I have just spent a week trying out both a Warthog HOTAS and a combo of T16000M stick with CHPro Throttle.
The Warthog was first to be rejected - too massive; throttle is annoying with it's long throw and the toggle buttons on it's base are a pain; the buttons on the stick and throttle handle are really great with the exception of the throttle pinky switch feeling horrible and the stick secondary fire button being awkward. The main issue is that the Warthog just takes over the desk, if you have a cockpit-build no doubt it is great but with the size and the muscle-strain from stiffness and position (height) it really is not worth it for me - the final nail in the coffin was having to use my pedals since the stick has no twist.
The CHPro Throttle is very good quality (I have CHPro Yoke and Pedals for flight sims) and the buttons (and mini joystick) felt good, it was easy to get used to the throttle and it's straight-throw action I found very smooth and precise. The T16000M joystick seemed well-made, it was very precise and has a large throw in it's movement although the spring tension seems too stiff to me (it is not adjustable). It unfortunately has it's base-mounted buttons curved in the wrong direction for a single-hand use, it is impossible to reach more than the nearest without taking your hand off the stick or using your throttle hand, definitely designed as a two-handed game controller. The stiffness and the frankly stupid, distracting LEDs that light up on joystick movement can be sorted by simple internal modifications but the one thing that stops this being useful to me is the stupid button placement at the top of the stick: using the centre of the three buttons as secondary fire requires either small fingers, double-jointedness or learning to use a point on the thumb below the pad - just awkward in the extreme. Using another of the three as secondary fire sees the middle one being pressed accidentally if you are not careful, annoying if it swaps your fire-group.
So I have reverted to my T-flight HOTAS-X and to be honest, I feel so much better back with it, the only time I have to take my hand off the controls is to use vertical thrusters (using keyboard) not being a pew-pew fan I don't miss that facility on the throttle which I know lots of people like during combat.
I have not yet decided whether to send back the CH Pro Throttle, I might just use that in flight sims, the T16000M is definitely going back (well probably). If the CHPro Fighterstick had twist I would have a try with that but just a few sessions using the pedals with the Warthog showed me how horrible it is to have to do that in a space-sim (well, for me at least). I have not tried the T1600MFCS HOTAS throttle, I might give that a trial run at some point but really...
I am surprised at how satisfied I am with the £30 T-Flight that I have been using for nearly 2 years. The Warthog is definitely not worth the £280 and spending £125 on a throttle just to have analogue thruster capability seems excessive.
(P.S. I would never buy another Saitek product after the trouble that I had with a X55 a few years ago, so I have not tested the X56.)
