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My son bought the Hornet. I have few questions.


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Sorry for simple questions, but I don't fly that much BLUE or know anything about the Hornet.

 

As or right now what's the best way to setup the Hornet?

Do I need a profile for it? Change some defaults? Is Chucks Guide the best for that, or there is a common profile you use?

 

Also, what joystick you guys prefer for that aircraft? He wants Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Joystick For PC with the Hornet Add on, but that's expensive. Do you guys like any other alternative? Like X56 H.O.T.A.S. RGB THROTTLE AND STICK CONTROLLER maybe?

 

He is using VR.

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Stay away from Logitech/Saitek. You will burn likely the money when device has high change to malfunction.

 

If you want easy way, get used Warthog HOTAS.

 

You need to make the bindings for it. But it ain't difficult if you read Chuck's guide.

 

I make all profiles myself. But I only bind the settings that real aircraft has in its HOTAS and otherwise I use touch controllers to operate cockpit. It is fast and easy way to learn all limitations in cockpit.

 

If you want cheap HOTAS, and hate from your son, get CH setup.

i7-8700k, 32GB 2666Mhz DDR4, 2x 2080S SLI 8GB, Oculus Rift S.

i7-8700k, 16GB 2666Mhz DDR4, 1080Ti 11GB, 27" 4K, 65" HDR 4K.

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Thrustmaster TWCS and T16000M are great and cheap for the start.

 

Then learn one thing at a time and what interest you the most - using Sidewinders and AIM120 or bombing?

Watch tutorials on YT, assign buttons as you watch and learn - just a few you need at the moment, not all of them at once. Feel comfortable with them, remember, move to learn another thing, assign new buttons, maybe rearrange if needed. Dont learn or try everything right from the start and dont bore yourself with boring things like datalink or stuff like that. Just have fun with it.

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Forget the warthog stick, its the worst rod ever conceived by mankind (however disclaimer: throttle not bad). Its like the hottest girl in the bar that doesnt put out, or if she does you get aids. You can try to clean her up best you can but you'll always wind up just polishing a turd (albeit a good looking one). Do yourself a favor and stick to CH for the price. Or if its christmas time go vkb or virpil. T16000m stick also will bury the dirty hog, and shes a much cheaper date

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The Logitech X56 is generally fine. It isn't going to be as good as a Warthog setup but I think that many of its technical issues are either overstated or simply a result of not using a powered USB 3.0 hub for the throttle (it draws a lot of power). I have known quite a few people who have owned X56's (including myself) and none of them (again, including myself) had any major technical issues.

 

For some reason, there is a narrative that the X56 is thing thing that will just inevitably break but I strongly suspect that this perception comes from a relative few widely referenced cases that got a lot of attention in the community due to youtubers and unreliable user reviews.

 

Again. It isn't perfect but as far as cheaper HOTAS setups go, it is one of the more versatile options while still being generally reliable enough to get you started in the hobby.

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Personally, I'd say you can't really go wrong with a TM Warthog HOTAS. There are better ones and worse ones, but I think it hits the sweetspot when it comes to bang for the buck.

 

The Throttle is really good. You will want to sandpaper the afterburner detent to get a nice push-through-detent, but that's 10-15 minutes work. The TDC ministick is the only part that is bad. There is a modification for around 40-50 bucks that makes it awesome.

 

The stick is also good imho. The grip itself is nice. I'm a big Hornet fanboy myself, but there's really no good reason to buy the Hornet stick to replace the original one, other than for aesthetics. Personally I had my base for years without any problems. People report that they can become worse after time, but if you play that much for so long, you will probably already be looking at upgrading that base to a Virpil one (you can still keep the grip), so I don't think it's a big deal at all.

 

The stick in the T.16000 combo seems good (especially for the price), but the throttle has a lot of problems with stickiness. Also, it doesn't have an afterburner detent, which to me is a BIG deal when flying jets. It seems like the best budget choice atm. My buddy bought it for this reason, but had lots of issues especially with the throttle. He gave up eventually and bought a used Warthog.

 

Good luck!

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The stick in the T.16000 combo seems good (especially for the price), but the throttle has a lot of problems with stickiness. Also, it doesn't have an afterburner detent, which to me is a BIG deal when flying jets. It seems like the best budget choice atm. My buddy bought it for this reason, but had lots of issues especially with the throttle. He gave up eventually and bought a used Warthog.

 

Good luck!

 

I agree that the TWCS throttle isn't exactly ideal, you can fix the stickiness by just using some of this.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lubricant-Grease-Nyogel-50g Tube/dp/B00W6KWK1Y

 

If you use a different lubricant, make sure it is high viscosity meant for heavy dampening.

