Just ordered HOTAS Warthog massive grin.

[Mule]

An unexpected bonus came through yesterday and it just covers the cost of the HOTAS i had a plan to save up for one. With 2 kids a wife and bills it's hard to come up with that sort of money and justify it in my house.

 

Tried explaining this to mates at work and needless to say blank faces all round and i think they still have no idea what a HOTAS Warthog is :)

[Steel Jaw]

I'm amazed you got that past the wife.

[MTFDarkEagle]

You won't be dissapointed!!!!! :D :thumbup:

[Joyride]

Nice. I just did the same thing - got a bonus and broke down and finally made the purchase. Now I just wish I'd have bought it 3 months ago so I'd be that much more up to speed with it.

[Joyride]

...as for the wife, my plan is to hope that she doesn't notice that my "Cougar" throttle suddenly grew lights and switches. :smilewink:

[MTFDarkEagle]

Oh beware if she does.. Women are like hawks in those things... :P

[Cibit]

Nice one Mule, I done the same today, hope to have it monday :D

[Raven68]

I'm amazed you got that past the wife.

 

 

Agreed Mower!! I'm such a hater right now!! I will say congrats to you Mule. Your other stick apparently keeps the wife happy enough to go along with your purchase. :music_whistling: Oh well at least mine allowed me to purchase the G940. :thumbsup:

[wolfstone]

here my quick review of the Warthog

So after having the warthog a month or so what do i think of it....

First impression when I saw it first time in a shop (still boxed) was bloody hell this is heavy..

Even dragged the wife along to check it out xmas was coming up so I put it on my wish list.

When I did get it,(and i knew I would) (LOL) my thoughts were WOW and I mean WOW!!!!!

I have had a cougar for a few years and it was my pride and joy but this really took the prize it is impressive

The first thing you notice about it as you take it out of the packaging is its weight. In order for the dual throttle not to come flying off your desktop during aggressive combat, TM had to make the unit heavy. To accomplish this, they installed not one, but two full-steel base plates on the unit---one layered upon the other. If that wasn't enough, they went further and added an additional three steel bars, stacked one atop the other, inside the housing that are attached to the inside of the inner base plate. If you drop it on your foot, you're going to be sorry.

 

Once you get over the shock of how heavy it is, your eyes are immediately drawn to the control panel with its eight stainless steel toggle switches, and military style white lettering beneath the toggles

To say the least and seems so much better than the Cougar

Needless to say my Cougar had a FCC mod so I also have to get used to a joystick that moves The joystick uses Hall Effect sensors rather than analog pots to send joystick position information to the game. With 65,536 points of discrete resolution on both the x and y axis, this is going to be about the smoothest joystick you've ever used. The sensors are contained within a ball and socket arrangement

So I installed the software , and pluged it in , the throttle lights up like a Christmas tree (new software is now out so you can turn the lighting down if you want to)there is also a firmware update so I used this and bamm dead joystick seems this was a common problem on the first batch of warthogs with numerous people complaining about dead throttles and joystick, but it seems to be over now, any cut a long story short I got the replacement, and there is no problems with it.

A little hint I was told by thrustmaster is that when you do a firmware update do 1 controller at a time, unplug the second.

I have not yet used the Target software that comes with the Hotas as it is allready set up in DCS A10, just as the real aircraft, the only thing I needed to do was remap the trim command, in game to the trim button on the controller, as it is setup for view for those that do not have track IR.

The Throttle is really smooth and has proper idents for turning the engine off by slightly lifting the throttle up over the ident.

The same goes for the other end if you want to have afterburner Idents you can just reverse a small panel between the throttles and it then gives you the afterburner idents again just lift up over.

The 2 throttles can be locked together if you want ,but I do not use this as you control it better I feel.

All the switches work as they should in game and it is great that you can use these for a part of the startup procedure .

The Mic switch is used for Comms in game.

In fact I keep forgetting that there are so many switches and still have to remember that I can turn the external lights on or engage the autopilot with the flick of a switch

I find the slew button rather small but I am getting used to it, I am also getting used to the chinahat speed brakes and boat switch as for me they are placed a bit far away (for use with your thumb and mine aint that big),so it’s a stretch but again I am getting used to it.

The joystick is precise with the hall sensors and if you are used to a cougar then it will seem familiar to you

Every thing seems nice and tight and all the buttons seem to work with military precision and it feels, well

Just well made .

