Your opinion on thrustmaster airbus side stick

yeah you’re right but first I just wanted to buy it as I am an Airbus fan for years and was seduced; considering later buying the throttle set. Just want some opinions and reviews of owners if they kindly want to share their thoughts about it;
second if my post bores you, well just do not respond, no offense.

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If you’re planning to use it with the A320 (whatever flavor), then you probably can’t go wrong as it’s the closest to the real deal as available on the market today.

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who flies mostly General Aviation, it’s been a great replacement to my decades old Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro (non-Force Feedback). That old stick served me well through many iterations of Flight Simulators past as well as other sims.

By itself, it’s perfectly fine. The number of buttons is very helpful to get most of my often-used commands off the keyboard. If you don’t have the Throttle set yet, the built-in throttle does a reasonably decent replacement job.

Beyond that, be aware that many of us who bought the TCA had to disassemble the stick part and re-run the wires leading to the rudder potentiometer as it was “nervous” out of the box, indicating there was uncommanded inputs to the rudder (confirmed through Windows Game Controller calibration app). It’s a very simple fix, you just need the right sized Philipps head screwdriver and you can do it yourself .

That’s it from my perspective. Enjoy!

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Personally I would have taken the VKB NXT: https://youtu.be/DybLX6sFNbU?t=740

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I bought one out of curiosity (I have a 777 home cockpit) for general gaming etc, it looks nice but my biggest problem with it is there is little resistance on the stick, its very easy to move and needs to be a bit stiffer

Thanks for the tips :slight_smile: ; I had vaguely heard about this rudder issue and will look closely into it now that you mention it. I also had an old Sidewinder ; it did its job right for years but needed well deserved retirement .
Thanks again for your swift response, very useful.

Thanks for your review

There is no way to sugar coat this.

Thrustmaster and Logitech have been pushing garbage for years propped up by their distribution channels and brand recognition.

I haven’t owned the TCA flight stick but I’ve owned several T16000’s (which is actually what it is)
They suffer from poor design and poor component choices which they simply couldn’t get away with without the aforementioned brand recognition/distribution channel magic sauce.

The big selling point for the T16000 is the “contactless magnetic sensors”

But they cheaped out and threw a cheap potentiometer into the handle for the z-axis (rudder) which WILL fail.

But that’s fine. Because many folks will simply go right back and buy a new one not knowing that other (better) options which utilize quality components exist.

Maybe more expensive? At the moment I cannot spend 200 euro on a flight controller.
Also it’s the first Airbus stick and again I am an Airbus fan and am hoping to be able to upgrade later with the throttle and flaps elements. I just posted here to have owners opinion and I thank you for yours.

But I did nost post to receive lessons (no offense); the meaning of Forum is to share

No, not really.
The VKB Gkadiator NXT uses contactless sensors throughout and quality components for trigger/buttons etc. It’s cheaper than replacing a T16000 when it inevitably fails with another T16000 which will inevitably fail.

Sure moving up to Virpil, VKB and WinWing gimbal/grip combo’s IS a fair bit more expensive but you are getting all metal gimbal’s, modular grips with quality components and good design/engineering. In these cases you are getting what you paid for. In the case of Logitech and Thrustmaster your aren’t…they only get away with charging what they do because so few people know that really good alternatives exist.

Thanks for your reply;appreciated but at the moment Ihave a strict buget limit but I take good note of your advise; thanks again :slight_smile:

I’ve owned several T16000’s. That’s all the Airbus stick is. With all the same flaws and a different colour scheme.

So, as an owner of almost the exact same joystick (several times)…

The point of failure is the potentiometer used for the twist axis coupled with the design of its mount.
(And this will fail)

Maintenance can help. (Plenty of tear down tutorials online and a couple also discuss a simple mod to fix the way it’s mounted and reduce pressure on the parts…) - I would recommend a double dose cleaning. Non-lubricating contact cleaner aerosol to clean out followed by a spritz of a lubricating contact cleaner. Old audio tech fix for pots and faders.

Best yet is a contactless sensor mod. There are at least 2 good methods that I’ve seen described online and these fix the issue 100% because they entirely remove the part that fails.

You’re 100% right, it’s literally junk. The flaps on the throttle are basically the same garbage design too. But I will say that the TCA/16000 stick is repairable at least, and I’ve had good luck with mine for the last couple months after putting a little De-Oxit D100 into the potentiometer. De-Oxit also has oil which acts as a lubricant. But if mine fails again I’m just going to change it to use a hall sensor vs. buying something else, that is unless Virpil gets off their bass and makes a proper Airbus grip.

Have it and the thrust levers, too. Bottom line, for the great feel of an Airbus stick, it’s a no-brainer. Just keep your receipt and be ready for a failure of the potentiometer when your rudder (z axis) starts getting glitchy. Mine gave up within 4 months.

See my thread on this issue here:

I have the Officer Pack with the spoilers and flaps addon. And I love it. Like what everyone said here. I also had to open the side cover to access the wiring in the twist axis sensor and had to move the wiring so that it doesn’t touch or interrupt the sensor.

Overall, I’m happy… since I have my throttle quadrant as well, I get to rebind the sidestick throttle slider to the Brake axis instead, so I can have a fully adjustable manual braking when needed.

I made a video on how to properly set up my binding as well as how to calibrate it properly in the FBW A32NX. But it’s mostly focusing on the throttle quadrant, not the sidestick. Since the bindings I use in my sidestick is fully customised to my own liking. Not using any of the default binding as a base.

Thrustmaster TCA Airbus Configuration - FBW A32NX - MS Flight Simulator (2020) - YouTube

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Thanks for your review; I will take a look at your settings video when I buy the throttle set
Thanks again

i thank you all for your answers; I know it s not the best device but again I am budget limited so…

Thanks again folks
happy landings to all

I have T16000 and it is awesome, sensitive and precise.

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I have the default version of this stick and for the money it is very good. It uses some kind of magnetic effect for measuring the movement and feels far better then others I’ve used in the past, also had mine for nearly 7 years now without issue. Also really nice that it’s ambidextrous.

Why did you get rid of the Sidewinder Precision Pro? What started to fail? I’m (still!) using mine and want to know what the beginning of the end looks like.