Midwestboi

Exactly! He has had a few negative feedback comments regarding the fact that sometimes he doesn't have the items in stock or that it takes him several weeks to ship- even though he says items normally ship the next business day. He does say tho, that inventory may not be correct at the time of sale due to selling in various other venues. So either he sells things and THEN orders them from the manufacturer- which is why sometimes it takes three weeks for him to ship... or... he is just hoping he has items in stock at the time someone buys. It really sucks that E-bay allows sellers to do that... especially considering the quantities that he is exaggerating. Saying he has over 100 available (between two listings), when in fact, he actually only had SEVEN. Not good.

I see the Helios beta license is "ending" on 12/31/10. Does this mean the beta software will cease working at that time?

Funny, I contacted the seller on E-bay about the Cougars (according to his two auctions- the "buy it now" quantities showed 95 available on one and 25 on the other); I just couldn't imagine someone having that many in stock when everyone else is sold out. He writes back and says he has seven actually in stock!! Needless to say I purchased one. Considering everyone else online has no ETA for new shipments, I figured I better get while I had the chance.

More like $509! But who's counting?!? :music_whistling: I also ordered the Cougar MFD's tonight as well... TrackIR next week- along with preordering the DCS A-10C sim... and a 20" secondary widescreen monitor at the end of January to replace my 17" regular monitor- for use with Helios. Right now my main monitor is my 42" LCD TV. I put together a PVC portable cockpit (from plans I bought from a guy on E-bay)- and did some alterations to add wings for multiple keyboards, and center stick mount. The setup is pretty cool- and I made it versatile enough for racing or flying; just unscrew one device and mount the other. I guess you could say I go for "full immersion"- or maybe just OCD. LoL! But I just like to being prepared from the get-go, instead of having to relearn or make adjustments when you change something. If I'm going to fly an A-10 (my favorite aircraft btw), then I want the best experience I can get. :pilotfly: I just hope my system supports it all. Right now I can pretty much fly any sim on highest setting and haven't had any problems. <crossing fingers>

Agreed. I wasn't sure how many people have had problems with the throttle- but when you hear about it- it tends to sound like a lot are having problems. I ordered my Warthog HOTAS yesterday through Walmart.com. After tax & shipping, it came out to be a bit more than Amazon- but- Walmart has a 90-day return policy on most electronics- so if I have a problem, I can just return it directly to a local store. Funny, because I haven't even purchased the DCS A-10C sim 'yet'- but I'm gathering all the tools ahead of time. I was going to buy it when beta 4 came out- but then when I read one of the developers say that they weren't really happy with the beta 4 release and hoped for a quick beta 5 by year-end, I put off buying until beta 5. At least I have the 660+ page flight manual and 200+ page GUI manual to keep me busy until then. :smartass:

Has anyone heard of people having problems with the throttle AFTER they get a replacement back from TM? I'm just wondering if TM is aware of what the problem is- has a fix for it- but is quietly handling it in-house instead of making it public- like MS tried to do with the XBOX 360 a couple of years ago. Obviously if people are getting replaced units back from them and not having any further problems- then TM knows what the problem is.

Actually, it is my understanding that more people who are not unplugging their throttles are the ones having the problem. There is some "speculation" of some type of power surge when the system starts after being shutdown with the throttles still plugged in. Take that for what it's worth... but once I get my TM Warthog- I will definitely be unplugging it. Thankfully, I have four USB ports on the front of my system. :thumbup:

Just checked out their site... since I've never heard of them, I checked online for some reviews. Most of the reviews I found on this place was BAD... including claiming they have items in stock, when they really don't. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/audio-discounter-audio-discounterscom-c67345.html That was just one of a few places I found with bad reviews on them. Hmmmmm.

Yes, and charging almost double what other regular retailers are selling them for- but- he has them in-stock, while almost every place I've looked, they're out. I may have to break down and pay the extra just to get them- since now Amazon has no ETA on the next shipment. :cry:

Found it:

From other threads I have read- the stick is held to the plate by four 4M bolts. Just buy 4M bolts in the length you need for your particular mounting system.

