Question for HOTAS users

[Doc Clarke]

I've realised (it's taken me years to realise this) that the reason I always abandon using my Saitek X52 Pro is that - once I've put it on my desk - it's WAAAYY too high to be comfortably usable.
My desk is set up with the desk surface at the right height. About 4 inches above my lap and intersecting between my waist and ribs so my arms would be at 90 degrees when resting on the desk. Monitor top is level with my eyes, chair is so my knees are also at 90 degrees when my feet are planted on the floor comfortably.

So far - so ergonomically "by the book"

However...

Once I stick my joystick on the desk (and it is a BIG chunky beast) I end up with my hands closer to my ears. I feel like I'm using one of those skiing/walking exercise machines where you step and pull those big handles at the side. Or even like someone changing the points on an old fashioned signal box..
It's not comfortable and within a few minutes I give up and wonder how anyone does this.

Then I looked online and saw that people have setups that has their joysticks and HOTAS set up perhaps 4 or 5 inches lower - which would make all the difference.
I've looked on Amazon for solutions I could add to my desk to give me surfaces at my side perhaps 6 inches below the height of my desktop and none that look they would last more than 10 minutes come in at under £120. I might love X4 - but not that much!!

So...

What do you all use? How is your physical set up. Do you have the HOTAS at normal desk level and somehow deal with that? If you buy stuff to make it feel batter what is it and where do you get it from.

Thanks in advance :)

[Jukelo]

Been using one of the chinesium mounts (Hikig, on Amazon, I believe it was 80€ at the time) for a year. It's working great, solid, can be removed easily. As you've figured, mounting your joystick on top of the desk is the best way of ending up hating the experience. Do yourself a favor and devise some mounting solution to lower the stick to a more ergonomic height. Or raise your chair.

if you're handy, you could build it yourself with some wood and clamps, or use some bedside table as a ghetto mount.

You could also ask around on /r/HOTAS.

[Doc Clarke]

Originally posted by Jukelo:

Been using one of the chinesium mounts (Hikig, on Amazon, I believe it was 80€ at the time) for a year. It's working great, solid, can be removed easily. As you've figured, mounting your joystick on top of the desk is the best way of ending up hating the experience. Do yourself a favor and devise some mounting solution to lower the stick to a more ergonomic height. Or raise your chair.

if you're handy, you could build it yourself with some wood and clamps, or use some bedside table as a ghetto mount.

You could also ask around on /r/HOTAS.

Wow!!

I can't believe I didn't know these existed.
And good ones designed to fit my HOTAS come in for about half the price of the under shelf generic things I was looking at!

Thank you Juklo. I'm going to invest in the Diwangus of Jikig (sic?) two set. Very much appreciate your input :)

[MaGicBush]

I just ended up getting a desk with a sliding keyboard tray. It's big enough I can push the keyboard to the back of the tray and still fit my joystick and throttle. The only issue is if I get to into a game and push to hard on the joystick it lifts and hit the upper part of my desk above that sliding tray. I need to get something sticky on the bottom of it and it would work perfectly fine. Velcro won't work since normally I have my mouse where the joystick is so not sure what to use.