Whats the best hotas and why

[Kai]

I am looking for a new hotas that will last me a ling time like my Cougar.

I have looked at a few and have a few ideas as to what I would like.

Can anyone shed any likght on whats hot or not and WHY not just its crap. Please give me some feed back on what you have and why you like?

 

Chers Kai

[leafer]

The the question is whether or not you want to move up the hotas pageant after having owned the Cougar. :D If you feel you'll still be playing flight sim five-ten years down the road then the TM Warthog is what you want.

[Cali]

Do a search in here and you'll see that everyone says good and bad things about each and other one. Lots of threads that talk about the different HOTAS you can buy with pros and cons.

[lokitexas]

There is no "best". There is high quality and low quality.

 

Its all on what fits your needs. You want Force Feedback? You want Force Sensing? You want simple? You want complex? You need pretty colors?

 

As much as you will hear that the TM Warthog is the best in the world...there are other quality options.

 

The X52 Pro is one that many, many people have and still use. Its priced right, decent quality, and easy to find. Very comman set. I used the x52 non-pro for 6 years and it still works. Its a good stick, not great.

 

The Warthog is great quality, very pricey, and lots like it. I have never flown with one, just messed with it in the store. No worries, there are plenty here to go over it.

 

The X65 is my personal favorite. Again, great qaulity and lots of setup options. Love the force sensing and the dual throttle. Once you get used to the force sensing, its like second nature. Even aircraft people are scared to try with it (Ka-50) is a breeze to fly. Tons of buttons and hats. Switchable hat switches is icing on the cake. Not a fan of the SST software. Not a fan of the price ($300ish).

 

The MSFFB2 is still my favorite Force Feedback stick, and they are still selling (and working) even though they have been out of production for years. Nothing beats it for WWI/II sims, and does Heli's very well too.

It's not Logitech G940 at the moment since it's broken with the current release of DCS. However, when it was working, I like it a lot.

[dburne]

I really like my Warthog, have had it a few months now and so far am pleased with the purchase.

However, I will say I have only had TM sticks, starting first with the F16 FLCS, then the Cougar when it came out. I also modded my Cougar with the U2 NXT gimball mod and hall sensors, which made it great. Then I found myself wanting to try the Warthog after it came out and reading some reviews, I had the money and gave it a try a few months ago, and no regrets so far. I also like the fact both the stick and throttle come stock with Hall Sensors.

The Target software is certainly different, especially if your used to using Foxy, but once you get into it and get used to using it, it is pretty good. But for A-10C, which is what this stick was designed for, no need to use the Target software as it is pretty much plug and play for it.

 

The spring in the stick is relatively stiff, but different than the stock Cougar. In the Warthog, the stiffness is very consistant as you move the stick from center to extreme, and I msyelf do not find it too much for my use - there is a way to remove the large coil spring to make it much less, for those that find it too much for their tastes, there is a video out there on youtube showing how to do it.

 

But like I said, I have only owned TM hardware for joysticks, so I really can't compare to other setups.

Best of luck in your decision,