Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Flight Stick, A-10C Replica Metal Flight Simulator Joystick, Hall Effect Sensor, 19 Action Buttons, HOTAS Flight Stick for Flight Sim Controller Setup, Compatible with PC

The good: • Incredible array of buttons • Excellent ergonomics • Superior build quality • Very nice stick tension The bad: • The base is extremely tall. Your hand sits 5 and a half inches off the ground. Combine this with the fact that this is a realistically stiff joystick, and you have a problem. This nasty combination destroys your body mechanics and forces bad posture in most of the "off the shelf" ways you would use a joystick. If you set the joystick on your desk, your hand must hover nearly 6 inches off the top of the desk. If you set the joystick on your lap, the top of your hand is going to be almost even with your chest. Just about the only way I could use the stick "off the shelf" was to put it between my legs. This felt very natural. But I also have a throttle I want to use. What to do with it? Naturally, I put it on the desk. But now that my stick is in my lap, I have to either sit a little away from the desk pushing me out of comfortable reach of the throttle, or, I have to drop my chair down so the joystick fits under the desk, now meaning that my throttle is almost shoulder high. Both postures get uncomfortable after a few minutes. This means that you will very likely need to build or buy a custom cockpit setup to hold your throttle and/or joystick. Not desiring to spend a lot of time or money on such an endeavor, I bought a Computer Armrest Extender so that I could set my throttle on the armrest of my office chair, and then use the stick between my legs, where I am sitting on the large metal plate. This gave me a very good setup that only took a few dollars and a few minutes of work. Competitive Analysis: • I find the stick movement / tension / spring far superior to what you'll find on Saitek / MadCatz sticks like the Mad Catz F.L.Y.5 or the Saitek Pro Flight X-55 Rhino . • This is a righty-only stick, unlike Thrustmaster's T-16000M or the Logitech Attack 3 . • This has more buttons on the stick than just about any other joystick out there. It has nearly 30 buttons! • The ergonomics of this stick are better than Thrustmaster's cheaper T-Flight Hotas X . The Warthog fits in your hand much better.

The Warthog gets a lot of negative reviews because it has a plastic gimbal, and fair enough. But of all other options including Virpil, VKB and Winwing, the Warthog is the cheapest, most available and easy-to-acquire joystick to get in the upper tier. In full disclosure, my base has in fact developed the slightest twist action, but* this is only because I purchased a couple different 10 cm extensions, the first being poor quality and requiring me to screw and unscrew it multiple times, putting unnecessary pressure on the gimble. This can be remedied by making sure you get a high quality extension and cord, if you wish to use one. Because of that, I purchased an additional base just in case my current one breaks. All of that said, I'm still using my original base with the very slight twist action, and it has not affected my flying whatsoever. I will continue to use this base and leave my new one under my desk until the original breaks. And finally, the grip. I LOVE the grip. Did I mention I love it? I do. This is the main selling point for me. No other grip whether Virpil, VKB or Winwing feels as real as the Warthog. The former are in fact quite plasticky and cheap feeling, though still high quality. That weight adds an unexpected measure of immersion that I just can't give up for any of the others. Because of this, I have accepted the fact that I may just need a new base every now and then, and for $169, even if it's once a year I can swing that, though it has been known to last much longer. The other option is Virpil, but they're quite expensive even just for their bases, and they're always back-ordered.

this thing is so hardcore amazing!!! BUT sadly way to much joystick for me & my right hand! so for me at lest some pro/cons Pros: - metal & heavy duty really solid build it feels like - VERY good quility from what i can see on outside - so many hat switches 4 in total - 5 buttons 7 including 2 stage trigger button action + the thump click down action as well as being a hat switch - joystick in general: the movement of the joystick tracks AMAZINGLY this alone is really making me wanna keep it CON's: (this is just my point of view as someone with very tiny hands & major right hand problems from old injury) - trigger(button1+6 full pull) is to hard for me to push if u dont have hand problems might be fine for you. - trigger dont activate button 1 till half way pulled their feels like a click, im fine with 6 being a full pull to trigger even tho i cant fully pull it with 1 finger. - the button3 my small finger hurts when trying to push it i have to use 2 fingers & it still hurts my fingers like 50% of the time i go to push it ended up un-mapping it & just using only Button 4 that leaver like button totally fine using smallest finger on that :3 - button 2 is rather hard for me to push as well but i mapped it to hard points open/close so w/e - no twist but this is based off real flight stick so u should have pedals at lest So sadly Cons for me outweigh the Pros so i am going to have to prob return it or imma injure myself trying to use it any longer than i have. i tried asking if i could adjust the buttons & or the joystick overall and so far all i got back was no. got back some replys that didnt sound right for my warthog i have so idk if normal or not at all lol

This product is so well made. The programmability is awesome! Item came earlier than expected. Very happy customer!

