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Review: HOTAS F/A-18C Hornet GripManufactured by ThrustMasterBy Raymond Andersen /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip14.jpgIntroMy name is Raymond Andersen and manyof you might know me better as Rays Aviation. For several years now, Ihave been testing a large variety of hardware specifically designedfor flight simulation purposes, and this time I got a huge opportunityto test a brand new and very exciting product from the companyThrustMaster. The product is their new replica HOTAS F/A-18C Hornetgrip that is an independent product however, the grip do need a basefrom either the HOTAS Warthog or the HOTAS Cougar. The grip is developed under the Boeing / McDonnell Douglas OfficialFranchise and is 100% native and integrated into the DCS World F/A-18CHornet game module. Of course you can also use the grip for otherflight simulators as long as they are compatible with OS Win7, 8 or 10and used on a PC. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip06.jpg /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip04.jpgPackaging, Delivery And AssemblyI received this new grip directly from ThrustMaster in France. Itwas sent directly to my home address in Denmark using FedEx asforwarder and immediately after collection at the warehouse I receiveda track and trace number. The delivery was very fast, the collectionin France was a Friday and already the following Monday I received thepackage, giving a delivery time of only two business days which Ithink is really fast. The grip was packed in an outer box made of hard and thickcardboard, and inside this outer box was the inner sales box packedwith polystyrene foam piece around to prevent potential damage duringtransport or hard handling. Now, the sales box is just a thincardboard box but inside this box is a really luxurious, almostshow-case like box, made from a hard and stiff material with a softerform-shaped internal part that fits perfectly around the grip - almostlike the inner part was the mold used for the grip. This provides asuperb protection but also provides a really great sense of highquality and an extra luxurious experience of unpacking thisitem. Additionally the grip was here also packed in thin plastic againto avoid potential scratching or similar. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip10.jpg /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip11.jpgIncluded in the pack is the F/A-18C grip and a guide also found inthe show-case - there are no wiring, no base or similar included sincethe idea here is that you use a common base that supports multiplegrips. There are no tools included since the grip is completely assembledand does not require any additional assembly. All you have to do is toconnect the grip to one of the two approved base types and you are'Go' for flight. The approved bases are either the HOTAS Warthogoriginal found featuring the A10 grip or the Cougar base - this testand review is performed using the Warthog base. Included is also an 8-page user manual describing the grip, thebuttons and the layout of pre-programmed commands. In the user manualit is also stated that to get the correct setup you have to make sureyour base's firmware is up to date - how to update the firmware isalso included with a link tohttps://support.thrustmaster.com. Look And FeelThe look of the F/A-18C grip is simply just stunning - veryrealistic, very authentic and the replica grip resembles the realworld grip almost perfectly according to all the various images that Icould find on the internet. It is easy to see that ThrustMasterhas kept a keen focus on the details and created this grip with greataccuracy and attention to the real grip. The grip is of a metal construction just like the A10 grip, whichmakes the sensation and feeling of using the grip very realistic andauthentic. According to the list of details on the sales box, the gripis made of 85% metal parts which is awesome. The color is black andjust holding the grip before I attached it to the base gave me afeeling of quality - it certainly is not just another light-weightplastic flight control stick, but instead a heavy, high qualityreplica grip that is perfectly shaped to fit the right hand alsofeaturing a forward bend on the top which eases the muscle load whenflying and makes the access to the buttons more ergonomic. The parts used including the electronics, buttons, switchesetc. are of an industrial-grade quality meaning high performance anddurability. I have of course not been able to test this grip for alonger period of time, but if the standard is the same as in my A10grip, then the durability is really good. I have used my A10 for about7 years now, and everything is still working 100% without anyflaws. I absolutely love that the scale of this replica F/A-18C grip is1:1 with the real grip used by the U.S. Navy - this makes theexperience even more perfect in my opinion, and I could easily seethis grip used perfectly with either the F/A-18C Hornet in DCS Worldor even with the VRS Superbug for FSX/P3D. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip05.jpg /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip09.jpgThis grip features lots of buttons which are all of high quality,but of course no axis, since these are featured by the baseinstead. In total there are 19 programmable action buttons togetherwith one hat-switch which are placed at various locations of thegrip. E.g. you have a ring finger button, a pinkie button controlledby a small metal lever, a dual trigger and the rest of the buttons arefound on the top and thumb side of the grip. The buttons are firm and do require a fair amount of force to beactivated. This first of all, provides a great feel of quality, butsecondly also that you do not have to worry about accidentalactivation of buttons. There is a nice click sound when each button isactivated which confirms that a buttons has been activated. The only minor difference I noticed on this replica grip was thesmall 2-way MoM-Off-MoM and click flip switch found on the top sectionof the grip, which is used for VR (stated in the manual). This switchis found slightly to the left of the small click switch marked for'Recce'. This switch I could not see on the real grip but other thanthat, the grip is a perfect replica. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip12.jpg /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip13.jpg Connection And PerformanceConnecting the F/A-18C grip is really easy and only takes half aminute or so. In my home cockpit setup I have the Warthog A10 base andgrip, so all I had to do was to unscrew the large 'wheel-like' screwplaced at the bottom of the grip. This screw you can tighten anduntighten just using your fingers, no more is needed. When the screwis untightened you can lift off the grip from the base and now justplace your new F/A-18C grip on the base, tighten the 'wheel-like'screw again and that's it. The base and the grip interact using a small connector that lookslike a 5-pin mini DIN connector and the connection from the base tothe computer is a standard USB/A cable. I tested this grip on 5 different platforms/flight simulators andwhat I found was that the programming or assignment of functions waseasy to complete within each platform. In general I would assume thatyou could use any assignment or programming tool like C++, LINDA, SIOCor the TARGET etc. however, I did my assigning using the includedassignment tools for each simulator and finally also using PeteDawson's FSUIPC which turned out perfectly. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip01.jpg /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip08.jpgI started out with my tests on Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D v4+ and Iquickly noticed that the grip was recognized as the WarthogHOTAS. This is of course due to the base being the Warthog A10 and thedata which are pre-programmed into the base PCB. No problem though,because in P3D I can setup various profiles even for the same base,meaning that I have created a profile that fits the buttons found onthe Warthog grip and a second profile that fits the buttons found onthe Hornet grip. These profiles are selectable in the internalassignment tool of P3D. The same as above I also found using Microsoft's Flight Simulator Xalso known as FSX - this I had also expected due to the connectionbetween FSX and P3D, but I of course also tested the connection toX-Plane 11. The result here was also that the grip was recognized as theWarthog HOTAS and the image displayed was of course the A10 grip withthat grip's specific button layout. None-the-less, I could easilyprogram the grip even though the numbers of each button might not bethe same as with the A10. I now moved on to the DCS World 2.5 for which the grip is actuallycreated and this especially for the F/A-18C Hornet gamemodule. Actually I did the test on both the Huey and the A10 as wellas the Hornet but the experience was of course the very best on theHornet. The grip is awesome and just perfect for this simulation - itdoes not need any programming since everything is pre-programmed andworks straight out-of-the-box like a plug and play unit. All buttons are pre-programmed when using the DCS F/A-18C aircraft- this also the hat-switch which I normally use to look around thecockpit. This hat-switch is in real life used for trims, and thisis also applied into the DCS aircraft and thereby also within theThrustMaster grip. This is however no issue and you can of course justassign new commands for the hat-switch so that it will function forviews instead, or you can add to your simulation a head-tracker if youdon't have a full 3 or 4 projector view. For me, I selected the optionto use my IR5 head-tracker which gave me the possibility to use thegrip with the most optimal and realistic setting. The final flight simulator I used for test was the 'WoP' aliasWings of Prey, which actually is not really defined as a flightsimulator but maybe more like an arcade World War II war game. Thegrip was recognized as a programmable gaming device and I could easilyassign functions to all the buttons to my preference. I had previouslyused the A10 grip on this simulator, but it seemed that I had toassign all functions once again since none was saved. ConclusionMy comments on the experience of this new and very exciting F/A-18CHornet grip, is that this grip absolutely is a high qualityproduct. The grip is manufactured with high precision, an eye for thedetails and with a keen focus on the real-life grip, providing thisreplica grip with a sensational and awesome realism andauthenticity. The grip features a smooth and beautiful metal construction with aclean black paint which provides the simmer with a perfect andtrue-to-real-life feel of realism. The components are of an industrialgrade giving a superb quality and durability to the grip, and myimpression all combined, is more than just great - this is in myopinion one of the best grips that I have ever tested for any flightsimulator. For you that have tried the A10 Warthog stick, also fromThrustMaster, then you can expect the same high standard, quality andinnovation for this new replica F/A-18C Hornet grip. The idea of being able to quickly switch the grip in your homecockpit, to fit the aircraft that you are about to fly while stillusing the same base, is a superb idea that certainly adds greatly tothe realism and experience of the overall flight simulation. E.g. myown home cockpit setup has integrated the stick and the wiring whichwould make it difficult to change stick, but using the same standardbase and only changing the grip is a very cool idea and an easy way ofimproving the in-depth experience. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip02.jpg /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip03.jpgNo matter which flight simulation platform you are using, thenusing a replica grip for each aircraft is just awesome and somethingthat I can only recommend. Maybe in the future we could see more gripscoming to support a larger variety of aircraft and maybe alsohelicopter cyclics... This replica grip from ThrustMaster is a high quality masterpiecethat I most certainly will recommend for the more serious simmers. Irate the grip with a perfect 5/5-stars rating - it is high quality,pure eye candy, true to real-life and is a perfect addition toe.g. the DCS World F/A18C Hornet, the VRS Superbug or any othermilitary jet add-on. /images/reviews/hornetgr/t/Thrustmaster-Hornet-Grip07.jpgRaymond Andersen Rays Aviation Thrustmaster Web Site Review Computer Specifications (Primary Test-Bed):Windows 10 (64-bit)Windows 7 (32-bit) (secondary system)Intel Core™ i7-4790K 4x4.00 GHz (Turbo 4x4.40 GHz)Asus Maximus VII Ranger (ROG-series)Antec Kuhler H20 650 Water CoolerKingston HyperX Beast-series 32 GB DDR3-2133 RAM500Gb Samsung 850 EVO SSD3Tb Seagate Barracura (7200rpm, 6 GB/s)Asus GeForce GTX 980 Strix OC 4 GB150/150 Mbit Fiber Internet ConnectionTested On The Following Flight Simulation Platforms:Prepar3D v4+X-Plane11FSX with Acceleration PackWings of PreyDCS World 2.5