Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog Official Replica Dual Throttle & Flight Stick – Full Metal Flight Simulation Controller – H.E.A.R.T Magnetic Precision – PC Compatible

Just the best Hotas you can buy, I keep seeing the price being refered to as one of the "cons" with this kit but believe me, you are getting a heck of a lot of HOTAS for your money. My last HOTAS was also a Thrustmaster, the F22pro with TQS throttle, cost way more than the Warthog and was all (very high quality) plastic. BUT that stick and throttle was in daily use for 23 years! I never needed to buy another setup, when gameports were abolished, I converted it to USB and I fully expect it to last another 23 years too if it wasn't for my need to replace it with the Warthog. Like many others I have fallen in love with the A10-C simulation by DCS, probably the most detailed and accurate sim outside of the commercial market (and probably better than most of them). The Warthog stick is detected by the sim and "just works". Must say I am not a fan of the red china hat switch top or the flap switch top, may need to get a chunkier set 3d printed but I'm not going top mark it down for that, it's still better than any of the competition. The feel of the stick is much lighter than I am used to, the F22 had springs from a Sherman Tank and this is a revelation, so much easier to control the ship with. Buttons are nicely placed and weighted and feel very professional, solid and smooth action. The throttles move smoothly and have adjustable damping, an off/idle detent and a switchable afterburner detent (allen key supplied). As everybody else has said, these are HEAVY bits of kit and they need to be so they don't move around when in use (which they don't). All in all the best stick and throttle I have ever used, even better than my F22pro and TQS. I know the price looks steep but my last TM cost a lot more than this but ended up being the cheapest HOTAS I ever bought, 23 years before it got replaced, I fully expect the Warthog to rival it for quality and longevity, I have no doubt, this will be the LAST, CHEAPEST HOTAS I will ever buy :)

Having owned this for a few months now i will give my opinion. It is a heavy beefy piece of kit, sit it on the desk, and be prepared to work out when you want to move it! It is very fluid in it movement, no jerky movements, it is great, and very well put together. I have owned various other HOTAS, and they were ok, or even good- right up to the point of breaking- in some cases it was broken out of the box - Saitek/madcats- Never again! pros and cons ++ it is solid metal, Solid- OH YES - the joystick part that you hold on to with your right hand weighs more than my old X55(which was good, but cak build quality) and that is not even including the base- it is solid. ++ it is heavy, and will not slide about your desk like a lot of the other ones. ++ it is great for Elite Dangerous - No twist yar, which is not that big of a deal, as i simply use the secondary trigger to move left/ right (it has a 5 was switch - l/r, up, down and press to fire). Once you get used to doing it, it feels natural. - It is quite a price, BUT you get what you pair for- having killed 5 X55 rhinos in under 1 year, due to the utter inferior build quality, this beats them hands down! Overall i`d say if you are a serious game, and want a quality piece of kit VS as expensive piece of plastic(Saitek) then get this one, if you cant afford it, then wait for the Thrustmaster thruster block (estimated £100) and get a t1600 flight stick with it. Basically this is the dogs dodads of the HOTAS world- just buy it, and you wont regret it- only your bank manager(or wife) will...

If you've the cash to spend on a quality flight stick setup, then this is the product for you. yes, the price is steep, but you will be glad you invested in the Warthog. Quality metal construction, of both throttle and stick, solid buttons and switches that feel firm to the grip and will not snap or break, with a bit of pressure. Thrustmaster have gone the distance with its Warthog and you can feel the quality, when using a sim - responsive and sturdy, no snapping off bits with this beast, when you have to perform a sharp manoeuvre in your simulated vehicle. I use it for DCS and Elite Dangerous, without difficulty, the sheer amount of buttons and switches makes this an immersive experience in gaming and you do get Thrustmaster's T.A.R.G.E.T software, which has its strengths and weaknesses. All in all, this is not a toy, this is a serious piece of kit and will improve your simming no end, the construction is solid and weighty and feels vastly superior to other products on the market. The packaging is satisfying too, which also protects the Warthog well, during transit. I cannot recommend this enough and have been after this for a few years, now I have it, I know the wait was worth it,,,,this is a beast!!

