Struggling to Find a decent Hotas to buy

trimmer1980

trimmer1980

trimmer1980

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Does anyone have any recommendations? had a pre order on the TM TCS officer Pack Airbus Edition but been notified its been setback to 13th November.

Doesn't seem to be any out there.
 
Depends on your budget and what games you want it for.
The Thrustmaster T16000M is very good for the price. Does a lot more than the entry level stuff and is within the same price bracket as the Madcatz/Saitek kit, but without the build quality issues.
Next up would be the CH Products kit, which is a very old design but still a very solid choice. Thereafter, your only options are the Warthog or some other pro level flight-sim kit, but you'll need to mortgage your private yacht for those!
 
I have the Thrustmaster warthog.

It's a pricy unit, but the build quality is something else, you won't be left wondering where your 400 or whatever it was quid went. I personally love it, But I also have my eye on the airbus set, well throttle in particular as thats a bit closer to my kind flying
 
Matt72033 said:
I have the Thrustmaster warthog.
It's a pricy unit, but the build quality is something else, you won't be left wondering where your 400 or whatever it was quid went. I personally love it, But I also have my eye on the airbus set, well throttle in particular as thats a bit closer to my kind flying
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It's absolutely top end in many respects... But there are a few downsides to consider, aside from the cost.

It's very solid and very heavy, which works great for A-10 flight sims, but doesn't always lend itself to other types of games.
It's designed on the original controls, which means it's best suited to having the controls in the right positions (stick canted, between knees, throttle down by the left thigh) rather than sat up high on a computer desk top - I found the ergonomics were pretty painful like that.
The throttle unit has various switches around the main body, which is perfectly accurate but does require being able to see them and so not the best option for VR games.
 
ttaskmaster said:
It's absolutely top end in many respects... But there are a few downsides to consider, aside from the cost.

It's very solid and very heavy, which works great for A-10 flight sims, but doesn't always lend itself to other types of games.
It's designed on the original controls, which means it's best suited to having the controls in the right positions (stick canted, between knees, throttle down by the left thigh) rather than sat up high on a computer desk top - I found the ergonomics were pretty painful like that.
The throttle unit has various switches around the main body, which is perfectly accurate but does require being able to see them and so not the best option for VR games.
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All very true

I personally don’t mind the ergonomics, I sit quite high at my desk so it’s not too bad for me.

it is damn heavy though :D
 
trimmer1980 said:
Does anyone have any recommendations?
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What sort of HOTAS do you want? Do you want a stick or a yoke? In the latter case try Logitech. They're all shown as sold out on OCUK but I'm sure they'll order them for you. Don't forget that you can mix and match stick / yoke, throttle, and rudders with them all USB.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Depends on your budget and what games you want it for.
The Thrustmaster T16000M is very good for the price. Does a lot more than the entry level stuff and is within the same price bracket as the Madcatz/Saitek kit, but without the build quality issues.
Next up would be the CH Products kit, which is a very old design but still a very solid choice. Thereafter, your only options are the Warthog or some other pro level flight-sim kit, but you'll need to mortgage your private yacht for those!
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Thrustmaster T-16000m there isn't any available i've looked everywhere for this

I wanted stick and throttle setup, to play MSFS and rouge squadron
 
trimmer1980 said:
Thrustmaster T-16000m there isn't any available i've looked everywhere for this

I wanted stick and throttle setup, to play MSFS and rouge squadron
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I managed to get the T-16000m stick from Thrustmaster and found the Throttle on amazon, I use them for exactly the games you mentioned, just finished decorating the whole house with the wonderful covid situation, and ended up redoing the "mancave" so I positioned them in front of a 65 TV, so much fun and the flight sticks make it fan bloody tastic, getting older and playing games has never been so much fun :D
 
trimmer1980 said:
Thrustmaster T-16000m there isn't any available i've looked everywhere for this
I wanted stick and throttle setup, to play MSFS and rouge squadron
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Yep, this tends to happen whenever a shiny new game is released... and we've just had two big games (MS FS and SW: Sqns) come out. Unfortunately, you're getting into this right at the tail end of the buying rush.

Your only options are to wait for stocks to increase, buy something hideously expensive, or buy something crap and hate the experience.
 
I'm in the same boat here guys.

Just bought Ace Combat 7 and starting to get into it, yes it's cheesy arcade blast-em-up level flight sim, but I don't even have an XBOX controller to see how that compares, and it clearly wasn't designed to be used with keyboard/mouse.

Hadn't really wanted to spend top dollar on a top level HOTAS when it's not my main area of gaming, but the lower end models just aren't available anywhere. Is it mostly just down to the MSFS and other recent releases or are these normally pretty low stock items?

Tips on where to find any would be appreciated - Normally I'd have just straigh up ordered from OCUK but they've got absolutely nothing in.
 
It’s not normally like this.....there is a cheap joystick currently available on another site (rainforest).

it’s not HOTAS but it will still significantly improve your experience
 
I've had a Thrustmaster Warthog since they were first released (nearly ten years ago).

If I had to replace it tomorrow, I would buy another Thrustmaster Warthog.
 
matt_fsr said:
Is it mostly just down to the MSFS and other recent releases or are these normally pretty low stock items?
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Bit of both, really.
Usually stocks are a bit low, as HOTAS games are a niche thing, so unless your company specialises in them you won't have the need to keep retailers stocked with more than a few SKUs. In many cases the product just drops off the menu and stops being made, as no-one is buying it.
When a fancy new game comes out demand rises (or soars as in the case of Elite and Star Citizen) again, until everyone who wants a HOTAS has the one they wanted, and then it drops back to lower levels as toe-dipping players gradually buy up all the remaining stock.
 
I've still got a ms force feedback joystick but was looking at a significant upgrade like a thrust master hotas ready for FS2020 so will keep an eye on this thread too.
 
rexehuk said:
I have a T50-CM stick and CM2 throttle and couldn't recommend it more.

Depends on how much you're using it though if you want to spend that money, if you're flying once a month or something definitely not worth it. If you fly a lot though it does give pleasure to use, just feels very real.
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Its a bit of a rabbit hole hey!
I've CM2 Throttle with WarBRD and Constellation alpha grip. Fantastic bit of kit if you can stand the wait to get one.. Although I resisted for a while it was only 2 weeks from ordering to receiving
 
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