Best Joystick/Throttle (my opinion only)

the100thmonkey

the100thmonkey
Lysander lysan said:
Twist joys are horrible and a flight abomination :) If one should try a different concept I would go for a dual joystick solution.

I prefer the good old concept HOTAS and Rudder pedals, of a good quality.

Best build would be a black mamba JS base with the warthog stick, the warthog throttle, and a Slaw device pedal set.
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Dual joysticks leave you without two axes, usually yaw, thrust or left-right translational movement. Take your pick.

I wouldn't call twist an abomination; it's a rather (in)elegant solution, depending on your point of view, to space and price limitations in the controller market. Dual joysticks with twist, for example, will give you full 6DoF.
 
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lysan

lysan
the100thmonkey said:
Dual joysticks leave you without two axes, usually yaw, thrust or left-right translational movement. Take your pick.

I wouldn't call twist an abomination; it's a rather (in)elegant solution, depending on your point of view, to space and price limitations in the controller market. Dual joysticks with twist, for example, will give you full 6DoF.
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Correction:
Dual joystick with pedals ;)

Sorry twist are a terrible solution, not saying that you can't do some awesome flying with it, to me it just feel so unnatural.
 

Kaare Willoch

K
I use the Saitek X52 Pro. Very nice HOTAS in my opinion. Just do not ever use Saitek drivers or the Saitek software.

But some times my key binds are reset... How can I save my setup as a file, and where do I find it? I have tried finding the set up file without luck. Sorry for the noob question.
 

Gray Lensman

Gray Lensman
Real men use these ...My ORIGINAL Elite controller!

85b73c067f7f16d277d8d7074028bc98.jpg
 

GTwannabe

GTwannabe
Can't beat the Thrustmaster T.16000m for a value stick. Same sensor as the Warthog, so it's extremely accurate. Doesn't fall apart like Saitek junk.
 

Nilt

N
Lysander lysan said:
Correction:
Dual joystick with pedals ;)

Sorry twist are a terrible solution, not saying that you can't do some awesome flying with it, to me it just feel so unnatural.
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It's a terrible solution compared to pedals, certainly. Compared to nothing, however, it's quite good. Not everyone has the budget or space for pedals. Even in my Obutto rig, I have a very narrow area which rules out most pedals. You also ignore the fact that many gamers don't have feet at all, or haven't got the use of them. All things considered, rudders are the best option when possible. When not, a twist on the stick is far better than nothing at all.

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Kaare Willoch said:
I use the Saitek X52 Pro. Very nice HOTAS in my opinion. Just do not ever use Saitek drivers or the Saitek software.

But some times my key binds are reset... How can I save my setup as a file, and where do I find it? I have tried finding the set up file without luck. Sorry for the noob question.
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If you're on a PC, your binds are in C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Bindings where <USERNAME> is your local computer account. On Macs, I am uncertain. You should be able to Google it, though. The one you want is typically the Custom one. Prior to Horizons, I was able to copy that to a new file named Nilt.binds and then I'd have a Nilt option in the control dropdown. For whatever reason, this no longer works in Horizons, though I haven't bothered to look into it much, as just copying the Custom file is sufficient to give me a fallback.
 

Saool

Saool
I have to say, as a Warthog owner, I do love it and would not change it for anything. However it is very expensive.

As for no twist, I think this is a good thing. That mechanism makes a stick much more prone to break. If the Warthog is anything, it is solidly built. I use some CH pedals along with my throttle and stick.
 

Nilt

N
Saool said:
That mechanism makes a stick much more prone to break.
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Sorry, but this just isn't the case. Yes, it adds complexity, but only that. A decently built device will have no problem at all. Generally speaking, what breaks a stick is abuse. Many gamers slam a stick around, rather than moving it gently as you would in real life. Barring a defect, that's what actually breaks most peripherals, gaming or otherwise. As an example, most folks say a membrane based keyboard won't last more than a couple years. With my kids, who are hard on things despite my telling them to be more careful, this is true. I, however, had one last 17 years and only just had to replace it because a couple buttons began acting up. The same is true of HOTAS setups. I owned one of the X52s for several years and used it at least a couple days a week during that time. When I sold it a couple years ago, it was just as good as new. I've had one of the X55s for nearly a year ow and the same is true of it.

Now, it is true that a Warthog stick is very well built and can tolerate such abuse. To say that other devices are less well designed is simply unfair, however. The Warthog is, by all industry measures, extremely over-built. How do I know this beyond just my sue? I used to work in the Microsoft Hardware group. I worked mainly in second level support, so I dealt with many cases of broken products but I was also tasked to assist the design teams in where the most common issues came up. I was directly involved in the design of the Sidewinder FF2, for example. We also tore apart many devices to see how they compared. So this isn't just the opinion of a guy who's owned flight sticks for well over 3 decades, but is also the opinion of a professional who's worked in the space.

Now, by all means, if you have the funds for it and the space for rudders, get a Warthog! Many do not, however, and to say that a twist adds more tendency to break to any stick is simply unfounded beyond the fact that more things are there which might break or be defective.
 

