Warthog HOTAS Consideration

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

I actually just got my Warthog in yesterday. Here's my initial impression. The quality is excellent, I work on aircraft for a living, and you couldn't tell much of a difference between this and the real ones if you didn't know what you were looking for. The stick is cold to touch like a piece of metal post and the weight of it can be felt in your pecs when you lift it up. If you could throw this at someone they would seriously be hurting. It's solid. It really doesn't get any better than this as far as build quality goes. The major downside is not having the twist. I know ill get used to it, but honestly it sucks not having it. I bought rudder pedals to go with it, but they're cheep and narrow and made of plastic. Ages ago I played on a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 and that twist in the stick was just essential. The throttle is smooth, all the switches are quality toggle switches, all feel like switches I'd put on an aircraft. You can't go wrong with it, it's an excellent piece of equipment. With that said, I would HIGHLY suggest getting the T.16000M before making the jump Warthog + rudder pedals. I feel I could accomplish the same, if not more with a cheaper joystick, but that is just me. The weight of it seems like it could actually be hindering once I try to get into serious dogfights and the roll or yaw on the pedals right now seems to be a big inconvenience.

 

[marcsand2]

I actually just got my Warthog in yesterday. Here's my initial impression. The quality is excellent, I work on aircraft for a living, and you couldn't tell much of a difference between this and the real ones if you didn't know what you were looking for. The stick is cold to touch like a piece of metal post and the weight of it can be felt in your pecs when you lift it up. If you could throw this at someone they would seriously be hurting. It's solid. It really doesn't get any better than this as far as build quality goes. The major downside is not having the twist. I know ill get used to it, but honestly it sucks not having it. I bought rudder pedals to go with it, but they're cheep and narrow and made of plastic. Ages ago I played on a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 and that twist in the stick was just essential. The throttle is smooth, all the switches are quality toggle switches, all feel like switches I'd put on an aircraft. You can't go wrong with it, it's an excellent piece of equipment. With that said, I would HIGHLY suggest getting the T.16000M before making the jump Warthog + rudder pedals. I feel I could accomplish the same, if not more with a cheaper joystick, but that is just me. The weight of it seems like it could actually be hindering once I try to get into serious dogfights and the roll or yaw on the pedals right now seems to be a big inconvenience.

I went for the MFG Crosswind. I even ordered the adapters to make it wider or narrow. No complaints here. I never tried the cheaper rudder pedals. The lack of roll is inconvenient, but it improves your flightstick aim.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Is there any reason you can't mix and match the Warthog stick and the X55 throttle?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saitek-Pro-Flight-X-55-Rhino-Throttle-ONLY-/252439330436?hash=item3ac68e7e84:g:6ocAAOSwM4xXcAyc

 

[JackAvalon]

Wait. Aren't rudder peddles used for yaw? Couldnt u just set the stick to where u move it left or right to roll and use pedals for yaw? Seems really weird that u won't have roll with the stick...

 

[marcsand2]

Wait. Aren't rudder peddles used for yaw? Couldnt u just set the stick to where u move it left or right to roll and use pedals for yaw? Seems really weird that u won't have roll with the stick...

Yeap, in real planes stick is used for roll and pedals are used for yaw, but for the people that played Wing Commander, flight sticks weren't that advanced. My Wing Commander joystick was digital :eek:

My first analog joystick handled almost as good as the digital joystick o_O

To fly with only 2 axes yaw and pitch are more important then roll, so traditionally the flightstick has pitch and yaw. You can turn with pitch and yaw using one axis, but if you have pitch and roll, you must use roll and pitch together to turn ;)

 

[DeepDrum]

Having done a pile of flight simming in my life, I originally thought roll was best on the stick.
Once one gets used to the fact that there is no need or reason to constantly re-orient themselves with regard to lift and gravity, one sees the light.
I roll with the trigger finger of my left hand and strafe with the thumb.
A flick of one switch and I can reverse it and roll is on the stick.
I imagine when it comes to planet flying, it might be handy to be able to revert quickly to aircraft controls as apposed to spacecraft controls.
One doesn't roll much other than when lining up to land somewhere or some such thing.
Yaw is best on the stick for combat in space in my opinion. I was a hard sell but I'm sold.

 

[DeepDrum]

Is there any reason you can't mix and match the Warthog stick and the X55 throttle?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saitek-Pro-Flight-X-55-Rhino-Throttle-ONLY-/252439330436?hash=item3ac68e7e84:g:6ocAAOSwM4xXcAyc

It would probably be possible to use it. I have not done it or have experience with it but it is worth 40 bucks.