Wanting to get into the game and my starting HOTAS

[TomToma]

Listen I have been wanting to get into DCS for a long time now, played War Thunder for a long time and now I want to play something more realistic.

Unfortunately I do not have a HOTAS system yet. The 3 I have looked at were the Logitech's X52 (Has good reviews and looks decent) and the X56 (Has worse reviews than the 52 but it looks good) and then the Thrustmaster HOTAS warthog setup.

I would appreciate any recommendations, know your experience if you ever owned one of these or if you have any recommendations. My limit would max the 500$ for my first full HOTAS system.

[Lady Zycilla]

A Logitech X-56 would be a good system to start with, good stick and throttle setup and has enough switches to bind enough systems for whatever aircraft you choose to start with, which the Hornet and F-16 are good choices.

[Gunn]

For $500 I might suggest getting the VKB NXT Premium stick and the Thrustmaster TWCS throttle. Then when you can afford a bit more, upgrade that throttle, but you'll still have a "good" stick. The TWCS throttle offers the most bang for your buck as an entry level throttle. Lots of HATS and such for bindings. This would run about $300 before shipping.

[Gunfreak]

If your budget is 500. I'd go for any of the winwing HOTASes.
https://eu.winwingsim.com/mobileview/shopping.html?id=133

They have various regional stores.

https://winwingsim.com/mobileview/

[startrekmike]

TomToma님이 먼저 게시:

Listen I have been wanting to get into DCS for a long time now, played War Thunder for a long time and now I want to play something more realistic.

Unfortunately I do not have a HOTAS system yet. The 3 I have looked at were the Logitech's X52 (Has good reviews and looks decent) and the X56 (Has worse reviews than the 52 but it looks good) and then the Thrustmaster HOTAS warthog setup.

I would appreciate any recommendations, know your experience if you ever owned one of these or if you have any recommendations. My limit would max the 500$ for my first full HOTAS system.

Speaking strictly of the three choices you have outlined, I would say the Warthog offers the most "bang for the buck". It isn't perfect but the X52 is woefully outdated and the X56 has a lot of little problems that keep it from really being as good as it wants to be. The Warthog has its own issues but as a whole, it is the best choice on your list.

If you have $500 to play with, I would suggest looking at Winwing's Orion 2 setup. They give you a lot of options to work with and they have been around long enough to be a proven brand. If you want anything better, you start getting into a very, very different price bracket.

[Deadhead]

Gunfreak님이 먼저 게시:

If your budget is 500. I'd go for any of the winwing HOTASes.
https://eu.winwingsim.com/mobileview/shopping.html?id=133

They have various regional stores.

https://winwingsim.com/mobileview/

I agree with this Wing wing stuff is top notch

[Ho Chi]

honestly , i'd go with the more premium brands when it comes to HOTAS , youre going to be using it a lot and you cant beat the responsiveness , feel and build quality of the more niche flight peripheral companies.

Personally i went from using an X52Pro to the Winwing F16ex stick and throttle , its so much better in all aspects. the bad pots in the X52pro and how power hungry it is (constant drop outs and disconnects when compared to winwing).

[Noobiecanoobie]

Gunn님이 먼저 게시:

For $500 I might suggest getting the VKB NXT Premium stick and the Thrustmaster TWCS throttle. Then when you can afford a bit more, upgrade that throttle, but you'll still have a "good" stick. The TWCS throttle offers the most bang for your buck as an entry level throttle. Lots of HATS and such for bindings. This would run about $300 before shipping.

+1 for this recommendation. However VKB has now released a more high end throttle worth considering instead of the Thrustmaster TWCS.

[Lindsey]

Gunfreak님이 먼저 게시:

If your budget is 500. I'd go for any of the winwing HOTASes.
https://eu.winwingsim.com/mobileview/shopping.html?id=133

They have various regional stores.

https://winwingsim.com/mobileview/

I just got my setup from Winwig, pretty nice. Putting it all together took a minute. Figuring out the controls and their software, a whole different ball game. Their software is pretty nice, you can download other users profiles and load it in then just minimize the software, launch DCS. My issue trying to figure out what buttons do what.

[BuggSmasher]

Lots of reviews out there for the Thrustmaster HOTAS warthog, have one myself and havnt yet installed !! Yep, Still love tinkering with my trusty CH-Fighter stick and Pro-throttle. Noce and compact with rudder programmed into the throttles analogue joystick. Not for everyone, but its been robust and reliable, and probably the most most programmable setup on the market !!!

[Gracey Face]

The best starter HOTAS right now is getting a VKB Gladiator NXT EVO stick and VKB STECS mini throttle (standard rather than mini preferably if you can afford it, but you can upgrade into that).

STECS is probably the best throttle on the market at the moment and is upgradable, and the Gladiator is a good starter stick that can be modified for special purposes like being a dead stick or an omnithrottle if you get a better stick later on and want something more specific.

A thing to note though is the STECS has only recently come out, so while its price is really good and VKB has a reputation for long lasting gear, there's no way to be sure what kind of longevity it has.


Also, a lot of people are reccomending Logitech and Saitek. These used to be decent options back when they were the only game in town but with Virpil, VKB and Winwing you can get better quality with more function for cheaper.

