VKB STECS throttle or Omni-Throttle

Flying Peanut

Flying Peanut
Hey CMDRs,

I would like a little input on your experience if you use any of these throttle options. With Black Friday my wife said' "Get the damn thing", so there is no time to waste :LOL:

I currently have a VKB gladiator stick on the right hand for yaw and roll and on the left hand a Thrustmaster FCS joystick for throttle and thrust. I do NOT have pedals.
I like my Gladiator stick and I understand the Omni-Throttle is just a gladiator with a sideways extension.

I am also looking at the VKB STECS throttle. Does anybody use the STECS throttle and how do you like it? Does it give enough options for ED.

links to the throttles:

Thanks for your feedback.

o7
 

Brother Sabathius

Brother Sabathius
STECS does have enough options for Elite, I have the Mini Plus, so if you fly FA on most of the time it will do nicely. The Omnithrottle is also a great option but be aware that if you use the controllers on the desktop, the Omni will probably not be as comfortable due to the angle the grip will be at. If you mount it lower down it will be fine.
 

Flying Peanut

Flying Peanut
Brother Sabathius said:
STECS does have enough options for Elite, I have the Mini Plus, so if you fly FA on most of the time it will do nicely. The Omnithrottle is also a great option but be aware that if you use the controllers on the desktop, the Omni will probably not be as comfortable due to the angle the grip will be at. If you mount it lower down it will be fine.
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The mini plus looks interesting. I was eyeballing the standard. I do place it on the desk and a standard would put the throttle more to the back.
I also do notice that I get tired on my right stick and start to hang on it. I may have to look at a desk mount as well.
Ah... The headache of making a choice

Do you use it on top of the desk?
 

Fnord Velkor

Fnord Velkor
I have a left-hand VKB Gladiator Omni and find it really good (I have a right hand normal one too).

I also find the Omni is useful in flight simulator, especially as a collective control.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
The Omni Throttle is just a normal stick with the tilted grip, but it is very flexible. You can set it up as a standard throttle by locking the X axis and removing the springs of the Y Axis, or keep it the way it is - spring loaded free X and Y movement, or anything in between, like having traditional throttle movement on the Y axis with spring loaded movement on the X axis. You can't do that with a traditional throttle like the STECS, if that is important to you.

For a while I used my right hand VKB with a traditional throttle (the throttle unit from my X52 Pro), but for quite some time now I use an OT on the left hand, which I find much more comfortable for 6dof movement.
 

Brother Sabathius

Brother Sabathius
Flying Peanut said:
The mini plus looks interesting. I was eyeballing the standard. I do place it on the desk and a standard would put the throttle more to the back.
I also do notice that I get tired on my right stick and start to hang on it. I may have to look at a desk mount as well.
Ah... The headache of making a choice

Do you use it on top of the desk?
Click to expand...
Yes, I have mine mounted up on the desktop, it's not too tall to be comfortable there.
 

Brother Sabathius

Brother Sabathius
Flying Peanut said:
I watched your Twitch. Latest stream where you do mention you play with HOSAS. I also see you fly FA-off. Pretty good flying :)

Do you prefer that with Elite, or do you alternate between teh two?
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Thanks dude :)

I alternate. In normal space I will be FA Off and flying twin stick + pedals (pedals are for fwd/rev thrust). In supercruise or if I'm flying lazy with FA on, I'll use the STECS. I have a load of functions mapped to both the left stick and the throttle so I don't need to jump between them.
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
Post with my setup

VKB 2 stage trigger question

I’m currently testing a kind of “HOSAM” setup for on-foot stuff. My left hand is on the VKB OTA, my right on my mouse. It’s really comfortable for FSS, DSS and exobiology, but I haven’t done any kind of FPS combat with that combination yet. Yeah, that’s tricky. I use table mounts by...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
 
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Flying Peanut

Flying Peanut
Thanks all for the input. I have been cracking my brain on what would be most practical. I went with the omni-throttle. I already fly double stick, so that won't be a problem.

I hope the Omni throttle horizontal grip will give me a better intuitive action for the up and down thrusters.
 

jojon

J
I have two main issues with my omni-throttle:

* There is enough flex in the bar that extends and angles the grip, that it produces a bit of a ketchup bottle effect, especially noticeable when one just want to nudge the throttle a tiny bit: Nothing, nothing, nothing, too much... Even if I hadn't wanted the sticks to be fairly "heavy" to move, one can not set the friction too low, or the stick will not hold in place.

* I would have wanted a midway "zero" detent.
 

Flying Peanut

Flying Peanut
jojon said:
I have two main issues with my omni-throttle:

* There is enough flex in the bar that extends and angles the grip, that it produces a bit of a ketchup bottle effect, especially noticeable when one just want to nudge the throttle a tiny bit: Nothing, nothing, nothing, too much... Even if I hadn't wanted the sticks to be fairly "heavy" to move, one can not set the friction too low, or the stick will not hold in place.

