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My findings of the TM HOTAS Warthog as an experienced formation aerobatic pilot are not quite as satisfying as I hoped for.
The first thing I noticed is that the stick is not smooth when you give very small inputs. Inputs that are of high importance for formation leaders flying loops and barrel maneuvers with wingmen 3 feet of your wing.
Self test:
Pull the stick back as slowly as you can.
You will notice "bumps" which can described as "stickiness".
So, I decided to take a look inside of the TM Warthog stick to see what coused this. It became clear to me as soon as I found out that the ball joint (cap and ball) are both of plastic (yes, plastic!) and besides that, there is a large surface of contact between the two. Even though it is all greasy inside, I think this design is not as perfect as it appears to be.
TM claims that the 3D magnetic sensor has a surgical precision of 16-bit resolution (65536 x 65536 values) and I for sure believe that, though when the mechanical system doesn't allow you to make small adjustments because of lack of smoothness, the high resolution is rather pointless.
I'm hoping that this "stickiness" will dissapear over time, though most likely it will not. For now, it is impossible to fly as smooth as required as formation aerobatic leader.
At this point, I hate to admit that my 150 euro X52Pro allows me to fly more precise as a formation aerobatic leader.
For the rest, the TM HOTAS Warthog looks and feels awesome.
Advice for protential buyers:
Combat pilot: adviced
Solo aerobatic pilot: adviced
Formation wingman pilot: adviced
Formation leader: not adviced (problem most likely solved)
Frazer wrote:Good news, I have taken the grease of the spring and added it to the ball socket, now the stick is smoother. The question remains how long it will be this smooth.
I guess that the amount of grease differs on each unit, so if you encounter the stiction and you are bothered by it, you could open the stick *at your own risk* and do the same as I did.
If TM is paying attention here, it would be good not to save on grease at the production line.
I'm very happy to have made this "discovery" since I was afraid the 400 euro stick would not live up to all my requirements. For now, it does.
If someone knows what type of grease TM uses, please post it as it looks like we will need to add some grease every now and then.