May 11th, 2019
Review - Thrustmaster HOTAS WARTHOG Joystick
I've pretty much tried damn near most HOTAS gear that has ever existed, and most stand alone sticks for the PC and flight sims in general...minus a few of the products that came out over the past say 8 years or so. Technically I think the X55/65 stuff from Saitek/Logitech and the Virpil and VKB-Sim stuff are the only products I have no experience with. While I was never completely loyal to any one manufacturer, because there's been so much good stuff over the years... I do know I've definitely found myself going back to the Thrustmaster gear more than any other when given a choice.
My oldest and longest running HOTAS gear was the HOTAS Cougar, and about 8 years ago the gimble broke, and I ended up with an X-52 Pro from Saitek not long after. So I didn't seek to get it repaired, and at the time I didn't know I could fix it to be honest. The super sad part is I moved out and broke up with an ex-girlfriend and left it behind thinking it was junk. Only now do I realize I could have fixed it. I'm super angry that it got sold for the metal at a junkyard somewhere lol
I loved that gear, and I was one of the first people to get a Cougar when it was first released. I used to beta test some of their stuff, and other companies gear back then, like the CH Force FX, some of the old Suncom F-15 stuff, the F-22 Pro from Thrustmaster, etc. So I know a thing or two about joysticks for the PC you could say.
More recently my aging Saitek X-52 Pro was failing. About 3 months ago now I picked up the Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS HOTAS kit. Truth be told, before buying that...I REALLY wanted a Thrustmaster Warthog kit. However at $129 for the stick and throttle both, the T.16000M FCS kit was a more economical option at the time. I still think it's an incredible option for the money too, it's very hard to beat in its price range.
Amazon had a sale at just $198 for the stick alone, with free shipping, so I took the plunge. I opted for just the stick, because in this day and age companies aren't throwing products at me to review like they once did. So I gotta pick my products wisely being a single parent. I'm also not that impressed with the Warthog throttle at a glance, because my desktop can barely fit the stick, and the foot-print of it is a lot to accommodate. I also happen to like my TWCS Throttle anyway.
Out of the box...
Without going into a lot of details. I recently had two Warthog sticks. The first one was used, and this latest one is brand new. The used one looked like new, and was had for a reasonable price. However it had an issue. The problem is also documented well on the Eagle Dynamics forums for DCS World, and the issue is that how the removable Warthog stick handle connects to the base can damage the base connector.
Right out of the box the stick handle comes unattached to the base. The HOTAS Cougar shared this design as well. You simply line up the stick with the base, set it on carefully, and turn the large nut until it's nice and firm to finalize securely attaching it. The issue has to do with a 5-pin din connector. The connector is somewhat like an old PS/2 style keyboard connector. The stick features the male side, and the base the female side.
The problem is that the female side 5-pin connector can end up pushed down inside the base, so that when you attempt to line up the handle and screw it on down, it doesn't make full contact. Granted this shouldn't happen if you're careful when you align the stick, and if don't ever try to place the handle on backwards or at the wrong angle. I also noticed that the new stick has a yellow arrow on the stick backside facing down, and on the base under it is a yellow arrow sticker pointing up. It's clear that they did this to help users align it properly. I'm told earlier sticks didn't feature this.
When done wrong, if the connector gets pushed in the stick ends up unusable. Windows will install the drivers for it, but it never shows up as a USB device under USB Game Controllers in Windows. Being the tech savvy dude that I am...I took the base apart, managed to re-crimp the bottom of the din connector back to the metal plate which it fell out of, thus raising it up allowing it to make contact. After that, the stick worked, and it worked great.
However in the back of my mind it was broken, and in reallity all I did was perform a temporary fix. Thrustmaster offered to sell me a replacement female din connector, if I was willing to use Paypal and pay something like 10 Euros plus shipping. Then I'd have to do some soldering, which I can do, and wait x number of weeks for it to arrive, etc. Again it's a reasonable fix I suppose, that is for someone who knows how to do those things.
I sold that stick and ended up buying a new one when I saw the Amazon deal to make a long story short. Now I'm super careful with the new stick knowing what I do now. That however is a really crappy issue to deal with. So my best advice is attach the handle and don't remove it, and if you need to remove it, then make sure you put it together with care.
In flight
As a guy who absolutely couldn't be told there was ever a stick better than the HOTAS Cougar... I must admit that I feel right back at home with the HOTAS Warthog in-hand now! Technically the handle is the same, only the buttons, hats, switches, etc all feel like they're made better. The A-10 and F-16 real sticks look a lot a like, so I'm not surprised by the design being so similar. The movement feels almost the same to me as well, it has serious tension just as the HOTAS Cougar had.
