20 Best Hotas For Star Wars Squadrons (2023 Updated)

The joystick and throttle are very well made with metal casing and good quality switches and buttons With positive action, the joystick and particularly the throttle are heavy so do not move about on your Desk, but I would recommend using desk mounts.

One thing to be aware of is that the joystick does not have a twist function (yaw) so I had to buy a set of flight pedal from Scan (Thrustmaster TFRP rudder pedals scan code LN946031). The axis on the joystick are very slick with high tension springs To return the axis back to a neutral position.

The throttle action is smooth and you can alter the friction by a wheel on the throttle, a nice touch is The ability to set an indent that can be used as a engine full stop or engage afterburners in flight sims.

Thrustmaster use a program called TARGET to program all the many axis and buttons that are available, it can be a bit daunting at first but YouTube have lots of programming guides, in its Advance mode you can program multiple actions to one switch and have axis that have variable rates.

The Thrustmaster HOTAS is not cheap and you do need pedals but quality of both units are very good And should last many years of use.

The stick and throttle are both sturdy (made almost entirely of metal) and responsive with heavy bases (about 6kg between the 2 pieces) as rubbery feet to prevent slippage when in use. Does require a small software and driver download form thrustmaster in order to get optimal performance.

I was a little disappointed to find out that the stick doesn’t have a twist for yaw function (would be nice if it was mentioned that it doesn’t have it) because I’m used to on my Thrustmaster T-flight one.

Probably not implemented to incentivise you to buy the $300+ rudder pedals. Overall it is a great HOTAS I’m just going to have to get used to not trying to twist the stick haha.

OK, this is an expensive bit of kit. But to be honest it is good. very good. I have owned a few HOTAS before and this is the best. be warned they are heavy. real heavy, the stick (which is interchangeable) is solid metal, well made.

the feel is brilliant. when in intense maneuvers though it does not move one inch, no matter how i wiggle. before death 🙂 the feel is solid on both stick and throttle and has all metal parts and so many buttons.

sooo many. in DCS it is brilliant in IL2 it takes a bit to sort out the configuration, but once done, it is brilliant the same for elite dangerous. the thrust master software is OK, it takes a little practice to sort out what to do and to be honest the manuals are not great.

but its obvious how to accomplish things. and to honest there are a lot of configurations out there already built for you would i recommend them, if you are a serious flyer or deep space explorer. then hell yes.

if you are casual then perhaps a cheaper option.

I bought this device to replace an aging CH Pro Throttle. The CH Pro was clamped firmly to my desk. I worried about securing the new throttle. Could I screw it down perhaps? All that was solved the moment the TM Warthog was unpacked.

The TM is VERY heavy, sits solidly on non-slip pads, and hasn’t move a millimetre since I placed it there. The throttle has a plethora of buttons and switches, plus a Trim lever. The throttle levers themselves are super-smooth in action, and are extremely precise.

This is truly a “Rolls Royce” of Throttles!.

Purchased this throttle as a stand in for my simpit while convert my Cougar throttle to a full size F-16 replica. It works well with sufficient switches to bind for various tasks but the slew sensor is difficult to use.

I will retask this to an A-10 lite pit after my F-16 throttle is finished for my higher fidelity 1:1 viper pit. In the meantime, this works very smoothly with no apparent glitches. So many functions available to bind.

Very pleased with this product.

This product is absolute garbage. Seems great for 1st 3 months, and then it becomes worthless. I’d expect a little more for the price. Thinking maybe a fluke I got a second one being rated so well. Same thing within 3 months.

This time I was able to return and replace. Same thing another 3 months later. Wow. Cannot be a coincidence. Not sure how this is rated so well as it seems like a con. What’s wrong with it? At about that 3 month mark flight control starts to produce a slight drift becoming more pronounced.

No amount of tightening, loosening and calibration helps resolve the issue unless you feel like taking a new product apart to use. I don’t. I want something of better quality that I pay for. Needless to say maybe.

You can live with this drift and need to have constant pressure the flight stick. That brings me to going into a sub menu that shakes so bad you can make a selection or takes so long to do do you just go back to a controller.

Don’t waste your money.

I’ve got a very complex racing wheel and pedal set for my Oculus system, but when I picked up Star Wars Squadrons for my Xbox, I wouldn’t even play it since controlling with the Xbox controller was awful.