Cpt Shadow Wolfe

Cpt Shadow Wolfe
I am seriously considering buying the Warthog now. Bought a X52 Pro bout 2 mos ago, having never used a Hotas before. I was a decent pilot with a KB and mouse, but became a pro with the Hotas. My issue with Saitek is this, ghost key presses, I have my throttle set to full range, so when I move throttle to the middle, it slows the ship and goes into reverse. But at same time it might decide to initiate silent running, and the funny thing was that key binding was set to the stick toggle switch. I would be in a dogfight and then lose full shields. I had a to take silent running off the key bind for the hotas completely for that reason. Also used to use the little scroll wheel on the throttle to scroll targets forward and backward, but recently had to take it off as well because evey time I would throttle down to turn or something, it would begin to cycle thru all targets in the list, so you would have to reselect your target and reselect the sub target. Gets annoying. At this moment I haven't set anything to that scroll wheel because I can't trust that whatever I do set it to won't activate at an inopportune time.
 

Nilt

N
Cpt Shadow Wolfe said:
I am seriously considering buying the Warthog now. Bought a X52 Pro bout 2 mos ago, having never used a Hotas before. I was a decent pilot with a KB and mouse, but became a pro with the Hotas. My issue with Saitek is this, ghost key presses, I have my throttle set to full range, so when I move throttle to the middle, it slows the ship and goes into reverse. But at same time it might decide to initiate silent running, and the funny thing was that key binding was set to the stick toggle switch. I would be in a dogfight and then lose full shields. I had a to take silent running off the key bind for the hotas completely for that reason. Also used to use the little scroll wheel on the throttle to scroll targets forward and backward, but recently had to take it off as well because evey time I would throttle down to turn or something, it would begin to cycle thru all targets in the list, so you would have to reselect your target and reselect the sub target. Gets annoying. At this moment I haven't set anything to that scroll wheel because I can't trust that whatever I do set it to won't activate at an inopportune time.
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Ghost keypresses like that are actually common with all controllers where you don't quite have the juice or bandwidth on your USB bus. I fought that hundreds of times on customer computers back when I supported Microsoft Hardware. A much less expensive solution would be to pick up a decent powered USB hub and see how that goes first. This one on Amazon is what I used to work around a similar issue with my kid's system. If you don't need that many ports you could grab a less expensive one but I've always found more ports is better than fewer. If you aren't in the US, I'm sure there's something substantially similar where you are, whether on Amazon or elsewhere. The main thing is to be sure it's a decent brand, not the cheapest one you can find as sometimes they save money on decent power components.
 

Nilt

N
Brian of Ardagh said:
Oooooooooh!! Microswitches!!!!
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I always get a chuckle whenever I see "Macro Switches" advertised on a controller nowadays. I find it funny that microswitches used to be the big thing and now it's macro switches. Oh, sure, hardly the same meaning but it makes me chuckles.
 
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Brian of Ardagh

B
I've got a Thrustmaster T-Flight, Logitech wireless keyboard and Logitech wireless trackball. I've attached custom labels on the keyboard for functions that the HOTAS didn't have buttons for. I'm not a fan of trying to remember modifiers.

Probably the only thing I didn't like about the HOTAS was the zero throttle detent and the stiction. I sanded down the detent a bit which took awhile since I had to make it extremely smooth, wet sanding and plastic polish. I also replaced the lube with dielectric grease. It's now easier to move out of zero throttle and adjusting the throttle is smoother.
 

GG7

G
Alex Nguyan said:
I have the Thrustmaster Warthog combo. It's fantastic. But don't just take my word; BATMAN himself uses one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cle_rKBpZ28

watch for it at the 00:02 point.

Enjoy!
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Funny... :) This thread is VERY timely for me!

I recently decided to build myself the Ultimate Elite Dangerous Gaming PC, so I am definitely interested in hearing from ED players on the PC side about their top choices in controllers like the Thrustmaster you mentioned. I'm coming over from the Xbox One version of ED, and one of the reasons I decided to move up to the PC version was the total lack of dedicated control interfaces like HOTAS, dedicated throttle etc. I use the XB1 Elite Controller which is a great upgrade and hands down the best console game controller I have ever owned by a mile, but its not a HOTAS and a stand alone Throttle! ;)

As far as PC controller makers and who is best... I was heavy into flight simulators about 20 years ago, and all my controllers were CH Products. I just found them to be the best in both build quality and features. In fact, I still have all of those stored in a closet, but they all use the old Serial ATA type interface, so no way to get them to work with USB.

While I am still not sure what particular controller models/types I am going to end up going with, there is a good chance that at least one of them will be made by CH Products. Saitek makes some nice looking gear too! Price is no object with this entire project, so whatever is the best of the best is what I will be buying. :D I've been waiting for a game like ED for 30 years, so I have decided that I need to experience the Ultimate Elite Dangerous experience while I am still alive and kicking! ;)

If you guys wouldn't mind posting what you like to use with a link, that would be awesome! I just finished putting the build together on paper, so choosing the ship controls is next on my to-do list. :D

Hoping to have this beast of a machine up and running in a few months. In the process of price shopping all the various component parts and buying any time I find a killer deal on something on my shopping list. While the budget is more or less unlimited, I still like to pay as little for everything as possible. :)
 
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