You can remove the pinky switch if you want to as it is not used in A10 but I use mine for team speak as I always have as per my cougar(I did have teamspeak on the mic switch on the throttle ,but changed it as I felt it did not work so well)

I always seemed to be fighting the aircraft in DCS and trimming continually , so I have put a deadzone of 5 and a curve of 2 in game settings and it fly’s a lot more stable now and is a pleasure to use.

I am still learning where every thing is on the stick as every button has a different use depending on which SOI mode you are in HUD ,or left right MFDS , and still do make mistakes this is also because I am learning the Game as well .

There is no connection (game port) on this unit for rudders as the old Cougar Had so if you have game port rudders you are sort of stuck I originally used my Cougar in conjunction with the Warthog ,so I could use my Simpeds, but I thought this was a waste of a cougar so I sold the Cougar and the rudders, and Brought the new Saitek combat Pro rudder which are also fantastic.

You can interchange the cougar and warthog stick if you want but I see no reason for this as you can just make a profile thru target for the F16 if you want.

All in all I am really happy with this in fact happy is the wrong word it just feels and looks fantastic , who ever happens to see it are amazed at it and it brings a smile to my face every time there Jaw drops.

Together with my cougar MFDs and the combat pro rudders I am going to have many a happy year with this.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2011 by wolfstone

[BKLronin]

Congrats and don´t forget the covers http://www.warthogcover.com/ :)

[PoleCat]

Congratulations! Enjoy!

 

Out

[bumfire]

One of the things that bugs me about my warthog is the red china hat button is now starting to wear away to a white colour :(

 

You would of thought for the price of these things that they would of had red plastic buttons that are actually red all the way through instead of just on the surface.

 

I have only had mine for a month, so judging by mine, others china hat button must be worse than what mine is I would think ?

[Zenra]

I'm trying to get mine to start showing signs of wear. That way my wife may not realize it's not my old Cougar throttle until it looks "old" enough to have been around a while...

 

@Mule: Congrats on the purchase - you won't regret it!

[Mule]

ha ha i was very up front with the wife after all these years of simming she just rolls her eyes and says something under her breath probably begins with c and ends in t.

 

Cib check yer email mate i think my message thing on here is borked.

[Mule]

...as for the wife, my plan is to hope that she doesn't notice that my "Cougar" throttle suddenly grew lights and switches. :smilewink:

 

 

LOL :megalol:

[Mule]

One of the things that bugs me about my warthog is the red china hat button is now starting to wear away to a white colour :(

 

You would of thought for the price of these things that they would of had red plastic buttons that are actually red all the way through instead of just on the surface.

 

I have only had mine for a month, so judging by mine, others china hat button must be worse than what mine is I would think ?

 

With 12 gig of corsair ram i have no sympathy with you. :)

[Succellus]

here my quick review of the Warthog

So after having the warthog a month or so what do i think of it....

First impression when I saw it first time in a shop (still boxed) was bloody hell this is heavy..

Even dragged the wife along to check it out xmas was coming up so I put it on my wish list.

When I did get it,(and i knew I would) (LOL) my thoughts were WOW and I mean WOW!!!!!

I have had a cougar for a few years and it was my pride and joy but this really took the prize it is impressive

The first thing you notice about it as you take it out of the packaging is its weight. In order for the dual throttle not to come flying off your desktop during aggressive combat, TM had to make the unit heavy. To accomplish this, they installed not one, but two full-steel base plates on the unit---one layered upon the other. If that wasn't enough, they went further and added an additional three steel bars, stacked one atop the other, inside the housing that are attached to the inside of the inner base plate. If you drop it on your foot, you're going to be sorry.

 

Once you get over the shock of how heavy it is, your eyes are immediately drawn to the control panel with its eight stainless steel toggle switches, and military style white lettering beneath the toggles

To say the least and seems so much better than the Cougar

Needless to say my Cougar had a FCC mod so I also have to get used to a joystick that moves The joystick uses Hall Effect sensors rather than analog pots to send joystick position information to the game. With 65,536 points of discrete resolution on both the x and y axis, this is going to be about the smoothest joystick you've ever used. The sensors are contained within a ball and socket arrangement

So I installed the software , and pluged it in , the throttle lights up like a Christmas tree (new software is now out so you can turn the lighting down if you want to)there is also a firmware update so I used this and bamm dead joystick seems this was a common problem on the first batch of warthogs with numerous people complaining about dead throttles and joystick, but it seems to be over now, any cut a long story short I got the replacement, and there is no problems with it.