And of course thanks to Microsoft’s Flight Sim, HOTAS units were impossible to find forever. I was randomly checking a few places every week or so and was fortunate enough to catch one in stock here at Best Buy, so I snagged it right away.

The length of the cord isn’t that great, but fortunately I had a USB extension cable from my first Oculus headset, allowing me to get a decent distance from my TV. Fired up the game, and this made ALL the difference.

It went from annoying to enjoyable instantly. Not sure how many people would play with the thrust and flight control sticks connected, but that would work. However there’s enough cord to separate them and get them comfortably distanced from each other.

For me, the bonus is that this is natively recognized by the game so I can SEE what buttons will do what, I didn’t have to remap controls or anything. I wish there was a bit more resistance on the throttle stick, but for this price, I’m pleased that it’s responsive and works.

Buttons are for the most part placed well, just some muscle memory now to train as I start to use it. All in all, for this price, it’s light years beyond using the controllers that come with a game system.

Definitely NOT worth the scalp prices you find them online, but if you wait like I did and snag it at retail price it’s worth it.

ATTENTION FSX, PC Users. I am using this with FSX Steam Ed. It took a minute to find, download and install the firmware and drivers update. Afterward I simply restarted my Win 10 PC, launched FSX SE and bingo it worked immediately.

It was also very easy to assign the buttons to my preferences. I’ve had a T Flight HOTAS before and it lasted me 12 years! I do agree with other reviewers that the throttle is too loose and cannot be adjusted.

The midway detent is annoying and I’ve never understood what it’s even for? For the money and having a good experience with an old version of this same HOTAS I’d still say it’s great and highly recommended.

You could buy something cheaper but how many times do you want to do that over the years? These things just last and last.

I bought an open-box version, which includes some risks. The device appeared to be in good condition when I received it and seemed to work fine for a few weeks. But, then the X-axis sensor became flaky and was constantly giving invalid, continuously changing values even when the joystick was completely stationary.

If you google this joystick, you’ll find that this is a fairly common failure. By the time I realized the issue and took action, it was too late to return it to Best Buy, so I had to file a warranty claim with the manufacturer.

That process was relatively painless and they shipped it quickly (from France!). I got a replacement within about a week of filing my warranty claim. The new stick is working great so far. I use it on PC for Microsoft Flight Simulator and it has a good assortment of controls for that game.

I’d say that the only issue that I have is the throttle control. It has a notch/stop at 50% that makes it challenging to make smooth changes right around the midpoint. But you get used to that. Also, it seems a bit loose.

If you set it to ~85% throttle and release it, it will sometimes fall forward to 100% due to its own weight.

I bought this to use to fly jets in MSFS 2020 and it works well. Setup is automatic in MSFS but you will need to understand how to use the control option settings in MSFS at some point. For example, the TWCS throttle and the throttle on the joystick can interfere with each other, so I find it best to remove the throttle setting for the joystick.

The T. A. R. G. E. T. software is not necessary to understand or even use unless you are deep into gaming. I don’t plan to pursue that at all but it’s there if you want to. I was using the Logitech Extreme 3D joystick to fly before and wanted a better throttle.

With this bundle, getting the throttle along with the joystick is only slightly more expensive than getting just the throttle alone, so I opted for the joystick combo. To make things even simpler in MSFS, I basically turned off all the assorted buttons on the throttle to avoid conflicts and only re-added button 1 to activate afterburners in MSFS F-18 jet.

As I get more familiar with the settings, I might add some buttons back. Otherwise, I remapped flaps, parking brake, trim, and int/ext view to the left buttons on the joystick base because I use the stick right-handed and don’t want to remove my hand from the joystick to change settings while flying or reach around with my left hand.

I set the landing gear and spoilers to the right/left buttons on the top of the stick respectively, similiar to the setup I used on the Logitech settings. Overall, I don’t have any issuesto report but can’t comment on the long term durability since I have only been using it now for a week or so.

Since I also use the Thrustmaster rudder pedals, I wish the twist on the joystick could be prevented, but that is only possible on the Airbus version. Lastly, I did loosen the slide of the throttle a little by adjusting the tension screw to make it work more smoothly.

As I recall, you need to put the throttle in the full power position to see the screw from the underside. That was a bit confusing in the instructions. The nice thing about this setup and MSFS is that you can reset everything on the throttle/joystick to default settings if you mess things up too much.

