Throttle Quadrant USB (300-133)

These work natively with MS Flight Sim Steam

I bought these in preparation for my multi-engine pilots license. Of course, I have been flying planes on Microsoft ( and Sublogic) well before I could get into a real cockpit. This is probably one of the best items from CH Products, especially if you like flying multi-engine aircraft or will be upgrading to flying a REAL multi-engine aircraft soon. Microsoft and CH products have helped keep me sharper in the cockpit by allowing me to practice on the days when I can't go up for real. This product cannot be beat for customizability. I can go from a Beech Baron set-up to a Boeing 747 set-up just by playing with some settings. And if you have the CH Yoke and Rudder pedals, you have a relatively real flying experience without leaving your home. If you are into military sims, this probably isn't for you. If you have Microsoft flight sim, X-plane, Fly or any other civilian sim and you value realism, you must get these. $150 isn't cheap, but thats the cost of one hour of flight time in the Multi-engine plane I will be learning in. One hour of flight time versus hours of honing my skills at home? A worthy investment indeed! The only downside, as there is on all CH products, are the clamps to hold it to the desk. They are really designed to fit desks that are thick and flat. If your PC desk has a curve to the front or is relatively thin, you have to find a better way to secure them to your desk. Wedging books or papers usually helps.

Overall, I am happy with this product. With the absolute disaster that Saitek is going through in terms of actually being able to ship stuff, I was not willing to wait two months (or more) for one of their throttles. I like the way these throttles feel. They do not feel like throttles I've felt in other planes. they are not as stiff or don't have as much "throttle friction" as I would usually fly with in real life, however, for flying a sim they are fine and they don't feel bad. I am an instrument rated private pilot who is working on his multi engine rating. I have been in to sim flying for about ~12 years now, and now that I am working on my multi, I needed more than one throttle to practice. Having the switches on the front is cool, I didn't even realize it had them when I bought this, but now I can have stuff like my gear and flaps on a switch instead of using my keyboard. I have two minor complaints about this throttle unit. The first is that it is pretty big. I think the throttle levers themselves are an appropriate size, but the plastic housing seems un-necessairily large. The other thing I am not super happy about is that at the bottom of the throttles there is a little notch for thrust reverse. I fly X-Plane, and I was aware that I could not map them for reverse thrust. That being said, they are still there, and I usually use them as "idle at 1000", but out of all 6 levers, the one that is not even with the other 5 is the starboard throttle. It does not sit even with the others when in this little notch. A little annoying.

I'm a long-time fan of CH Products' controllers. This is the first one I haven't been totally happy with. The biggest problem I have is that the throttles lack precision. They have a short throw and short levers and it's hard to get them exactly where you want them to be. I found this to be particularly problematic when flying twin-engine aircraft; it's really difficult to get the engines exactly in sync. The movement is slightly stiff and there's no way to control how loose or stiff the levers move. I also don't like that these have two detents. There is a detent when the levers are at idle, and if you pull them back farther there is a second detent. Unlike the Saitek throttles where the second detent triggers a button, these are only an extended range of the total lever movement, and I haven't figured out how to use the "full back" detent in any practical way. I calibrated mine to ignore the "full back" detent; however, even when you do this, to move the throttles out of idle you have to apply extra pressure to move them out of the detent which makes them even more imprecise and gives them a less realistic feel. The tops of the handles are swapable. However, the fit is extremely tight and I found it very difficult to get them to seat properly. It's not something you'd want to do on a regular basis. You will probably have to do it at least once though, as the unit comes out of the box with an oddball combination of four throttle levers in the middle with a single prop and mixture lever on each end, and not the standard piston prop configuration you see in the picture. Another problem is the desk clamps. My desk is about 3/4" thick and the clamps just barely hold the unit to the desk when they are at their tightest setting, and even then it still wobbles a bit. If you have a desk that is less than 3/4" thick the desk clamps will not work without some kind of modification. One thing I do like is the six momentary up/down switches on the front of the unit. They feel nice and are perfect for controlling things like flaps and trim. The unit is plug-and-play and requires no software to program the buttons, another plus. I've used the Saitek throttles and find them to be more precise, although they are notorious for breaking easily, and you have to buy two if you want a twin-engine setup. (That's actually kind of a moot point as I write this as Saitek appears to have stopped manufacturing most of their flight sim products, at least for the foreseeable future.) Based on past experience with CH Products controllers, I would expect this to last a very long time. These throttle are definitely better than using a keyboard or one of those wheels on a joystick, but they are far from perfect and could definitely be improved.

I debated for years about how much hardware to get for flight simulators and how much it would add to the fun of the games. After considering the alternatives I have to say that CH products are just great. They are built to last, and with USB, they are easy to configure. This throttle quadrant is fun. It simplifies multiple engines. We use CH pedals and a Logitech joystick. All together they work very well. Sim flying was abandoned by Microsoft, but the old flight simulators work just fine, and still are enjoyable as a break from the first person shoot em ups. I think it is worth the money.

I have had nothing but high regards for CH Products quality for over 35 years. I wont buy anything else if they offer the product Im looking for.