Its a shame that TM Warthog for 500 USD has such a low quality slew control

[PoleCat]

I do love my Warthog and I suppose the slew control could use improvement but I am a little more disappointed that the WH didn't come with the rest of the A-10C attached. I thought it would. I mean it cost me 407 beans, why is there no A-10C attached to it? I thought they said I could fly with it? Let me see now, where did I put my lawyer’s phone number? :D

 

Out

Edited February 16, 2011 by PoleCat

[Geskes]

I do love my Warthog and the slew control seems just fine to me but I am a little disappointed that the WH didn't come with the rest of the A-10C attached. I thought it would. I mean it cost me 407 beans, why is there no A-10C attached to it? I thought they said I could fly with it? Let me see now, where did I put my lawyer’s phone number? :D

Out

 

Weird, I got an A-10 with it but I was a little disappointed myself that it only included training ammo and ordnance. Also had to RMA the right engine because it ran a bit hot. :joystick:

[hassata]

Micky D.

Then how can their attitude be reprehensible ?:

 

She was an old woman on a fixed income with severe burns. She went to corporate headquarters with $20,000 in medical bills. After giving her the run-around for 2 years, they offered her $800. The award was in large part punitive for the extreme disregard with which they treated the woman, and also a message to other corporations that such behavior will not be tolerated. All it would have taken was one person in management or legal to say, "old woman, severe burns, can't work, billions in profits, pay her medical bill, and maybe give her free coffee for life." Problem solved.

 

The end result was lukewarm coffee at McDonald's.

[Geskes]

I guess that solution would motivate whole slews of old women on fixed incomes to burn themselves with Micky D coffee brew. (which by the way tastes awfull)

[hassata]

=McD's takes out Old Woman with Coffee Burns Insurance. LOL, but not really.

[S77th-konkussion]

Don't know where you have seen TM for such high price ($500!) ... It is overpriced generally but average price I saw about 350-400 bucks.

 

Yeah it was. It seems to be slowly dropping in a few places.. here's an Amazon example. It was $499 pretty much across the board for a while..

 

http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-Hotas-Warthog-Flight-Stick/dp/B00419ZUXS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1297903623&sr=8-4

[Sokol1_br]

The slew control on actual aircraft controls is a pressure-sensitive sensor.

 

This kind of device - transductor - appeared in joystick before:

In ancient Tm TQS (F16FLCS/F22PRO HOTAS), the so caled "erasearhead" (remember some IBM laptop mouse device). And these in TQS was horrible for using...

 

Obvious don't cost like one these:http://www.guardian-electric.com/pdf/linear_transducer.pdf

 

Sokol1_Br

[hreich]

Yes i do...and g940, and i once owned a palette of saiteks from x-36 to x-52 ( i sold everything except g940 from logitech)..Why do you ask?

 

Just a quick question hreich, do you own a Warthog?

[Succellus]

The only issue i have with the slew driver is its quite cramped. As it has very few travel curving the progression line isn t really usefull.

The rest is fine.

 

Damn i had forgot how painfull it is thinkering and programing HOTAS.

RoF, Il2 1946, (soon IL2:fish), FC2, K50, A10c... Well at least those 2 are already programed but you always can improve, can t you ?

 

And i have to relearn to fly....the stick is so sensitive, not used to it.

[Bucic]

Isn't the rubber thingy on X-52 series throttle some kind of transducer too?

[WarriorX]

Yes i do...and g940, and i once owned a palette of saiteks from x-36 to x-52 ( i sold everything except g940 from logitech)..Why do you ask?

The reason is that if you did not own one, then the point of this thread would be based on your opinion of hardware you did not own.

[Teej]

The only issue i have with the slew driver is its quite cramped. As it has very few travel curving the progression line isn t really usefull.

The rest is fine.

 

Damn i had forgot how painfull it is thinkering and programing HOTAS.

RoF, Il2 1946, (soon IL2:fish), FC2, K50, A10c... Well at least those 2 are already programed but you always can improve, can t you ?

 

And i have to relearn to fly....the stick is so sensitive, not used to it.

 

Because of the way it's used, you don't need the whole range of values the microstick offers. Therefore, you can tame its response by capping the max values it will return. It's returning like +/- 1024 values in each axis if I remember right. You really only need +/- 5 or 10 to give good proportional control to radar cursors and seeker head.

[hreich]

How can I accomplish this? Inside target sw, or in-game options?

 

Because of the way it's used, you don't need the whole range of values the microstick offers. Therefore, you can tame its response by capping the max values it will return. It's returning like +/- 1024 values in each axis if I remember right. You really only need +/- 5 or 10 to give good proportional control to radar cursors and seeker head.

[hreich]

Yes but by owning it I can confirm that slew is Fubar-ed, and write about my frustration in this thread that i opened....

:joystick:

 

The reason is that if you did not own one, then the point of this thread would be based on your opinion of hardware you did not own.

[Succellus]

Because of the way it's used, you don't need the whole range of values the microstick offers. Therefore, you can tame its response by capping the max values it will return. It's returning like +/- 1024 values in each axis if I remember right. You really only need +/- 5 or 10 to give good proportional control to radar cursors and seeker head.

 

Thank you Teej i will try it!!

[Teej]

You can definitely do it in TARGET. Some games will let you set it in the game, too.

 

In A-10C, it's "saturation" and the default profile has it pulled down pretty well (15%)

 

FC2 (and I assume BS) also have saturation you can tweak. If you can't figure it out, let me know - I'll post some suggestions if necessary, but I don't fly combat in FC2 so I don't have an example "at the ready" - I'd have to play with it a minute. I suspect it's the "y" saturation that needs to be pulled down.