I mostly fly using VR goggles, so it will take some time to remember the button assignments and find them by feel, but I am happy with the setup and the flying experience in VR is simply amazing.

These things were made to fit with Elite Dangerous in their color choices. Tons of buttons, but I understand the criticism in reviews on physical placement of the hat switch on the top and the buttons on the base can be awkward to find your way around.

I frequently have to look at it in order to know which one I am pressing, which was fine-ish with the first one I got which didn’t get super bright until you floored it in one direction. Unfortunately mine developed some issues with drift and return to neutral.

I kept increasing the deadzone to try and compensate, but eventually had to touch base with Thrustmaster. The service was meh, but they did replace it under warranty and send me a new joystick at no charge.

Which is where I touch on the dumb lights at the base of the joystick. the replacement model they sent me doesn’t have the issues with drift, but Thrustmaster at some point replaced the correlative lighting with a very, very bright constant light.

You will find complaints about that feature all over the internet and I keep meaning to snip the wires because it’s very distracting when you’re playing something dark like Elite Dangerous and keep having to look right into that light to determine which base button you’re ambiguously about to push.

All in all very solid though, it was a massive upgrade from the T-Flight and works great with the Monstertech chair mounts, even if those will drive you to bankruptcy. Most of the buttons and trigger feel fine, but some of the hat choices on the throttle seem silly.

You get used to it though.

I’m a long time flight simmer and more recently have been playing a lot of Elite Dangerous. My fairly old Saitek HOTAS recently gave up the ghost and I was in the market for a new setup. I’d very much like a Thrustmaster Warthog but can’t justify the price at the moment, especially as it recently seems to have spiked from 300-ish to 400.

I’d heard good things about the T-1600M and found OcUK were selling this package with the throttle and pedals considerably cheaper than everyone else. The stick itself is very nice, It’s got a decent weight to the base so it feels solid and won’t move around the desk as you use it.

The grip is very comfortable (and the package includes the necessary bits to change it over for left hand use). This stick uses the Hall Effect sensors which are found in Thrustmaster’s considerably more expensive flagship HOTAS Warthog.

The advantages touted are these sensors are very accurate and precise, with a high resolution. They don’t wear out and aren’t effected by dust getting inside the stick. So in theory at least, as long as you look after this stick and don’t abuse it too much it should last forever.

In my flight sims I’ve found it to be very smooth and pleasant to fly with. The throttle unit is also rather nice. Rather than rock back and forth the throttle slides back and forth on metal rails built into the base.

The action is just a little bit juddery or sticky, but nothing that a bit of extra lube on the rails won’t sort out. The base i quite light, but has a large footprint and the rubber feet do a good job of gripping my desk so I haven’t found the throttle sliding or moving about the desk despite it’s relatively light weight.

It seems to be designed for larger hands though, so if you have small hands you might find yourself having to move your hand on the throttle to reach the buttons and rudder rocker controller on the front.

The rudder pedals are about as good as you’d expect them to be at this price point. Again the unit has a good weight to it and the rubber feet grip the carpet far better than the ones on my old Saitek pedals which seemed to be forever slipping and sliding on the carpet as I used the pedals.

The rudder travel itself isn’t massive, but again at this price point you can’t really expect more. The pedals themselves would seem to be suitable for all but the largest or smallest of feet. You can remove the lip at the bottom of the pedals if you wish.

I do find the central position detent on the pedals to be a bit weak, and in use it can be quite hard to “feel” the central position of the pedals. The pedals are also rather close together (more so than the Saitek pedals).

To be fair after a few hours use I’ve got used to it and don’t really notice it. The toe brake action is nice and smooth too and the springs for these seem to be stronger than the Saitek ones which make them easier to use as you can more accurately feel the pressure you are applying to the brakes.

Note though these are flight pedals and the toe brakes pivot around a point about halfway up the pedal – as such they aren’t really suitable for use in driving games. I haven’t tried the Thrustmaster Target software for programming – I can quite happily get by without it.

I’d have preferred a fourth button on the top of the stick, and a stronger central detent on the rudder pedals. Overall this is a very good setup for the price (less than half the current cost of just the HOTAS Warthog stick and throttle).

Highly recommended for those looking for an entry level stick/throttle/pedals setup or who can’t justify the price of the HOTAS Warthog or some of the other high end specialist flight controllers (from the likes of VKB, etc).

