Personally, I could probably still fly a heli with two Atari 2600 joysticks and a Pong controller. Without committing to new hardware, I still use my original TM HOTAS with the stick loosened all the way out and the center stop ground off the throttle. I was going to donate it and buy some dedicated stuff at one point(still might). It’s semi-intuitive enough to a collective with the throttle form factor and the twist and loosened stick are not fatiguing. I was flying them with pedals but there’s just too much SOTP nuance missing and the helicopters just aren’t really that great to be worth the effort IMHO. I guess after many years flying 700 class R/C helis with tiny little patches of thumbs doesn’t make any of this feel all that ‘precise’ anyway. The room for error difference in sim vs R/C is like 100-1
I’m flying with my FSSB r2 force sensing TM Cougar from 20 years ago 
works great for helo’s together with SPAD next for force trim control.
I upgraded from a TM Hotas One, which was awful, to a VKB Gladiator which is fantastic for fixed and rotary. The value with this is unbeatable I think, and the quality is high end.
I’m sure the more expensive sticks are great but at the moment I don’t feel that there’s need to spend any more than the Gladiator.
I also have the STECS throttle which is also fantastic and super versatile. The swappable detent cartridges are awesome.
This combo has so many buttons and hats I’ve still not mapped all of them!
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