Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Dual Throttles PC

If you are considering Warthog HOTAS, then you’ve decided you are willing to part with substantial amount of cash for your hobby. In my VR flight sim evolution I have gone from an old Saitek, to a t 1600, a Warthog, and then I started spending real money… The Warthog is unchanged from the version that launch 8(?) years ago. It’s a cash cow 10 year old design that sells well because the next step up requires more knowledge to find, is more difficult to obtain, etc. Despite its age, the throttle is good, especially for DCS A-10C on which is it modeled. The stick, well, is not as good. Both the throttle and the stick and plagued by each having a glaring error. Some will whole heartedly recommend these, I say these people are about mid-way along that journey I described above and have not tried the better offerings. Fwiw, I am a pilot in real life with about 1200 hours in about 30 different aircraft so I come with the perspective of how real controls from a wide variety of aircraft “feel” First, the throttle – There is no much choice in premium throttles, and the warthog is quite good except for its terrible, awful, POS, slew sensor. It is a %0.79 sensor, that is the second most important axis on the throttle (the throttles being first of course). I won’t post the name here but with some digging around you can find a provider of a replacement sensor for $50. The replacement uses a mini stick that is the same as the one used on xbox one/ps4 controllers, with a custom PCB to convert the signal to l2c that the joystick board can handle. I’ve attached picture showing the modification, it makes this throttle immeasurably better. The Stick that comes with the full HOTAS suffers a similar problem. The grip is quite good, particularly in that it more closely matches US plane layouts, particularly the A-10 of course. The gimbal is atrocious however. It is made much better through various techniques, an extension helps quite a bit, for example. I gave up, I have my grip mounted to a Virpil warbird base with no extension and it is everything the warthog should have been. It is a plug and play swap, though you can no longer use target, and games won’t recognize it as a warthog, so it’s a little more setup. If you can find a used grip, this would be my recommendation. Just don’t bother with the WH gimbal. The throttle with modification is arguably the best, though the preference for one way switches that are borderline useful relatively to two-way, dials, additional buttons, etc. The motion of the thottles themselves are not as good as the virpil, though I prefer the warthogs design in that it pivots on a single point rather than slides. The stiction, and lack of adjustable detents however make the motion 2nd to the virpil. However, the virp is not without fault. As much as TM messed up with the garbage slew, the virpil lacks any analogue slew. Once upgraded, the WH is much better in this regard. ****** HOWEVER, I personally will not purchase another Thrustmaster product because of how terrible their technical support is. ****** Upon taking my throttle apart I realized that the assembled had attached some female plugs backwards on the board. It was unmistakable defective. However, because it was on the inside of the throttle, I did not discover it until I took it apart, after Amazon’s return period. I was, however, well within the Thrustmaster warranty, which explicitly includes replacement of defective products. I called US tech support, chatted with an engineer who laughed, we complained about production difficulties and QA (after putting the part on backwards, the assembler jammed the male plug in despite it not fitting, rather than repair their mistake). They stated they would send me a new one immediately (I provided numerous pictures and videos demoing the issue, a real pain, but as is required to receive support. Then, however, I began speaking with France based Guillemot support. I was told I needed to send the throttle to France, where they would inspect it, decided whether to repair or replace, and return it to me. I objected, as this was contrary to what I was previously told, and I did not want to be without a throttle for over a month. When I say objected, let me be clear. I’m a lawyer, I have my own firm, and among the various cases we have handled include products liability class actions, including against very well defended pharmaceutical companies that are far wealthier than Guillemot. So, I objected in as strong a manner as one could possible do, but despite incorrectly assembling their $500 HOTAS, the burden was falling to me. Fortunately, I was able to purchase and subsequently return a WH throttle while I waited (after, of course, confirming that the cost of return would be borne by Guillemot). RECOMMENDATION If you are looking for sub <$150 gear, Thrustmaster is fine. At the t.1600 price level it’s a good value. For high end gear? No way. Guillemot views the expanding their presence in high-end VR sim market as crucial to their future success. Of course, any company would covet consumers that have disposable cash for 9900ks and 2080 Tis, latest and greatest headsets, thus they evidently plan a line of high-quality products to appeal to these users. In this, however, they miss the mark. Amazon gets my business because of convenience, and, even when I screw up, they accept all returns no question asked and bend over backwards. I feel like a valued customer. In return, I’ve been prime for over 10-years, and spend 5-figures per year shopping on amazon. Thrustmaster, in contrast, treats customers that spend $500 on peripherals like garbage. In the most obvious case of defective product (where they literally put it together backwards), they do not stand behind their product. They were rude, dismissive, did not honor their prior statements nor own their defective product. As such, they have lost me for life. My recommendations is that if you are contemplating a $500 HOTAS, spend a few hundred more and go VKB or Virpil. Or, if slew on throttle instead of stick is important to you, get the TM throttle here and replace the slew stick/sensor as described above. Do it within the amazon return period, however, because god forbid you must deal with French support team… In the end, due to the problems with the design and terrible customer treatment I went with two stars. Its a decent product, but it will cost you another $75 to make the throttle good. Worse, it will cost you another $250 to make the stick good. Find a used WH grip and go elsewhere is my recommendation