A little hint I was told by thrustmaster is that when you do a firmware update do 1 controller at a time, unplug the second.

I have not yet used the Target software that comes with the Hotas as it is allready set up in DCS A10, just as the real aircraft, the only thing I needed to do was remap the trim command, in game to the trim button on the controller, as it is setup for view for those that do not have track IR.

The Throttle is really smooth and has proper idents for turning the engine off by slightly lifting the throttle up over the ident.

The same goes for the other end if you want to have afterburner Idents you can just reverse a small panel between the throttles and it then gives you the afterburner idents again just lift up over.

The 2 throttles can be locked together if you want ,but I do not use this as you control it better I feel.

All the switches work as they should in game and it is great that you can use these for a part of the startup procedure .

The Mic switch is used for Comms in game.

In fact I keep forgetting that there are so many switches and still have to remember that I can turn the external lights on or engage the autopilot with the flick of a switch

I find the slew button rather small but I am getting used to it, I am also getting used to the chinahat speed brakes and boat switch as for me they are placed a bit far away (for use with your thumb and mine aint that big),so it’s a stretch but again I am getting used to it.

The joystick is precise with the hall sensors and if you are used to a cougar then it will seem familiar to you

Every thing seems nice and tight and all the buttons seem to work with military precision and it feels, well

Just well made .

You can remove the pinky switch if you want to as it is not used in A10 but I use mine for team speak as I always have as per my cougar(I did have teamspeak on the mic switch on the throttle ,but changed it as I felt it did not work so well)

I always seemed to be fighting the aircraft in DCS and trimming continually , so I have put a deadzone of 5 and a curve of 2 in game settings and it fly’s a lot more stable now and is a pleasure to use.

I am still learning where every thing is on the stick as every button has a different use depending on which SOI mode you are in HUD ,or left right MFDS , and still do make mistakes this is also because I am learning the Game as well .

There is no connection (game port) on this unit for rudders as the old Cougar Had so if you have game port rudders you are sort of stuck I originally used my Cougar in conjunction with the Warthog ,so I could use my Simpeds, but I thought this was a waste of a cougar so I sold the Cougar and the rudders, and Brought the new Saitek combat Pro rudder which are also fantastic.

You can interchange the cougar and warthog stick if you want but I see no reason for this as you can just make a profile thru target for the F16 if you want.

All in all I am really happy with this in fact happy is the wrong word it just feels and looks fantastic , who ever happens to see it are amazed at it and it brings a smile to my face every time there Jaw drops.

Together with my cougar MFDs and the combat pro rudders I am going to have many a happy year with this.

 

 

 

 

Hey wolf what TV you are playing on ? 32 or 40 ?

And with the rudder did you have to make anything for them to work or just plugged them and voila ?

[wolfstone]

Hi no TV just a HP 27inch Monitor and a Acer 19inch under,

as for the rudder yep just plug and play had to adjust toebrakes in game but that was it..

[wolfstone]

hi just noticed you have another thread up about you rudders try to do as i said in that thread , other wise let me know and we will try to get it sorted...

[Cali]

Enjoy it and have fun.

[galagamo]

I enjoy setting at my desk just moving it around. It feels good in my hand especially when its cold:joystick: $500 well spent IMHO:music_whistling:

[Mule]

They arrived today hoorah!!! just took them for a spin. Fantastic stuff i love them. I can use the Guns with great effect.

[MTFDarkEagle]

:D Told ya!

[Mule]

The best thing, well one of the best things is how much more in control i am. I can now heed the advice of so many pilots who say just use very small control inputs. Now i can and it really works. I have just tried a couple of landings and now i can hit centreline without a problem. It's like i almost just glide into the spot i want to. I also love the fact i can just hit the autopilot button and bam it's there, a small point i know but i love it.

 

I'm not very good at deploying mavs very quickly though but that's because i have to retrain myself with regards to coolie hat positions etc.

 

Overall i am just overwhelmed how good these are. I knew it was going to be good i had no idea it was going to be this good.

[El_Roto]

Some things are worth waiting for, but once they arrive you always wish you could have gotten them sooner!