Hi,
I am a real plane fan and recently got the msfs 2020 sim. I feel very limited by playing on my keyboard tho, so I want to get myself a HOTAS system :D.
Now because I do enjoy this game so much, I am willing to go to about 500 dollars. Recently took a look at the x56 and the Warthog. However, I am afraid of the warthog cause it doesnt have any rudder steering, and thats crucial in MSFS, and the x56 has problems with the joystick, where it moves in the neutral position, as ive heard, plus u can lift the bottom up by pushing the throttle up quickly.
Can yall help me out with choosing something? I am leaning towards the Warthog, but maybe there is some other system out there for 500 dollars I missed? Feel free to recommend stuff a bit above 500 too, but not excessive. (Id like sth that feels realistic and substantial)
Thanks in advance for your help!
-Andrei
Wish I had $500 to spend on a HOTAS.
I fly with a Thrustmaster T.16000M TCAS. (approx $100)
But haven’t looked at any more expensive ones due lack of cash available.
Don’t worry, you’ll get a lot of responses.
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I have both X56 and the Thrustmaster TCA Officer Pack airbus edition. Moving in the neutral position is pretty common among any joystick. So as long as you add deadzone in the neutral zone, it’ll ignore any soft movements other than the deliberate movement that you want it to do.
I like the X56, it has a lot of buttons to bind and good for flying a lot of different types of aircrafts. It’s also good if you play other flight sim games like DCS or Star Wars Squadrons or Elite Dangerous.
But since I fly exclusively on the A320 in MSFS. I find the TCA to fit me much better as it’s very close to how the hardware is calibrated to handling airbus. And the Left-hand sidestick is very nice if I were to simulate in a captain’s chair. So I’ve been using the TCA a lot more for MSFS.
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I bought the X56 for MSFS2020 and use it in X-Plane. I find it works really well, but you do need to play with the sensitivities and dead zones to get a good feel (in the X.56 tool and MSFS itself). Yes it has a bit of chatter about the centre, which to me is more of a simulator issue - X-Plane has explicit calibration to address that, but with a bit of adjustment its fine. The throttle is not designed to be slammed about quickly, its fairly stiff even on its loosest setting and yes the base can lift but I haven’t found this troubling. You can bolt it down if you want. Overall I think the X56 is really good and well suited to MSFS.
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Yep… this is a very discussed topic I think :D. I’m really tending to go for the warthog, but the lack of a rudder is just pulling me back, and the x56 is also 200 dollars cheaper. The x56 is really an attractive value compared to the warthog. Heard some complaints about it feeling cheap tho? And are the buttons on the stick easy to use ? Or do they get in the way of eachother? The RGB is also attractive, I like setting up colors for different functions and group them with the colors.
I have the X56 and i’m very hppy with it. You may have a hard timr getting one and some people are selling them at inflated prices. I lucked out with mine. Orderred it from BHPhotoVideo for $249 and since i give outside of New York, not state taxes.
At first they said 2-4 weeks before shipping and they ended shipping it a few days later.
But they are out of stock and not even taking any orders.
I think you will be happy with the X56 or Warhog. Everyone that has one seems to really like them.
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I live in switzerland, seems our tech site ^digitech.ch^ is expecting to get some x56s within 10-12 days and warthogs in like 8-10, and they usually are right.
Think imma go for the warthog afterall, only thing i dont like bout it is no rudder and obviously the price, but you do get a heavier build, and i would prefern not to bolt on to my desk, plus it has a flaps switch which the x56 doesnt :), and ive heard its smoother and feels better…
Plus its actually upgradeable with virpil stuff… so maybe in time if ill stick to sims for more than 2 years ill start changing components to sth higher end, and sell the warthog stuff to one of my friends 
. Thank yall for your help!
I think you will be happy with either one. I have the X56 and it’s not bolted on to anything and have never had problems with it moving around. Maybe that may be an issue with other action games or may be that some people just push it much harder than it needs to be.
I would never bolt it on to my desk.
I do have flaps assigned to the X56. It’s not a dedicated flaps button, but I use the wheel on the left of the throttle. It came that way by default. Some people sometimes accidentally deploy them with their picky while using the throttle and assign them to some other place.
I don’t have rudder pedals but over the years I have gotten used to twisting the joystick for rudder. I recently did bind right and left brake keys and it comes in handy on some planes to turn around on the runway where the rudder isn’t enough and applying one side of brakes helps to turn in a smaller space.
