Having a Hard Time Choosing New Flight Sticks

[Hansaspeed 18]

I am a little lost. My logitech Extreme 3d pro from 2013 is starting to die on me. It's extremely over sensitive and has issues centering. I love the feel and button placement of the Joystick. Having a button comfortably near my thumb for ap disconnect is awesome, and having two buttons on the top to serve as trim switches is greatly appreciated. I have narrowed my replacement options down: The Saitek X52 Pro, Thrustmaster Warthog, and Honeycomb yoke. I am not at all a fan of the t16000 simply because of the button layout. The Hotas X looks very cheaply built. I have heard that Saitek have horrendous quality control. As for the Honeycomb yoke, despite not being out yet, there is also the fact that a lot of my flying requires a stick. I do a lot of flying in military aircraft, and do some Airbus flying. The thing is, if I were to go for the Thrustmaster warthog, I would be making an extremely large investment. I would not be able to justify buying a yoke. I am not sure if I can justify even the MSRP. If the HOTAS goes for a 35% sale at least I intend to look into it, but if not I can only justify buying the stick. What do you guys think I should do? Buy a cheaper stick and the yoke, buy the warthog hotas, or buy the warthog stick and a cheaper throttle? (I already plan to buy rudder pedals) Thanks in advance.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Hansaspeed

[Bob Scott 7,191]

The HOTAS Warthog rocks...sturdy (and heavy) metal construction, hall effect sensors on all the control axes, twin throttles, well worth it IMHO.  That'd be my top pick out of the options you list.

Regards

 

[Hansaspeed 18]

23 minutes ago, w6kd said:

The HOTAS Warthog rocks...sturdy (and heavy) metal construction, hall effect sensors on all the control axes, twin throttles, well worth it IMHO.  That'd be my top pick out of the options you list.

Regards

 

Do you think I'd be okay without the Warthog throttle? Obviously I would have to find an alternative. I heard it went for a pretty good sale price on cyber monday, is it generally on sale? Thanks for your reply 🙂

[thibodba57 462]

I've had the X-56 Rhino for over a year and haven't had any issues with it. And all the features you can pull off for Elite Dangerous or X4 when it comes out makes the game a real joy.

[Bob Scott 7,191]

2 hours ago, Hansaspeed said:

Do you think I'd be okay without the Warthog throttle? Obviously I would have to find an alternative. I heard it went for a pretty good sale price on cyber monday, is it generally on sale? Thanks for your reply 🙂

I've never seen the Warthog stick sold separately from the throttle.

I got mine (stick and throttle unit) during a pre-Christmas sale 4-5 years ago for ~$300.

Regards

 

[JRBarrett 2,868]

There are two Thrustmaster Warthog joysticks available on Amazon (without throttles) for $198.

The Warthog joystick is superb, I’ve been using one for 4 years and the quality of construction is top notch, the Hall effect sensors in the pitch and roll axes are smooth and noise-free, and there are enough multi-axis buttons for almost any possible setup. I have mine configured with elevator, aileron and rudder trim, autopilot and autothrottle disconnect, TOGA switch and radio PTT.

[TopGun33 124]

Hi! Here are my two cents :

About 3 years ago, I decided to bite the bullet and treat myself with a Warthog for Christmas. I was using a Saitek Yoke at that time and before that, a HOTAS Afterburner.

I mostly fly Boeing and Maddog aircraft so at first it seemed like a step away from realism. That's until the first time I plugged the thing and started to fly patterns. The wow factor was not only the sturdiness of the built : metallic, big, well just like a real thing ; it was also about the precision of the flight controls. It's like you've added an implant to your brain because the thing is so precise you never overcontrol again your aircraft, landings become dead precise, even with liners. The twin engine throttle is perfect for 737s. For example, entering reverse is not a lever that presses a button pressed in the sim, the actual axis once properly configured is a reverse axis, so that means you are able to control precisely what amount of reverse you want for landing. It adds a lot of realism to your operations.

