Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsTerrible support and customer service. Good throttle once upgraded with parts that should be stock
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019
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
