As the title implies, I am in need of a upgrade, the trusty HOTAS Cougar is slowly falling apart, the paint is peeling, the switches are tired and one of them is INOP and the another one made a cracking sound and now feels very different.
Looking at the above three brands, please tell me your experiences! Visually they all have pro’s and con’s but I am mainly looking for the tactile feel and ease of use/comfort.
I dont think I can go wrong with any of them but I’ve got no experience with shopping for new hardware in this space.
Ok, beside GA I also fly everything… Included spaceships and whatnot.
If my Warthog vanished or stopped working I think I’d go with WinWing.
I love how many buttons they have, the apparent solid built and the relatively low price.
I don’t think so either, although I only have experience with Virpil and VKB. Never touched a WW unit, but they sure look the part and I love their modularity with different throttle handles.
I’m using the Virpil MT-50 CM3 throttle and have nothing bad to say about it, really.
Their control panels, just like their throttles, are generic, but of good quality.
I have also used a couple of their joystick bases and they are all very nice.
Looking forward to learning more about their FFB efforts.
Depending on how fast you need a new stick, my virpil cm3 might become available in the near future. When I bought it, I was absolutely certain it would be the last stick base I’d ever buy. But now FFB is becoming a thing again, including Big Stronk units for big stronk men like me. So yeah.
Cheers I’ll keep that in mind! Currently the throttle is the first to go and probably the first that needs replacing. I am also shopping for a rudder pedal btw but I think I shall go with the small VKB ones, I do enjoy the look of them and they look sturdy enough!
With Virpil I like that I can mount my F-16 cougar stick still, though it looks like their mounting system is a bit bigger compared to a VKB that I can just smash on the desk.
Winwing I am 50/50 on. Not impressed with their software and how they support the hardware(the FMC unit I got from them). It largely feels like they are trying to do a market grab as fast as possible to then jack up the prices once the competition is gone.
I’m very fond of the orion 2 with the viperace F-16 throttle. Coming from a Cougar I’d imagine you would feel right at home with the throttle grip, but welcome the tons of possibilities that the base offers. One can never have enough buttons, switches, knobs and sliders. SimApp pro… it is what it is I guess. Funky translations and clunky to get from what you want but ultimately once it is set up you don’t need to look back that much. After running the initial set-up and calibrations you really don’t need to be in the software anymore other than to select AB-detent profiles (you can calibrate these to match the detent per jet, or completely disable the detent so you get max power when hitting the detent. This is great for i.e. helicopter flight).
Attacking market share or not, I am also in the market for new pedals at some point. The fact is that winwing plans on offering FFB pedals starting from $499. Most current offerings are typically in the €1000+ range and that is simply outside the range of what I can comfortably spend. Their act of undercutting the competition helps me aquire gear but I do hope they will not raise prices as they gain market share.
For the orion 2, I’d say the feel is very good. It does not jitter at all but is sensitive enough to even recognize your touch. Everything feels and sounds great. For the viper grip, you would need quite a bit of resistance to make sure the grip doesn’t ‘fall’ into max mil/AB power, and then it needs quite a bit of force to get rolling initially. You’ll also be spending about an hour and a half to assemble the thing.
Here’s mine. Do take a good look at the the man range axis on top, though. It’s way tinier than on the real jet (and the cougar HOTAS) to fit this extra 5 way on top (which is great for i.e. VR or comm menu controls). It’s the only thing I find a little uncomfortable. There’s also 2 buttons on the back that are present in only very late block F-16’s and they make great use as VR reset and VR zoom buttons
If I had excess beer money I’d buy their force-sensing stick as well but for now the TM warthog stick has to soldier on for a few more years.
My most recent purchase (a while ago now) was a Winwing Orion 2 Throttle with the Hornet grips. It has been flawless and the ordering process was quick and delivery was timely.
The controller itself is excellent, the throttle arms are metal and the axle they move on has bearings fitted. The fingerlifts and AB/Idle detents are plastic, but have survived my beatings over the last few years.
Honestly I have nothing bad to say about Winwing. Which, in this current market, is a solid endorsement.
I dealt with Virpil/VPC a bit before they moved headquarters, to buy a grip and some electronics, and had a good experience there but I can’t say how they’ve been recently, nor how their bases are mechanically.
I can’t comment on WW, but I do have the Virpil collective with Apache grip.
Compared to TM (I have a Warthog HOTAS) it feels a bit plastiky (Duh ) but not flimsy. There is some play in the buttons but not enough to worry about and a solid ‘click’ so you know you have activated them and the cursor thumbstick shits all over the TM offering. Easy to set up, and the software is intuitive. Plays nicely/no conflicts with the Warthog joystick (i.e. TM software/hardware).
Overall I am happy with it and consider it value for money.
I have a Virpil MongoosT-50 CM3 base and it’s much better quality than the Warthog base I had before. The TM Warthog stick however has served me very well for over 13 years now and is still going strong. Admittedly the paint is starting to chip quite a lot and there’s some pitting in the metal but otherwise it is still good.
I’m still rocking @Troll 's Virpil WarBRD base and stick from the raffle several years back. Accompanied by TM Warthog Throttle and MFG Crosswind pedals. A solid combo and still no desire to upgrade.
The B8 style stick is well suited for cold war stuff. Modern HOTAS oriented jets would benefit from a hat or two more on the stick.
So I ordered VIRPIL pedals(gonna take a few months). Got the Mongoose 50CM3 throttle, a WarBRD and a Alpha Grip second hand for a nice price plus a desk mount for the warBRD. Ordered a deskmount for the throttle as well, this is going to make flying extremely comfy given that my desk is just ever so slightly too high for simming!
Though one thing I now need to do is a lot of rebinding… So far got the basics for the Gazelle, F14 and F5 done…
) but not flimsy. There is some play in the buttons but not enough to worry about and a solid ‘click’ so you know you have activated them and the cursor thumbstick shits all over the TM offering. Easy to set up, and the software is intuitive. Plays nicely/no conflicts with the Warthog joystick (i.e. TM software/hardware).