What HOTAS would you recommend?

Don't know about other sticks, but one thing I really like about the warthog is the weapon trigger. As normal, just squeezing this does what you would expect with primary. Neat thing is if you fully pull it there is a slight click which is the secondary weapons. Handy with my rails if I find I am tracking well to just increase trigger squeeze and give them some additional secondary action without moving thumb and risking good tracking.
 
Don't know about other sticks, but one thing I really like about the warthog is the weapon trigger. As normal, just squeezing this does what you would expect with primary. Neat thing is if you fully pull it there is a slight click which is the secondary weapons. Handy with my rails if I find I am tracking well to just increase trigger squeeze and give them some additional secondary action without moving thumb and risking good tracking.

Warthog is definitely decent, only thing that put me off is the plastic gimbal inside the base.
 
On my second set of x52 pro's ... got the first set 2nd hand and after a couple of years the springs became a tad gritty feeling and the rubber gromit inside the throttle mustve jumped loose , still functions and with a little tinkering would be fine again but i settled for a brand new x52 pro.

It has twist stick (lockable on off) , plenty of hats and switches for ED's demands and it has the added "cool" factor of being mapped in the cockpits in game.

I have heard tales of bad quality control but can only speak for my own experience and say the quality on my 2 setups were more than fine.
 
Warthog is definitely decent, only thing that put me off is the plastic gimbal inside the base.




Yeah, been thinking about spinning something up on my lathe. Working great for now. (Edit; over 1000 hrs use still feels like new.) (another Edit; as I have about 4.8k hours I guess that makes about 4k hours on the wh)
 
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On my second set of x52 pro's ... got the first set 2nd hand and after a couple of years the springs became a tad gritty feeling and the rubber gromit inside the throttle mustve jumped loose , still functions and with a little tinkering would be fine again but i settled for a brand new x52 pro.

It has twist stick (lockable on off) , plenty of hats and switches for ED's demands and it has the added "cool" factor of being mapped in the cockpits in game.

I have heard tales of bad quality control but can only speak for my own experience and say the quality on my 2 setups were more than fine.



I liked my x52. Only thing that got me off of it was the breakage of the yaw spring. On disassembly it was not worth the repair so I keep it for a backup stick. Really is a good product but about 750 hours was a bit too much. Still works fine otherwise
 
I still like my Thrustmaster t-flight HOTAS X which I've been using since beta and it's still as accurate as the day it came out the box....

I'll second this.

I recently 'upgraded' from the T-Flight to the Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS - and whilst I love the number of buttons, the throttle action is horrid. I've tried reducing the friction and giving it a dab of silicon grease, and whilst it is much better, it's still not good enough. But, it has LOADS of buttons.

I miss the T-Flight, I hate the TWCS throttle, but I'm not going back. Make of that what you will.
 
I like the X52 Pro. There are lots of buttons and something I find really satisfying is that the ingame model was built based on it so it gives that extra immersion factor to me both in and out of VR.
 
I'm coming back to Elite after a long hiatus (about a year), and the best I've used since alpha was the Thrustmaster Hotas X. It's not the sturdiest (I'm on my 2nd, which is dying... one reason I stopped playing) and before that I had an X52 which snapped in half.

Was toying with the idea of an X56 or a Warthog to replace the Hotas X, but neither of them do "twisty-stick" I don't think, which means I'd need pedals. Don't want pedals.

So, having recently also got a PS4 Pro, I've gone for the Thrustmaster Hotas 4, since it can be used on both PC and PS4. I pick it up this morning. I'll let you know what the verdict is.
 
Well I'll probably get shot down for this recommendation, but I HAVE tried all the options available and IMHO they fall short either in build quality, design or ease of use/reliability...... but this rig is a beautiful seamless match-up:

CH Pro Throttle coupled with... wait for it...... an old Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Joystick (Available second-hand/pre-used/NOS from several online web and auction sites but not usually really cheap! But still cheaper than some of the more recent offerings!)

The MS Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 stick even has the inbuilt force feedback resisting your hand for the feel of the real physical presence of a ship under your right hand (but it does NOT give you any dynamic actual shudder/jink/forces though, because ED does not support such).

This old joystick needs no drivers under Windows 10; it just auto installs and shows up in the devices folder, so don't use the supplied disk (Windows 98 I think, and do NOT buy the earlier sibling stick; the MS Force Feedback 1 (One) ... as it is not USB and it doesn't work in ED)
The stick is easy to set up and bind in Options/Controls within the game, as is the CH Pro Throttle.
The stick does have a throttle quadrant but I now use that for tuning the FSS signal analysis thingy. The stick even has a beautiful yaw on the stick and is hard wearing and a ergonomic delight to use! The build quality is outstanding, heavy and truly 'old school quality'. Looks classy too!