Definitely the top of the line for the thrustmaster product line up, and I am very satisfied with this stick. Being big into flight sims (IL2, DCS, etc.) I cant help but to not pick certain things that should be brought up. The stick itself it solid, all the seams nice and flush, paint is super tough and applied very professionally. All the switches/buttons/hats are very tactile, not the least bit cheap feeling. The base itself leaves some to be desired. Even with this being a rather hefty stick, it "suction cups" back to center. Going from side to side/up and down you pass through that center zone almost as if going through a small pothole in the road. Not the biggest of deals, but for an upper tier stick like this I believe it needs to be mentioned. The movements are rather smooth overall, but when trying to do slow precise movements, you'll notice it tends to skip place to place slightly, like if you were to drag your hand across a table with pressure on it, instead of it being a smooth glide, you can feel the slightest binding/jumping. Again, not the biggest of issues, and it may have broke in over time, but for this reason I went with a 75mm extension from Virpil to give me a bit more precision. Lastly people complain about this having a plastic gimble, but having worked in injection molding, I'll tell you just because something is plastic does not make something cheap or inferior. It is well made and very clean lines(no gasping, flash, coldslugs, etc.), but just not up to par with products like Virpils WarBRD base. But then again products from Virpil and VKB are almost in a tier all their own.

This is an awesome product. Every thing is metal!! When I opened the box the stick portion fell on my toe and it hurt!! It's very accurate right out of the box on a Win10 system. However, I had to return it. I play games. So, immediately I missed the Z-axis. Also, this is a heavy stick. You will gain forearm muscle mass using this thing around. I love the product but it's not for me. I play games. This is meant for serious simulators and that's not me right now. I run a minimalist system and do not want rudder pedals in the way. If you're serious about flight simulators like DCS, get this stick. It's worth the money. But if you piddle around with Elite Dangerous and "games" like that, look elsewhere.

Excellent stick. The best on the market and the original PC military grade tech company. So glad it can be used with the old Cougar throttle. Just store the cougar stick in a convenient place connected to the throttle. Recaps are easy in DCS. Just copy to the new column under controllers for each aircraft. Sooooo much better than 20 year old worn out gimbals and pots!

Got it for my DCS A10C experience. Well what can I say...with higher price comes quality...or at least that is to be expected from any product of high value; this one does just that. For the price you pay, you will get a HOTAS stick that will truly enhance your air sim experience. Be warned though, if you prefer flight arcade/sim, then this is not going to be doing much for you. You are better off getting a cheaper hotas system from CH or Saitek and that should do just fine. However if you want hardcore experience in the genre, nothing can beat it (as of now). Reason for not getting it for casual sim is because it is primarily designed to be felt as a real flight stick would feel. That would take away the fluid sensation you would get when flying a jet, say, in BF4, Arma or even Elite Dangerous. The stick is very stiff and will require some good force to move, which in terms over long hours of play can wear out your wrist/hand. So assuming you are ok with that issue or have strong hand to cope with long hours of stress, this is fantastic! NOTE: It does NOT have a twisting option for rudder control. So if you plan on using it, get a good flight pedal. They are usually quite cheaper than this beast, so if you have this, by default, would be assumed that you already have a flight pedal. It truly shines in DCS world. Apart from A10C, it is great for other DCS modules as well. What's better is you can have this flight stick paired with a different brand's throttle. So a CH throttle with this stick can do wonder if you want to keep the budget in check or want to feel the 'mix and match' type setup. I am currently using it with a saitek X52 throttle and it works amazing well without any hassle. Of course going to replace the X52 soon for the TM throttle for full sim experience, but until that time, it is serving as a nice 'transition' flight stick from mediocre to advanced flight control system. If you have the money and/or an avid aerial simulation lover, this is a must buy. The king of HOTAS (as of now).

Perfetto !!

Very expensive, very heavy, and very well made. Stiff resistance makes small flying adjustments a challenge sometimes, but it's still a great flightstick. Defintely takes your flightsim hobby to another level. Lots of buttons and switches and everything feels solid. Fantastic with DCS jets. This is premium gear.

Es de buen peso y metalico.

Joystick très précis, on ne le présente plus, pour viser avec finesse sur vos jeux de simulation (ici utilisé en double joystick en main droite sur Star Citizen). Il surclasse tout autre Joystick concurrent par sa qualité de fabrication (pas de soucis de boutons qui ont beaucoup de jeu lorsqu'on les frôles, et ensemble en métal et non en plastique.) Le seul reproche que l'on pourrait lui faire comparé à la marque concurrente Virpil serait l’absence de réglages de tension et l'absence d'un cache au niveau de la rotule évitant la poussière de se déposer. Mais rien de dramatique en soit car le Joystick est vraiment bien équilibré et précis en réglage d'usine. Un must have!

It’s like using the real thing from a Warthog fighter (yes I’ve been in the real cockpit)!