A question for TM HOTAS Warthog owners

[bojangles_25]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about taking the plunge and buying the HOTAS Warthog (currently I have a t16000m) even though I know of a couple of inaccuracies:

1. EAC switch is not sprung
   
2. throttle friction wheel is not actually a friction wheel but an axis
   

Both not major problems to me

 

However, I would lose my rudder twist! I'd have to have pedals..

 

What are your thoughts on pedals? They seem expensive to me for what they are..

 

Did anyone else move to the Warthog from a ~£50 joystick? How much better was it?

 

Also what's this I hear about the TM Warthog becoming 'bricked'?

 

Cheers

Edited January 4, 2013 by bojangles_25

[Cali]

From what I've heard of people moving to for other sticks is that they are happy. I wouldn't see you being upset about it, I've heard the WH is a great HOTAS. I went from a X45, which I loved to CH and never looked back. Although over the years I have bought several TM Cougars and sold them all, but I had hopes of modding them. I did it again, bought another Cougar and plan on modding it, but this time I'm keeping my CH stuff also.

 

As far as pedals go, I have only had CH pedals and love them. I heard that the Saitek ones are very good. I don't think you can go wrong with whatever pedals you pick. There are many threads in here talking about them, do a search and you'll find them.

[joey45]

For

#1 Too much hassle in making/design problems

#2 the Friction wheel is infront of the Throttles.

[dburne]

Hi bojangles,

 

I bought the Warthog setup earlier this year, and am very glad I did, I have been very pleased with it. And I came from an NXT modded Cougar.

I also at the same time, bought the Saitek combat pedals , and so far have been very pleased with them as well, they are smooth - have a knob on them where you can adjust the tension, and having toe brakes is really nice as well.

 

The Warthog is very solid, and just feels great. Also both the stick and throttle, utilize hall sensors versus pots, which is really nice as well - no worries about pots getting dirty and spiking.

 

In regards to your questions:

Not sure I understand about the EAC, it does have a 2 position swith, for off and arm, but not spring loaded correct.

Throttle friction wheel - yes the wheel that replicates where it would be on the real thing, is actually an axis - which is pretty nice, I have zoom assigned to it in DCS. There also is an actual friction wheel to adjust the friction on the unit itself, on the upper left.

 

As far as bricked, I think that was with some earlier versions of firmware, if you should get one, first thing to do is check if it has the latest firmware - easy to do from within the Target program, and update it if needed. Mine came with an older version, I updated it first thing, and so far have not had any issue.

 

Hope this helps,

[joey45]

On/in the real A-10c the EAC switch is sprung/magneticly held..... sort of thing.

[agrasyuk]

It is only natural to fly the hog with TM whog :). Yes those inaccuracies exist but are minor IMHO. Yes it is not cheap, but a worthy upgrade. And you can extend the handle or mount it to your chair for even better experience.

[bojangles_25]

Thanks,

What worries me is that the newest firmware is available here but thats February 2011! Joystick v11 and Throttle v20.. and some of the horror stories I've read are even with those versions...

 

TM do have this article but a lot of people report that it doesn't always help..

 

If I spend nearly £300 on a Joystick I would feel physically sick if it just suddenly died for no apparent reason...

[dburne]

Well if you go by the bricked thread here, looks like the last reports were around mid year of 2011. 5 total pages in that thread. If you go by that, then it sounds like the new firmare has certainly cut down on this issue, if not resolved it.

If you look at the serial number database thread, total of 49 pages in that thread, with new units being added about every month.

 

So looking at that, I would say odds would be very low of that happening to you. I looked into that heavy back when I was considering my purchase earlier this year, and that was the conclusion I drew. Yes it is an expensive HOTAS, but it is great quality, and really with anything like this one buys these days there is always a chance of getting a "lemon". They do have a warranty though, so you can always fall back on that. I would think if something like this were to happen, it would probably happen early on.

 

However if still majorly concerned and gun shy, you can always look at going with say a cheaper unit by CH, lot of folks really like their setups.

[bojangles_25]

Hey Burnette, I'm thinking you're probably right.. and its only natural that a company with a pretty established rep would sh*t themselves at the thought of this and work hard on fixing it..

 

I'm thinking I'll likely buy the thing anyway because as you say, its great quality and has a 2 year warranty I believe?

 

Anyway, just to see what would happen I wrote this email to Thrustmaster :):

 

Hello,

I own a T16000M and am thinking of purchasing a HOTAS Warthog.

 

However, I have read that either the throttle or stick (or both) of the HOTAS Warthog may suffer a sudden unexplained 'bricking' where the device fails to be recognised by Windows.