* I would have wanted a midway "zero" detent.
Click to expand...
That was a concern for me as well. the zero detent. I loved it when I had the Thustmaster TWCS updraded Throttle. I had the thrustmaster set and now use the joystick on the left hand. It has a slide in the front I use for throttle and that doesn't have a detent.

I do find that when using the FA-off on turns, it throws the thruster off and doesn't keep its zero setting. I have to reset that by moving the slide lightly so the game recognized that again or have a button assigned to set speed to "0".

I take it that you took the Y-springs off?

And the ketchup bottle effect is probably "squeeze a little but get nothing. squeeze a bit harder and get too much" ;-) I think it is already a problem with the deadzone that makes tiny movements harder. Maybe you can change the curve in the software.

I do know that the right VBK stick I have is not the lightest to move. I like it coming back to position, but would love for it to be lighter in the hand. Can't have best of both worlds I guess. Compromise and grow the muscle memory.
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
jojon said:
I have two main issues with my omni-throttle:

* There is enough flex in the bar that extends and angles the grip, that it produces a bit of a ketchup bottle effect, especially noticeable when one just want to nudge the throttle a tiny bit: Nothing, nothing, nothing, too much... Even if I hadn't wanted the sticks to be fairly "heavy" to move, one can not set the friction too low, or the stick will not hold in place.

* I would have wanted a midway "zero" detent.
Click to expand...
Flex? I have none in mine. I also use the springs which naturally center the stick. I use the stick for forward /reverse, up/down and right /left thrust. The ships throttle is set to the center analog dial on the Omni base with the left hand switch sets 75% throttle when deflected up and a secondary button for dropping out of super cruise.

In practice, how this works if you set throttle to the center of the blue zone, the forward trust will override the throttle if it's percentage goes higher than the throttles percentage when pushing forward on the Omni and increase the forward speed.

When pulling back on the Omni the thrusters will slow down and reverse the ships direction. Returning the Omni to the neutral postion will allow the ship to accelerate back to whatever you set the throttle to.

This is very useful for dog fighting, set the throttle to the center of the blue zone, maximum manuverability and use forward and reverse thrust to accelerate or do reversekies... Also, reversing thrust while pitching up will make a faster loop, but the speed and effect of this varies ship to ship.

The left stick is not used in supercruise as there is no thrust in supercruise
 

Walter2

Walter2
Flying Peanut said:
That was a concern for me as well. the zero detent.
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I miss the feel of the centre resist I had made on my previous CH throttle, but far prefer the feel of the Omni. I took the fore-and-aft- springs off and set the LED to flash when it reaches the half-way point - it's good enough to catch from the corner of your eye while you concentrate on other things - with full-throw forward and button for reverse. I also use one of the hats for instant 0%, 25%, 50% and 100% settings.
I generally don't use limpets to pick up stuff and don't have much trouble using fine control to line up the cargo scoop.
 
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jojon

J
Flying Peanut said:
I take it that you took the Y-springs off?
Click to expand...
Yep.
Flying Peanut said:
And the ketchup bottle effect is probably "squeeze a little but get nothing. squeeze a bit harder and get too much" ;-) I think it is already a problem with the deadzone that makes tiny movements harder. Maybe you can change the curve in the software.
Click to expand...
Incidently, custom stick curves was one of the things I was hoping engineering might have turned out to be, when it was announced, specifically hoping it would not become the now familiar stats arms race. :p
Flying Peanut said:
I do know that the right VBK stick I have is not the lightest to move. I like it coming back to position, but would love for it to be lighter in the hand. Can't have best of both worlds I guess. Compromise and grow the muscle memory.
Click to expand...
Well, I believe one of the spare sets of springs that come with the device is supposed to be a lighter option? I suppose one could always try to source some lighter ersatz springs on one's own -- just strong enough to manage the weight of the stick, and one's chosen friction screw tightness...

Pville_Piper said:
This is very useful for dog fighting, set the throttle to the center of the blue zone, maximum manuverability and use forward and reverse thrust to accelerate or do reversekies... Also, reversing thrust while pitching up will make a faster loop, but the speed and effect of this varies ship to ship.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a well thought out system, but I think I'd rather just have the simple "direct" "big" throttle, personally -- maybe I'll try to add a preset blue-zone button -- I had one for Voice Attack for a while. Of course, my playing the game tends to involve avoiding fighting, at all cost... :p
 

Flying Peanut

Flying Peanut
jojon said:
Of course, my playing the game tends to involve avoiding fighting, at all cost... :p
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That was an important argument. A regular throttle is absolutely better in control in my opinion. I had one (Thrustmaster TWCS) and I also loved in in battle. But the up/down throttle was with a mini-stick and not the best way to control. Also the left and right was done with buttons. Over time it becomes more second nature, but so will the omni-stick eventually.
But for space trucking you can't beat the regular throttle. I had my wife say "get the damn thing" ... not get them both ... :rolleyes::ROFLMAO:
 
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