X-52 Upgrade to Thrustmaster Warthog

Hi all,

As a proud owner of the Thustmaster Warthog, I come to you with a simple question.

A friend of mine owns the X-52 (Standard, Non-Pro) and has been considering upgrading to the Warthog for some time now, due to the numerous issues with the Saitek. (Poor construction, connection issues between stick and throttle, bad software, to name a few)

With three strong modules getting closer each day (Dora, Sabre, Fishbed) it's looking like we are going to invest some serious time into DCS over the coming months, and it would make sense to upgrade before they arrive so he's not relearning after changing setup. I suggested he picks up the Warthog soon so he can fully do the new aircraft justice, and complete the setup. He already has rudder pedals and a trackIR 5 as well.

So I was just after some opinions from those who have owned either (or both) the X-52 and Thrustmaster, for some personal feedback on the devices, and what you would do in the given situation.

That's all, looking forward to your responses!

Kind regards,

Nybble

Yes, tell 'em to go for it! I had the X52, (with the magnet & tension mods), the WH HOTAS is in a class of it's own.

the A-10C is a must, if you have that HOTAS.

I also own the TrackIR5 and Saitek Combat Rudders, (also a serious sim'ers must have).

I use the WH with all of my sims just fine: DCSW, BMS, BoS, CoD, RoF.

Wish I would've bought the WH much sooner.

I like mine. Took me a while to get used to it; especially because of the lack of rotaries and axis. Programing with the TARGET software is a bit awkward too.

After about 6 months with mine, I like it a lot. :)

Cheers for the replies!

I agree with the comment on TARGET, to be honest I uninstalled it an never looked back. You don't need it installed at all to get proper functionality of the stick.

Anyone else got any thoughts? I don't think he's fully convinced yet....

Does your friend use the Saitek software to program the stick, or does he just use DX buttons in sims?

I haven't used the Saitek software for years (and when I had my P8000 running in XP I would use Dhauzimmer drivers anyway), but from what I understand the Saitek interface is better than the TARGET GUI. If your friend likes to program the stick, but doesn't want to go full-bore C++ (which is essentially what you're doing with TARGET) he may be better off with an alternative like CH. However, if he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty with code, the profile in my signature should tell him everything he needs to know about the power of TARGET.

If your friend likes to program the stick, but doesn't want to go full-bore C++ (which is essentially what you're doing with TARGET) he may be better off with an alternative like CH.

He doesn't want to program the stick at all. Like myself he feels he should be able to plug in and start binding keys without installing any additional software. Both the joysticks offer more then enough keys and axis, and using software to create modifiers seems cumbersome and unnecessary, for me at least