HOTAS for DCS Series & more

[DarkTrooper]

Hi there,

Me, a newbie to the forum and dcs, has some questions right of, as the nature of things wants it, so forgive me.

 

I am looking for a new HOTAS, my old Thrustmaster Flight Hotas Stick X (mine was from the first days where it was not named that way and no ps3 support) started to get annoyingly independent in consideration to my input and its output.

 

So now I am looking for a replacement and it seems down to those (plus Rudderpedals) :joystick::

1.) Thrustmaster Warthog

2.) Saitek x65

3.) Flight System G940

 

From what I heard, the Problem I have is,that all seem to have some bugs or will wear of quite quick. The G940 seems to wear of quite fast. The Saitek seem to have centering issues. The Warthog seems to pinch wires.

 

I would spend the money for a Warthog, If I knew that it will last the next 12 Years or so…. Even if it is too much from what I can conclude.

 

So Help :helpsmilie: me, are you satisfied with your HOTAS, what’s you recommendation?

Is your Warthog rock solid (which it should in such little time on the market)?

 

Kind regards,

[Cali]

I have CH Hotas and have never had any of those mentioned above. If I had to choose between those I would take the TM Warthog and pray. Good luck in whichever one you pick.

[Cibit]

Upgraded from x52 to thwh never looked back and no problems yet :)

[ivanwfr]

You should not diagnose from reading forum posts as you will get ALL trouble detailed reports and zero no-trouble boring stories! Kind of like sitting at the entrance of some service support center where you could not miss any of the defective units!

 

My own TM Warthog is perfect and it's the first time I tell anyone about it ;) As a long time Logitech customer, and a rather satisfied one, I can tell you they are not in the same league! Go for it and you'll thank me, hehe!

[DarkTrooper]

Thanks, forgot about CH - mainly because the availability - amazon does not list them as available. The pray thing is keeping me from buying the THWH ... there are things i want to know and not only believe ;-), like Cibit could.

[DarkTrooper]

You should not diagnose from reading forum posts as you will get ALL trouble detailed reports and zero no-trouble boring stories! Kind of like sitting at the entrance of some service support center where you could not miss any of the defective units!

 

My own TM Warthog is perfect and it's the first time I tell anyone about it ;) As a long time Logitech customer, and a rather satisfied one, I can tell you they are not in the same league! Go for it and you'll thank me, hehe!

You are absolutely right. But in parts that is the reason I am asking in the forum. It gives me the worst pov. But of course I am hoping to find some positive reports! So even more Thanks to you for a positive feedback!

[Cali]

The Warthog should be fixed with the newest firmware they have. Like I said, I'd get the Warthog if I had to pick out of those. I have CH and I have no issues with it and have had them for several years.

[DarkTrooper]

Thanks Cali fort the input!

I used to have a CH Flightstick (gray base, black stick in the 90's) and was always very satisfied, to bad there is nothing up to date from them.

A store in Grand Forks, which had the Thrustmaster Produkts for our Falcon 3.0 flying got me amazed about the TH HOTAS - and that is still sticking in my mind...

[skouras]

The Warthog should be fixed with the newest firmware they have. Like I said, I'd get the Warthog if I had to pick out of those. I have CH and I have no issues with it and have had them for several years.

i've got no problem with the latest firmware

it works like a charm:D

if you think about the dead throttles....

[airdog]

TMWH here....its been perfect since day 1! Best stick/throttle I've ever owned!

[automag928]

Since price WAS a factor for me, I went with a Saitek X65 purchased off of ebay for $150 shipped. I'm sure its going to be considerably better than my current x52, plus I'm not locked into a A-10 based stick and throttle. I'm sure I'll post a review once I get it setup and running.

[Cali]

Thanks Cali fort the input!

I used to have a CH Flightstick (gray base, black stick in the 90's) and was always very satisfied, to bad there is nothing up to date from them.

A store in Grand Forks, which had the Thrustmaster Produkts for our Falcon 3.0 flying got me amazed about the TH HOTAS - and that is still sticking in my mind...

 

I agree with them not having anything new. But the items they have are USB, several years old but still work like I just opened the box. I advise you to check out their website and forums http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php? and here http://www.chproducts.com/retail/index.html

 

CH has excellent programming, I don't now how TARGET is for the Warthog, but a guy in our squad has said it sucks compared to CH control manager. He is very good at programming controllers and has had CH for several years also. He just bought a Warthog and that is what he told me.

 

Here is a very good review on a bunch of HOTAS's http://www.simhq.com/_technology2/technology_094a.html

Edited May 16, 2011 by Cali

[DarkTrooper]

Since price WAS a factor for me, I went with a Saitek X65 purchased off of ebay for $150 shipped. I'm sure its going to be considerably better than my current x52, plus I'm not locked into a A-10 based stick and throttle. I'm sure I'll post a review once I get it setup and running.

