Questions About Hotas Warthog

[AMI Must]

Hello! I'm goint to buy the hotas, and I have some questions:

1) What is the TARGET software ?

2) The Joystick is worth 400 $ ?

3) What is the pro and con of the Joystick ?

Thanks. :joystick:

[Alterscape]

1) TARGET is software that allows you to configure the HOTAS to simulate keypresses with button presses. I have owned a Warthog for over a year and never used it. It's much easier to just bind the buttons in the sim these days (and the A-10C module configures itself automatically when it detects a Warthog throttle or stick connected). Don't worry too much about Target -- worry about input.lua :D

2) I think this is totally subjective. If you've got $400 to spend and want the best consumer HOTAS (leaving aside stuff that costs >$1k), I'd say it's worth it. If you don't have $400 to spend, then, well, there's a lot of other options that are also pretty good. Also, the stick goes on sale every now and then -- I think I got mine for ~$350 USD during a newegg sale last year.

3) This is a HUGE question. It's big and heavy and expensive, and getting the most out of it in modules other than A-10C will require a bit of lua programming. The SPI slew control on the throttle is a bit janky compared to the physical mini-stick TM used on the Cougar. It's solid and sturdy and feels awesome. What are you looking for in particular?

[Mayo2017]

1: As Alterscape said

2: If you've got money to burn, sure. Otherwise I don't think so.

3: Having owned one (note past tense), that's a pretty big question, so I'll have to elaborate.

 

Pros

- Construction on the bases of the stick and throttle is incredibly heavy.

- The actual stick is fantastically heavy as well, and isn't going to wear down any time soon.

- The pressure required to push on the buttons is very large and realistic, and does feel pretty nice in the hand.

- Action on the stick and throttle is smooth as butter if you don't get bit by bad QC.

- People who get a fully-working one have nothing but praise for it, so I guess there's that.

 

Cons:

- Thrustmaster's QC is a bit spotty to say the least. First unit I had was a complete trainwreck that I'm not going to give another complete rundown on. Suffice it to say that it wasn't finished being built (bad plastic work mostly, and even screws were popping out inside the throttle and on the stick). Those who get a fully working one are generally very happy, just be warned that there's a bit of a lottery.

- For all the talk of metal construction, most of the internals are plastic, and have had numerous problems show up over the years. Be aware that you may have to adjust, regrease, or replace things in the near future, or deal with warranty repairs. Not that plastic is bad, it's a matter of using the good stuff right.

- The slew hat in particular deserves mention. It's a little mouse nub with really poor response (slow update rate, in particular), and I could never convince myself to like it. Whether or not it's more realistic is a separate argument.

- Thrustmaster support and warranty stuff has a bit of a reputation for being hard to work with sometimes, but nowhere near Saitek levels of bad (squadmate's on his 3rd HOTAS in a couple months, I think).

 

I ultimately got sick of dealing with the hardware troubles the HOTAS kept having, and sent it back to the retailer for the last time. Ended up buying a CH Products setup, since I had some of their stuff in the 90s and it was fantastic. Got a HOTAS, pedals, and a yoke (for civilian stuff) for the same price as the TM Warthog, and the stick especially feels better than the Warthog ever did. Ugly stuff, but hard to argue with the performance.

 

So there's a bit of a QC lottery with it all. If you get a good one, you'll probably be incredibly happy with it. If you get the dumpster-level QC rejects like I did, you'll swear off TM for good.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Mayo2017