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If you are willing to get Winwing, Virpil or VKB, there is no reason to go for TMHW which have way worse quality than others in your list.
1. you should also get rudder pedals, as there is no rudder button/slider on the warthog for the ultimate experience. I got the Thrustmaster TPR, which complements the quality of the warthog hotas.
2. The drivers are heavily outdated but working, which gives problem in windows 11. Because of incompitable drivers, you can't activate the memory integrity function, which is a security function. I've read about people with the same issues contacting thrustmaster support, but it appears they don't intend to fix the issue. So there's that.
Flying wise, the thrustmaster warthog is really a solid product, the yoke input is super precise, and the build quality feels sturdy, it's in all metal and a true replica of the a-10 hotas. it's very precise, and works really well with DCS when it comes to compability and ease of setup. You simply assign the different axes, and many of the buttons are already configured and regocnized by DCS in the different planes.
The Warthog Hotas combined with rudder pedals I have no problem landing a F-16, F-18 or a A-10. It's just so much more intuitive and easy compared to my previous logitech extreme 3d pro joystick. I believe sensitivity and input registered by the yoke and joystick influences that.
One bad thing if you decide to go with the Thrustmaster TPR rudder pedals, is that everytime you reboot your computer, you have to replug the usb for it to be recognized. One solution could be to buy a quality powered usb hub with a power button ( i myself haven't done this yet, but it's an option).
I don't know about the other products, because I haven't bought them, but I'm very happy with the thrustmaster warthog and tpr pedals.
The price is high, but for the best experience I would really consider the pedals also. You can map it to buttons or keyboard i believe, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the hotas. If you map it to the hotas you do miss out on the functions on the hotas, although some of the buttons are primarily used on the ground during startup.
Best of luck with whatever product you end up buying!
Out of those three, I would honestly recommend the Winwing Orion the most since it largely replaces the Warthog set in terms of pricing while also having higher overall quality. Likewise. Unlike the VKB, it has a full modern throttle with all the features that one would reasonably expect (as opposed to the rather limited GNX).
Thing is: TMHW is metalic on outside, but full plastic inside. Wich very cheap looking plastic gimball mechanism with plastic pins that works like plastic friction bearing. The winwing/virpil/vgb have alloy gimball with ball bearings, adjustable cams, e.t.c..
just dont apply ridicule amount of sheer and twist force
The TMHW falls the most is switches and buttons. really pain in the ass i would say.
In 6 years i have almost replaced 50% of button and switches.
2/3 ways switch is easier to replace
But the buttons are just plastic housing + tactile switch/button. tactile button is so small and very difficult to find right size, then doing all the soldering things.
for longevity, choose whatever one has or can be replace with industrial button/switches easily
If you want slide, then for example the VPC MongoosT-50CM3 Throttle have rotary axis right on throttle lever.
Winwing's downside might be the each throttle is desidned only for desired aircraft. It might lack the versatility. But Winwing F-16EX Viper Metal Throttle Handle has rotary axis right on grip. Those are used for radar elevation and radar azimuth by default.
If you don't depend on HOTAS system, you might choose Honeycomb bravo throttle quadrant which contains 6 axis and rotary wheel for trim.
Also the Turtlebeach stick have rotary wheel which can be used as trim. But IMO it lacks huge ammount of buttons. But if you want it for WWII, it would be good enough, just the quality is not equal to all others.
national guard(for training) and 3rd world country UAV platform actually buy tmhw in bulks.
It licensed, 1:1 dimension, can replace with authentic Otto buttons(expensive, difficult to find).
Just saying. Not all bad.
The website mentions a "rotary axis" but not sure it that's what they are referring to.
So, As I wrote. Modern jets don't have trim wheels nor trim axis. Very often they even don't have trim tabs. Those aircrafts uses 4-way trim HAT on stick to trim pitch and roll. You will not find even the trim pitch/roll axis command for that in DCS:W.
In MSFS it is different. Many aircrafts have trim wheel, but also trim hat. For example Cessna 172 have both - Trim wheel and trim buttons on yokes. So you can choose which one you want to use. But unlike DCS:W, MSFS have "universal" input presets. Like you can use trim wheel for aircrafts those never had it. personally I don't like it, but whatever.
