I’ve been enjoying the v1 since last fall but just recently decided to put it up for sale (Canada). If I can get a decent return I’ll put the money on a honeycomb setup. The extra switches and rotary knobs on the throttle quadrant are what I’m after. If the yoke is better that’ll just be a bonus. Having said that, I was never disappointed by the v1 setup, except maybe for the hit and miss braking of the rudder pedals.
Do you know if i can use velocityone flightstick alongside the velocityone yoke and flight controls
Yes you can but you may want create a new controller profile and customize the controls in order avoid conflicts.
Hey, all. Researching in anticipation of purchasing the V1 Flight Stick.
A couple of questions:
1- Is the touchpad effective in navigating the mouse pointer? Instruments in cockpit and menu in external view? I want to do away with my mouse, or more accurately remap it for throttle commands on the wheel in lieu of the lever.(the throttle on the same unit doesn’t really work for my seating.)
Is it a cursor or mouse pointer? Because there’s a big difference in ease of navigation. I’m assuming I could also use two mice if necessary.
2- Is the analog hat switch similar to a gamepad? Are you able to make fine camera adjustments with it? Is it the left or right? I’m assuming yes it is, yes you can, and it’s the one on the right, but just to be sure.
Thanks in advance. I can’t watch YouTube reviews on this thing. It’s a bunch of people complaining about default button mappings, or some tech reviewer with zero flying or sim experience.
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No. All of your questions are good ones, but the answer is pretty much no every time. You’ll never use this.
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Analog switch is the best thing about this controller IMO. It’s phenomenal. Great for panning the camera. Better feel to it than VelocityOne or Alpha by a mile.
I really like the stick!
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I’ve had the stick for three or four days. I use a mouse with it. My other setup is the Thrustmaster TFlight Hotas with rudder pedals.
Anyhow, if I just use the VelocityOne stick and mouse, it works wonderfully. The problem comes in when I try to use the controller as well as the stick and mouse. There are some keybinds on the controller that I’ve been too lazy to try to find a convenient bind for on the stick. If you push in the left analog stick to bring up cursor mode on the controller, it completely freaks out and the cursor shoots to the bottom left of the screen and you have to brush your thumb over the touchpad to get it to go back to normal. I swear this somehow has also caused me to inadvertently break out of auto pilot and roll left and crash during approaches as well.
So, long story short, don’t try to use the controller and stick at the same time. Get yourself a mouse to use with it and it’s great.
I got the stick soon after it launched so about 5-6 months ago. It’s been much, much better than the Hotas One and its lose throttle, that’s for sure. Only complaint is the stiffness. Initially precision landings were a little difficult but you get used to it, and you can tweak the sensitivity to make it better. Also, putting the stick to precision mode from the stick’s own menu helps a lot.
The trackpad you can forget about though. It’s useless and I turned it off after trying it once.
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I suspected as much with the track pad. Good idea, bad execution. Like the rudder triggers on the V1 yoke that are perfectly placed, but prevent you from using the throttle at the same time. Thanks for the feedback.
One thing I’ve been thinking about after looking at photos and videos of it, whether you’re left or right handed, it seems like you’d always be blocking half of the buttons on the base while holding the stick. I wonder if it’s a bit tricky in that regard, at least at first. I’m used to always keeping my right hand on the stick at all times, so I’d have to get used to switching to my left hand while I want to access any of the buttons/lever on the right side. Probably a minor inconvenience that I’d forget about after a couple months, but I’m curious if any of you who have it have any thoughts on that.
I’ve not run into that issue. I’m right handed – if I need to push any of the right side buttons, I just temporarily switch to using my left hand on the stick just long enough to push those buttons. I have them mapped to checklist, ATC, Nav Log, and VFR map, none of which I need to toggle very often while I’m flying, especially if I’m actively maneuvering my plane.
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I’ve mapped my least used buttons to the right hand side.
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Are the hall effect sensors also on the yaw/twist/rudder axis on this?
Yeah. All axes.
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I have a recliner that I modified to hold my stick on the armrest. It needs to be an actual sidestick. So, the way I’m set up right now, those levers will work for flaps and/or prop and condition levers, but it’ll be awkward reaching across with any frequency for the throttle (and as I’ve developed arthritis in my shoulders, it would also be painful) I just think a mouse wheel throttle would be nice, and will solve my reaching across problem. I’m using push button throttle presently because the HOTAS one throttle is so cheesy, even after modifications…I’ll definitely work around it.
I’m almost certainly gonna pick this up, unless something better comes out in the next couple months. I was gonna spring for a yoke, but realized what I thought was great rudder placement on the yoke triggers, was actually bad design. You can’t use your right hand for trim, throttle or any of the buttons if you, for some reason need to hold right rudder input. So, you basically have to buy the rudder pedals. I coulda justified $350-ish but not $650-$700. I’m just not there yet. I could get this flight stick and a VR rig for that $650-$700 mark. Plus, rudder pedals aren’t ideal in a recliner. Those will need to wait for a proper gaming (sim) chair, desk, and monitor. Again, just not there yet.
The only concern I still have is the stability. Lightness I can handle. Top heavy or unstable I can’t. I wonder if it’s actually unstable or if people are moving it side to side and back and forth instead of in an arcing motion with some downward pressure around the center?
