Thrustmaster warthog or Vkb NXT? What to get

I’ve had the warthog stick since it first came out, and I would recommend avoiding it entirely.

The throttle is pretty decent, but the stick has many problems…

  • The single ball gimbal is made of cheap plastic, which is a poor choice given the weight of the stick, and is easily broken if slightly mishandled.

  • The gimbal is not properly polished or lubricated and picks up a tremendous amount of dust, which leads to what users call “sticktion”. This results in uneven friction across the stick’s travel, which makes precision flying difficult and annoying. Constant maintenance is needed to keep it performing well… if the word “well” is even appropriate.

  • The stick does have a strong centerpoint, but it’s far too strong in my opinion, even with the main (poorly designed) spring removed. The breakout force is too high for small precise corrections.

  • The stick is highly sensitive to any static discharge, especially around the metal ring at the base. I bricked my first one after walking a few feet over carpet and touching the ring.

The only good things I can say about the stick are that its ergonomics are pretty good, and the buttons are well made and durable over the long term, and that for its day it was the best available.

Today though it is just an enormously overpriced annoyance. I would never buy another. Pretty much any VKB or Virpil product is superior. Even the winwing stuff seems far better on paper at least (never tried one).

I am still quite happy with the throttle though, never had a single issue with that.

Cheers.

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