Winwing Orion2 base have two sliders on base. Thrustmaster warthog throttle have one slider on its base. Unlike the TMHW base, the grip and throttle is quite good. Also, the Thrustmaster A-10C grip and F/A-18C grip is compatibile with Virpil base. Virpil throttle also have rotary slider on throttle grip.
next options are to get separate trim wheel:
https://flightvelocity.com/products/flight-velocity-trim-wheel-pro
Or DIY. You can buy Arduino and programm it or you can buy the MFG SIMM8RGE USB JOYSTICK CONTROLLER and connect it to your DIY controller.
VKB is just a very good stick for the price, brings all the features you want. Orion 2 is great for combat jets and works just fine for any civilian aircraft.
But if you want to control airliners and specifically trim wheels, things get complicated. For MSFS, something like a Bravo Throttle Quadrant might be good? Has the throttle/bairbreak/flaps/etc levers you find on many civil fliers, as well as a trim wheel.
Isnt cheap tho, and lacks the throttle controls which many combat jets rely on.
So at the risk of sounding rather blunt. It is probably better to not overthink the trim wheel/slider thing at this particular juncture. I play DCS and MSFS pretty heavily and while there are certainly times where I think about getting a full trim wheel set, it is always very clearly something of a luxury/specialty item. In all honesty, just having a hat switch on the stick dedicated entirely to trim is perfectly fine and doesn't impact usability/functionality enough to be a real issue of any significance.
If anything, I would say that purchasing something that gives you (usefully designed) trim wheels/sliders probably should come after you have pretty much fully worked out the other major components of your setup. By that I mean that you have reached a point where you have the HOTAS, rudder pedals, and even head tracking setup that you are fully, 100% happy with and will last you a long time. Heck. I would even put a usefully designed trim wheel/slider setup behind getting a flight yoke (for MSFS specifically).
Since you are posting this in the DCS steam forum, it is clear that while you are also looking at the functionality you will need for MSFS, DCS also brings its own requirements and in pretty much every way, getting something that will work well for DCS will also get you something that will work very well for MSFS (perhaps to the point of feeling like overkill). With that in mind, it is probably best to just focus on what you will want for DCS since the requirements DCS places on peripherals will always be significantly greater than what MSFS places on them (even the higher fidelity 3rd party stuff like PMDG or FENIX).
When navigating the world of HOTAS's, it is important to really, really focus on what YOU want. A lot of folks get really into a kind of brand/price point loyalty thing without realizing that a lot of that is coming from social pressure (via various subreddits and communities) and effective marketing (via Youtube influencers and brand built echo-chambers). It is a harsh reality that some HOTAS setups are just going to be more versatile and offer more overall functionality than others. In tandem with that, the whole "you get what you pay for" axiom is very much a factor here. Sometimes the "best bang for the buck" isn't going to be found in the lower end of the price spectrum.
When I picked my current HOTAS setup, I chose based on how well built it was and how versatile it was in terms of the quantity and type of controls offered on both the stick and the throttle. The specific brand name was less important than the actual functionality it offered. I needed something that could fully handle any potential binding scenarios presented by even the most complex DCS module without having to rely on using modifiers or other inconvenient measures that would just slow me down. This had to apply equally to both the stick and the throttle. If the stick was perfect but the throttle left something to be desired (or vice versa), that took that setup out of the running. I wanted a complete package that could handle anything I threw at it without having to resort to compromises.
Obviously one needs to pick whatever fits inside their own individual budget comfortably. Likewise. I am not saying that one should only ever buy the most expensive or even the least expensive setup arbitrarily. Lastly. I don't believe it is useful to try to push someone to get what I happened to purchase just because I like it. That said. I do think that when talking about buying a HOTAS with DCS as a factor, it is important to try and get the best you can possibly/comfortably afford and it is a good idea to focus on getting a HOTAS that puts extra emphasis on offering a wide range of controls (hat switches especially) on BOTH the stick and the throttle equally. If you find a setup that has a decent amount of controls on the throttle but only one hat switch on the stick, that isn't going to be a great setup for DCS. Likewise. If you find a setup where the stick has a lot of really nice controls but the throttle just doesn't stack up, the same applies.