N.B. I do however connect the stick and throttle combo to a powered USB 2.0 hub (The MS SFFB 2 Stick does have it's own dedicated power supply whereas the more modern CH Pro Throttle does not.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXkg-UGrrsU

o7

I had a MS sidewinder joystick for many, many years, it was one of the best joysticks I have ever come across. It's a shame they stopped producing them. I also had the MS wheel and pedals that was for sale at the same time as the sidewinder, they were excellent too. I wish Microsoft would stop abandoning stuff, especially when it's such high quality. They don't make um like they use ta.
 
speaking about hotas, I've been using this saitek x56 for years, if suppose I buy the "new" logitech x56, will I have to rebind the keys from scratch or not?
 
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Was toying with the idea of an X56 or a Warthog to replace the Hotas X, but neither of them do "twisty-stick" I don't think, which means I'd need pedals. Don't want pedals.

The Warthog does not twist, but you see that grey hat switch to the left of the upper yellow arrow?
shopping


I use that for yaw. No pedals needed.
 
I own a Thrustmaster T16000 stick and TWCS throttle. Once the throttle is regreased (Nyogel 767a highly recommended) it's fantastic. The stick, like others have mentioned, has a great feel, but does not have an abundance of buttons on the stick itself. I was able to modify my stick for more buttons, but that's not an option for most people.

I will say that I vastly prefer a twist stick. Twist for yaw is obvious, but I also use the twist for steering the SRV, which ends up feeling quite natural.
 
I'm coming back to Elite after a long hiatus (about a year), and the best I've used since alpha was the Thrustmaster Hotas X. It's not the sturdiest (I'm on my 2nd, which is dying... one reason I stopped playing) and before that I had an X52 which snapped in half.

Was toying with the idea of an X56 or a Warthog to replace the Hotas X, but neither of them do "twisty-stick" I don't think, which means I'd need pedals. Don't want pedals.

So, having recently also got a PS4 Pro, I've gone for the Thrustmaster Hotas 4, since it can be used on both PC and PS4. I pick it up this morning. I'll let you know what the verdict is.

The X56 has a twist yaw...not lockable like the X52 though so if you add rudder pedals you'll have to disable the input. As a HOTAS out of the box though, you'll be desperately looking through the key bindings for functions to use all those sliders, buttons, rotaries, hats and switches up ;)

Unlike the X55, it has 2 analogue thumb sticks too (they're digital 8 way on the X55)...one on the stick and one on the throttle. They work exactly like the analogue thumb sticks on an Xbox controller which I find handy for thruster controls in the ship or turret controls in the SRV.
 
For the past aprox 8 months I’ve been using dual T16000 sticks but when the update dropped I went back to my CHPro throttle & Combatstick. I now have 2 modifier keys on the throttle (plus reversing key) wiht the stick pinky button as a third. Allows me to suuccessfully map all current keybinds.

I would like to get a better stick, the CH stuff is very well made & sturdy but a bit old fashioned now. I was contemplating a Virpil (they also have an interesting looking throttle) Constellation Delta which has twist axis, with their Wrbrd base, but when I looked at the details it’s 3 to 4 inches taller than the Combatstick and would be uncomfortable to use for a long period with my current desk. Since I already have neck & shoulder problems that currently rules it out. Might look at the VKB GunfighterPro stick dimensions, but thats significantly more expensive.
 
The Warthog does not twist, but you see that grey hat switch to the left of the upper yellow arrow?
I use that for yaw. No pedals needed.

Ooh, that's interesting. :) Thanks for that. I had pretty much ruled out the Warthog (even though it looks great & would probably outlast me) because the lack of yaw was a deal breaker.

The X56 has a twist yaw...not lockable like the X52 though so if you add rudder pedals you'll have to disable the input. As a HOTAS out of the box though, you'll be desperately looking through the key bindings for functions to use all those sliders, buttons, rotaries, hats and switches up ;)

Unlike the X55, it has 2 analogue thumb sticks too (they're digital 8 way on the X55)...one on the stick and one on the throttle. They work exactly like the analogue thumb sticks on an Xbox controller which I find handy for thruster controls in the ship or turret controls in the SRV.

Yes, I've since read that the X56 has a twisty-stick, but I was also reading in the same review that it can suffer from drift, and you can't set a deadzone for the analogue thumb sticks I believe?

Regardless, I've bought the Hotas 4 and about to fire it up. I may invest in a fancier Hotas later specifically for the PC, and use this one just for the PS4, but it'll do for now. :)
 
If you are looking for a first time joystick I would recommend the T.flight. the four "shift" buttons on the throttle stick works out to having an equivalent of five hat switches on the joystick. And it's not too expensive. I just received an x52 Pro for Xmas and while I really like it (it looks cool too) sometimes I just miss the simplicity of the T.flight. I also bought voice attack and the A.S.T.R.A AI for it.
With the T.flight it just works out of the box. With the X52 pro I had some teething troubles to overcome.
 
For price, the T-flight is just unbeatable. I've had one for more than a year and it works just as well as day I got it.
The only le is the side button on the joystick which can be tricky to operate and has little feel. Once you get the knack though that's not a big problem.
I'm sure more expensive options are better, but for Ed, you don't need anything more. (OK maybe FSS could cause some issue, but I'm sure you can map keys appropriately)
 
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