 

Edit: After using that 767A lubricant I could AAR on any platform without much trouble both in DCS and BMS

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Personally, I'd say you can't really go wrong with a TM Warthog HOTAS. There are better ones and worse ones, but I think it hits the sweetspot when it comes to bang for the buck.

 

The Throttle is really good. You will want to sandpaper the afterburner detent to get a nice push-through-detent, but that's 10-15 minutes work. The TDC ministick is the only part that is bad. There is a modification for around 40-50 bucks that makes it awesome.

 

The stick is also good imho. The grip itself is nice. I'm a big Hornet fanboy myself, but there's really no good reason to buy the Hornet stick to replace the original one, other than for aesthetics. Personally I had my base for years without any problems. People report that they can become worse after time, but if you play that much for so long, you will probably already be looking at upgrading that base to a Virpil one (you can still keep the grip), so I don't think it's a big deal at all.

 

The stick in the T.16000 combo seems good (especially for the price), but the throttle has a lot of problems with stickiness. Also, it doesn't have an afterburner detent, which to me is a BIG deal when flying jets. It seems like the best budget choice atm. My buddy bought it for this reason, but had lots of issues especially with the throttle. He gave up eventually and bought a used Warthog.

 

Good luck!

 

Although I’ve only had the Warthog and a cheap Saitek that was no good, I’d generally agree with the above comments with the following caveat. If Yu want to do aerial refuelling, which is one of the most challenging and entertaining things you can do in DCS you will also need a joystick extension (I’ve got a 10 cm extension, a bit less would work too) if you don’t do this then you’ll be fighting the neutral point on every manoeuvre that you make which from my limited experience at least makes refuelling very hard. Some videos online show a way to sand that neutral point down so that may be an alternative but I didn’t want to void the warranty.

 

He’s going to love the Hornet, especially in VR.

i7700k OC to 4.8GHz with Noctua NH-U14S (fan) with AORUS RTX2080ti 11GB Waterforce. 32GDDR, Warthog HOTAS and Saitek rudders. HP Reverb.

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I'm glad I I asked about the joystick. It seems it's not as clear as I assumed.

 

What about AXIS Tuning? Do you like to configure the F/A 18 in a specific way?

 

Deadzone of 2-5 on pitch and roll, curve of 15-25 on pitch and roll. That is what I use, personally. Currently on 2 deadzone for each, and a 15 curve on each.

 

For the HOTAS, that is a tough one - as the higher price does deliver a noticeable increase in effectiveness within airframes. I started with a $59.99 USD Thrustmaster T Flight4 (ps3/pc), and used it for well over 6 months while learning how to fly (using the A10C exclusively). I bumped up to the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS and was absolutely blown away by the difference. Obviously with the A10C specifically, every single button functions as it does in the real aircraft - and you really only need to take your hands off to operate a very small number of systems/functions while flying a sortie. For the Hornet - you are simply able to map many many different functions to the HOTAS and again - rarely have to take your hands off the HOTAS as well. I also use VR, and can say aside from VR - certainly the most important thing to me.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Don (callsign Ziptie)

i7 6700 @4ghz, 32GB HyperX Fury ddr4-2133 ram, GTX980, Oculus Rift CV1, 2x1TB SSD drives (one solely for DCS OpenBeta standalone) Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS, Thrustmaster Cougar MFDs

 

Airframes: A10C, A10CII, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-16C, UH=1H, FC3. Modules: Combined Arms, Supercarrier. Terrains: Persian Gulf, Nevada NTTR, Syria

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...For some reason, there is a narrative that the X56 is thing thing that will just inevitably break but I strongly suspect that this perception comes from a relative few widely referenced cases that got a lot of attention in the community due to youtubers and unreliable user reviews....

 

I can't agree more, I've used Saitek sticks for over 20 years and have no problem buying another one. I have a brand new Warthog in the box (Walmart $299 sale, be sure to look at Walmart online on/around Black Friday), and have no desire to give up my X56 for it.

"These are NOT 1 to 1 replicas of the real aircraft, there are countless compromises made on each of them" - Senior ED Member

 

Modules - Damn near all of them (no Christian Eagle or Yak)

System - i7-12700K, 64Gig DDR4 3200 RAM, RTX-3080, 3 32" monitors at 5760 x 1080, default settings of High (minor tweaks)

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Although I’ve only had the Warthog and a cheap Saitek that was no good, I’d generally agree with the above comments with the following caveat. If Yu want to do aerial refuelling, which is one of the most challenging and entertaining things you can do in DCS you will also need a joystick extension (I’ve got a 10 cm extension, a bit less would work too) if you don’t do this then you’ll be fighting the neutral point on every manoeuvre that you make which from my limited experience at least makes refuelling very hard. Some videos online show a way to sand that neutral point down so that may be an alternative but I didn’t want to void the warranty.