 

For anything else, you'll probably need to do it in TARGET. You would add a (negative) "zoom" factor to the axis to accomplish this. Probably ~ -7 or -8 would do it.

[some1]

Well, I have TM:HW. Even though my throttle is bricked (got yesterday a replacement board) and I already had to open the stick and lubricate it properly, I still think I've made the right choice and would buy the WH for a second time without hesitation. There is no better alternative - simple as that.

 

But....

 

I agree with the OP. The slew control is poor and not precise. It's small and very light to move, so you can obtain 3, maybe 4 different slew speeds at best and only if you are very careful. Practically you have to limit the sensitivity so much, you end up with something that can't slew faster that a normal HAT, which makes the whole idea of analog slew control useless.

 

Every business laptop from Hp, Lenovo or Dell has a proper, not moving pressure stick for mouse control that is more precise than the slew control in HW, even if it detects only several levels of pressure. But it gives a proper feedback, so you can vary the pressure with your finger, while with TM:HW slew control you don't get any feedback at all, it's too loose and has too small travel distance.

And I'm sure these sensors in laptops don't cost loads of money.

 

Don't know where you have seen TM for such high price ($500!) ... It is overpriced generally but average price I saw about 350-400 bucks.

 

In EU? 450$ excl. shipping is considered to be very cheap.

 

 

 

Anyway, that would be the first thing I'd like to see modded and replaced by a more serious sensor. Anyone up to the task? :)

Edited February 17, 2011 by some1

[hreich]

I have another question...how to setup slew sensitivity, - there is no default a-10c profile in target?

 

You can definitely do it in TARGET. Some games will let you set it in the game, too.

 

In A-10C, it's "saturation" and the default profile has it pulled down pretty well (15%)

 

FC2 (and I assume BS) also have saturation you can tweak. If you can't figure it out, let me know - I'll post some suggestions if necessary, but I don't fly combat in FC2 so I don't have an example "at the ready" - I'd have to play with it a minute. I suspect it's the "y" saturation that needs to be pulled down.

 

For anything else, you'll probably need to do it in TARGET. You would add a (negative) "zoom" factor to the axis to accomplish this. Probably ~ -7 or -8 would do it.

[S77th-konkussion]

Don't know about target- but there is a slew control right on the TGP display in game. Just hit the value you want on the UFC (typically 2, 3, or 4) and then the slew OSB.

[Teej]

I have another question...how to setup slew sensitivity, - there is no default a-10c profile in target?

 

Like Kon said, you can do it in flight as mentioned.

 

If that doesn't do the trick for ya...try this:

 

In DCS options, controls, click the pulldown (that says 'ALL' by default) and choose axis commands. Look for the JOYX and JOYY under the *THROTTLE* column.

 

You can then choose those and use "axis tune".

[DayGlow]

Isn't the rubber thingy on X-52 series throttle some kind of transducer too?

 

It's simply an 8 way switch. 1 speed and on/off in 8 directions. The speed can be adjusted in the software.

[Cali]

so since the last post years ago, has anyone moded this slew control? :) I'd be keen to attempt a mod, because I'm really disappointed in stock "nipple".

 

When I first used it I thought it was a little weird, but now it works just fine. I still think the best ministick is the one on the CH throttle. The one on my cougar isn't all that great. Maybe you can super glue a little piece on it to make it stick out more.

[cichlidfan]

so since the last post years ago, has anyone moded this slew control? :) I'd be keen to attempt a mod, because I'm really disappointed in stock "nipple".

 

Keep in mind that you can adjust the curves for the mini-stick axis just like the others. Look at the default A-10C settings (which I think are pretty good), and go from there.

 

I also find that a light touch is needed most of the time but I have also probably gotten used to it as well.

[lunaticfringe]

Having torn both halves of the Warthog throttle down to look for simple modification opportunities, I'm not betting highly on the function of the slew itself to be altered without a full on replacement. However, the one aspect that I think *could* be physically altered, and thus grant a better feel for it, is a cap to be installed on the pointer itself.

 

The reason this would be of assistance is based on the aspect that it would increase the surface area being controlled by the fingertip, rather than a contact point of an 1/8th of an inch or less. The more contact your finger has with the control, the better the measure of control you have. There's enough room in the travel of the pointer to install a sleeve over it and still have at least half or more of the range, which is really all that's necessary for precision. One could use a water-soluable glue, just a small dab so that it does not fall below the sleeve into the works, and the sleeved cap (designed to recreate the transducer cap's look and feel) would hold in place just fine, and could be gently removed, and cleaned, for resale or replacement of the pointer assembly should it ever fail (the entire mechanism is a press-fit piece).

 

Admittedly, I don't have real issues with it, I'd just rather a cap for the feel of it. I'm more interested in modifications to the outboard throttle, but that's for something else.

 

Lastly, I'm not going to bitch at Thrustmaster for the construction of the device. A MSRP of $499 (which it was) puts them at no more than $125 to retail- that's not a lot of room for costing out a different set of components. Folks complain that it's overpriced now- they'd go bonkers at $200 cost to TM, and a retail of a grand.

 

The most unfortunate part of the assembly is that they finally took the advice to actually solder components to their connectors, and did it with the inboard throttle's switches to the control board. I'd love to swap out the boat and china switches and caps, but that's not happening. Such is life; I'll swap the programming and deal with a minor loss to realism for what I intend (switchology to match the F-15C, rather than the A-10); no great shakes.

[MatzWarhog]

However, the one aspect that I think *could* be physically altered, and thus grant a better feel for it, is a cap to be installed on the pointer itself.

 

Excellent suggestion!!! I have several small/miniature SPST switches, that came with several colored rubber "caps" that are intended to make the switches easily identifiable. About to check, but I'm almost sure they will fit snugly, and nearly double the length of the slew stem. :thumbup:

 

Matz