One difference...the base plate is massive! It won't topple over ever. It's also removable so you can use different aftermarket mounting solutions. I'm actually tempted to drill four holes through my old desk top, to just mount it to the desktop and forego the massive base plate altogether. It's an option, which is nice. The entire package was listed as weighting close to 12lbs when it arrived on the UPS sticker, so that should give you an idea of how big and heavy this monstrosity is.
Oh did I mention it's damn near all metal too? It is. The handle and the base are definitely metal, but some of the innards are plastic and metal both, and the buttons and hats appear to be plastic, but made well. If you have a lot of desktop real estate, there are also four pre-drilled holes on each corner of the large metal base-plate, which can also be used to attach it to a surface with the base-plate on as well. Under the base-plate are four rubber pads, which keeps it from sliding around while in use too.
Hindsight is truly 20/20 right? One of the primary reasons I ended up getting this stick is I needed and wanted more buttons at my finger-tips. After you jump up to the more high fidelity modules for DCS World (F/A-18C/AV-8B, etc) you really need a more robust option for finger-tip controls. The T.16000M is still a great stick, but looking back at it now ALL of those base buttons were useless to me in DCS World, because I almost never found myself reaching to use the base buttons.
Having 4 hats switches with multiple buttons, all where I can easily access them is so much more important in DCS World over 12 base buttons that I simply ignored. Reaching over with my left hand to use base buttons to keep my hand on the stick to control flight was just too much effort. Every bit of control on the HOTAS Warthog can be utilized with your right hand. As you may have guessed, this is also purely a right-handed stick. I'm left-handed but learned decades ago that the military don't make left-handed controls, so I dealt with it, and have no issues with it right-handed sticks. All of the coolest sticks have usually been right-handed anyway.
I also don't loose the ability to use Target GUI software to bind my TWCS Throttle, Warthog Stick and TFRP rudder pedals into a single USB device that I can use in older legacy games like a Star Wars Galaxies EMU that I still play. With Target GUI you can still play most other older titles in general that can only see a single USB device as a controller in Windows. So even the Warthog stick has flexibility with all other current Thrustmaster devices!
Up close...
Here's the features list direct from Thrustmaster...
Also compatible with the HOTAS Cougar™ (and vice-versa)
Replica shape of the A-10C flight stick
Detachable metal plate for desk- or cockpit-style use
Realistic pressure on buttons and trigger
19 action buttons in total + one 8-way “point of view” hat:
1 x 8-way “point of view” hat
2 x 8-way hats
1 x 4-way hat with push button
1 x metal dual trigger
2 x push buttons
2 x pinkie push buttons
USB connector and upgradeable firmware
Super-stable, weighted joystick (over 3 kg)
H.E.A.R.T Hall Effect AccuRate Technology***:
3D magnetic sensors (Hall Effect): surgical precision, that won’t decrease over time
16-bit resolution (65536 x 65536 values)
5 coil spring system: for tension that is firm, linear, smooth and without any dead zones
All of the hats and buttons are laid out in a near perfect manner. Literally everything is at my finger-tips. I see no reason too swap it with a Cougar handle, or vice versa, but you can. The movement seems as precise as my T16000M that I was using previously. It's definitely stable with the base, but the only downside is the footprint. The base plate is 10.5 x 9.25 inches. It sits upright at about 11.5 inches tall as well. It took a little getting used to, after using the shorter T16000M for months now, and you'll definitely need some desktop real-estate to make the most of it.
My oldest and longest running HOTAS gear was the HOTAS Cougar, and about 8 years ago the gimble broke, and I ended up with an X-52 Pro from Saitek not long after. So I didn't seek to get it repaired, and at the time I didn't know I could fix it to be honest. The super sad part is I moved out and broke up with an ex-girlfriend and left it behind thinking it was junk. Only now do I realize I could have fixed it. I'm super angry that it got sold for the metal at a junkyard somewhere lol
I loved that gear, and I was one of the first people to get a Cougar when it was first released. I used to beta test some of their stuff, and other companies gear back then, like the CH Force FX, some of the old Suncom F-15 stuff, the F-22 Pro from Thrustmaster, etc. So I know a thing or two about joysticks for the PC you could say.
More recently my aging Saitek X-52 Pro was failing. About 3 months ago now I picked up the Thrustmaster T.16000M FCS HOTAS kit. Truth be told, before buying that...I REALLY wanted a Thrustmaster Warthog kit. However at $129 for the stick and throttle both, the T.16000M FCS kit was a more economical option at the time. I still think it's an incredible option for the money too, it's very hard to beat in its price range.