 

Such stories are even present from users who have the latest firmware installed (v11/v20). Surprisingly this version of the software appears to be from nearly 2 years ago! (Feb 2011). I come to as a potential repeat customer, with a simple request for clarification.. My questions to you are:

 

1. What causes these problems? Is it caused by specific hardware/software combinations? if so, what combinations? Power surges/static?

 

2. What has been done to rectify these problems?

 

3. Due to the number of your customers that have had this problem since the release of v11/v20, is another firmware version due to be released?

 

4. What version of the firmware is installed at the factory?

 

[dburne]

Best of luck in your decision, let us know if they reply to your email!

[metalnwood]

I have moved from more expensive sticks than $50 and it's easily worth it.

 

I did find it a bit funny that you can live with the fact that two parts were not like the real a10 but not sure if you could live with the fact it wasn't a twist rudder lol.

 

On that front it's nice to have rudder pedals, I think the saiteks are best bang for buck. I have the combat pedals and they work ok, I do wish the brakes were a little different though..

[bojangles_25]

Haha I know, The EAC switch thing is certainly no big deal.. if it was 100% like the Hog I cant see it being much use in other sims.. would be a bit like one of

 

The lack of a twist just means another ~£100 on top of the price of the HOTAS for a set of pedals.. But as they say, in for a penny, in for a pound

[metalnwood]

I have heard that argument before but at the end of the day it has more buttons than anything else I can think of, each of them programmable and mappable to any function you want.

 

If a generic one like the x52 just happened to be a replica of a stick from the f22 would it be any less useful for using any any number of games?

[snafup]

Just got the warthog and rudder pedals for Christmas. I was using the hotas x,with a lot of modifiers. I was learning, but if you didn't get the button presses right it threw you totally off while you tried to correct it. I've got the side incr and decrease set to zoom, and the extra toggle on the joystick set to pause track ir.

I've redid the training missions with the warthog and it's incredible easy to follow along now.

I have to say the upgrade was totally worth it for me as it has made the immersion factor much more enjoyable because everything is at hand.

(the 2 stage trigger for the 30mm cannon is also good to have)

[bojangles_25]

Here is Thrustmaster's response to my questions:

 

First of all we would like to thank you for your interest in our products.

 

Here are the answers to your questions:

 

1. It mainly happenED on Asus motherboards because of what we suspected was an USB power surge.

 

2. The firmware was updated so that the joystick and throttle are better protected against power fluctuations of any type

 

3. We are constantly developing our products? drivers and firmware, but we have no precise release date for the next firmware

 

4. The latest version available at the time the product is assembled

 

Thank you for your collaboration.

 

Feel free to contact us for any other information.

 

 

Make of that what you will...

 

I had already ordered it anyway about 2 hours before :) just couldn't wait.. looking forward to it!

[dburne]

Congrats! I think you will be well pleased.

[nickmow]

Yep, your in For a treat. I've been flying flight sims since Fighter Pilot on the Spectrum in 1984 ! With a two button analogue joystick. Had every kind of Joystick since, last 3 where the Saitek X45, X52 and X52pro. All good sticks and With a set of Saitek Pro Pedals too they really served me well. I rather cheekily asked the GF for a Warthog for Christmas and Holy Cow ! She only got me one !. It is a quality bit of kit. Perfect for the A10 and just as good for any other joystick related action. The feel of it and the ability to make small instinctive corrections is excellent. That and all the lovely buttons and switches. I've used it with FSX too, and Falcon BMS. So far I am a very very happy WH owner.

Edited January 8, 2013 by nickmow

[oceanoftimeGER]

I'm about to pull the trigger on one of these beautiful joysticks myself. I have one question, though. Are you still able to assign 'steps' for zoom to the friction wheel even though it's an axis and not a slider? Or does this not matter?

 

If anyone has an answer for this that would be awesome since I currently have my X52 Pro rotary knob on the throttle bound to zoom with steps and this is a feature I can't live without!

[snafup]

I'm about to pull the trigger on one of these beautiful joysticks myself. I have one question, though. Are you still able to assign 'steps' for zoom to the friction wheel even though it's an axis and not a slider? Or does this not matter?

 

If anyone has an answer for this that would be awesome since I currently have my X52 Pro rotary knob on the throttle bound to zoom with steps and this is a feature I can't live without!

 

Hi,

It's a smooth zoom in to full ,and back in as far as it goes, with the center being normal.You can feel when you hit center as it has a stop of sorts.

[dburne]

Hi,

It's a smooth zoom in to full ,and back in as far as it goes, with the center being normal.You can feel when you hit center as it has a stop of sorts.

 

Also you will probably find, you will only use the forward half of the zoom, at least for me that is all I use, as the zoom out just looks so wierd... That center notch is real handy for reference.

[oceanoftimeGER]

Thanks for the info guys :) The only reason I use steps with my X52 PRO is that the rotary knob is very jittery