im sure its been asked ... but  im wondering if there are any good hand held  controllers that are easy to set up and use... ive been very UNsuccessful with xbox controllers  and would like to have  something that would work almost all the features of mach ,  at least the rapid/slow movements
 i see some on ebay and other places  but not sure  what the easiest / best to have is .
i did get a usb controller to work but it seemed to cut out and had very basic buttons .

have a nose at this thread.

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,26044.msg183490.html#msg183490

There are many pendants around. 

I happen to have this one and am very happy with it.

http://cncpendant.ru/en.html

It is based on the Shuttle Pro type action, which I had before.   But the Shuttle Pro is meant for desktop work and is a bit fragile.

This is a much more robust implementation.

I much prefer the Shuttle Pro MPG type action rather than a genuine MPG.

It also has more button options.

thanks , that one does look pretty nice . i like the idea of have many options , some are so simple i dont know how they are useful .
i have used the keybord a bunch of times to do quick cuts  and  then run a program , seems alot of the time i do all my quick work on a manual machine , then go to cnc , i hope with a pendant i can just stay with the cnc  for all qick and complex .