Note: I asked kalnaren if it was OK to repost this over here as it is extremely helpful for anybody taking the plunge. Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/hotas/comments/l7gcql/considering_your_first_hotas_more_comprehensive/ I thought the current “considering your first HOTAS guide” was lacking, so I decided to update a post I made over 5 years ago. I’ve tried to be somewhat objective in here, but overall, this post represents my opinion. I’m not a hard core flight simmer (though I used to be an IRL pilot).. Just a guy who enjoys flying WWI, WW2, modern, and space games that started with Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe with a Gravis Phoenix when he was a kid. I do have experience with some of this gear, but a lot of it is information I’ve collected over the last 8 years or so of trolling various posts and places on the internet. If you have more accurate information than what I’ve posted here, please reply and I’ll happily update what I’ve written. This is also a very high level overview, so please keep that in mind. With that in mind, lets get started. You’re considering your first HOTAS… First, forget what you think a HOTAS or joystick should cost based on some other item (like a console controller or cell phone). They’re not either of those, and they don’t compare for a variety of reasons. A joystick is an electromechanical device that is subject to a huge amount of force when gaming. Key word being mechanical. Good, strong, smooth mechanical devices cost money. As such, good sticks are expensive, though not prohibitively so. You don't need to start with a $1,000 setup. But there's reasons you might not want to start with the cheapest things you can, either. Some issues you should consider: Deadzone. That is, a "dead" area around the centre where you get no reaction from movement of the stick. Deadzones are bad. A good stick should have zero deadzone. Some people might tell you this is because a stick uses potentiometers and any stick that uses pots will have a deadzone. This is wrong. Good potentiometers require zero deadzone. Quality. Better sticks are just built better. Unlike mice, a joystick is a mechanical device that gets a lot more abuse when gaming. Cheap sticks don't stand up to abuse very well. The best quality sticks can last 15 years and still function like the day they were bought. Cheaper sticks sometimes don't even make it 6 months before they start to develop issues. Cheaper sticks sometimes even have buttons or axis that are DOA or don't work properly after a very short period of time. Precision. Cheap sticks generally have poorer internal components. They're not precise. They don't calibrate well, they'll develop 'spiking' over time (spiking is a quick and uncommanded "blip" in the stick's motion). Expensive sticks use significantly higher quality internals, and the motion on them is much smoother. This means it's easier to game with. Imagine using a mouse that would randomly move your cursor a couple of inches every now and then. That's what joystick spiking is like. