Revvin

I'm not bashing anyone, simply providing my own experience and opinion which is just as valid as yours. My comment regarding precision engineered gimbals if you read it again was referring to the HOTAS Cougar and I was referring to third party gimbals such as the U2 gimbals. For the price I think the HOTAS Warthog is a lot of controller for the money and perhaps the best compromise to keep the overall cost down was to go with the gimbal material they chose over something like a U2 which would have likely made the cost much higher.

The HOTAS Warthog I have hasn't had any issues. People want a metal stick and gimbal but most wouldn't pay the premium to have such a precision engineered gimbal that would avoid the issues that were had with the HOTAS Cougar gimbals. Personally I don't see the big deal of having a metal bodied stick when you can have an extremely durable glass filled nylon body like you find on CH Products hardware including their industrial products which take a battering. It should be remembered that those who have problems are most likely to talk about it and spread news of their dissatisfaction over those who have bought a HOTAS Warthog and never experienced problems. FWIW I think its a good stick and throttle, it has its flaws but its still a good choice and its good that a company that also makes mass market devices still has an interest in providing a flagship controller to a very niche market.

:D

I'd like to see that, I'm waiting on the next iteration of the Vive before taking the plunge into VR

It depends on the plastic, certain manufacturers boasted of metal parts but the cheap pot metal used proved in a lot of cases to be less durable than the glass filled nylon plastic used by another manufacturer. Metal does feel nice but if its going to be quality metal then expect a very high quality price tag too. If the right material is used and the mouldings are good you won't get any creaks or give in a 'plastic' grip.

Awesome looking stick, would like to hear more about the gimbal. The stick looks much nicer in the pictures on your site, less shiny looking.

Any such FFB project would no doubt fall under the gaze of Immersions lawyers and to license the technology is extremely expensive which is one reason why CH never made a USB Force FX stick to replace the gameport version they did. The open sim wheel scene may also fall foul of their patents, its not happened yet but surely only a matter of time. There has already been a few comments passed by a hardware developer in the private iRacing forums in a thread about the OSW project along the lines of "well I'm doing things right and licensing the technology while you guys are not".

You've missed the point, the lean function wasn't its strongest feature not because of what I was playing or what game settings that were being used but because the software and hardware on the TrackIR got easily confused and produced erratic behaviour depending on how far you leaned, how light the room was or how the camera was positioned which ruined immersion. I spent most of my time just using two axis even though I had a 6DOF capable TrackIR because it just became a nuisance trying to find a sweet spot for lighting, camera placement and seating position. Its still a good device and I wouldn't deter anyone from buying one but its worth exploring other solutions.

I disagree, I had a TrackIR with 6DOF support but the ability to lean was not one of the strongest features of the device in practice. In my experience of using TrackIR since its first iteration and then trying the EDTracker the benefits of not requiring a camera for the EDTracker outweighed the lack of 6DOF support. I had more issues with the TrackIR freaking out and losing tracking trying to look down to as point where the camera couldn't track or the fiddling with the camera trying to find a sweet spot between good tracking and getting 6DOF to work satisfactorily. I had one of the early EDTracker units and it did have a little drift sometimes which was easily corrected by mapping a centring key to my HOTAS in the same way I had to map one for the TrackIR so neither device was perfect on that score, however the EDTracker has since implemented new hardware and software to minimise any kind of drift and I plan on trying one soon as even having already bought one, buying a second EDTracker will still make my total outlay half that of a TrackIR and my old device will go to a friend to get him started.

TrackIR was a game changer for me when the first version came out many years ago. I remember some virtual pilots insisting it was a cheat to use it on some forums it was that good. Naturalpoint was the only choice for a long time and they refined their hardware and software but as time went on they failed to push the tech further and their stranglehold on the flightsim market was lost. When my TrackIR 4 died I looked at other alternatives and gave an early version of the EDTracker a try ( http://www.edtracker.co.uk/ ) It doesn't have the full 6DOF capability of the TrackIR but its a simple device, just as accurate and doesn't need a camera so you don't lose tracking and its not spoofed by sunlight or other light sources. VR is on my list to buy but I'm waiting for a standard to develop and the tech to improve a little more before I buy, in the meantime you can build your own EDTracker for just a few pounds or buy a pre-built one for just £37.50. Just because someone gives away software freely doesn't mean its stolen, you can download a whole OS free. Deals between developers and Naturalpoint early on meant alternative devices were nigh on impossible, if you changed the name Naturalpoint for Microsoft you'd have people screaming about anti-competition practices :) Perhaps the positive effect VR has had on gaming is developers have made it easier to map buttons and axis for view control and helped some of these TrackIR alternatives.