Amazon had a sale at just $198 for the stick alone, with free shipping, so I took the plunge. I opted for just the stick, because in this day and age companies aren't throwing products at me to review like they once did. So I gotta pick my products wisely being a single parent. I'm also not that impressed with the Warthog throttle at a glance, because my desktop can barely fit the stick, and the foot-print of it is a lot to accommodate. I also happen to like my TWCS Throttle anyway.
Out of the box...
Without going into a lot of details. I recently had two Warthog sticks. The first one was used, and this latest one is brand new. The used one looked like new, and was had for a reasonable price. However it had an issue. The problem is also documented well on the Eagle Dynamics forums for DCS World, and the issue is that how the removable Warthog stick handle connects to the base can damage the base connector.
Right out of the box the stick handle comes unattached to the base. The HOTAS Cougar shared this design as well. You simply line up the stick with the base, set it on carefully, and turn the large nut until it's nice and firm to finalize securely attaching it. The issue has to do with a 5-pin din connector. The connector is somewhat like an old PS/2 style keyboard connector. The stick features the male side, and the base the female side.
The problem is that the female side 5-pin connector can end up pushed down inside the base, so that when you attempt to line up the handle and screw it on down, it doesn't make full contact. Granted this shouldn't happen if you're careful when you align the stick, and if don't ever try to place the handle on backwards or at the wrong angle. I also noticed that the new stick has a yellow arrow on the stick backside facing down, and on the base under it is a yellow arrow sticker pointing up. It's clear that they did this to help users align it properly. I'm told earlier sticks didn't feature this.
When done wrong, if the connector gets pushed in the stick ends up unusable. Windows will install the drivers for it, but it never shows up as a USB device under USB Game Controllers in Windows. Being the tech savvy dude that I am...I took the base apart, managed to re-crimp the bottom of the din connector back to the metal plate which it fell out of, thus raising it up allowing it to make contact. After that, the stick worked, and it worked great.
However in the back of my mind it was broken, and in reallity all I did was perform a temporary fix. Thrustmaster offered to sell me a replacement female din connector, if I was willing to use Paypal and pay something like 10 Euros plus shipping. Then I'd have to do some soldering, which I can do, and wait x number of weeks for it to arrive, etc. Again it's a reasonable fix I suppose, that is for someone who knows how to do those things.
I sold that stick and ended up buying a new one when I saw the Amazon deal to make a long story short. Now I'm super careful with the new stick knowing what I do now. That however is a really crappy issue to deal with. So my best advice is attach the handle and don't remove it, and if you need to remove it, then make sure you put it together with care.
In flight
As a guy who absolutely couldn't be told there was ever a stick better than the HOTAS Cougar... I must admit that I feel right back at home with the HOTAS Warthog in-hand now! Technically the handle is the same, only the buttons, hats, switches, etc all feel like they're made better. The A-10 and F-16 real sticks look a lot a like, so I'm not surprised by the design being so similar. The movement feels almost the same to me as well, it has serious tension just as the HOTAS Cougar had.
One difference...the base plate is massive! It won't topple over ever. It's also removable so you can use different aftermarket mounting solutions. I'm actually tempted to drill four holes through my old desk top, to just mount it to the desktop and forego the massive base plate altogether. It's an option, which is nice. The entire package was listed as weighting close to 12lbs when it arrived on the UPS sticker, so that should give you an idea of how big and heavy this monstrosity is.
Oh did I mention it's damn near all metal too? It is. The handle and the base are definitely metal, but some of the innards are plastic and metal both, and the buttons and hats appear to be plastic, but made well. If you have a lot of desktop real estate, there are also four pre-drilled holes on each corner of the large metal base-plate, which can also be used to attach it to a surface with the base-plate on as well. Under the base-plate are four rubber pads, which keeps it from sliding around while in use too.
Hindsight is truly 20/20 right? One of the primary reasons I ended up getting this stick is I needed and wanted more buttons at my finger-tips. After you jump up to the more high fidelity modules for DCS World (F/A-18C/AV-8B, etc) you really need a more robust option for finger-tip controls. The T.16000M is still a great stick, but looking back at it now ALL of those base buttons were useless to me in DCS World, because I almost never found myself reaching to use the base buttons.