 

He’s going to love the Hornet, especially in VR.

 

As long as you set fairly normal curves (this will vary from module to module and should not be extreme by any measure), you can absolutely do aerial refueling with just the standard Warthog stick and no extension.

 

Ironically, I was not terribly great at refueling until I got a Warthog HOTAS. The stick (and especially the better throttle) helped immensely and now I can refuel the F-14, F/A-18, Mirage, Harrier, and the A-10C without any real fuss. It isn't easy and it required a lot of practice to get to that point but I certainly did not need to buy a extension. I can see how one might help but it is objectively not required by any measure.

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Stay away from Logitech/Saitek. You will burn likely the money when device has high change to malfunction.

 

 

This. Long ago I had a Wingman Attack 2. It seemed to have problems with wandering. So I junked it (assuming I was too rough with it) and got a Wingman Attack 3 (years ago). It is just as bad. Won't stay centered, even after trying to calibrate it in Windows. I still manage to enjoy the game despite, but it really makes things much harder than they need to be.

 

Eventually gonna replace it with something of superior quality.


Edited by CommanderRabb

Modules - F-18, F-16, Spitfire, F-5, Supercarrier, F-14, A10-C, MiG-21, Huey

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Forget the warthog stick, its the worst rod ever conceived by mankind (however disclaimer: throttle not bad). Its like the hottest girl in the bar that doesnt put out, or if she does you get aids. You can try to clean her up best you can but you'll always wind up just polishing a turd (albeit a good looking one). Do yourself a favor and stick to CH for the price. Or if its christmas time go vkb or virpil. T16000m stick also will bury the dirty hog, and shes a much cheaper date
Why do people say stupid stuff, thinking they are being creative and funny?

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

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I will just say that Saitek and now Logitech sticks are not as bad as people says. In fact considering the large amount of sticks they sold and they still sell I'd say some malfunctioning sticks can be considered normal.

 

I have a X52 for 4 years now, went through 1000+ hours of Elite and 2000+ hours of DCS with some IL2 and Star Citizen in between, and so far the only problem I have with them is that I had to remove the afterburner detents because they got stuck and some of the buttons start to feel a bit "floaty" due to wear.

 

For 175€ it was a great purchase and I can do all the tricks fine and easy, even AAR with any kind of plane and while in circular orbit.

 

Of course if you can spare 500 € for the warthog + rudder pedals (since the warthog doesn't come with twist stick) then it is way better.

 

But the 200 € range from Logiteck or Thrustmaster is above the "entry" level for simulation.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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I will just say that Saitek and now Logitech sticks are not as bad as people says. In fact considering the large amount of sticks they sold and they still sell I'd say some malfunctioning sticks can be considered normal.

 

I have a X52 for 4 years now, went through 1000+ hours of Elite and 2000+ hours of DCS with some IL2 and Star Citizen in between, and so far the only problem I have with them is that I had to remove the afterburner detents because they got stuck and some of the buttons start to feel a bit "floaty" due to wear.

 

For 175€ it was a great purchase and I can do all the tricks fine and easy, even AAR with any kind of plane and while in circular orbit.

 

Of course if you can spare 500 € for the warthog + rudder pedals (since the warthog doesn't come with twist stick) then it is way better.

 

But the 200 € range from Logiteck or Thrustmaster is above the "entry" level for simulation.

 

 

I would second that.

 

Saitek had issues with the X55 (I had one that produced a broken cable in the throttle after four years), which partly migrated to the initial X56 (the grey one).

 

In any case, after four years I consider this not terrible performance, as I also used it heavily for DCS and Elite. It would even have been a relatively easy fix, if you have the time and will to do it. :)

 

 

These issues should however be pretty much mitigated in the new (blue) version of the X56. This is a revision of the model addressing just the above issue.

 

I have that one now for over a year and am very happy with it.

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I use a VKB Gladiator stick. It works very well, has twist for rudder, and is about $100. I also got a Warthog throttle mainly because I needed the long travel for fine control for carrier traps. I would try a Warthog stick but the $s for it, + rudder pedals, + the FA-18 grip, is just WAY too much for me.

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The Logitech X56 is generally fine. It isn't going to be as good as a Warthog setup but I think that many of its technical issues are either overstated or simply a result of not using a powered USB 3.0 hub for the throttle (it draws a lot of power). I have known quite a few people who have owned X56's (including myself) and none of them (again, including myself) had any major technical issues.

 

For some reason, there is a narrative that the X56 is thing thing that will just inevitably break but I strongly suspect that this perception comes from a relative few widely referenced cases that got a lot of attention in the community due to youtubers and unreliable user reviews.

 

Again. It isn't perfect but as far as cheaper HOTAS setups go, it is one of the more versatile options while still being generally reliable enough to get you started in the hobby.

 

Yes I too enjoy the X56. Lots of buttons, rotors, switches, thumb controllers. The only complaint I have is the small amount of looseness in the center of the joystick but once you get used to it the smoothness and accuracy is fantastic! Let me add there is no stiction on either the stick or throttle and the joystick has interchangeable tension springs.


Edited by fitness88
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Buy him the Warthog! Don't you love your son!? Haha! (This is funny to me because my dad pitched in and years later still love it, really thankful he understood my hobby)

 

 

I am very happy with the stick, not having read all the posts, there are two recurring issues: The slew control on the throttle is a very low quality sensor that in some units seems to be faulty built in factory. You can fix that mostly with deadzones, but if you buy it from a vendor check that out and send it back. Second and most common is low quality grease used in the stick. After about a year of heavy use, the grease will degrade and you will have to manually re-apply some by yourself, which is a little bit of work.

 

 

^ Done that, the stick is imho even better than default from factory, since you can apply 1-2 more fixes while doing that. One is to remove or adjust the spring to your liking (helicopter pilots like no spring and adjusting it may be wise for extensions) the other is to remove or replace a part that reduces or increases sticktion in the centre of the stick.

 

 

The throttle is really great too, if you look past the low quality slew control (i only really use it in the a10c), has absolut great feel and has been steadily going for about 5 years without any problems. I figure at somepoint I might need to take it apart for some cleaning but there seems to be no pressure yet.

 

For the Hornet specifically I have no problems, nor any other modules. You have enough buttons, axis, switches etc. reasonably needed, if there is need for more, with modifiers the amount of possible buttons becomes absurd. For tasks like A2A refueling in the Hornet (or A10C, Harrier, F-16, F-15 etc.) a throttle like this is great and honestly I can not imagine doing it without it. This is all with the default TM Hotas Warthog, I see currently no reason to upgrade to the hornet grip, it works quite good without it.

 

 

 

Now I know this is a lot of money, but imho it's well spend on this, since it's also a investment in a hobby, you will use for many years / hours a year. You should also note that the price for flightsim hardware on ebay etc. will not quickly decay, if you do some maintenance you can make quite a bit of money back.

 

 

 

There are many products I have heard good things about in the price range (and above!) of the TM Warthog, if you pay so much it might be worth to consider going a bit further if it's worth it.

 

 

Last, if it's a concern your son might drop the flightsim hobby and you sit there with hole in your pocket, you can claim that stick always for yourself. "This cost a lot money, son. If you don't use it, it's mine!"

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My experience with the Logitech X-52 Pro has not been very good. In less than 30 days of use, the joystick has taken as 3 degrees of slack and the throttle has begun to fail in its path without reaching maximum power. I think that to say that bad opinions about Logitech are unfounded is something daring, without taking into account that we are in prices that are around 200 dollars and nobody invests so much money in products so unpredictable, that they can turn out good, or also very bad. I hope I helped.

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My experience with the Logitech X-52 Pro has not been very good. In less than 30 days of use, the joystick has taken as 3 degrees of slack and the throttle has begun to fail in its path without reaching maximum power. I think that to say that bad opinions about Logitech are unfounded is something daring, without taking into account that we are in prices that are around 200 dollars and nobody invests so much money in products so unpredictable, that they can turn out good, or also very bad. I hope I helped.

 

Actually Saitek not Logitech made the X-52 Pro. The only problem it had for the 7 years I used it was rotary twitching, other than that it was also very smooth with no stiction.

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Most new flight simmers start with inexpensive gear, but as they gain experience soon learn that the gear is limiting their satisfaction, immersion and suspension of disbelief. They then upgrade to the maximum they can afford. I went through 3 such stages.

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I would second the thrustmaster twcs stick, it's the only stick in that price category that uses hall effect sensors. I never had a problem with dead zone drift like other cheap sticks. I eventually upgraded to a warthog years later.

 

I've got the T.16000 less than a year, and already developed some center play in the pitch-axis...

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