joysticks

In late 2006, Saitek unveiled the Aviator. Spelt AV8R on the unit's base, it represented the first dual throttle joystick to hit the market. Previously, a dual throttle arrangement required an additional throttle quadrant unit that supplemented the joystick. It's retro design with self-centring three-position toggle switches where other 'sticks used buttons as well as programmable functionality aided by a three-position rotary knob make this joystick quite a package. It offerr twist functionality (for aircraft rudder and steering action) as well as a hat switch (often used to aid in switching views) as well as a trigger and a guarded "missile launch" button sitting atop the 'stick. All these functions come at no great cost as it is very competitively located in pricing, in many cases costing less than US$50 per unit.

Compatible with all the major simulation software on sale currently, it however has a known bug when teamed with Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2004. When the Aviator is first plugged in, the software mysteriously assigns a zero sensitivity to one engine throttle. This prevents control of one of the engines in a twin engine aircraft. The solution to this problem is to select the joystick settings arena and adjust the settings to 100%. Once this is done, another problem often pops up. The software then assigns a "reverse" setting to the sensitivity of that same engine. This results in full power being assigned to that engine, when the throttle is at idle, and vice versa. The solution to this issue is to return to the joystick settings arena and deselect "reverse" for the throttle control in question. That resolves these issues.