I think one of the major problems is duplication. You can't have a profile AND DCS set for the same device action. So if you are using an external profile for certain buttons or actions- make sure they are not duplicated within DCS- this will avoid any conflict problems.

Or you can use Xpadder which works great for me.

One thing I see is a lot of people complaining about the potential lack of programmability with the Warthog. However, have any of you tried the program Xpadder? You can basically use it to program any controller function to emulate a keyboard or mouse; I used it to configure my racing pedals for rudder control. I configured the throttle/clutch as 'right and left triggers' instead of an axis- which is something I could never assign within any flight sim directly. So now it uses the keyboard 'X' and 'Z' via the racing pedals for rudder control- which I think works perfectly. So if it can easily program my racing wheel, XBOX gamepad, and even my Thrustmaster Flight Hotas.X- surely it could also work with the TM Warthog. More buttons equal more options- and with the complexities of current games- I think the potential is worth the price of the Warthog. No more- "I wish I had another button for..." Oh, and no... I'm not an Xpadder salesman- but I am amazed by how well this program works and what it can do. :-)

True- and I did- but do you know how many results came up? TONS. But none that I could find that actually stated the exact size of the stick. Update: I went back through, and found measurements for the base plate of both the throttle and stick- I did not find any measurements for the height of the stick or the diameter of the round base. So if someone could be so kind as to quickly take a tape measure and answer this question, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks. :-)

Can anyone tell me what the height is of the stick from the base to the top? Also, the diameter of the base (not the plate) if possible. I haven't ordered it YET... but I'm trying to reconfigure my PVC pit in preparation- and I need to know how low to place the center mount for it. Thanks.

This is an interesting idea. I wonder whether there is a correlation between leaving the stick plugged in and having the failures vs those who unplug them after shutdown? Maybe something is getting corrupted during the initial boot if the stick is plugged in during startup... it's a thought.

I did come across something in the keyboard command list... there are a couple of duplications of key commands. I know I've seen where buttons perform different functions depending if you're on the ground or in the air- I'm assuming it is the same for duplicated key commands. An example; "Jettison Weapons = W+Lctrl" and "Brake-Wheel on/off = W+Lctrl". I've seen this duplication a couple of other times- so I figured I'd ask about it.

I found a way to use my racing wheel's clutch & throttle as rudder pedals using the Xpadder software. I simply programmed my clutch & throttle as 'left trigger' and 'right trigger'- then assigned the keyboard 'Z' and 'X' keys to them. Xpadder allows any gamepad, joystick, wheel, or other gaming device to emulate keyboard or mouse functions. So basically you can program any of your gaming device functions or buttons creating a full custom profile for use with individual games allowing complete versatility. I'm just happy to have foot-controlled rudder pedals now- even if they aren't "true" flight pedals. :-)

I just use my racing wheel clutch and throttle pedals for the rudder functions- it works much better than the keyboard or twisting stick!! ;-)

That is the point, I do not have a touchscreen... I just want to use Helios for the gauge display feature along with the Cougar MFD's. I am hoping I can do this on an XP system.

"(May have limited touchscreen support on Vista or XP)" I am wondering whether this will work with WinXP on a regular 'non-touchscreen' monitor for gauge display only? Thanks.

I edited my comment while you were responding. I also wanted to know if it will work with Cougar MFD's and WinXP? Considering it would cost a small fortune to upgrade to Win7, upgrade my computer AND buy all the equipment... so I'm looking to use my existing computer with new flight sim equipment.

It says for "touchscreens"- can you use it with a normal, non-touchscreen monitor? Also- does it work with WinXP? I noticed it says "limited touchscreen support"- but I would like to use it with the Cougar MFD's in WinXP if possible.

SWEET! Although, with the Xpadder software, I can create multiple sets per key, such as: quick press, .5 second, 1 second, hold, etc- up to 8 sets per key or key combination. It also allows me to configure XBOX movements to mouse function- so no more wrestling with a real mouse. BUT... I still want the TM Warthog HOTAS and Cougar MFD's! :pilotfly: