The warthog is a nice stick, but it also requires rudder pedals, as it doesn't have a twist axis. So it's another hundred or so, for those.
A step in between a X-55 / X-52 pro and the Warthog are the the CH products. Specifically the Fighter Stick and the Pro Throttle. Which you can get into for 200.00 right now. You get most of the functionality of a Warthog and solid build quality.
I mention these sticks as they good products that often get overlooked in the discussion of joysticks. They are worth considering if you want to spend more than 200 but not 5 or 6 hundred.
When you say 'needs to be mounted at leg level, awkward to use on desktop long term', you mean it's tall?
More the shape of the stick. When at desk level, your hand naturally sits on the bottom hand rest. Unless you have truckasaurus hands this puts the top two hat switches and buttons #3 and #4 out of reach. The second issue is the massive range of motion on the stick can be awkward at this height.
The F-16 stick the CH is modelled after sits down and forward, beside the pilot's leg. At this level your hand more naturally rests toward the top of the stick, and reaching all the functions is much easier.
The other advantage I found of mounting it lower, combined with the very light spring, I can gently grasp the stick with my thumb and index finger and easily move it through it's full range of motion. I can see this being much more comfortable after a few hours than sitting on the desk.
I'm glad to hear its worth the cash, did you get the combat- or fighterstick? Did you get any kind of deal on it? I see it on Amazon right now for $98 fighter- and $80 combat-
I got the Fighterstick USB. No deal.. about $125 CAD + $screwyou in taxes and +$bendover in shipping. We get pretty screwed up here for this stuff :/. IMO the additional HATs on the Fighterstick are worth the money. I really like the one lower on the stick by the thumb. The other advantage of the fighterstick is it can switch between 3 programmed profiles with the press of a button (that's what the LEDs on the base indicate).
I think I linked this but here's the CH Control Manager for Dummies PDF I found over at simhq. Over there this is was talked up as really helpful by somebody who knows the software backward and forward.
I'll have to have a read of that. I just got the stick last night so I wasn't playing around with it a ton, but I was still blown away by just how powerful the programming functions are.
Edit: Thats also the one I'm using and I'm a fan. It doesn't have a spring for recentering, so it feels very light moving the stick, which might need some time getting used to.
