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I an constantly being told to pick something out for Christmas by my mom. I was thinking of asking for a flight system like the Logitech G940. I read reviews on it, and they vary greatly from website to website. I would really appreciate it if someone who owns one would give me their review of the systems. Also, does anyone know of a better system, one with the dual throttle and pedals. I would mainly use this for Flight Simulator X, or if I get it, DCS: A-10c Warthog.

Thanks, L4L17

Admin: topic moved to Hardware & Custom Builds

If you get DCS warthog you will need as many HOTAS buttons as you can get your little fingers at.

AND you will need a track IR to trck your movements as your head moves to replicate it in game.

That said, i have an a-10 joystick replica. It has 8 HOTAS buttons, and 50 million other switches that all have to be used while in flight (Not at the same time of course)

For example you WILL need the Coolie HAT switch, TMS (4 way switch button), DMS (4 way switch button), TRIM (4 way switch button), mouse cursos (to move around the cameras), MIC switch (3 way button, not necessary but useful), CHINA hats forward and back (CRUCIAL!!!), BOAT switch (for switchign cameras, not crucial), AIR BREAKS (2 way switch, crucial), FLAPS (not crucial), Autopilot (not crucial but helluva helpful), and Nosewheel steering(not crucial).

Etc and so forth... So the crucial ones are ones you WANT and NEED on the stick so you never have to take your hands off the stick. Non crucial ones are nice to have on the stick but you can use keyboard shortcuts.


So what I am trying to say is, you will need a stick with a **** load ton of buttons to compensate, and the more it has, the more enjoyment you will get out of this game and other serious flight sims.

my recomendation is the X52 saitek Pro, which I used for DCS when my Thrustmaster warthog was being repaired, however the one you are talking about seems to have just about enough stuff on it to fill up nicely, so go for it man. But you will definitely want that TRACK IR as well, with clip.

Compare your stuff to my stick, if equal or greater, your good to go:

Personally for Joysticks I would go with Saitek since IMO, they make by far the best sticks out there.

The Saitek X-65F might be what your looking for, in the same price range of the G940 but also has some seriously neat features such as force sensing, which ensures really long life of the stick since there are no moving parts (other than the throttle ofc).

It dose not come with rudder pedals however but Saitek do make good ones you can buy along side:
Pro Flight Combat Rudder Pedals
Pro Flight Rudder Pedals

But personally I would recommend the X-52 or X-52 Pro which is the much cheaper option, dosen't have dual throttle or Force Sensing but dose have everything else you need and is a seriously good stick I've been using for years (the standard X-52 mind you, not the Pro which is quite a few years old now and I'm now having to shove tones of Vaseline into its moving parts to keep its ancient mechanism lubricated, why I the force sensing on the X-65F is a big + point IMO).

I can't say I've ever used the G940 nor done that much research into it but other than its dual throttle function, it doesn't look that good to me tbh in terms of its design and layout. The buttons on the throttle base area do look quite cool mind you, but really don't like the handle and button setup on the actual throttle and stick don't look that good to me although wouldn't be able to tell before without trying them, but just doesn't look like natural positions unlike what the X-52 has (can say the same to the X-65F design mind you, not sure about some of its buttons either).

But anyways some food for thought. Personally I would save some money and go with the X-52 Pro + rudder pedals (providing you have room for them, twist stick is pretty good tbh, I normally don't have my rudder pedals plugged in since they take up soo much room, and haven't got them to work with BF2/PR..) but that's just me

Adding to this topic:

Anyone know a good but not too pricy rudder pedal solution to accompany a Warthog? I was thinking about upgrading my current setup for some time but the main flaw I noticed with the Warthog is the lack of rudders/toe breaks or even the support of plugging in your old ones like you could with the Cougar.

Current setup:
HOTAS Cougar (basically unmodded) with CH Pro Rudder Pedals (gameport).


As for recommendations:
The Cougar is a great stick but it has some weaknesses (which were mostly resolved with the new Warthog but I guess ralfidude would be best to comment on that stick). The main issue is that the conventional stick has wear on the potentiometers causing them to spike after some use. Cleaning the pots is possible but they will probably fail someday no matter what. I replaced one of them and got one spare left right now. The second flaw is that the centering is not ideal since the forces work on each axis independently instead of being a function of distance from center.

