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F/A-18 grip quality question


IanHx2

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Hi,

I can see a few posts about "wobbly grips".

What I can't tell from these posts is if this is a minority of cases, or whether if

I go ahead and buy one then in all likelihood I will need to perform surgery on it

within a few weeks.

 

So... any feedback ?

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I'm using the original Warthog stick and the F/A-18 stick with the TM base an with a Virpil base. No problems with both sticks on both bases.

A-10A, A-10C, A-10C II, AV-8B, F-5E, F-16C, F/A-18C, F-86F, Yak-52, Nevada, Persian Gulf, Syria, Supercarrier, Combined Arms, FW 190 A-8, FW 190 D-9, Spitfire LF Mk. IX, Normandy + WWII Assets Pack

 

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Mine (F/A-18C grip) is rock solid.

 

My older WH grip had some wobble after years of service. Basically there are a couple of Allen heads holding the halves of the grip together near the bottom that might need to be tightened if over time they work slightly loose. When this happens there is a little movement in the mounting shaft the halves hold in place. This is typically the source of the “wobble”.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I recently received mine (purchased from community member here :thumbup:)

 

No "wobble-ness" here and no overall complaints. These metal grips just feel so good

 

 

 

One thing though.. This Hornet grip is large! I definitely need to shift my hand in order to reach all buttons (I don't have to with the A-10/F-16 grip). It's not that I have extremely small hands, but this grip makes me feel like I do :P

System specs:

 

i7-8700K @stock speed - GTX 1080TI @ stock speed - AsRock Extreme4 Z370 - 32GB DDR4 @3GHz- 500GB SSD - 2TB nvme - 650W PSU

HP Reverb G1 v2 - Saitek Pro pedals - TM Warthog HOTAS - TM F/A-18 Grip - TM Cougar HOTAS (NN-Dan mod) & (throttle standalone mod) - VIRPIL VPC Rotor TCS Plus with ALPHA-L grip - Pointctrl & aux banks <-- must have for VR users!! - Andre's SimShaker Jetpad - Fully adjustable DIY playseat - VA+VAICOM

 

~ That nuke might not have been the best of ideas, Sir... the enemy is furious ~ GUMMBAH

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I recently received mine (purchased from community member here :thumbup:)

 

No "wobble-ness" here and no overall complaints. These metal grips just feel so good

 

 

 

One thing though.. This Hornet grip is large! I definitely need to shift my hand in order to reach all buttons (I don't have to with the A-10/F-16 grip). It's not that I have extremely small hands, but this grip makes me feel like I do :P

Yeah I find BTN4 lever quite small and hard to reach to operate alongside other buttons from the joy.

Warthog stick is much better in that regard.

i5 8400 | 32 Gb RAM | RTX 2080Ti | Virpil Mongoose T-50 base w/ Warthog & Hornet sticks | Warthog throttle | Cougar throttle USB | DIY Collective | Virpil desk mount | VKB T-Rudder Mk IV | Oculus Rift S | Buddy-Fox A-10 UFC | 3x TM MFDs | 2x bass shakers pedal plate| SIMple SIMpit chair | WinWing TakeOff panel | PointCTRL v2 | Andre JetSeat | Winwing Hornet UFC | Winwing Viper ICP

FC3 - Warthog - F-5E - Harrier - NTTR - Hornet - Tomcat - Huey - Viper - C-101 - PG - Hip - SuperCarrier - Syria - Warthog II - Hind - South Atlantic - Sinai - Strike Eagle

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~ 2/3 yes, as the top shell is plastic. :D

 

The top part is not really in your hand :smilewink:

System specs:

 

i7-8700K @stock speed - GTX 1080TI @ stock speed - AsRock Extreme4 Z370 - 32GB DDR4 @3GHz- 500GB SSD - 2TB nvme - 650W PSU

HP Reverb G1 v2 - Saitek Pro pedals - TM Warthog HOTAS - TM F/A-18 Grip - TM Cougar HOTAS (NN-Dan mod) & (throttle standalone mod) - VIRPIL VPC Rotor TCS Plus with ALPHA-L grip - Pointctrl & aux banks <-- must have for VR users!! - Andre's SimShaker Jetpad - Fully adjustable DIY playseat - VA+VAICOM

 

~ That nuke might not have been the best of ideas, Sir... the enemy is furious ~ GUMMBAH

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm getting inclined to buy the TM F/A-18 grip (+ TM hotas magnetic base), does anyone knows what does it mean, at the product's info file :

 

" excluding implementation of button 19 " ?

 

Or what is button 19 ?

Thank you.

Hangar
FC3 | F-14A/B | F-16C | F/A-18C | MiG-21bis | Mirage 2000C ... ... JA 37 | Kfir | MiG-23 | Mirage IIIE
Mi-8 MTV2

system
i7-4790 K , 16 GB DDR3 , GTX 1660 Ti 6GB , Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

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F/A-18 grip Add On button # 19 is the press button in left side of grip 5 way HAT (in RL F/A-18 grip this 'HAT' is 3 or 4 buttons only).

 

This button don't work if you use F/A-18 grip Add On in Cougar base, because this base support 18 buttons + POV HAT, Warthog base is 19 buttons +POV HAT.

 

VirPil and VKB bases support up to 128 buttons.

