The Best Hotas Joystick of 2023

10 Best Hotas Joystick

Players who gamble over the game console or the computer first and foremost take the controller into their hands. But there are programs and games that can only be played with the joystick. What is a joystick, how does it work and what variants are there?

Joysticks belong to gaming like the Fleming to the Noob: control sticks were already used as input instruments in the primeval times of gambling on arcade machines! While they used to be used for all kinds of games (e. g. Amiga or C64 for classics like “Summer Games”), gaming joysticks can be found in flight simulators today. But there’s nothing better: for the perfect control of an IL-2 Sturmovik, a Boeing 737 in Flight Simulator X or an X-Wing, the precision of a joystick in all three axes of space is irreplaceable!

The question of the best Hotas joystick has been asked quite often for years – so I would like to answer this question for you in the following article and recommend the currently best Hotas joystick for your budget!

Hotas Joysticks: What to watch out for

Even if the market of gamer joysticks is a little bit more clearly arranged (puuuh!), one should know the most important points, according to which one orientates his purchase decision. You should pay attention to these small details:

 

1. Z-axis / Twist Rudder

As you know, an airplane moves in three dimensions (down-/high, left/right, roll). However, a normal joystick can only show two dimensions (front/rear, left/right). What do you do as an ambitious joystick manufacturer? Exactly, you allow the user to rotate the joystick around its own axis (“twist”)! This provides an additional axis and can be used in flight simulators for the rudder (hence the term “twist rudder”). With all the Hotas joysticks recommended here, you can use this third dimension (somehow useful for Flight Sims: D).

 

2. number of buttons & sliders

In addition to the axis movements of the Hotas joystick itself, the many possible buttons and controls are also important: Depending on the complexity of the favoured game, a certain number of buttons are required for free assignment. Most joysticks fulfill this point quite well. Often you need a thrust control for the stepless speed adjustment, or a “Coolie Hat” – a button at the end of the joystick, which can be turned in 8 different directions (good for example to be able to do a panoramic view in the cockpit, for example).

 

3. processing / zero point

Many Hotas joysticks traditionally consist of a lot of plastic. This is cheap, but tends to be blessed with less stability than specimens with many metal components. An important aspect of joysticks is therefore a stable construction with high-quality switches. More importantly, the stick itself must of course have a perfect, undisturbed motion path. Especially the zero point (i. e. when you let go of the stick) should not “lock”, but move as smoothly as possible over all axes.

 

The history of the joystick

Contrary to what many will think, the origin is not in recreational companies, but in the mechanical development of electric remote control. For example, the first known joystick was used in military applications during the Second World War. They were used in the aircraft as command devices to control and steer air missiles and their bombs. In the post-war period, the joystick was converted to control anti-tank weapons. In addition, there were sectors in industry, cranes, rolling mills and model aircraft. Then the joystick developed step by step until today’s product. The term joystick originates from the English and means joy and stick and came into circulation decades later. Today, the joystick is still in use, but it has often been further developed to the point that it can hardly be described as a joystick. For example, the joystick was replaced by a steering wheel in car racing games.

Technology and use

There are two versions of the joystick: The digital and analog versions. However, even analog joysticks are nowadays digitally supplied with information, which in turn is passed on to the computer.
Today, the locations of the joystick are as versatile as they used to be and are not only specified for computer and console games. The largest area remains in the military, construction, industry and aircraft operations. In addition, there are now other places where the joystick is used, such as in the car, where it is used as a replacement for the steering wheel. However, it has not prevailed in cars as the technology is not yet advanced and safe enough.
Analog and digital joysticks differ only slightly from the structure and are almost identical in terms of internal system and functions. The same also applies to the three-dimensional variant used in simulations.

What variants are there?

As already mentioned, there is the digital and analog joystick.

The alignment of the digital version is transmitted via four optical/electrical signal transmitters. Only the ON or OFF state is detected. This signal is sent to the computer (rather the hardware or software). The technique is simple knitted, but proves to be unproblematic. The digital joystick is also more robust. This variant was often used for early home computers and older video game consoles.

The analog joystick not only measures the direction, but also the digital joystick. Here, the deflection angles are also measured from the axles. This is due to the potentiometers or optical measuring instruments, for which rotary potentiometers, magnetic sensors or optocouplers are mostly used. The analog joystick usually has two axes (left/right and up/down). Joysticks in mint condition, however, have a third axis (z-axis).

In addition to analogue and digital, there is also “Force Feedback”. This additional technology can occur in the other two variants. Force feedback joysticks simulate realistic effects such as steering forces, firing or rough floor coverings. These are returned as feedback as jerking or as a different steering wheel or flightstick, which is called feedback. The “Saitek Cyborg Evo Force” is the best product example.

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