4 Engine Throttle Quadrant

[H60MTI]

With the release of the C-130J coming up shortly-ish, I thought about making this post on who makes and what people recommend a 4-engine throttle quadrant. I assume most of us, if not all, are using something along the lines of the TM Warthog, Logitech, or WinWing HOTAS setup. That's great for just about everything on DCS at the moment, but that'll change with C-130J and her 4 engines. Yes, we've been told that we can bind 2 engines to one throttle, which is fantastic, but perhaps some of us would like individual control of each engine. 

[Arecibo]

I have Winwing gear for my DCS jets, but I’ll be using the Turtle Beach Velocity One for the C-130J.

https://uk.turtlebeach.com/products/velocity-one-flight

I bought it for X-Plane to complement IRL Cessna training (it’s the only unit on the market with vernier controls), so it’s nice to get some more usage out of it (arguably why I even considered purchasing the C-130). Four throttle levers and a host of buttons to map. Hopefully Turtle Beach/ED will add support and allow mapping of the warning lights.

Edited November 22 by Arecibo

[fjacobsen]

I have a Honeycomb Bravo THQ with 6 levers, flaps, gear and trim wheel.

I also have the HoneycombAlpha Yoke.

Rudders are my old CH-Products Rudder Pedals.

 

This setup i mainly for FS2024, but will be perfect for the C-130J

Edited Sunday at 09:11 AM by fjacobsen

[Volator]

I have a Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant too. It's recommendable, quality is good. Only the integrated AP controls and buttons behind the throttle levers are rather useless, as it is hard to access them behind the levers, but in the end it's the reliable levers that count, so that is not a big issue for me.

Haven't used it in ages since I went from XP11 and MSFS2020 to DCS only, but for the C-130J I think I will get it from the attic and integrate it into my current combat flight sim-only hardware setup.

Edited Sunday at 10:09 AM by Volator

[Wostg]

virpil sharka CP3 panel 

[5e EVC Chappy]

Honeycomb Bravo or Turtlebeach Velocity One.

I have the Velocity One thinking of upgrading to the Honeycomb Alpha/Bravo combo.

[tempusmurphy]

14 hours ago, Wostg said:

virpil sharka CP3 panel 

Was about to suggest that myself 

[Furlow]

I really want to like the TCA quadrant 4 engine setup but I'll reserve a recommendation until after I see how it actually works with the C130. When it works in msfs 2020/2024 its amazing, but sometimes you can spend hours trying to get it setup properly on each aircraft. (Having a single TCA throttle + spoiler attachment + flaps attachment works fine, but when you add the 2nd to give you 4 throttle levers things go a bit pear-shaped. Plus the curves you have to use take a lot of figuring out as well).

[D0rmicum]

Have the Honeycomb Bravo as well - really enjoy the flexibility: Honeycomb Bravo

[Arecibo]

1 hour ago, D0rmicum said:

Have the Honeycomb Bravo as well - really enjoy the flexibility: Honeycomb Bravo

Oof, £560 with a Honeycomb yoke. I'd have to fly a lot of civil aviation to justify that price. I bought my turtle Beach setup for £200 on eBay.

[Furlow]

11 hours ago, Furlow said:

I really want to like the TCA quadrant 4 engine setup

As a follow up, the TCA airbus quadrants work perfectly with no annoying setups or curves. Assign axis's and it all just works. Even the lift locks to allow reverse thrust is where it should be. Highly recommended for DCS and C130. 

[H60MTI]

Do you have just the one set for the TCA or are you running 2 TCA Airbuses for a 4-throttle setup? If that makes sense...

[Furlow]

54 minutes ago, H60MTI said:

Do you have just the one set for the TCA or are you running 2 TCA Airbuses for a 4-throttle setup? If that makes sense...

2 sets for 4 total yup, plus the flaps and spoiler addons. Works well.

[H60MTI]

Gotcha! Just curious since I didn't see a single 4 throttle setup.

[splash]

Virpil control panel #3 here.

[D0rmicum]

14 hours ago, Arecibo said:

Oof, £560 with a Honeycomb yoke. I'd have to fly a lot of civil aviation to justify that price. I bought my turtle Beach setup for £200 on eBay.

If you're going the ebay used route: I found the Bravo Throttle for $200, the yoke for $150 which makes it $350 in total which is a difference of $90 (converted your £200 to $260 for comparison reasons).

If you want to save money and are happy with four axis (vs. 6) you can go for the Bravo Lite as well ($170) or have a look at the current Christmas Deals: Honeycomb Bundles where the LITE combo is $300 or the standard combo $600

Next to this, a new Turtle Beach Velocity is $400, a new Honeycomb combo with the standard bravo and alpha lite yoke (I don't think you need the additional buttons and the lighting of the "normal" version) is $500 or, if you want the additional buttons of the standard alpha, it's $600. Overall $100 or $200 more compared to the Velocity (if we don't compare used ebay vs. new) which in my opinion is a reasonable difference compared to the higher quality of the Honeycomb (I had the Velocity before).

Anyway - I don't want to defend or promote the Honeycomb hardware but from my experience and if you have the space and additional $100, from a quality perspective I'd choose the Honeycomb over Turtlebeach. If you have less space and you have to focus on the budget, Turtlebeach is a very good option but also not cheap if you don't get a used one.