And this, my friend, gives an uncomparable immersion to the sim. So getting a Warthog is a heavy investment, but it is one of the best hardware I have bought so far, worth every hard earned dime.

If you can afford it, it is a no brainer here.

 

[SierraHotel 917]

Warthog, no contest, I got mine on ebay 4 years ago, it was almost brand new and almost half the price!

 

[GHarrall 494]

Warthog stick and throttle are most certainly available as separate SKU's. I only have the throttle due to the issues with the sticky gimbal on the stick which require disassembly and re-greasing on a semi regular basis. The gimbal is just a plastic ball which is pretty poor given the construction of the rest of the stick.

At the price you pay for the stick, you would be better off paying a little more and getting something more reliable from Virpil or VKB. VKB Gladiator MKII will probably be enough for civil sims. If you like combat as well I would go for the Gunfighter.

If you want cheaper than all of those, consider the CH Fighterstick USB. I have had two over the course of many years and they still work great when needed.

Edited September 13, 2018 by GHarrall

[edpatino 1,856]

I strongly recommend the T.16000M HOTAS Flight Control System (FCS) from Thrustmaster. It comes with the joystick, throttle and the pedals. A good choice, very reliable, precise and a very good price.

Cheers, Ed

 

[Bob Scott 7,191]

3 hours ago, GHarrall said:

Warthog stick and throttle are most certainly available as separate SKU's. I only have the throttle due to the issues with the sticky gimbal on the stick which require disassembly and re-greasing on a semi regular basis. The gimbal is just a plastic ball which is pretty poor given the construction of the rest of the stick.

In 5 years, gimbal sticking on the Warthog has never been an issue.  Perhaps if someone is working it hard for hours and hours in a shoot-em-up sim?

Regards

[GHarrall 494]

5 minutes ago, w6kd said:

In 5 years, gimbal sticking on the Warthog has never been an issue.  Perhaps if someone is working it hard for hours and hours in a shoot-em-up sim?

Regards

You are lucky? There are many, many accounts of it on the internet, especially in DCS and other combat sim forums. There are even instruction videos on YouTube to do the job of disassembly and re greasing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=warthog+stiction&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

[Hansaspeed 18]

On 9/13/2018 at 9:59 AM, GHarrall said:

You are lucky? There are many, many accounts of it on the internet, especially in DCS and other combat sim forums. There are even instruction videos on YouTube to do the job of disassembly and re greasing.

https://www.google.com/search?q=warthog+stiction&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

I feel like there isn't a single joystick on the market that's decent. The warthog is 200 dollars and still has issues like that, Saitek stuff breaks, CH stuff is cheaply made, Virpil is very hard to purchase, and VKB are almost always out of stock.

Edited September 15, 2018 by Hansaspeed

[Bob Scott 7,191]

With regards to the Warthog, I think most of the guys experiencing the sticking issue are the ones using the stick for combat sims, with many hours of aggressive rapid-input maneuvering.  Even were it to become an issue, worse case is you take out some screws, do a partial disassembly, and lubricate it.  I've had mine for almost 6 years (got it in Dec 2012, just looked up the order) and it has gotten relatively light use with FSX and then P3D. No stiction problems.  But...in all fairness, most other mechanical devices I own and use need occasional cleaning and/or lubrication, too, so I don't consider the possibility of eventually doing some maintenance work as a real problem.

Good luck deciding

 

[TopGun33 124]

Also the greasing problems can come from accumulated dust. Monstertech.de sells good dust shields for the Warthog.

https://www.monstertech.de/en/product/warthog-dustshield/

They have awesome table mounts for those who can afford them too.

Honestly don't be worried about the greasing. Many joystick never encounter this because they simply die before reaching that point. The Warthog regressing does not require extreme skills, just carefulness. Anyway, if you buy it brand new, better start a new thread in 8 years when the problem shows up.

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by TopGun33
Link correction