I really want a trim wheel. Any decent one out there?

[yanfeng12342000 132]

I am tired of trimming with joystick buttons. It's so awkward and frustrating. I'd really like one with a wheel or slider that can be linked to the trim axis.

But it's very hard to buy one that's ready made. Saitek used to have a standalone trim wheel but that's not even available on Ebay. Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant has embedded a trim wheel, but I heard it can only be assigned to trim buttons, not axis. Will that be a big problem? Can any of the sliders of THRUSTMASTER TCA Quadrant be used as a trim wheel?

Are there any other commercial choices out there? I can't DIY and I don't have the time. Thank you for any suggestion in advance.  

Edited January 13, 2021 by yanfeng12342000

[fppilot 4,355]

I am much enamored with the nice more realistic trim wheel on my Honeycomb Bravo throttle quadrant.  See the white band?  My previous trim wheel was on a Saitek Multipanel.  That was not at all realistic  in terms of size and placement.

Edited January 13, 2021 by fppilot

[jpe828 624]

@fppilot Nice setup BUT you need an ultra-wide monitor... trust me! Your setup is very similar to mine, I have a 36 inch ultrawide curved monitor. Makes all the difference. 

I never use the trim wheel personally, I love the electric trim on the yoke or stick in the real airplane and in the sim!

[fppilot 4,355]

5 minutes ago, jpe828 said:

@fppilot Nice setup BUT you need an ultra-wide monitor... trust me! Your setup is very similar to mine, I have a 36 inch ultrawide curved monitor. Makes all the difference. 

I never use the trim wheel personally, I love the electric trim on the yoke or stick in the real airplane and in the sim!

My system and monitor use is 80% personal business and investment management and 20% flight simulation.  My 4K 32" is perfect for my lifestyle.  Perhaps with the parallax from the photo it appears smaller than it is....  I have two additional monitors but after almost 40 years of flight simulation I am not compelled to chase after that.  I passed 9,000 overall hours late last month.

Wish I still have images like that above of monitors I have used over the years....

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by fppilot

[jpe828 624]

We need a good twin for MSFS 2020!

[fppilot 4,355]

3 minutes ago, jpe828 said:

We need a good twin for MSFS 2020!

I am into light and medium twins and the DA62 and two twin Beechcraft models have significant potential. Avionics and depth of systems need attention.  Too much MSFS emphasis in updates is on eye candy.  My goto aircraft for my serious flight schedule are the Realair Turbine Duke v2, and the Milviz C310R and Beech B55 Baron.  Nuff said...

[jpe828 624]

Back in the day with FSX the Turbine Duke was a fav! The DA62 mod is quite good... but the Beech needs so much work!

[fppilot 4,355]

5 minutes ago, jpe828 said:

Back in the day with FSX the Turbine Duke was a fav! The DA62 mod is quite good... but the Beech needs so much work!

Oddly enough my most significant issue with the MSFS Baron is the liveries. They look older than the 1969 MGB British sports car in my garage.  Or a 1965 Indycar or F1 race car.  They are right out of the Sky King TV series...  But where is Penny... (some here will know about this)

 

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by fppilot

[jpe828 624]

2 minutes ago, fppilot said:

Oddly enough my most significant issue with the MSFS Baron is the liveries. They look older than the 1969 MGB British sports car in my garage.  Or a 1965 Indycar or F1 race car.  They are right out of the Sky King TV series...  But where is Penny... (some here will know about this)

 

Did they fix the mixture issues and Alt knob etc? When I flew it last it seemed overpowered, and it was missing that knob... and you could not lean it... no EGT at all.

[fppilot 4,355]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.m.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AGloria_Winters_Penny_Sky_King_1952.JPG&psig=AOvVaw1CdQjgLYQeLF5RV45oNvpl&ust=1610596777842000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCPCZu9eCmO4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

[signmanbob 592]

1 hour ago, yanfeng12342000 said:

I am tired of trimming with joystick buttons. It's so awkward and frustrating. I'd really like one with a wheel or slider that can be linked to the trim axis.

But it's very hard to buy one that's ready made. Saitek used to have a standalone trim wheel but that's not even available on Ebay. Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant has embedded a trim wheel, but I heard it can only be assigned to trim buttons, not axis. Will that be a big problem? Can any of the sliders of THRUSTMASTER TCA Quadrant be used as a trim wheel?

Are there any other commercial choices out there? I can't DIY and I don't have the time. Thank you for any suggestion in advance.  

The Honeycomb Bravo Throttle trim wheel works perfectly with the button assignments.

I have a Saitek standalone trim wheel that works off the axis settings, but I like the Honeycomb Bravo better, so I'm not using the Saitek any more.

[marsman2020 1,310]

The thing with th way the Bravo does it (by sending button presses) is that can't look at the wheel and see where it is set.

However in my experience using trim on an axis seemed to cause conflicts with the AP, because the axis seemed to override the AP trim setting causing big instant changes in the trim.  So the way the Bravo does it it probably the best you can get with the way MSFS works, sending button presses avoids this. 

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

16 minutes ago, marsman2020 said:

The thing with th way the Bravo does it (by sending button presses) is that can't look at the wheel and see where it is set.

However in my experience using trim on an axis seemed to cause conflicts with the AP, because the axis seemed to override the AP trim setting causing big instant changes in the trim.  So the way the Bravo does it it probably the best you can get with the way MSFS works, sending button presses avoids this. 

yeah, a realistic trim wheel would be motorised and wind up and down whenever the AP made trim changes. unlikely to ever happen at a feasible home cockpit price.

[Chock 17,769]

4 hours ago, yanfeng12342000 said:

Saitek used to have a standalone trim wheel but that's not even available on Ebay.

If you don't want to DIY things, and you want a solution for under 100 quid, you can still buy the Saitek/Logitech Pro Flight Panel (for about 70 quid), it has a fairly decent trim wheel as part of its controls. If you do want to DIY things, you can use the internal working parts of an old mouse scroll wheel to make a trim wheel; this is fairly easy to do.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Chock

[Stona 39]

Honeycomb solution is beautiful to use; provided you avoid the acceleration bug

The Bravos trim wheel and configurable throttle levers where the main reason I purchased it and it's worth it's money just for those two features alone!