Thanks for your feedback. I would "only" save 30€ getting the x65 so the price is a point, but I would chose quality in that case... whatever product that actually is, is still open to me. A Review would be nice –

as mentioned by Cali, I checked SimHQ already a bunch of times – but I would love to hear from those which already have used there HOTAS for a period of time and are still in line with the HOTAS of your choice. Reviews are great, but in there nature, do not consider the durability over time (in most cases).

 

Again thanks for your Feedback's!

[metalnwood]

They are all so new it's hard to have any facts about durability. I would think the 940 by it's nature could develop more types of faults than the rest.

 

I have the hog which replaced my CH gear and it's great for dcs a10 and my other games. BEats the CH in feel, I can center mount it and having the replica throttle makes life so much easier.

 

Its certainly better than the 940 which I bought to try with black shark and I have had no problems.

[DarkTrooper]

They are all so new it's hard to have any facts about durability. I would think the 940 by it's nature could develop more types of faults than the rest.

 

I have the hog which replaced my CH gear and it's great for dcs a10 and my other games. BEats the CH in feel, I can center mount it and having the replica throttle makes life so much easier.

 

Its certainly better than the 940 which I bought to try with black shark and I have had no problems.

Yes, that is right, but the price is driving me to some more considerartion than usual, so I would enjoy the belive that the HOTAS will last a while and not break down after a couple years.

So you had the CH, the 940 and the Warthog and favour the Warthog, did i get that right?

 

Kind Regads!

[metalnwood]

yes, I have had the ch gear for years and used it mostly for flying il2.

 

I bought the 940 for blackshark as well as hoping I would like it well enough for a10 as it was less than half the price of the warthog in New Zealand.

 

In the end I decided that the hog would be better, I just didnt like the 940 too much.

 

I bought the hog on faith as I had never seen or held one but I had put my hands a a cougar and remember it 'felt' the part.

 

I am really happy with the hog now and the money is forgotten :)

[Succellus]

Well i had CH, The flightstick never gave me any problem, so i went full CH.

Pro throttle, pro pedals and CH FX (the FFB CH stick (doesn t exist anymore).

After 2 years:

CH FX was so sloppy in the middle even with the engine on, it wasnt fun.

CH pro throttle is butt Ugly and i only had to open it to clean the slide, which looked cheap solution.

CH pro pedals, pot got dirty and i took the plunge and rewired them for toe break. Another pot died and.. ho crap switched it again.

But the main issue was the lack of space beetween pedals which was ver y uncomfortable as they try to wrap around your feets.

CH seem to be very reliable (save my case), butt, all is old and floppy (not much resistance) seem they have dropped the civie market and just push over stock.

 

Then i went TM Cougar, was great at principle then the crappy pot spiked and finally aftr cleaning gave in. So i went to Cubby s hangar and bought the throttle and stick hall sensors wich solved all my problems, it still work flawlessly with my TM RCS (rudder control system - not produced anymore since 1998 or 1997)) that i bought at e-bay and was this time cubby s white mouse as it was the first set he did hall sense. Fantastic job and fantastic feeling, best pedals ever, a pity they are gameport so they only work with Cougar.

Since i m a big fan of the A10 machine, i had to buy the warthog even with 2 kilos of salt due to the bricking throttle. What make me go for it was the fact that they reimburse the freight and having a back up system.

So far so good, so what !... Joking absolutely awesome as they ve gone full Hall sensor, it s so precise compared to the Cougar i ll have to adapt i was overdoing everything cause i hadn t the center flop anymore.

The only draw back was that i had to acquire Saiket pedals cause Gameport is dead in modern PC and my RCS don t fit without the Cougar base.

I m "leasing" the Cougar setup to a friend.

 

Long story short i m very happy with my Warthog, for A10, 1946, RoF and some space sims. The feeling is awesome.

[bartleby]

Yes, that is right, but the price is driving me to some more considerartion than usual, so I would enjoy the belive that the HOTAS will last a while and not break down after a couple years.

So you had the CH, the 940 and the Warthog and favour the Warthog, did i get that right?

 

Kind Regads!

 

I've had a G940 and a Warthog. Had an X52 some years ago, haven't used it with DCS though.

 

Of them all, I prefer the Warthog. It's hard to get across how solid and wonderful the feel of it is. Solid metal construction, great switches, heavy buttons. The feel is fantastic and hugely surpasses anything I've ever tried before. It's stiff, which I like. I got rid of the X52 because it felt too loose for me. Of course, the downside is the price. A Warthog + pedals setup is at least twice as much as the G940 setup.

 

The G940 is alright. Not as bad as some people say, but definitely a bit rough. Logitech seem not to be working too much on fixing the bugs, sadly.

[DarkTrooper]

Well I guess it ought to be the Warthog (in a couple of weeks)... I will cry a bit over the money and my wife will kill me once more, but… ;-)

I think it’s the only solution which will get me satisfied, also in terms of support considering software.

I hated the washy centering on my other sticks and the none precise movements...only downside is the Saitek pedals in terms of having to use two software’s to set up HOTAS and pedals. Too bad there is no hall sensor pedals out there from TM.

 

Thanks for your feedback, kindly appreciated it!