Don’t be scared from negative reviews of this item. It’s not perfect out of the box but I’ve never had any hardware work right out of the box. You will need to do adjustments but that’s not on thrustmaster, that is on the software developers.

I mainly use Xplane only right now First out of the box for Xplane 1. Update firmware from Thrustmaster 2. Update The planes that you’ll be intending to use. Toliss, Jar Designs and Flight Factor. 3.

Go into your settings in main menu of the sim. Then go to to joystick and select your Quadrant. Then you’ll see add curve for each throttle 1 and 2. Click that and at the bottom of the new screen you’ll see a check box that says beta/Has reverse detent click that and then save.

That is so the simulator will know that you have a quadrant that has reverse detent. 4. Read the planes new manual. They have added help for setting up this quadrant as well as quick keys for the buttons and switches on the quadrant to save you time looking forever for them.

5. Lastly go into the planes settings while in the sim and you’ll see on the joystick page Rev on same axis. If that is not selected the plane wont know you have a reverse detent and your idle will sit at 27% thrust Zibo works perfectly out of the box and switches work with some searching.

Need to do set up #3 above SSG 747 and E Jet series works perfectly out of the box but switches don’t work for engines but made hot keys for lights with the switches until a possible Plane update to use them.

Not thrustmasters fault they don’t work, its a software issue with the plane maker. Need to do set up #3 above Last word of advice you’ll need to make sperate joy stick profiles for each plane cause each plane is different software wise.

Save the time and just make one for each plane you use Yes it stinks having to set these up but it’s not the hardwares fault and yes you’ll still need to make adjustments but that’s the plane developers coding.

Also use the forums of your flight sim community. They will help you with any questions you have The side stick is amazing very well built and works perfectly but might need some minor adjustments in sensitivity in the main menu.

The swapable switches to allow left hand or right hand flying is great. I still stuck with right handed from many years of flying that way I highly recommend these items and can’t wait for the addons to finally be available for the quadrant.

For the price I believe it doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve used it for the last two weeks on X-Plane 11 with the Toliss A319 and I had no problem so far. Configuration is easy (even though I use OSX) and the amount of available buttons at disposition almost guarantees you’ll have a terrific time flying.

I’m relatively new to the world of simulators, that’s reason why I don’t own rudder pedals yet, nonetheless the extra axis on the joystick allows me to control the rudder without complications and the TFRP port on the quadrant it’s a great gift from Thrustmaster if you already own pedals, as this gets rid of one extra cable to your computer.

So if you are new to flight sims as well, the officer pack is perfect for you as a beginner. So far, I haven’t found a negative aspect to the product. But I do consider important to mention that if you are an aviation enthusiast the level of immersion that this product gives is something totally worth the price.

I’m really looking forward to purchase the Quadrant Ad-ons as soon as they are available.

A superb stick purchased with the Warthog throttles to fly F18, F16 and Warthog in DCS world. It is a very heavy unit and has a silky smooth movement with quite a lot of resistance. Because it uses magnets to return to centre you are stuck with the resistance since their are no springs to change! Also note that this stick does not have a twist rudder feature.

If I want a rudder I’ll have to fork out for pedals. BUT modern military aircraft tend not to need rudder input for normal flight manouevres and I have allocated a HAT switch on the throttles for basic rudder during take off etc.

All switches and hats appear to be strongly built but only time will tell with these regarding reliability. I paid well over the odds for the seperate stick and throttles since I was unable to find the two bundled together without a 6 week wait.

Two days after they arrived the UK thrustmaster site was offering the bundle again! Having said that they are still just about worth the extra providing they prove as robust as they look and feel. As a bundle for £400 I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend! A friend has just got the Logitec x56 pair for £215 and after 2 weeks a hat switch is failing and the rudder twist judders so – apparently £215 isn’t enough to buy you reliability! Hopefully £400 – £500 is.

The Thrustmaster Warthog flight stick is a solidly made stick, nearly all metal – even the 2 stage trigger. Every button has a different tactile feel and feels absolutely premium. The stick can detatch from the base – allowing for an alternate stick to be used.

Overall weight is very heavy – there’s very little chance this is moving about while in use – even when not bolted down, which is an option. TARGET software didn’t play too well with my T16000m and Warthog HOSAS combo – so using JoyToKey instead.