That gimbal looks stunning! FWIW I Dian think the Warthog gimbal was that bad, agree with dburne - the Cougar gimbal was awful, not so much in the design but the cheap metal used that led to a lot of play developing.

I started using EDtracker, I found it much better at tracking movement but it lacked 6DOF capability

I wouldn't be returning a stick for that minor cosmetic 'defect'

I'm not sure I could get used to the lack of a traditional slide back and fore rudder movement on the VKB pedals even though they do look nice so it would have to be the Crosswinds.

That's a pretty slick looking gimbal, the firm and soft centre is done by changing those plates on the side that look like they roll over a small bearing?

Voted for dynamic campaign but would love to see a more robust dedicated server package with better online play but also a hangar full of WW2 warbirds.

Sounds great, personally I think a simple cardboard box with a single black logo looks neat though to be honest most packaging ends up in the attic until a time comes when it gets thrown out so anything fancy is a waste IMHO.

Another solution worth considering in my opinion is EDTracker. I wrote a small article here about my experience with it: http://www.ch-hangar.com/hardware/edtracker-test/ Ignore my comments about DCS because apparently it does work now though I've not tried it myself. Also that article was done about a year ago, since then they have revised and refined the hardware to add an internal magnetometer to stop any axis drift which does away with the need for a reset button as seen on my older device. I'm thinking of buying a pre-assembled 'Pro' model from them but may wait as they mention a wireless version in the works too. I liked using the EDTracker because in my Obutto pit I never found a sweet spot for the TrackIR so quite often it would flip out of range. Check out their web-site: http://www.edtracker.org.uk/

Probably, they do a cheaper line of stick though I'd like to see them do a standalone TQS from the HOTAS Cougar setup with improved rotaries and throttle

Space sims are enjoying a real resurgence with Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous and those titles will sell a lot of joysticks.

I love the look of that collective, just looked at their web-site and its not as expensive as I thought though I'm running out of mounting points on my Obutto rig to carry all my gadgets :)

I noticed it was out of stock for a long time so wondered if there would be a new revision but it sounds like the Gunfighter base would be the way to go if that's the future of their HOTAS line, sounds like they have a better coupling system for the grips now? what does the new gimbal system look like? have they released any news on that, gimbals tend to be one of the most contentious features on a stick. Some like the CH style of gimbal, some like the Warthog while some spent hundreds replacing their Cougar gimbals, each one has their strengths and weaknesses. I wonder if there will be a 'Fat' Gunfighter base too festooned with the kind of extra buttons seen on the Fat Mamba If they went after the IL-2 BoS crowd I'd be worried, of those who play there a lot already have expensive HOTAS and its a very small community to start with, better to target something like War Thunder to give those mouse aim players something to graduate to though like I said I'd be wary of investing in any project that involves Jason Williams.

They have some pretty cool looking joysticks, I like the look of the VKB Fat Black Mamba joystick and the gimbal design looks to be nicely engineered. I like the idea of a floor mounted stick for WWII sims and love the look of that KG12 grip, I wonder why its not compatible with the Fat Black Mamba base? When I saw the size of the Gladiator base I thought it was going to be FFB. That said if Jason Williams is involved I won't be spending any money with them. I contacted him for help when one of his moderators banned me from the IL-2 forums for saying someone's use of a smiley was "silly" (apparently that was aggressive behaviour) he treated me like dirt, it seems if he has your money then he's done with you, he doesn't need to help unless you're prepared to wave pom poms for him.

Resin wold be a good choice to keep cost down, it's good to see additional grips being produced, I don't know why Thrustmaster never fully exploited this ability going back to the HOTAS Cougar originally, the do different wheel rims for their T500, T300 and TX steering wheels and as a Fanatec user I love the quick release that allows me to hot swap to a rim that suits the car I'm driving.

I preferred the EDTracker over my TrackIR 3 with vector clip. The latest 'pro' version of the EDTracker is supposed to be even better at eliminating drift in the device which wasn't that much of an issue with my DIY early version. They are apparently working on a wireless version too. The problem I had with the TrackIR was it seemed to get easily confused if not positioned at optimal distance and angle but because it doesn't rely on a camera the EDTracker kept position of my view much better.