Having 4 hats switches with multiple buttons, all where I can easily access them is so much more important in DCS World over 12 base buttons that I simply ignored. Reaching over with my left hand to use base buttons to keep my hand on the stick to control flight was just too much effort. Every bit of control on the HOTAS Warthog can be utilized with your right hand. As you may have guessed, this is also purely a right-handed stick. I'm left-handed but learned decades ago that the military don't make left-handed controls, so I dealt with it, and have no issues with it right-handed sticks. All of the coolest sticks have usually been right-handed anyway.
I also don't loose the ability to use Target GUI software to bind my TWCS Throttle, Warthog Stick and TFRP rudder pedals into a single USB device that I can use in older legacy games like a Star Wars Galaxies EMU that I still play. With Target GUI you can still play most other older titles in general that can only see a single USB device as a controller in Windows. So even the Warthog stick has flexibility with all other current Thrustmaster devices!
Up close...
Here's the features list direct from Thrustmaster...
Also compatible with the HOTAS Cougar™ (and vice-versa)
Replica shape of the A-10C flight stick
Detachable metal plate for desk- or cockpit-style use
Realistic pressure on buttons and trigger
19 action buttons in total + one 8-way “point of view” hat:
1 x 8-way “point of view” hat
2 x 8-way hats
1 x 4-way hat with push button
1 x metal dual trigger
2 x push buttons
2 x pinkie push buttons
USB connector and upgradeable firmware
Super-stable, weighted joystick (over 3 kg)
H.E.A.R.T Hall Effect AccuRate Technology***:
3D magnetic sensors (Hall Effect): surgical precision, that won’t decrease over time
16-bit resolution (65536 x 65536 values)
5 coil spring system: for tension that is firm, linear, smooth and without any dead zones
All of the hats and buttons are laid out in a near perfect manner. Literally everything is at my finger-tips. I see no reason too swap it with a Cougar handle, or vice versa, but you can. The movement seems as precise as my T16000M that I was using previously. It's definitely stable with the base, but the only downside is the footprint. The base plate is 10.5 x 9.25 inches. It sits upright at about 11.5 inches tall as well. It took a little getting used to, after using the shorter T16000M for months now, and you'll definitely need some desktop real-estate to make the most of it.
Conclusion
I absolutely love the Thrustmaster Warthog joystick, and I knew I would, because I loved the HOTAS Cougar before it, and essentially the Warthog is an updated version of it. The retail price I believe is around $250 for the stick alone, and around $500 for the set that comes with the Warthog throttle as well. In recent months the price has been bouncing around in the $198-$218 range on Amazon, and other popular online retailers.
It works great with my TWCS Throttle and a set of TFRP rudder pedals I also purchased recently. That's the setup I've been using for weeks now, and I have no complaints yet to report. All games and sims see the axes, buttons, dials and switches just fine with that combo.
The 5-pin din connector issue is a major one. I am however not entirely sure if it's an issue that occurred only with older production models, but after having seen, and dealt with it first-hand, it's definitely an issue to be aware of. So far my brand new stick is fine, I put it together once, and have left it together.
I do however see a reason that I may possibly take it apart soon. The initial idea going all the way back to the HOTAS Cougar was that Thrustmaster would make different handles, depicting different aircraft sticks. There's been talk of an F/A-18 handle coming out soon, and just a few days ago pictures surfaced of what may be production samples. Also the TM Target software lists an F/A-18 handle, so it's definitely going to be a thing very soon.
Rumor has it that the F/A-18 handle will be released in late July. The only other rumor that has me concerned, and that would deter me from purchasing one is the price-tag. It's rumored to be in the $200 USD price range! That's for a damn handle alone! I'm hoping that rumor is nothing more than that, because if it was $100 USD or less I'd not think twice about purchasing one for my Warthog joystick.
I can't see recommending any other joystick at present over the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog. Based on all of the products I've had hands on over the years, this is as good as it gets for a stick that's readily available at retail. Others have made claims that the Virpil and VKB-Sim products are superior, but I can't speak about them first-hand. What I do know is the aforementioned options cost a great deal more as well, and are only available in short production runs, which sell out rather fast when they do become available. I'm attempting to get my hands on them for future reviews. So as it stands, the HOTAS Warthog is currently the king of joysticks based on what I've seen first-hand.
Make no mistake about it as well, this isn't a stick for a casual player. It will be overkill for a casual player. I ran WarThunder, Mechwarrior Online, Star Citizen, Star Wars Galaxies Legends EMU with it, along with a variety of other casual titles, and it performed just fine. The average gamer, or lite flight simulation enthusiast can get along just fine with a T.16000M. This is definitely a niche product, but all in all, the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog is the best stick I've ever used to date!
Here's a link to the upcoming Thrustmaster F/A-18 stick I spoke of earlier...
And another one on Reddit
