Ever since I picked up an excellent Saitek game pad for less than £20 I have held deep respect for Saitek. It seems they have gone and done it again, and again, churning out fantastic, innovative and often bizarre looking peripherals which, coupled with their always-excellent driver software, make gaming that little bit easier.

The Saitek Cyborg Evo Wireless joystick is no exception, it is not just a joystick but also a wireless joystick, and it is not just a wireless joystick but also a completely programmable and even physically adjustable wireless joystick!

For starters the Evo Wireless joystick is, obviously, completely wireless. This may not seem a big deal, but these days wireless technology is far more than just a gimmick - it means you are not restricted to the length of a cable and the back end of your PC can be that little bit less of a tangled mess. The wireless connection is achieved through the use of a small thumb-size wireless dongle, which plugs into your USB port, a single AA battery pops into the joystick and away you go. When you want to transport or store the joystick you can simply unplug the dongle and pop it into a little clip located on the base of the joystick - a simple consideration which makes a world of difference and stops such a small but essential piece of kit getting lost. Did I mention the use of a single AA battery? Yes, I am not lying, that is absolutely all it takes to power up your joystick for a good long while, and as if that is not enough batteries are included, two of them so come Christmas you will not be turning the house upside-down looking for a spare battery. One battery lasts for approximately two days of solid play, meaning you will be powered right up until the January sales when you can pick up some new flight simulators and a bumper box of double As.

Wireless aside the Saitek "Cyborg" Evo is a very good quality joystick, with a gimbal for keeping it upright and centred as well as providing a tactile feel it makes for a smooth handling stick which has very little chance of breaking and flopping over like a wilting plant (This happened with a Force Feedback stick once - the stick had to be plugged in to stay upright, the maker shall remain nameless). The stick can be adjusted by twiddling a total of three beefy thumb screws, you can unscrew the hand rest and move it up and down as well as adjust it for both left and right handing making the joystick appropriate for us lefties (although I actually use mice and joysticks with my right hand). The hand rest is a little uncomfortable as Saitek have gone for adjustability over "ergonomics", this is certainly not something worth complaining about as the former is certainly the most important factor and it is, after all, only very slightly uncomfortable.

Design wise it is a very nice looking stick, the throttle is probably the part that caught my attention - it feels immensely smooth and gives exactly the right tactile feel when adjusted, unlike those which click-click-click through their different positions. The stick joystick on the whole is quite lightweight, good for something you might well find yourself using on your lap from the other side of the room, just to test out the wireless range. The battery compartment is easy to get at with no irritating screws or complicated clipping mechanism and a nice red glow on the very tip of the stick indicates a powered on and ready to use state. I once had to pop the battery out and in again to get the stick working - although there is a small reset button - I have no idea why it stopped responding but in the migration from Laptop to PC this was the only minor complication.

As well as physical adjustment Saitek allows you to do a little software tweaking with most of their peripherals. The Evo Wireless Joystick is bundled with a driver CD that includes programming software allowing you to customise the joystick buttons and bind them to countless functions, saving each separate customisation as a profile for use in games and even applications. The joystick buttons can be bound to keyboard keys and key combinations, and the joystick axis bound to mouse movement and countless other things. It is possible to set up the Evo to control any kind of game, including FPS games if you want a quick laugh. I absolutely love this feature and have never seen this level of customisability in peripherals before, maybe I have had my eyes closed to this kind of thing for the past few years, but regardless Saitek still supplies a very good configuration utility which is fairly easy to use despite being, in reality, a complex piece of software. "Calibration" is a thing of the past, the Evo will do this all dynamically as you use the stick - I did notice a little bit of drift when using the Evo with my PC but it was perfect with my laptop.

The joystick boasts 5 fire buttons, 4 based buttons, and 2 shift buttons which allow for button combinations giving you more functions on one stick than you could...well, shake a stick at. Combine this with the smooth throttle, the 8 way 'point-of-view' hat switch which is a little joystick in itself, the main trigger, and the twist action for rudder control and you have enough buttons and axis to play anything from Flight Simulators to Mechwarrior.

The Saitek Cyborg Evo Wireless (that sure is a mouthful) is neatly boxed with a driver disc, documentation and the aforementioned two AA batteries. It also comes, of course, with the wireless dongle located in its little clip underneath the joystick. Setting it up is a breeze and involves nothing more difficult than crawling on your hands and knees to plug in the dongle. Once you have connected the joystick it is simply a matter of popping in the driver disk and following through the simple installation process.

Overall the Saitek Cyborg Evo Wireless is an excellent joystick, with the added wireless technology to keep the space behind your computer "space" and not something resembling a rats nest, the added clip to keep your dongle safe and secure, the easy setup and great customisability, and the two AA batteries included so you do not have to borrow them from a nearby remote this stick is definitely a good buy and definitely a neat package of well thought out design and extremely nifty features. PH

Summary of features:

• Rapid-fire trigger

• 5 fire buttons

• 8-way ‘point-of-view’ hat switch

• 3D twist for rudder control

• Lever throttle

• 2 shift buttons

• 4 base buttons

• Single spring gimbal mechanism

• 3 position handle adjustment to suit all hand sizes

• 2.4GHz RF Wireless solution delivers up to 30 feet (ten metre) range
• Up to 50 hours of play on a single alkaline battery