I'm considering buying one of these as my old Attack3 stick is, well old, and doesn't play too well with MSFS. Has anyone bought one of these and would like to comment on its's suitability or suggest better options.

I've found several on-line for £64.99 but there do not seem to be any throttle quadrants available atm and at £89.99 they serm pretty expensive.

Any thoughts or considerations would be greatly appreciated along with anyones experience of controllers 

I did not pist this in the hardware forum as it is specific to MSFS  and I was looking for a response from MSF users rather than how controllers may behave in other sims.

Many thanks to everyone who responds.

I got one recently for my left hand LOL Previously I used TM Warthog which is good for right hand, but not very ackward left!

 I have read some review TCA  before and so my expectations were low. However, when I purchased TCA I was pleasantly surprised it has very nice smooth feel. I have disabled twist as I have CH rudder pedeals, and it works great. In fact, I think TCA is better than Warthog in terms of smoothness.

Among cons TCA stick lack any switch for electric trim. I  know Airbus doesn't have them, but they could have add optional "snap on"!  Other than that TCA stick + Honeycomb Bravo Throttle is perfect combination!

 

I have the TCA throttle quadrant. I like it, although its size seems a lot smaller than the real one, but thats maybe partial. The throttle handles themselves are satisfyingly sized and move smooth. The reverse handles unfortunately have a distinct plastic feel to them.

One big downside I foresee once I have the speedbrake and the flap extensions and everything is attached to their tablemount: You have to unscrew (four screws, two brackets) and turn them brackets 180* to switch between free throttle travel and 'notched' airbus travel. These brackets are located at.. OOPS the underside of the Quadrant. That seems bad design but maybe I am mistaken because I don't have these extensions or table mount yet.

I still like it though 🙂

Edited February 21, 20215 yr by Gerwil

I use it on all aircraft that have a stick. It is precise, relatively stiff and is customizable so that you can use it as a pilot or co-pilot sidestick on the airbus, or just use it as a regular flightstick.

The TCA stick is a variation of the well-known Thrustmaster T.16000M, with a different, Airbus-style handle and without the distracting disco lighting at the stick base.  The X & Y axes (roll/pitch) use Hall Effect sensors; the Z/yaw twist axis and the slider are pots.  The X-Y electronics are very precise and stable...the twist and slider axes will eventually wear with use and age, although the oldest of the four I own (three T.16000M and one TCA) has yet to show signs of noise or spiking in the pots.

Its ability to be swapped for left or right handed use is very useful...not many of even the higher-quality joysticks have this flexibility.

At ~$60 the TCA and its older brother the T.16000M is, IMHO, the best consumer-grade joystick on the market.  You have to take a substantial step up in price to move to something better.

The side stick is really very decent. Well built, precise and smooth. Only critism is the throttle slider which has an extremely vague detent for reverse. I have a throttle quadrant so it does not concern me but if it was my only throttle axis, I would not love that much. I also use rudder pedals , so lock out the twist axis, but it does work well too.

It would be nice to have trim up/down buttons on the stick for when flying other aircraft (Airbus does not need them) but there are several other buttons on the base that you can assign to trim.

Same as everyone else, some accommodation for elevator trim is sorely missed.  When you put all the pieces together to include the flaps and spoiler it gets closer to being a useful unit. The "parking Brake" might be the unexpected bonus.  I fail to understand why the big "trim wheel" was not included in the expansion units.  Maybe it will be added as a future upgrade. 

Placing the 12 action buttons at a location that requires you to either let go of the stick or use your other hand makes me think a kid designed the unit, certainly not a pilot.

51 minutes ago, RaptyrOne said:

It would be nice to have trim up/down buttons on the stick for when flying other aircraft (Airbus does not need them) but there are several other buttons on the base that you can assign to trim.

In real-world acft with a stick, the hat switch is the trim button...and, of course, these sticks have a hat switch.  The default assignment is view panning, but that can (should) be changed.

