Will be available for pre-order soon. Looks like a solid product, albeit a little on the expensive side: $229 US, 199 Euro funny money.
Jabbers has a great review up here:
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For comparison:
- the VKB MCG Pro is $160 US;
- the VKB Kosmosima Premium is $119 US;
- the Virpil MongoosT-50CM2 is $180 US;
- the Virpil Constellation Delta is $125;
Still. It looks like a promising product. I wonder if my extra VKB/TM conversion kit will workā¦ 
With the Warthog stick I have a very reliable control profile. While this would be really nice, I feel Iād end up losing as by mapping the stick correctly with that new grip, I wouldnāt have the correct throttle to match and I donāt think everything would work out as smoothly.
A full HOTAS would be great, but I have no reason to replace my relatively new (compared to other users who have been simming longer) Warthog setup - especially for the price.
A really cool product, just likely not for me!
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That extra slider looks like a very good Tomcat DLC subā¦
However, the value proposition seems absurd to me. As a luxury item (and it is certainly boxed as such), I can understand it, and even desire it. But I have better things to drop 200 bucks on at this time.
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It is, admittedly, expensive and limited to those who already have a TM Cougar or TM Warthog. I am sure that they have run the numbers and feel that early adopters will likely be willing to hit this price point. If they donāt, then in a few months they can start lowering it. Looks like a great piece of kit, though.
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What about offering it with the Hog base?
(Or perhaps they secretly have a new base under development with extensions and spring adjustments we can all hope for.)
Is the TM Hog throttle available separately now? Last I saw the stick was, but the throttle was only in the kit.
Itās good that the other bases are using TMās connection, so itās interchangeable. I am just pondering as they have to want to catch more people into their brand, hence products like the TPR.
Yes, it is available separately for some time now.
The collector in me says get it. My common sense says NO. I am changing my attitude towards DCS. The 190A Markās the first time I dont buy a DCS module I really want. I might feel the same towards this. I have 2 TM WT Throttles and 3 sticks
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Right there with youā¦ only, Iāll try to hold off for 2nd gen. like I do most of the time, unless B&H drops a good sale on it for Christmas.
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One of the few day-one hardware purchases for me.
Hornet has always been among my favorite aircraft, and frankly the grips are the best part of thurstmaster hardware these days.
Gonna be an expensive year though; going to āneedā to get this, and going to get the new Virpil base. Plan is to use my Warbrd base with unextended warthog stick for the Viper, since itās undamped and only has springs for resistance, it getās a bit āboingy boingyā with the combo of 6ā ext and heavy TM stick up top. Figure damped centered base with the Hornet, and side stick with warthog is a winning combo.
sigh also need to investigate the new offerings from honeycomb.
A tragedy of riches for sim hardware as of late, now I just need the riches!
Also not sure if this was linked yet, but TM has a press release up on their site:
https://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/ŠŃŠµŃŃŠ°/fa-18c-hornet-hotas-add-grip-thrustmaster-locks-availability-date
Update: Link on Amazon US site:
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One thing I thought Iād add is that the F/A-18C stick might be more comfortable for some people than the A-10C/F-16 grip. Even though I like the CH Fighterstick, Iām not fond of the grip as itās rather tall for my hands, and itās a F-16 based grip.
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Removed the link, as @Navynuke99 linked it in one of the other threads.
https://forums.mudspike.com/t/tm-hornet-stick-grip/7354/2?u=chipwich
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Not listed at amazon.ca as yet but you can bet that even after currency conversion will be a supreme rip off.
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Some fair points all around, but, to get āmetaā (as the young kids say) about this: itās all āwantā when you get down to it. Itās just how much want does one choose to entertain, and where does the point of diminishing returns kick in. For lots of people I suspect the curve does apex well before this though, and for good reason, as $200 buys you some nice stuff in the PC gaming world.
On the other hand, at this point we have more aircraft in DCS that use this style of stick than the F-16/A-10C style. The Hornet, Harrier, and Eagle(ish) yield an authentic experience, and on top of that we have Mud Hen on the horizon. Personally, I think the Hornet stick looks closer to the mark for the Tomcat as well.
Iād also argue that the hornet grip will age better than that SSD (or any PC component upgrade), as ānext years modelā wonāt be faster or cheaper. To wit, the TM press image shows the stick on a cougar base. Itās pretty impressive that the purchase of a Cougar all those years ago would still be relevant in the year 2019. I doubt any component inside a PC tower from 2002 can boast as much
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ā¦all I want is a good ff stick.
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Well, I caved in an d bought the 190. Surely I will have this F 18 grip too.
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Something Iām scratching my head at; as per the TM press release:
19 action buttons, including a realistic 2-step trigger and one 8-direction āPoint of Viewā hat switch. The same number of inputs as the HOTAS Warthog control stick.
Not sure how that ties out;
I count 27 inputs on the Warthog stick:
-two 4-way hats up top
-one 8-way trim hat,
-pickel button
-shoulder button
-two buttons for the two-stage trigger
-pinky switch
-paddle switch
-4 way CM switch with depression.
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So from what I can tell, it looses 1 4-way hat switch and the āindex fingerā button (shoulder) on the right side (5 button actions total) but gains a button press on the 4-way hat (down), a 2-way ārockerā switch with button depress and that little button under the trim hat (5 button actions total).
I may be missing something.
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Well said. I feel that way too.
I had a chance to try the stick out at FSExpo over the weekend. My initial impression is that the stick has a feel that is just slightly less in quality than the Warthog stick. It feels like they just nipped a bit off here and there to cut cost or something. Just a slight nip ā Iām not say itās bad. In particular, I was not impressed with the trigger (it think it was plastic), the paddle switch mechanism didnāt feel quite as good, and the 4-way(with press) thumb switch didnāt feel great. Again, itās just my opinion from a few minutes of flight. I was not āwowedā. Had I been, I may have been more keen to add to my controller collection (two warthogs, a cougar with NXT2 mod, FSS 3, PFC Jetliner yoke).
Maybe Iāll pick it up in the future, but for now the benefit/cost ratio is too low for me. If I didnāt already have a warthog, and I was choosing between the two AND I knew the quality of the two, Iād be inclined to go with the warthog.
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Reading a lot of the responses here (which are all fair and valid!), I think it brings to light why itās taken roughly 20 years for TM to make good on the promise of add-on sticks for their flagship products: $200 for a stick thatās technically no different from the stock F-16 stick (ie same number of inputs) is a tough sell! (letās also not forget, that as of this writing, TM wonāt sell you a stick-less base, so youāve still got purchase at least a warthog stick, or third party base, to complete the package).
I mean, I get it, if it was something out of a Russian cockpit (similar to the Virpil offerings) and cost the same, Iād also be in the āLooks really cool, but not for me for that much/maybe one day when itās on saleā camp.
Thinking out loud, Iām wondering how recent shifts in the cottage-industry that is high-end flight sim controls influenced the year 2019 as yielding ground fertile enough for this? Within the past two years(ish) weāve witnessed the Thrustmaster grip āspecā (the almost-an-old-school-PS2 port cable combined with the TM warthog/cougar cross screw threads) become the defacto standard for pretty much all notable high end aftermarket sticks. I canāt help but think that factored in; they can now sell this to more than just the base TM warthog/Cougar users (to wit, mine will go straight to my Virpil warbird, assuming the software supports it). āIf you canāt beat 'em, sell to their customersā I suppose?
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