Having owned or tried almost every more or less serious HOTAS available in PC Gaming market, I can confidently state that HOTAS Warthog is among the best money can buy today. More than enough has been said and written already about this wonderful controller, so I am not going to throw in yet another bunch of relatively meaningless "WOW"s, "IT'S JUST FANTASTIC!"s etc. Let's talk about some picky details, and some practical considerations, that are less often reported in user reviews, but are equally as important BEFORE you buy the product, as reading the WOWs of happy owners LOL! 1) It IS BIG and HEAVY! Especially the throttle part. So make sure you know how you plant the two devices. No flimsy shelves here! The stick is tall, meaning that if you place it on your desk, it will be in an even more acqward position relative to your body. This stick almost REQUIRES lower-level installation somewhere between your legs. Remember, unlike the COUGAR, which was modelled after F-16 Block 50 - a side-stick type of cockpit, the Warthog replicats the stick of A10, which has a centrally located stick. 2) Stick stiffness is very comfortable: it's softer than the original HOTAS Cougar, the older TM F22Pro/TQS combo, and muuuuch smoother than the ancient TM X-Fighter. Much less of a workout gear than previous TM's top controllers :) And, because of this, it's a lot more stable free-standing on the desk, especially given a much larger (and heavier) base plate. 3) Throttles are trickier. While the movement itself is smoother than HOTAS Throttle (even with tightenend tension adjustment mechanism), however, detents are where all the fun starts. As you can read from reviews, Warthog throttle allows you to have one or two detents: Cut-Off and WEP, or just the Cut-Off. You can remove the WEP detent, but there's nothing you could to with Idle Detent. Both detents require handles to be pulled up a little to come over the detent. They're spring-returned down once past the detend point. There's no user-friendly way to adjust the spring force for the "pull-up" function, and unfortunately, the spring is IMO way too stiff. The result is immediate: this heavy beast jumps up every time you pull the handles to go over detents. The only way to avoid it is to somehow fix the throtte base on a surface. 4) The new programming interface (T.A.R.G.E.T.) in my view is worse than the original FOXY application, it's a lot less obvious. However, it's powerful, flexible and does the job. Just takes time for us old-school Cougar users to get used to it :-) 5) Connection and DX functionality. There's one thing I would like to note here. Unlike Cougar, the stick and the throttle each have a separate USB cable that plugs into the PC. For the users, it means two things: first, you will need more ports than with almost any other HOTAS on the market (Cougar, Saitek X52/X52Pro/X65F etc). Second, by default DX will see two separate controllers. It's not a problem for most modern titles, because they can interface with multiple DirectInput controllers. However, if you want to run a REALLY ANCIENT title, which only knows how to work with one DX controller, you'll not be able to use it in default mode. To fix this, T.A.R.G.E.T. can COMBINE the two into a single virtual HOTAS WARTHOG controller, which is a fantastic feature. The only downside is that you'll lose some of the DX buttons as the total number of physical buttons/switches on the two is beyond 32, which is the current DirectInput limit per single controller ID. That's about it, folks, hope some of you will find this review useful. Clear skies! SV_huMMer out.

Pinky switch on throttle broken on receipt. Target software is far too complicated. Apart from these 2 issues this is a serious setup for flight sims. Using it mainly for DCS and X-plane 12. Very accurate controls, really like the weighted feel of the joystick & smooth throttle response. All other switches ( excluding throttle switch ) work well with a very postive feel.

Superb top-quality HOTAS with rugged metal construction and deceptively ergonomic design worthy of an aircraft. Has more switches than you will ever need: never have to touch your keyboard again while playing Elite Dangerous! The use of scripting software to manage certain aspects of the switch inputs is advised, but this is simple to use, there are many online guides on how to make the best use of it, and it can be downloaded completely free from the Thrustmaster website. The most prominent issue with this HOTAS versus it's competitors is the lack of Z-axis input (typically used to yaw a craft left or right) but the most authentic way to yaw in any flight sim is to use pedals anyway. Alternatively, the throttle has four analogue inputs, two of which make great inputs for the yaw, or one of the many hat switches can be assigned to yaw as a digital input. Already clocked in several hours with none of the reported sticking issues cropping up. Flies like a dream. I originally intended to buy the Saitek X55 Rhino, but was turned off due to greatly inflated prices presumably due to high demand for that product. The thrustmaster is currently a much worthier investment despite still being slightly more expensive -- and the quality is really on display with every aspect of this HOTAS. I would recommend it even if the X55 was still about a third cheaper.

At least not yet. I had two bricked units in under a month both due to the same catastrophic failure inherent in all Warthogs in relation to X58 chipsets. Seems someone at Thrustmaster didn't do their Quality Assurance homework on one of the most popular boards on the market the result being many bricked devices. While some Asus or X58 chipset motherboard owners have unbricked devices it is usually because they have run them via a external powered usb hub and NOT connected to the main board. Please consider carefully before buying. The HOTAS itself is wonderful, a complete joy to use; the level of mechanical excellence, detail, realism and quality is up to Thrustmasters usual standards. If you ever owned a TM Cougar expect a product at least 100% improved in almost every way, that TM could improve so much on a HOTAS system (Cougar) already considered the best is astonishing. For prospective Asus/X58 chipset buyers please google 'thrustmaster warthog unrecognised usb device' or 'warthog throttle not recognised' and finally 'bricked warthog' in order to make an educated decision. Hopefully Thrustmaster will roll out updated firmware sooner rather than later...... edit. Since I wrote the original review I discovered that an easy way to bypass this issue is to use a powered USB hub as well as dis-connecting the HOTAS before shutting down the pc. If you follow these simple instructions you won't have any problems with the X58 chipset motherboards. edit 2. TM have resolved the issue with a firmware upgrade meaning that all new Warthogs are safe with all X58 motherboards.

What to say it's the best piece of hardware I ever had. From the box to the final product is something you don't want to miss. Is quite heavy, almost 4kg the whole combination but it worth every penny. The Flightsick it has an awesome grip, every button is at hand and the metal feeling gives you an almost real immersion sensation. Trhursters, separated or altogether, when you are hands on it you have the feeling of being piloting the real thing. The switches an additional buttons are a nice touch. Cons: Target software is a nightmare to configure and use if you are not fond with json. The stick has no Z axis for rudders, so if you are not planning to have your pedals, you will have to configure any of the POV or sliding controls to control your yaw. Summary: if you are looking for the closest approach to be in the cockpit of a real combat plane, this is your option. If you only want to have fun and kill some stuff all the way... there are cheaper HOTAS options for you, this one is a lifetime investment for a serious flight experience.