Best Windows XP Joystick for a Good Price?

Can anyone recommend a great joystick (doesn't have to be Force Feedback) for Windows XP and USB? The last time I played EoC was on my obsolete MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro using a gameport connection (which I no longer have) and Windows 98.

I-WAR remains one of the few PC games that definitely needs a joystick.

Thanks.

For Iwar, I use the keyboard. I prefer joysticks for arcade games, but Iwar is more of a sim and the pace suits the keyboard. But this is a matter of taste.

Anyway. I use a logitech wingman. The return spring is going after only five years, but its still a good stick and I might just replace that spring rather than replace it. Mine came with a gameport connection and a USB adapter. I suspect that they come with USB as the primary connector nowadays. The best joystick Ive handled is the Saitek Cyborg. The build quality is very high and thats one return spring that wont go out on you. But I couldnt afford one.

I avoid force feedback like the plague. If I point a ship in a given direction, then when I pull the trigger I want it to be in the same orientation to within an arc second. You cant kill TIEs at maximum range with force feedback. It would be more workable on Iwar though, you have tracking weapons and beams are for large targets.

Best thing to do would be to get to your local PC world (or whatever large PC store you can get to, anywhere big enough to have the joysticks out on display will do) and get your hands on some to see what you like. Then go home and order it from a website that'll give you the best price.

I think Radio Shack sells an adapter to convert the FF joystick's gameport pin connection to USB. I surfed Amazon and found that most of the XP-compliant sticks were only so-so. The best one being (ironically enough) a MS FF Pro 2 for a whopping $350! Ouch!

MS FF works extremely well on I-War EoC. There's nothing like having all controls on one hand. The Force Feedback can be disabled IIRC---then again I have the earliest FF stick.

Alas, I think joysticks may be a thing of the past since they mainly suit simulation games, which are getting rarer and rarer.