Buy Recommendation for Controls for beginner

Dear fellow enthusiasts,
this is my first topic here. Nice to meet you all.

I am seeking for some recommendations regarding controls hardware.

I just installed MS FS 20 (PC) last weekend. I have about zero experience in flight sims. I did fly with small aircraft 2-4 seats ten years ago as a “co-pilot”.

At the moment I play with a gamepad, but I’d like to improve accuracy and game experience. Therefore I intend to buy control hardware.

Most probably I will start flying with small “cessna type” aircraft rather than “commercial jets”.

I am wondering which gear to purchase. There seem to be many options like: yoke vs. stick. Extra quadrant and extra pedals…

Whatever I buy, it should be suitable and enjoyable for years. However, of course price also matters.

At the moment I am considering:
-thrustmaster airbus stick + quadrant
-thrustmaster cheap pedals
-logitech yoke +quadrant
-honecomb yoke

First thing is: which would you say is more long term fun for me: yoke or stick?

Second:
I read that honeycomb is much better quality, but is this “more quality” really “required”? I mean, the honeycomb yoke alone has the price of logitech yoke + quadrant + pedals, I think.

Please let me know what you would recommend a newbie casual player like me and what you think would provide the most long term joy…

Thank you and good flight,
Alex

Hi LizenzTrophen,

Nice to meet you too. There’s lots of comments on the forums about controls so search and read as much as you need! My opinion:

Joystick is essential. Yoke is nice (depends what you like to fly) but if you’re limited in $, you can buy reasonable joysticks for not too much (and perhaps 2nd hand).

Yes, the Honeycomb yoke is good quality and feels nice; but quite a bit unless you’re going to use it a lot! I have one and love it - but to be honest, I use a basic 20 year old Logitech stick most of the time because it doesn’t take up much space and can be tucked away behind the monitor when not in use.

I also use a throttle quadrant and pedals. My personal opinion, I’d put pedals 2nd on the list. Taxiing and proper coordinated turning are really difficult without them. Lots of folks like the throttles with twist action, so might work for you. Personally, I don’t like them.

If you want to fly multi-engined planes, throttle set ups are very useful, but they don’t come cheap.

Happy flying!

My very personnal opinion would be not to start with a yoke, but with a joystick:

  • Yokes are less “universal” than joysticks. I always prefered to control aerobatic planes, fighters or helicopters with a joystick (although it is possible to control them with a yoke). But it also depends on which kind of aircraft you think you will mainly fly.
  • For an equivalent quality, a joystick is cheaper
  • If your hardware takes too much room on your desk, you will quickly put it aside. Starting a FS session will become a pain, because you’ll first have to reinstall the whole thing. When it becomes a passion, then you can have a full set ready to fly (but you won’t use this computer for Excel anymore) :wink:

Rudder is optional: you can use alternate commands (twist the stick, for example). I’d save a few bucks on this one. But a HOTAS is a real comfort. Thrustmaster Airbus+quadrant seems a good choice.
I also like Thrustmaster T16000m hotas, with a complete set of commands on a quite complete HOTAS, if you can find one.
Maybe Saitek X56 also. I read bad things about its quality, but I own a X52 and I’m quite happy with it.
MSFS created a strong demand, and you may have problems to find the stick you want.

I have recently upgraded from a CH yoke to the Honeycomb Alpha and think it is worth every cent. Which is not what I would say about the CH, although that one was indeed much cheaper. So, yes, if you want a yoke, the Honeycomb is the cheapest option of “sufficient” quality, in my experience.

But if the Honeycomb – and the additional throttle that you’d probably also need – is too much for your budget, I would recommend that you find a decent joystick with four axes.

A joystick is more versatile and can be used with many other game genres. Several of the aircraft in FS2020 are stick-controlled, anyway.