Other than that the Cougar is a great stick with a great feel, lots of programming options and the ability to add external rudders which can be programmed natively. I am not sure if they still sell any new ones but if you happen upon a modified used stick (ideally hall-converted) it would still make for a solid choice. I personally prefer the feel to the A-10 Warthog stick which felt less comfortable when I tried it out in the shop. I have yet to try any of the new Saitek sticks but from what I hear they are also very good.

EDIT: Can anyone comment on the use of dual throttle setups? I don't think they are of much use since in 99.9% of the time you fly you probably want to synchronize the throttles anyway. Or did I overlook something here?

Check my post above SH for info on decent rudder pedals. I got the standard ones just before the combat ones came out and they are pretty good, but if they where out at the time would have probably gone with the combat ones as they just look generally better

tbh, I didn't follow what you said Ralfi, about the switches, so I just copied this from the features: 2-stage metal trigger
POV Control Switch
8-way hat switch
Six programmable buttons
Pinkie shift button
Three analog trim controls
Contactless X & Y positional sensor
Rubber feet with base mounting points
Dual throttle
Split design throttle with interlock and adjustable tension
Two 8-way hat switches
Four programmable buttons on grip
Two rotary analog controls
Eight programmable base buttons with independent interactive LED backlighting and user changeable legends
3-position mode switch


Idk if thats enough switches... To me it is

Lacrosse4Life17 wrote:tbh, I didn't follow what you said Ralfi, about the switches, so I just copied this from the features:

...

Idk if thats enough switches... To me it is

He was just saying that it is nice to have a lot of buttons to be able to control the many functions of an aircraft.


Here is a little budget guide:

$100 - Saitek X52 - Newegg.com - Saitek X52 USB Flight Control System
$150 - Saitek X52 Pro - Newegg.com - Saitek X52 USB Flight Control System
$300 - Saitek X65 - Newegg.com - Saitek SCB440420002/02/1 Pro Flight X-65F Combat Control System
$400 - Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog - Amazon.com: Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog Joystick (2960720): Electronics

The fact is that the control style preferred for true flight sims like Flight Sim X and those preferred for combat sims like DCS are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

For "casual" flight sims that primarily focus on Commercial/GA flight, a yoke is the best option because it's what those aircraft use. You're also looking at a throttle system that is going to resemble either a few levers or a push-knob, not the badass system found in fighter jets. But in combat sims, the joystick/FCS combo is the best option because that's what's used in those aircraft.

So it's going to depend on which type of game you plan to play more often. If you play FSX most of the time, with DCS/F4/etc far less, then you might consider buying a good yoke/panel configuration and a cheap joystick with built-in throttle. If you play mostly the combat sims, skip the yoke/panel and just go with a good joystick/FCS setup from thrustmaster (or if you can't afford it, saitek/etc are good alternatives) and fly your Boeing or Cessna with the same stick.


I've used FSX quite a bit during my flight training, both with and without uber hardware. It's saved me thousands of dollars, and made it a lot easier and more enjoyable to obtain an IFR rating. And for those of us that don't own our own aircraft and can't afford to rent one every week, using FSX with the proper hardware can help keep us "maintained" on flight procedures during the down-time.

I'd be happy to link some suggestions myself, but would rather know first which style of game you plan to use more often.

Ye if you want to go with a Yoke Saitek do a few as well as lots of instrument panels too.
Pro Flight Yoke System
Pro Flight Cessna Yoke

The cool thing with the Saitek Pro Flight system is that it can be configured to vary depending on the aircraft you're using. For example, the throttle quadrant can be dual-linked (the color handles can be swapped around) for use as either a single-, dual-, or quad-engine setup. Or if you are primarily flying Cessna light frames, you can use the TPM instead for a more realistic control interface.

The instrument/switch panels can also be snapped together, and can be mounted on top of the yoke. It might not look like a "real" cockpit, but you can install the proper panels to make most controls available. Using the switch panel, multi panel, and radio panel, along with the correct throttle system and rudders, you can have a configuration that is almost good enough for logging hours.