I find view control much more straightforward with the trigger button mapped to the mouse pan button and used in conjunction with the mouse in the other hand, anyway.  View panning with the hat switch is just so...well...old hat.

I consider the buttons at the stick base as bonus switches for some extra added custom functionality. 

I started having issues with the twist (Z) axis spiking within a month or so of owning mine, however I took it apart and tidied up the wires that run past the pot and it seems to have been fine since.

Apart from that it's quite a nice stick, feels quite sturdy and has a smooth and direct action to it.

I find it a great stick for civilian flying. The axes are stiff and well sprung and the whole unit is heavy enough not to shift during use.

It's a little too stiff for aerobatics or combat flying, I think. I don't own a T16000 but compared to my old Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS it's a superior joystick in most ways. I don't use the inbuilt throttle but it doesn't seem great. Being able to swap the thumb buttons around for left or right handed use is a great advantage too.

They have those modular “snap on” buttons I wish they could sell extra one with second hat option for trimmer 

4 hours ago, RaptyrOne said:

The side stick is really very decent. Well built, precise and smooth. Only critism is the throttle slider which has an extremely vague detent for reverse. I have a throttle quadrant so it does not concern me but if it was my only throttle axis, I would not love that much. I also use rudder pedals , so lock out the twist axis, but it does work well too.

It would be nice to have trim up/down buttons on the stick for when flying other aircraft (Airbus does not need them) but there are several other buttons on the base that you can assign to trim.

Pretty much sums up my feelings and set-up exactly. I have the Officer Pack (stick and quadrant) so have no need for the twist or slider. I did try using the slider for trim but it was way too imprecise.

3 hours ago, w6kd said:

In real-world acft with a stick, the hat switch is the trim button...and, of course, these sticks have a hat switch.  The default assignment is view panning, but that can (should) be changed.

I've just been so used to using a hat switch for views that it might take getting used to, but I may just try that out, especially as the Fulcrum yoke has a trim switch so it will train me for when I finally get the invite to order one. I do also use the mouse for panning a fair bit so maybe it wouldn't take so long to retrain my brain to use the hat switch. Currently, I have two of the sidestick buttons for trim. For the record, the other ones are used for the Altimeter & Heading correction, FD on/off, Spoilers toggle, Parking Brake toggle, Gear toggle and Flaps up/down with 2 buttons still to be mapped. I've been trying to map them to 2 of ALT Hold, NAV Hold or VS but I can't get them to work unless I've selected the wrong action in Control settings.

42 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

They have those modular “snap on” buttons I wish they could sell extra one with second hat option for trimmer 

That would be a great idea and allow the hat switch to be kept for panning if desired.

5 hours ago, w6kd said:

In real-world acft with a stick, the hat switch is the trim button...and, of course, these sticks have a hat switch.  The default assignment is view panning, but that can (should) be changed.

I find view control much more straightforward with the trigger button mapped to the mouse pan button and used in conjunction with the mouse in the other hand, anyway.  View panning with the hat switch is just so...well...old hat.

I consider the buttons at the stick base as bonus switches for some extra added custom functionality. 

That is surely another way of using the buttons.  I assume you have 3 hands when flying, one for the stick, one for the throttles, and one more for the mouse. 

7 hours ago, Tom Wright said:

I started having issues with the twist (Z) axis spiking within a month or so of owning mine, however I took it apart and tidied up the wires that run past the pot and it seems to have been fine since.

Apart from that it's quite a nice stick, feels quite sturdy and has a smooth and direct action to it.

Having the same issue. Had to disable the axis as it was spiking a lot even without actually using it (using pedals). Otherwise a nice and smooth stick. 

8 hours ago, w6kd said:

In real-world acft with a stick, the hat switch is the trim button...

You are referring to Airbus stick IRL? It doesn't seem have "hat" switch, or I'm missing something?