Thanks again for the advice, everyone. I was pretty much decided. Just doing my due diligence, wading through the plethora of choices for Xboxers. I had to research like 2 other options. I also have a feeling there will be a separate throttle released in the near future. Making it more of a true HOTAS. They’re missing sales to people with sim chairs or anybody wanting to use it as an actual sidestick.
I find I have to hold down the base of the velocity one a lot of the time when I use the joystick left/right/up or down. Not a problem for me as I have my left hand on the throttle a lot anyway, as the stick is in front of me. The stick to my side would be unusable for me without somehow fastening it down, regardless of using the throttle on another peripheral.
I’ve just bought the Thrustmaster t16000 (found the velocity one way too stiff for helicopters). This has separate throttle and stick….one on each arm rest perhaps? no detente in the middle of the throttle either unlike Hotas One.
Don’t know if that’s any help (don’t know if you’ve bought it yet), but Amazon are great to buy it and try it.
I’m too fond of using the scroll wheel on my mouse to zoom in/ out on my instruments.
(T16000 requires 2 usb port connections, one for throttle, one for stick.)
I’m on Xbox. The T1600 won’t work for me. There’s literally three flight stick options, and three yokes. I have the Thrustmaster HOTAS one, that leaves this and the HORI which is impossible to find, and apparently has “aesthetic” buttons that don’t even function.
That’s unfortunate about the weight and balance. I might end up waiting for more peripheral support. I look at those NXT sticks, and even the Logitech G HOTAS’s with all their buttons, dials, sliders, switches, and I get irritated because I’m here acting like I’m researching a purchase, when I’m just justifying purchasing the only option we have ATM. While PC players have dozens of options. Affordable options. Feature rich options. I’m beginning to think I need to be more patient. Give it a year and reevaluate. I’m not gonna buy every new supported stick between now and then because it’s a minor upgrade. I’m already trying to figure out how to make it work, and I haven’t even bought it yet.
Hadn’t realised you were on Xbox, I should have spotted that.
Is the Velocity One flight stand any use? - you can screw the Velocity One flight stick to it.
I kinda have an order to my upgrades. The stand or sim chair is pretty far down in the order. I could definitely make some kinda heavy base to make it work, but I’m just not sure I wanna “Make it work” rather than just be patient for a year until they sort out the lack of peripheral support. There’s a serious need and lots of money to be made. I don’t wanna buy this because of lack of options, (although it seems pretty nice) then a couple months later, some adapters or a bunch of new options drop. It’s still kinda hectic in this space. I think I need to let the dust settle because I bet pretty much every flight sim peripheral manufacturer out there is working on some kinda XBOX cross compatibility, or Xbox exclusive.
I don’t blame you, ‘having to make it work.’ I’d sit back as well.
I find the Velocity One Flightstick too stiff for helicopters, my opinion only of course.
Whatever you go for in the end, Amazon are great with returns.
I tried a throttle unit to go with the Flightstick awhile ago, that went straight back the following day.
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So I tried the VelocityOne Flight stick today for a few hours. I don’t own it myself, but my dad bought one for his Xbox, so I went and gave it a try. I really liked it overall. I 100% plan on buying one for myself in the near future, no question.
First impressions…
Pros:
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It’s very smooth and much easier to be precise than the Hotas one. I felt more confident and in control with my landings than I ever did with the HOTAS One.
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The Trim wheel also makes things so much easier compared to the Hotas One. It’s a night and day difference.
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Reverse thrust on the throttle lever is handy, and having a second lever for whatever you want it for is great.
Cons (& Confusions):
The pros easily outweigh the cons, and some of these may be fixable but I am unsure how.
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It seems to react weird with the Xbox controller. I was typing in words with my Xbox controller and when the keyboard would pop up on screen, the cursor would move down to the bottom left corner and I couldn’t move it around again until I hit the little pad button on the flight stick (the one above the trim wheel). I tried it a few times and it reacted the same way. I’m not sure if there’s a way to prevent it from doing that?
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Trim wheel - While the trim wheel is great, it seems to be backwards on certain aircraft. Some aircraft I’d scroll down to add trim, others I’d have to scroll up to add trim. I’m really confused by this. The Hotas One trim inputs are always the same for me on all aircraft, so why would it change for different aircraft on the VelocityOne Flight stick?
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Button misclicks - it’s very easy to accidentally hit certain buttons while doing other things, especially the buttons around the trim wheel, and the trim wheel button itself. Not a big deal, but you have to be strategic about what you’re binding to those buttons because you’ll definitely click them while trimming from time to time.
Worth mentioning:
The stick is stiffer than it needs to be like everyone says, but it’s really not bad at all in my opinion. I could see long flights without auto pilot potentially being hard on some people’s hands/wrists, but I flew for a few hours, no autopilot and it didn’t bother me.
Mounting it is a must. My dad flies in his living room from his recliner. He mounted it to a small board that he can set right on his lap and it works perfectly. Zero issues with it tipping, I didn’t have to put any weight on it. So if anyone out there is reading this and you fly from your couch or a chair without a desk, that’s what I’d suggest: just mount it to a small board that you can set on your lap.
The small throttle lever - as someone who’s used to the large hands-on throttle of the HOTAS One, it took a bit to get used to, but I did get used to fairly quickly. It’s not quite the same as the hands-on throttle with buttons at your fingertips, but it gets the job done just fine.
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