Accuracy is great and the stick is solid enough to sit firmly centred with zero wobble so only a tiny deadzone is required depending on how steady handed you are. Downsides: No twist or analog thumbstick – you may need either rudder pedals or a second stick / throttle with analog twist, stick or paddles.

This joystick is built like a Mack Truck and should hold up. However, the software used to make it work is dated and not as intuitive as it could be. Hell, for the cost it should just automatically hook up.

Another issue I don’t like is the stick has an ever so slight twist to it. It’s NOT a twist stick (for rudder control) but it does twist somewhat which is irritating for the amount spent on this controller.

This purchase was made by me as a remedy to a problem. I have DCS, STAR WARS SQUADRONS, ELITE DANGEROUS, and MSFS 2020 and without a HOTAS I was really limited in how I wanted to play and enjoy these games.

I also had purchased a QUEST 2 for the VR and hunting for buttons is NOT IT when you can’t see the keyboard. This HOTAS was honestly the ONLY one available at the time. I found that it lacks buttons and is short at least 1 hat switch for DCS WORLD.

Having to Remap a full hat switch of buttons makes DCS basically 1000X harder to play in or out of VR. When it comes to MSFS 2020 this HOTAS works beautifully. The rudder control can easily be switched to the stick for for the stick twist Rudder that I prefer.

The stick is adjustable for firmness but I find my wrist and arm actually get tired if I do too much maneuvering at high tension. This was easily fixed by loosening the tension on the bottom of the Stick control.

Believe me I know how stupid that sounds but I am serious. I would absolutely recommend this stick to anyone who needs it for any number of Flight Sims.

Overall, this is a well built flight stick and throttle. A nice feature is that the two parts separate so you can have the throttle on your left and joystick on your right. The whole thing is plastic, but it doesn’t feel too cheap.

Another item to note is that although the throttle sometimes feels like it slides too easily, it holds its position and is nice to use. I use this for playing DCS and it works pretty well. I am able to map the needed controls for the SU-25T to all of the buttons on the controller.

If you’re looking to get started with flight sims, this is a good choice.

I bought the “Xbox/PC” version just under two years ago and it developed a fault within a year; The yaw started glitching to the right ever so slightly making it hard to aim sometimes and making cruise impossible.

I dealt with it for a while and only just now sent it for warranty and they couldn’t replace it because they don’t sell the xbox version anymore but I got a full refund and am upgrading to an x52. I used the hotas exclusively for Elite Dangerous and it’s amazing.

All the pre-mapped controls are fairly easy to get used to within a week of occasional gameplay, and it feels great to play with a real throttle and stick. It comes in extremely handy when playing ED in VR, as it’s impossible to miss a button and it makes for an absolutely amazing experience.

I haven’t heard of anyone else having the problem that I did so I’d say I can recommend this HOTAS for anyone looking for an affordable option.

Very expensive, but there isn’t any better than this for PC flight simming. Useless without the appropriate stick top, but fabulous with. Heavy and stable, extremely smooth action, very accurate response and input.

Only gripe is that there’s no z-axis or rudder, and for that you’d need to buy the matching TPR. But then again, if you’re spending this much, cost isn’t really an issue.

Good replacement for a previous broken or worn unit. There is no difference between this and the base that comes as part of the standard Warthog. While the name isn’t misleading per se it should be noted that the Magnetic in the name refers to the hall effect method used to sense the joystick position not any attempt to keep the base in place using magnets.

This seems pretty self evident in that I not seen too many metal desks one would be ‘sticking’ this joystick base to.

I remember this movie because my wife wanted to see it in the 80s. I was shocked at how different it seems is today. In the 80s Video game/Arcade centers were new. It was astonishing to see that one of the “actors” was from Texas.

and has never made another movie. These are probably the worst of the South and SouthWest. But it is titilating from some perspectives, but probably just GAUL for the producers. I can’t say: enjoy; but there it is.

This is a great entry level HOTAS for those wanting to try one out on PC. It has good value vs performance and features and for under $70 that is a great option. Anything past this and you will be spending several hundred dollars for the next tier.

It doesn’t have the weight or feel as the high end HOTAS but it performs well enough for sure. It has pulleys and not gears for rotation so be sure to get the 2 year protection plan so when it starts to fade you can return and upgrade or decide HOTAS is not for you.

Plays great in Star Wars: Squadrons.