I can feel you anticipation waiting for you HOTAS
Here is my flight setup:
2 Likes
Hi Andrei,
Personally I use the T.Flight Hotas One. It’s a lot cheaper than $500, and might not have all the functionality you’re looking for, but having been using it for several years now I haven’t had a single complaint and I can safely say you get a lot for your money.
I paid around £89 ($122 USD) and it works great for airliners and light aircraft alike. The joystick comes with a twist rudder system in case you don’t already have rudder pedals, and there are plenty of mappable buttons on the stick and the throttle etc…
You can use the throttle and joystick connected together, or separate them according to your needs (as shown in the attached photo)
Kind Regards,
Yorkie
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The warthog bar none pair it with some quality pedals dont look back
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Ye… Im now also considering getting the thrustmaster warthog throttle with some crappy Stick, and then saving up a bit more for a VKB or a Virpil stick and base (I dont like the Virpil throttle). Yall think that might be a good idea? xD
I keep seeing people talk about the Warthog, but when i look at it, the description is " Official replicas of the joystick, throttle and control panel of the U.S. Air Force’s A 10C aircraft".
There are no A10Cs in MSFS. Maybe you can buy the plane and add it.
I also see people buying the A320 one, but to me that makes sense if they mostly fly the A320.
From my perspective, the X56 seems like a more all around HOTAS. I mostly just use FS and fly some prop planes and mostly the Longitude. I have just about everything I use on the Longitude mapped out and still have buttons to spare. I mostly map as needed and at this point I’m got everything I need mapped. I’ll probably just a a few displays. Maybe quick display changes as I’m landing.
I myself couldn’t justify spending the extra $250 for Warthog when I don’t do fighter simulations. But I di hear it’s a more sturdy build than the X56.
But for those that also do fighter simulations, the extra money may be well worth it.
Coming from a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro to the X56 was like going from a VW to a Ferrari.
I’m very happy with it and don’t regret buying it. But good luck in trying to buy anything. Seems like just about everything is sold out and some that you find are double the price.
The warthog can be used to fly any aircraft. You can set it up just like any other stick to how you want it. It is a quality flight stick. I use it to fly everything from x-cubs in msfs to all aircraft in DCS world. The reason I really recommend it is that it allows precision control and lots of switches and buttons you can personalize to whatever aircraft you are flying
I’ll have to add to my wish list and maybe get it when they become available at regular prices.
These are ok for the price. It’s got enough buttons to get you by and a rudder twist axis.
The down side is that the friction lock on the throttle will wear out after repeated use, leaving your throttle all loose and floppy, falling either to 100% or 0%, depending on which way it’s leaning. I own one, and a couple of my friends do as well. That was the fate of all of them. It can probably be fixed by picking it apart, but anyone buying one should probably be aware that this is going to happen.
Luckily we have it for around 400 francs here in switzerland, somehow the prices didnt go up, even if its basicallly sold out everywhere.
The only thing im missing with the thrustmaster is yoke, but i guess ill just wait like 3 weeks for some yoke to be deliverable.
My Warthog should arrive on thursday latest tuesday earliest :D.
Thank you all for your help.
I guess I wont select a solution so this discussion can continue, in case somebody else has not made up their mind either.
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I have this too (Thrustmaster TFlight HOTAS 1) … cost $80 … I like it a lot … only thing I would as for is more realistic mechanical resistances and feel with movement of the controls … it’s such an improvement over my old Microsoft Sidewinder though … 
Can you help me?, i am searching the sensitivity settings of the Thrustmaster Flight Hotas.
Recently I bought Thrustmaster T16000M HOTAS, it is big change from Saitek Cyborg.
I was looking for mid price HOTAS, during searching I get x52 and T16000M.
Looking at reviews I saw x52 have same problem with (de)calibration just like Cyborg I already used, it is partly solved but it happens. I know how many landings Cyborg’s decalibration ruined, my choice was T16000M. And so far I am very satisfied.
Feel on stick is great, I didn’t even need to set sensitivity for X and Y axis, only rudder and slider (which I use for trim) I tuned to be less sensitive. Throttle axis is great, it can be felt best in CRJ700, where I couldn’t set it so easy during flight to maintain speed. Buttons also feel very nice, you can feel when you press them. Stick stiffness could be little bit less, but that is my impression. Ministick on throttle is very good, I am using it for head movement in cockpit and camera movement in outside view.
I set all common functions I use at buttons on stick and throttle and still have few buttons unused. Also it accepts combination of buttons which Cyborg didn’t accept and I want to be combinations of two buttons because I don’t want to press them by mistake. Like AP disconnect, gear up, AT disconnect and full flaps up.
If anyone looking for mid priced HOTAS I recommend it.
