I recently made the jump from keyboard and mouse to a hotas too. I went with the x56 by logitech. I agree, it is an entirely new experience. After a thousand hours of keyboard and mouse, I am having the joy of learning to fly all over again. Every play session with the hotas I am getting better incrementally as a 'dial in' what my optimal button mapping should be. It was a little frustrating at first, but overall it has infused a new layer of fun into the game for me.
I got an Alienware monitor a while back - 34" curved - one of the best things I ever bought. Expensive - but takes gaming (for me) to a new level of immersion and enjoyment.
Thanks Loot for another great video. I've considered buying a HOTAS for a while but I could never justify the expense of main brands and couldn't trust anything else I've seen, but after your review, I've added this one to my wish list.
Glad you found it helpful. I had the same dilemma. But then I realised you can't put a price on something you enjoy daily and went for it lol Thrustmaster Hotas X is actually very cheap. You should consider that one if you're not sure
Nice video and setup commander. All you need now is a VR headset and you'll actually be playing from 'inside' your spaceship. A haptic feedback vest also offers a great experience as it would enable you to 'feel' every bump, bullet, and explosion, in space and on foot.
Stick and throttle for ED is the only way to go. I have the x52 which is similar and use the left thumb (closest) buttons for boost and fa off. The x52 has a pinky trigger below the main trigger which I use for reverse thrust seems to be a natural combination.
I use the Thrustmaster X and I feel like this thing was made for Elite. It has a default mapping built in and it all feels pretty intuitive once youve used it for a minute. Sure, its made of plastic, but mines held up for over a year of use and it wasnt too expensive. Ive never had issues with it not staying on my desk, even during combat maneuvers, and is comfortable. One flaw is it doesn't have many buttons; no fancy toggles, switches, or knobs. I recommend switching to a gamepad for SRVs or even on foot controls in Odyssey, but I prefer m&kb for that. Clearly VR is the next step up in immersion and I do highly recommend it for piloting, it also gives you a huge boost in situational awareness if you have a wide canopy. Havent tried it in an SRV or on foot yet, though.
I always had a problem using HOTAS ... the joystick and / or throttle always keeps on moving on / off the table while playing which is extremely annoying and kills it for me. Especially when using Joystick to yaw the ship
I started off using a Thrustmaster set up, wore that out. Then a variety of Saitek products X 55 etc. that also wore out. I am currently using a pair of Gladiator NTX sticks with the angle converrsion in a HOSAS config. I find these very good, excellent precision and quite natural for Oddesey walking around. I tried using an xbox controller for the character maneuvering, but the on off nature of the controls frustrated me. I had a look at what you have and the hall sensors should increase the longevity. Good choice, it is always the potentiometers that wear out in the controls. I enjoy your enthusiasm for the game, I have over 20 weeks of game time and am still enjoying it. There are moments of exceptional beauty that are always a pleasant surprise.
Thank you. I had a very limited budget and circumstances led me to get this HOTAS. Hopefully, I will be able to upgrade to a better one in the future. o7
Jesus i would have crashed my conda 11 different times with a setup like that.. xD jokes aside it looks amazing and must enhance the gameplay experience alot!
I recommend 2 sticks. I don't understand how do you fly with only one. With 2 sticks you really get 6-DOF movement, and for throttle I used pinky levers on both with opposite directions.
What were your issues with T.Flight HOTAS X? I find the throttle a little loose and the cable that connects joystick and throttle a little short. Other than that it's awesome (my first HOTAS, though, so no experience). I used to fly with Steam Controller before and accelerometer set to head movement (so I could look around by tilting the controller) and I was missing it so badly when using HOTAS that I actually ordered a VR set. Waiting for delivery. Other game I can recommend for hotas, although it's a completely different experience, is Pulsar: The Lost Colony, especially if you manage to install the FA-off mod.
I didn't have issues with it I just couldn't order it from Amazon. I had to get a refund and then I came across the I got and went for it. My first choice was Hotas X it was much cheaper
@@lootandgrind Well, I think it was a more future-proof choice. As I said, Hotas X's throttle is kind of loose, there's no screw to change the resistance and there's no feedback in the middle (0 position) so I sometimes overshot. Also AFAICT yours either has a long cable connecting the stick to the throttle or they're connected to the PC as two separate devices - in both cases it's a superior solution. Fly dangerously, commander. o7
I just noticed something. Does the throttle on your Cobra have negative values? My T.Flight has -100, 0, +100. Your seems to only have 0 to +100. How do you go backwards?
@@lootandgrind More precision, I guess. I can only use half the throttle for any direction. BTW as you've probably guessed by the frequency of my comments under your videos, I'm hyping myself up to get back to ED after a break. 😆 Your videos help. Thanks for promoting this awesome game!
idk but looks like it have a little delay between the move in your hand and the move of the ship, like half sec, is it normal? you should try to fly without assistence again just to feel the difference. PD: We have the same keyboard :D
Yeah I noticed that too. There could be some deadzones but it's hardly noticeable so I didn't bother with making any adjustments. Planning on giving FA off another try soon lol
I recently watched one of your videos and then purchased Elite Dangerous and Odyssey, I thought it was time for a change... I play IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles and Rise of Flight. I was going to use a HOTAS, but I'm having a bit of difficulty with the key mapping, perhaps you can direct me to a source or a forum to help me out? I'm using a Logitech 3D Pro and/or a Thrustmaster T16000.
Welcome to the Elite universe, Commander! I think this key binding guide from Down to Earth will help you set it all up - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4zxb0p029_Y.html
If you get HCS Voice Pack for Voice Attack, it has a keybinding check that is very useful for making sure everything is setup correctly, and very handy to control most of the harder to remember infrequent commands on your ship as well.
@@CanadianSmoke I have a Razer Kraken gaming headset which I use for talking to the game, mainly because I velcro the head tracker unit to the ear piece. I have used the Logitech camera microphone, as well but that is more affected by the game noise. So- if you have a camera/microphone type set up you don't need the headset. The native windows voice control is very good nowadays, and you have to set up the windows speech to text to get Voiceattack to work. Having said that, there are HCS packs to No Mans Sky, Starfeild, Star Citizen etc. I have not had a lot of success with standalone microphones that are just plugged into your sound card. Not sure why, but I think there is a lot of clever noise reduction going on in the hardware with dedicated tools. I use Track IR for head tracking with a printed IR head piece. You can set up free headtracking with Face Track Noir and the like- and I don't like to play without a head tracker running.
Anyone still playing Elite without a HOTAS 10 days after purchasing it since 2016 needs their head examined. I had to cut this vid off. This is impossible. I don't even count console controller players, they had internet access like the rest of the planet, they saw the benefits and utilities on the PC version and still paired up some rinkydink gaming controller, no doubt those people will eat a dry Eggo no butter, no syrup first thing in the morning completely insane. Holy, I have to go wash my ears and eyeballs right now I can't believe what I just observed...
I can smell the bleach and passion from this post. I don’t know how people can use lateral mapped gaming mice with a dead zone in the center of their mousepad and or controller with this game. Then play other games with the same mouse configuration. Hurts me too.