MOZA AY90 Review

This is the cheapest force feedback yoke I know of. The MOZA AY90 comes in at $399 USD - but before that number does any work in your head, there's something important you need to know.

The AY90 is a base only. It does not come with a yoke handle. You've got two choices: the standard MOZA yoke handle or the Pro handle, and you're buying one of those on top of the base, or in a package deal if MOZA offer one at launch. With the standard handle, the real entry price is closer to $530 USD.

Every price I quote in this review is based on the standard handle, because that's the cheapest entry point. Hold $530 in your head - it comes back at the end when we look at what else is out there, and that's where things get genuinely interesting.

---

What Force Feedback Actually Does in a Yoke

At a basic level, force feedback lets you feel the airflow over your control surfaces - your elevator and your ailerons. As airspeed builds, the yoke stiffens up in your hands. Slow down and it goes soft and sloppy on you, the same way it does in a real airplane.

On top of that you've got turbulence, engine vibration, and a whole heap of other effects, all of which you can dial in yourself. That's the whole pitch - the airplane talks to you through your hands. It makes a fairly big difference in the sim, just that feeling of flying something that's alive.

---

The Effects - What's Worth Highlighting

This yoke is effect-heavy so I won't go through everything, you can read the full list in the specs on MOZA's website. But five are worth singling out.

Force versus airspeed 

Good, but not great when you consider the entire landscape of force feedback yokes. I think the kings of this effect still seem to be Brunner. That said, MOZA deliver it to a very acceptable level.

Trim effects

 Trimming out against pressure and yoke movement. This is super helpful in the sim, and if there's one single reason to get a force feedback yoke, it might be the trim effect.

Deceleration effect when changing power 

This one is particular to this yoke — a very subtle inertia effect. Whether it's realistic or not I'm genuinely not sure, and I'd love real world pilots to jump into the comments on it. But I do like the feeling of it.

Stall and buffet effects

Engine vibration

Like force versus airspeed, it's good but not the best when you take the entire category of force feedback yokes into consideration. But we've got to consider the price here, because for the money all of these effects are great. The question is whether $400 buys you enough of that alive feeling.

---

Power and Torque - And Why the Numbers Might Mislead You

The AY90 has 4.2 Newton metres of peak torque on the roll axis and 90 Newtons of push and pull force.

For context: MOZA AY210 (the bigger brother): 9 Nm roll, 210 N push/pull - so the AY90 is less than half the power

Brunner CLS-E NG: 1.7 Nm roll, 40 N push - flip it around and the AY90 has more than double the power

So is it weak or is it strong? Here's what I think the key takeaway is, and it applies to every force feedback product you'll ever look at.

We don't know exactly how these manufacturers are measuring these forces. So when you're lining up a number from MOZA against a number from Brunner against a number from FliteSim.com, it's hard to compare like for like. You're really comparing three different marketing departments.

I've flown all of them apart from the FliteSim.com product and they all feel like they have enough power. When you're talking about these higher power yokes, what actually separates them isn't the peak power - it's the fidelity of the effects, how much room the yoke has to work within its effect range, and the software.

The AY90 has enough power. Not once while flying it have I thought it needed more. That was a genuine surprise after being so used to flying the high-end Brunner for such a long time.

---

The Pitch Travel Question - This Decides Everything

Here's the one thing MOZA cut that you might actually feel, and it's the thing I most want your opinion on.

Pitch travel is down to 95mm. For context, most real GA aircraft sit somewhere around 140 to 170mm of elevator travel. The AY210 sits around 160mm. So we're down roughly 40%.

Is that a deal breaker? It depends entirely on what you're flying right now: Coming from a Honeycomb? It's more or less the same travel. You won't notice a thing. Coming from nothing at all? You'll never know what you're missing. Coming from something with 160mm? You will notice it. More travel means finer control and you can genuinely be more precise with it.

That said, after a few hours and a few landings under your belt you do adapt. It stops being a thing you think about. But it's still something you should factor into your decision.

The upside of the shorter throw is desk space. The AY90 measures 315 x 210mm — way smaller than the AY210. If you're on a desk rather than a full rig, that's not a compromise, that's a feature.

---

Build Quality

Gone is the metal shell of the AY210 - this is a full plastic housing. Good plastic, but plastic.

The bit that surprised me a little is that the mounting points on the ends are also plastic. If you pick one of these up, don't over-tighten the mounting points when screwing it down. That's a genuine warning, not a nitpick - I do feel these could crack. The yoke does come with a set of mounting clamps which work well.

The yoke rod itself is thick steel. Really solid, absolutely no complaints there.

You get the same acrylic panel across the front as the AY210, and MOZA's backlighting across it is still the best in the game - crisp, even, and a stunning finish.

The yoke is also just as quiet in operation as the AY210. I was expecting the cheaper unit to be noisier. It isn't.

For the price it's what you'd expect in terms of build quality on the casing and mounting, and they've kept that high quality solid yoke rod. I think you'll take this out of the box and feel you got what you paid for.

---

Switches and Controls

You get your master battery and avionics switches, plus magnetos - though the magnetos don't have a spring return, which is a bit of a shame.

Then there are two large axes on the front, and I like these and don't at the same time.

On the left is a massive linear flaps lever or slider with no detents. I don't understand this one. The AY210 has a flaps toggle, which for me is way more functional. Here you get a slider.

Next to it is a throttle axis. Both levers are different shapes, which is smart when considering VR users. Honestly though, I think most people will rebind both to something more useful. But they're there and they'll be good for a variety of different things.

---

Software - MOZA Cockpit

The software is where MOZA have quietly done the most work since I last reviewed the AY210. MOZA Cockpit has matured really well.

We're past the point where I needed to warn you about missing features. If anything it's swung the other way - there's almost too much in there now. It can feel overwhelming next to something like Brunner's SimUX. But it's stable, it works, and it's deeply configurable.

Just be prepared to spend time in there tinkering your way around and getting your head around the profiles and all the different effects that can be applied. There's a lot in there and it's easy to overdo things and get confused, which can create a muddy force feedback feeling.

Once you've got your head around the software it's mostly plug and play. But it obviously needs mains power and it needs the software to be running. If you're coming from a Honeycomb that just plugs in and goes, that's a change to how you start a session - and whether you like it or not, it's adding complexity to the sim.

---

The Competition - Where the $530 Really Matters

Now remember that $530 USD. Here's what else is out there in that lower power range:

Yoke	Price (USD)
Brunner CLS-E NG	$1,547
FliteSim.com CLS 60	$899
MOZA AY90 (with standard handle)	$530

I think this is MOZA's mic drop moment. They've come in the cheapest by a long way and it's not close.

So the real question isn't AY90 versus Brunner or FliteSim.com - I think those are already out-priced. The question is AY90 versus AY210.

Do you stretch? For me, I probably would if you have the budget - but not for the power. The AY90 has enough power to get by. I'd stretch for the pitch travel. Please remember though, I'm coming at this having used a 160mm elevator axis for a long time.

But here's the bit that matters. If you're coming from a Honeycomb, or you're new to force feedback, or your desk is small - take pitch travel out of the equation and the AY90 is a no-brainer in terms of value. MOZA have yet again put pressure and competition into the force feedback market. 

---

Final Verdict

The MOZA AY90 is the cheapest way into force feedback that I know of, and it comes with a great experience - smooth force feedback, software that's finally grown up, and a build that's what you'd expect for the money.

This yoke is a great buy if you don't mind the shorter pitch throw length. I rate the AY90 quite high.

---