[Gunn]

Gracey Face님이 먼저 게시:

The best starter HOTAS right now is getting a VKB Gladiator NXT EVO stick and VKB STECS mini throttle (standard rather than mini preferably if you can afford it, but you can upgrade into that).

STECS is probably the best throttle on the market at the moment and is upgradable, and the Gladiator is a good starter stick that can be modified for special purposes like being a dead stick or an omnithrottle if you get a better stick later on and want something more specific.

A thing to note though is the STECS has only recently come out, so while its price is really good and VKB has a reputation for long lasting gear, there's no way to be sure what kind of longevity it has.


Also, a lot of people are reccomending Logitech and Saitek. These used to be decent options back when they were the only game in town but with Virpil, VKB and Winwing you can get better quality with more function for cheaper.

The STECS seems like it might be a good product but to say it's the best throttle on the market seems like a bit of a stretch. How is it "better" than say a Virpi CM3 or Orion 2 that use better quality materials?

[Gracey Face]

Gunn님이 먼저 게시:

The STECS seems like it might be a good product but to say it's the best throttle on the market seems like a bit of a stretch. How is it "better" than say a Virpi CM3 or Orion 2 that use better quality materials?

They don't use better materials. And it is much cheaper while offering roughly the same functionality (they'll never 1:1 match in terms of buttons and axis of course) and having a capability no other throttle currently has (the quick detents).

So if you are looking at pure functionality you could get a STECS and then a buttonbox of some kind for the same price you would spend for just a CM3 or one of the winwing equivalents.

[Gunn]

Gracey Face님이 먼저 게시:

Gunn님이 먼저 게시:

The STECS seems like it might be a good product but to say it's the best throttle on the market seems like a bit of a stretch. How is it "better" than say a Virpi CM3 or Orion 2 that use better quality materials?

They don't use better materials. And it is much cheaper while offering roughly the same functionality (they'll never 1:1 match in terms of buttons and axis of course) and having a capability no other throttle currently has (the quick detents).

So if you are looking at pure functionality you could get a STECS and then a buttonbox of some kind for the same price you would spend for just a CM3 or one of the winwing equivalents.

I suppose this is a matter of opinion. The STECS is all plastic while the Virpil CM3 and Orion 2 use metals. That IMO makes it better material. The CM3 has 2 adjustable detent locations with 3 different detent styles to pick from. I still think the CM3 is a better quality product.

[Gracey Face]

Gunn님이 먼저 게시:

Gracey Face님이 먼저 게시:

They don't use better materials. And it is much cheaper while offering roughly the same functionality (they'll never 1:1 match in terms of buttons and axis of course) and having a capability no other throttle currently has (the quick detents).

So if you are looking at pure functionality you could get a STECS and then a buttonbox of some kind for the same price you would spend for just a CM3 or one of the winwing equivalents.

I suppose this is a matter of opinion. The STECS is all plastic while the Virpil CM3 and Orion 2 use metals. That IMO makes it better material. The CM3 has 2 adjustable detent locations with 3 different detent styles to pick from. I still think the CM3 is a better quality product.

Metals do not make something better. That is the kind of thing that companies use to mislead people who, I can't think of a nicer way to put this, do not think things through. The STECS uses fibre reinforces ABS, which is within (forgot to add that part :D) ~10% of the structural strength of normal aluminum compositions and is actually better at things like sratch resistance/visibility. But either way the internals of the part would fail long before the casing for both products if you are mishandling them.

It's the same reason why they stick lead/steel weights in the bottom of cheaper controllers, because people associate weight with quality, even though there's no good reason to.

Also the CM 3 has ADJUSTABLE detents, the STECS has 4 (or possibly more) QUICK REPLACABLE ADJUSTABLE DETENT SYSTEMS. So you can, with one screw and the turn of 1 dial have specific detent setups for multiple different aircraft/games.

The STECS legitimately is the best throttle you can get right now (or at least in this kind of price range and this specific type of throttle. You can get sim rated replicas for more).

[Gunn]

Gracey Face님이 먼저 게시:

Gunn님이 먼저 게시:

I suppose this is a matter of opinion. The STECS is all plastic while the Virpil CM3 and Orion 2 use metals. That IMO makes it better material. The CM3 has 2 adjustable detent locations with 3 different detent styles to pick from. I still think the CM3 is a better quality product.

Metals do not make something better. That is the kind of thing that companies use to mislead people who, I can't think of a nicer way to put this, do not think things through. The STECS uses fibre reinforces ABS, which is ~10% of the structural strength of normal aluminum compositions and is actually better at things like sratch resistance/visibility. But either way the internals of the part would fail long before the casing for both products if you are mishandling them.

It's the same reason why they stick lead/steel weights in the bottom of cheaper controllers, because people associate weight with quality, even though there's no good reason to.

Also the CM 3 has ADJUSTABLE detents, the STECS has 4 (or possibly more) QUICK REPLACABLE ADJUSTABLE DETENT SYSTEMS. So you can, with one screw and the turn of 1 dial have specific detent setups for multiple different aircraft/games.

The STECS legitimately is the best throttle you can get right now (or at least in this kind of price range and this specific type of throttle. You can get sim rated replicas for more).

I disagree with most, but again, a matter of opinion. Have a good day!