x56 HOTAS upgrade, WINWING Orion2 MAX HOTAS vs WKB Gunfighter IV Ultimate.

[DejmienoPl]

Hi guys,

I own Logitech x56 HOTAS but I'm thinking about to replace it with something better, for sure for something which is not made from plastic. 

Most important is to upgrade stick, I can live with x56 throttle if upgrade is not game changer. 

Visually, I fall in love with WKB Gunfighter IV Ultimate... but it's quite expensive. With discount I can afford it for 608 EUR with shipment. In my budget I'm able to buy only stick, and leave throttle for another month. 

In the same budget in WINWING I can buy full HOTAS Orion2 MAX or buy only stick and instead of upgrading throttle just buy rudder pedals (currently I use small stick on x56 throttle to control rudder).

Any advice? Is Gunfighter really worth the price? 

I'm flying F-14 Tomcat with plans to also learn F-4 Phantom, F-16, Mig-29 Falcon and Apache.

[MAXsenna]

@DejmienoPl

If you're going to spend that much money, and you mostly fly the F-14, plan on F-4 and helicopters. You WILL regret down the line not getting a force feedback base. Even if you have to wait a little to save up more money.

The FFB bases you can consider are the FFBeast and the VPForce Rhino, which both are made by enthusiasts and can also be done as a DIY project. There is also the Moza base, which might even fit your budget. Winwing and Virpil have plans to release FFB bases in the future. They will probably be better than the Moza, while I highly doubt they will have the flexibility and telemetry of the Rhino, and the strength of the Beast. 

Cheers! 

Edited 22 hours ago by MAXsenna

[DejmienoPl]

@MAXsenna thanks for reply!

Do you think if Winwing release FFB base it will be compatible with current joysticks? In such case I could just sell ORION 2 base and buy new one. 

[MAXsenna]

@MAXsenna thanks for reply!
Do you think if Winwing release FFB base it will be compatible with current joysticks? In such case I could just sell ORION 2 base and buy new one. 

Personally, I prefer using bases/grips/extensions that are compatible with Thrustmaster connectors. (Virpil, Rhino, FFBeast, Moza and more). But yes, of course you could sell parts when you upgrade.
There are converters available for matching unmatching grips.
If I were you, I would look up the different forum threads under the Input forum to seek more advice there! Also under the "For Sale" thread, you can find kits for Rhino and FFBeast, which makes the DIY process quicker and simpler.

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[TheBiggerBass]

I had a logitech x56 Hotas, but returned it after a few weeks because I wasn't satisfied with the quality. Then I bought a TurtleBeach VelocityOne Flight Deck Hotas which I used for about 3 months. It's much better than the X56 but I was looking for top notch. Then I bought the VKB Gunfighter IV ultimate in March which elevated joystick performance to a completely different level. Die cast aluminum shell, nice tactile switch feeling, customizeable into every imagineable direction, good tutorial videos, fast and kind customer support ect. completes the overall picture. Yes, also the price is another level but I didn't regret it a single second. Highly recommended.

[Aapje]

@DejmienoPl

A lot of people focus blame the poor quality of their old stick on it being plastic, but high quality plastics used in the right places (with metal components where needed) are actually very good and comfortable. Real modern planes never use metal sticks. You often pay a substantial premium for getting a metal grip.

Anyway, the VKB Gladiator is the best mid-range joystick. Basically, everything below it (and even several more expensive products) have major issues.

Then above that you have the separate bases and grips, where VKB and Virpil provide very good solutions. Keep in mind that these are designed to be mounted, so that can result in extra costs for mounting kits. Winwing is cheaper as you've seen, but you pay for this with poorer quality control and especially poor service. There are a lot of horror stories about them where people basically get screwed over, and end up with no money and no functioning product. So are you willing to take that risk?

The highest end of the scale are the FFB bases, which are way nicer still and probably will fully cannibalize the top end of the previous category. You have the VPForce and FFBeast, which are top tier, but also in price. Then Moza has a solution with a good base, but mediocre software and a poor grips. I personally have the Moza AB9 with a Virpil grip, which works quite well and which was substantially cheaper than the VPForce and FFBeast. Any day now they will also come out with a cheaper AB6-base with less power.

Virpil and Winwing are going to release a FFB base as well, where Winwing has announced very attractive pricing, but their base is very tall (although less wide than the competition). This may require a full rig, and not be suitable for table mounting. We also have no idea how well their hardware and software will actually perform.

And I'm personally very happy with the VKB STECS throttle.