Thrustmaster T16000M FCS HOTAS

[XQWZ]

Hey guys, quick question for the sim veterans. I'm planning to upgrade my setup soon and the Thrustmaster T16000M FCS HOTAS really caught my eye, especially for DCS and War Thunder. Does anyone here use it? I'd love to hear your thoughts on its precision and durability before I make a decision. Thanks!

[Wrench]

moved to correct Forum

[Gunrunner]

IF you have a very tight budget, the T.1600M pack IS the best you can get, just understand the stick is more of a toy than sim gear, and that within a couple years at most it WILL fail even with only casual use.

IF you have the budget for something better and/or know you will play a lot and intend to play for a long time, skip the T.16000M and go for something a step up like a VKB Gladiator (the current generation is the NEXT EVO) or a Thrustmaster SOL-R.

The TWCS throttle (of the T.16000M FCS HOTAS pack) is decent and moddable (mine uses bushing and magnetic detent points on a 3D-printed cart) but the stick is... VERY entry-level and prone to fail (I went through half a dozen of them before having enough of stick drift).
The T.16000M IS the best stick at this price point, truly, for that price it's good (used to be criminally good when it was even cheaper), but it's only an entry level stick not really designed for durability and sustained use.

The VKB is a bit over twice as much, but it's well, well, worth the price. They have one known potential issue with a loose magnet (which manifests in constant pitch input), but it's user fixable (the stick is designed to be user maintained, modded, upgraded), and at least in Europe the client support is top notch (and they have spare parts, and you can upgrade you stick instead of replacing the whole thing).

I also hear good things about the SOL-R4 but I haven't had the opportunity to test it, and the budget is even higher than a Gladiator + TWCS.

Avoid the X-5x line, it used to be decent, a long, long time ago, but it's mostly trash now, especially at the lower end.

[Flanker562]

11 hours ago, XQWZ said:

Hey guys, quick question for the sim veterans. I'm planning to upgrade my setup soon and the Thrustmaster T16000M FCS HOTAS really caught my eye, especially for DCS and War Thunder. Does anyone here use it? I'd love to hear your thoughts on its precision and durability before I make a decision. Thanks!

I use the Thrustmaster HOTAS One, and for DCS it is admittedly lacking in the amount of buttons, so I figure out what I need to use button-wise and click the rest depending on the platfrom. But overall though I'm sold on this stick since I've had it for years, and frankly probably won't go back to another stick in the future. Anyway I'm not exactly familiar with the T16 anyway, so can't say if it works for you or not. What plane/helicopter do you plan on using it for, though, out of curiosity?