 

Thank you Sokol, now I understand it.

 

If I can acquire them relatively fast in my country, it will be TM hotas magnetic base with it, as those 2 products fit in my actual budget.

(It could have been the Virpil base, but it takes too much time to come by.)

Hangar
FC3 | F-14A/B | F-16C | F/A-18C | MiG-21bis | Mirage 2000C ... ... JA 37 | Kfir | MiG-23 | Mirage IIIE
Mi-8 MTV2

system
i7-4790 K , 16 GB DDR3 , GTX 1660 Ti 6GB , Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

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And Thrustmaster (again) it was.

 

Was finally lucky to find a major online / street store company (here in Portugal), which indeed had both products in stock.

 

And so, both the F/A-18C grip + Hotas magnetic base (only available through online order) arrived at the store today; merely 2 days after ordering... I guess contrary to other companies, these really had some stock on their warehouse.

 

The prices ?

 

F/A-18C grip : 181,90 €

Hotas magnetic base : 119,90 €

 

 

Hangar
FC3 | F-14A/B | F-16C | F/A-18C | MiG-21bis | Mirage 2000C ... ... JA 37 | Kfir | MiG-23 | Mirage IIIE
Mi-8 MTV2

system
i7-4790 K , 16 GB DDR3 , GTX 1660 Ti 6GB , Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

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Would appreciate your advice please:

 

- should I install: firmware, drivers or both ?

- before or after, plugging the Hotas base USB to my PC ?

- should the grip be mounted on the Hotas base already ?

 

Thank you.

Hangar
FC3 | F-14A/B | F-16C | F/A-18C | MiG-21bis | Mirage 2000C ... ... JA 37 | Kfir | MiG-23 | Mirage IIIE
Mi-8 MTV2

system
i7-4790 K , 16 GB DDR3 , GTX 1660 Ti 6GB , Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

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Would appreciate your advice please:

 

- should I install: firmware, drivers or both ?

- before or after, plugging the Hotas base USB to my PC ?

- should the grip be mounted on the Hotas base already ?

 

Thank you.

 

I think for the setup you have to mount the stick into the base. If I remember correctly, install the drivers and then plug the base once the installer asks you to do so.

Being a long time though.

i5 8400 | 32 Gb RAM | RTX 2080Ti | Virpil Mongoose T-50 base w/ Warthog & Hornet sticks | Warthog throttle | Cougar throttle USB | DIY Collective | Virpil desk mount | VKB T-Rudder Mk IV | Oculus Rift S | Buddy-Fox A-10 UFC | 3x TM MFDs | 2x bass shakers pedal plate| SIMple SIMpit chair | WinWing TakeOff panel | PointCTRL v2 | Andre JetSeat | Winwing Hornet UFC | Winwing Viper ICP

FC3 - Warthog - F-5E - Harrier - NTTR - Hornet - Tomcat - Huey - Viper - C-101 - PG - Hip - SuperCarrier - Syria - Warthog II - Hind - South Atlantic - Sinai - Strike Eagle

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I think for the setup you have to mount the stick into the base. If I remember correctly, install the drivers and then plug the base once the installer asks you to do so.

Being a long time though.

 

Thank you Tundra.

Yes it went exactly like that.

 

Only installed the drivers though, about the firmware (don't exactly know what is does - updates drivers ?), I'll leave it for another time as the combo is working perfectly so far...

Hangar
FC3 | F-14A/B | F-16C | F/A-18C | MiG-21bis | Mirage 2000C ... ... JA 37 | Kfir | MiG-23 | Mirage IIIE
Mi-8 MTV2

system
i7-4790 K , 16 GB DDR3 , GTX 1660 Ti 6GB , Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

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If all your buttons etc are working you're likely good with not updating the firmware. Those of us that had pre-F-18 grip bases had to update the firmware to get the F-18 grip to work with it (not sure if it completely wouldn't have worked or just some buttons since I updated it before I played because I knew I had to). Likely the newer bases have the new(er) firmware to support that grip pre-installed. If you run into things not working, then looking at firmware would be a good first troubleshooting step.

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If all your buttons etc are working you're likely good with not updating the firmware. Those of us that had pre-F-18 grip bases had to update the firmware to get the F-18 grip to work with it (not sure if it completely wouldn't have worked or just some buttons since I updated it before I played because I knew I had to). Likely the newer bases have the new(er) firmware to support that grip pre-installed. If you run into things not working, then looking at firmware would be a good first troubleshooting step.

 

Oh I see, in those cases there was an F-16 or A-10 grip previously installed on that base.

 

In that case I'll leave as it is, thank you for the insight.

Hangar
FC3 | F-14A/B | F-16C | F/A-18C | MiG-21bis | Mirage 2000C ... ... JA 37 | Kfir | MiG-23 | Mirage IIIE
Mi-8 MTV2

system
i7-4790 K , 16 GB DDR3 , GTX 1660 Ti 6GB , Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

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Oh I see, in those cases there was an F-16 or A-10 grip previously installed on that base.

Yes, but specifically the problem was that the F-18 grip didn't even exist when they were manufactured, so firmware had to be updated to be compatible with it when it was born (more so than just changing from an A-10 grip on the base to a F-18 grip) :). Now that it's out there, any newly manufactured bases will automatically be loaded with firmware that is compatible with both.

 

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