Being new to Flight Sims, I thought I would purchase what is supposed to be one of the best throttles from a big name in the business, as well as one of the best throttles from a smaller company that deals directly with consumers. The difference is huge so where do I start? The Warthog - It's sleek, and boy does it look good. And that's the wow factor that made me even consider this throttle to begin with. Being new to the hobby I found the throttle lever to be nice and fluid, with cool buttons and switches all over. Unfortunately it begins to dissipate shortly after that. The button options, though somewhat true to the real thing, serve limited purpose for those wanting a single throttle controller for their games. I do mostly general aviation (MSFS2020) and unless I want to 'trick' switches to work a certain way via in-game settings, it doesn't make all that much sense. The 'flap' is a 3 position lever which really made no sense as I had to program that to add or lower flap adjustment versus having an axis. Worse yet, the switches at the top of the base are hard to utilize when you have your throttle pitched forward. Again, TM really wants you to use this thing on only one plane. The Competitor - Since this isn't a review on the 'other' controller, I will say this. This controller has multiple detents that allow independent changes to both the front and the back of your throw. There is also a larger variety of buttons, and a nicer selection on the base itself. Toggles that make sense, push buttons that not only illuminate, but also change color when using them as a soft toggle or the sort. Speaking of soft toggle, the software provided allows immeasurable customization as you can change an axis to utilize button controls, dampers, even change push buttons into toggles and more. I have yet to program any more than a few buttons only because I'm trying to figure out what all features I want, to use as an excuse to push even more buttons. I didn't mention the 'friction' control on the Warthog and I may as well say it here; it's a joke with their large dial that requires 10 turns in any one direction until you can feel a change. The competitor unfortunately requires you to unscrew the base, but that just opens it up to expose it's full-metal innards; I think they did this on purpose to show you what a real high-end throttle is supposed to look like. Anyway, I hope this review helps to ward off any potential buyers. I'm not saying the Warthog is a bad buy, I just think it's a bad buy at the price they're asking. You can get so much more (better) for the same price elsewhere.

Bought used so I had to be thorough in my testing. For a used throttle, this works very well. All the buttons and switches seem to work just fine. I was able to map everything with no problems. What threw me off was how HEAVY this thing is. It’s very durable and I imagine this will last me quite a while.

While reading all these reviews making this the Messiah of hotas throttles I have to say , it's well built. But If you are getting this to play elite dangerous or star citizen think twice. First off 90 % of the switches and buttons are absolutely useless in game . Boosting and screen/modes are abysmal . I have played elite for about 9 years and have ran a few different setups, I'm using VKB as my main but wanted to test this throttle. After mapping it out , it was back in the box 20 min later . It might be ok to explore, but if you are into combat and pvp , this throttle could be most the reason you die so much . It's just not for space sims .

Bought this throttle for Star Citizen and MSFS. I already had the matching stick, and adding the throttle was a game changer. Works really nice. programmable, very clean motion inputs from it, etc. Improved my flying in SC considerably. Now maybe I can outrun those darn pirates LOL