Welcome to the Rabbit hole that is Flight Peripherals. 3D Pro was a good start, but now it’s a question of seeing how much you enjoy it? If you can’t stop thinking and imagining cool new toys, then your just like us
Any of these brand sticks can last years with proper treatment and luck. So, I don’t encourage using that as a factor in purchasing. Rather, what’s the experience like. It’s a hobby. The Mid-level and above are just so much better than the Beginner gimbals. Customization and feel in fine movements just need to be felt to realize how much better it is.
Beginner Brands and lower prices: Thrustmaster, Logitech, Saitek. I include the Warthog in this as it’s the same single spring ball gimbal as the cheaper sticks with poor center movement and pots metal. I own it and used it for years. It’s still no comparison for experience with VKB and likely the rest of Mid-level to High-end.
Mid-level: VKB NXT Evo series (this can actually compete with High-end)
High-end: VKB Gladiator series, Virpil, WinWing
Super: Brunner Force Feedback and just starting VPforce controls Rhino (Keeping my eye on this for late this year, probably next year)
Best source is the r/hotas/ Reddit. Same person that started that also runs the HOTAS/HOSAS/SIMPIT Discord channel. Where many of these peripheral creators have active reps that can answer questions.
Good luck and have fun making excuses as to why you “need” something
The TCA Sidestick has a lot going for it at the price, a good solid feel with some quality components and lots of buttons; the throttle slider is small and has limited throw but is pretty sensitive.
Sadly some examples are very poorly assembled causing problems in use. I took mine apart because the rudder was jumping about at the slightest touch, and found the wiring tight around the rudder potentiometer, this is well documented on this forum and elsewhere.
After a little cable management mine now works very well indeed.
I would talk to @JunkDouglas44 about his TCA set if you fly the Airbus (especially the FBW). The throttles can also be used easily for the WT CJ4 and the joystick is no problem if you are used to flying GA with a joystick. The throttles make a world of difference over the slider! I have printed off a 3D mod for the throttles to adjust the detents for the A320 and it makes it much more usable. You can even use them for Boeing aircraft by turning the detent fixture around (located underneath the throttle quadrant)
Buttons are probably least of the premium features in the expensive boutique sticks. Arguably the biggest reason to go for them is leverage. You mount a 20cm extender on a 30cm stick and you get lot of leverage and finer control, though you’ll also need a mounting for the stick.
If you just want the features of the more expensive boutique sticks other than the leverage, then VKB Gladiator gives you most of that for far less. In the recent EVO version it’s actually tremendously versatile stick too as you can remove the spring and adjust the clutch damper to suitable resistance, this makes it usable as not only traditional centering joystick but also as helo cyclic, helo collective, space sim throttle and I suppose regular single engine plane throttle too.
T.16000m isn’t garbage, it’s probably the best option for a stick-and-throttle in its price range. yeah, it’s not styled after a real control setup, and it’s somewhat basic, but it works well. I’m an insanely hardcore sim fan and I found it quite usable for a couple of years during the pandemic when there weren’t many upgrade options. Gonna sell mine locally now that I have a WInwing, because it still works as well today as it did the day I took it out of the box.
The Logitech X5x series stuff was cool from a feature standpoint but utter cr@p from a durability and functionality standpoint even when Saitek made them. (Had a $250 Saitek setup die just out of warranty and Saitek wouldn’t fix it even for a cost. “Buy a new one.”) Cool designs but manufacturing was bad then and from reports I see it’s gotten even worse over time. It’s a shame, because Logitech’s G940 force-feedback stick-and-throttle was wonderful but they discontinued it.
Heard nothing but great things. Winwing is absolutely epic as well, if you can stomach the price! Loving my Orion 2 setup.
T.16000m pedals are absolute garbage, there’s a notch at the center point of the slide and you can’t make fine adjustments you end up putting more pressure and it flies off too far, i lubed it up with everything, still sticky, terrible product.
The joystick lacks buttons and hats, very bare.
The throttle, ok i liked the throttle.
I’m pretty sure the OP said his limit was about £140, so talking about Virpil, VKB etc is just wasting his time isn’t it? Unless there’s somewhere you can get them for around that price?
VKB Gladiator EVO with the WW2 grip falls just within 140 pounds from the European retailer, sans shipping (which seems to be about 15 pounds at the moment to my non-UK EU location with UPS).
The stated budget was also not definite. In practice the OP, presumably lacking pedals, would be better served by the space combat grip with it’s twist axis.
I started out with the Thrustmaster Hotas X, which worked fine and helped me build up a good few hours in the sim. It’s available for significantly less than the budget mentioned above, and you could probably even find a used one to try it out.
They are however not particularly robust, and lack the finesse and quality feel you will get from stepping up to a better stick.
I agree with CasualClick and many of the other comments above - the VKB Gladiator is a phenomenal flight stick, and the standard version of the (now current model) Gladiator NXT EVO can be had for about the right budget.
Seriously, you won’t regret it. If you went for one of the other makers basic option and you enjoy flying the sim, you’ll just end up changing to one of these in the near future anyway. Feel, function and performance is far, far ahead of the Thrustmaster and Saitek offerings, and some of the latter (i.e. the X56) are actually more expensive.
The Gladiator in standard form has enough buttons to be helpful, plus a throttle built into the base and a rotary encoder for e.g. trim. The Gladiator range has other stand-alone modules which you can add in the future as funds and inclination allow. Since getting my original NXT, I have added the throttle quadrant, side extension module (this covers flaps, landing gear and LOTS of button options) and the FSM-GA panel, which covers the navigation and autopilot controls. The added modules are around the £80-£90 mark each, and everything can be added to the sides of the main stick, giving you a very capable hotas.
