I have the Warthog, and have to say that it is one of the most satisfying sticks to use, and the throttle setup is awesome . BUT, I’m disappointed in the durability of the setup. Last year I spent over $200 just to replace the red thumb button on the stick. I had the setup for two years and it was only lightly used.
While the body of the stick is made of metal, the buttons don’t have the same level of toughness, and replacing an individual button or HAT control is a nightmare. The wires are hairline in thickness, and everything is routed through the body of the stick in such a way where it is easy to pinch a wire(s) between the two joystick halves when putting it together, or have wires interfering with the HAT controls. After multiple attempts to replace the one red button, and multiple button orders that can take a week or more just to place the order, I ended up buying a new full joystick handset from thrustmaster for $115.
For $350-400, that system should be the last one you ever buy, but from my experience it is buyer-be-ware.
If the Warthog throttle and joystick base hadn’t been in good condition, I would have simply cleaned my old X-52’s potentiometers and called it good. I even have an old sidewinder precision pro 2 that is in perfect working order, and it’s at least 15 years old!
If you are in the market for a decent HOTAS setup, take a look at Thurstmaster’s T.16000M, or CH Products Fighter stick and Throttle quadrant instead of the Warthog. You will lose some of “the feel” that the Warthog offers, but you will spend less money and get a setup that will work just as well and potentially last much longer.
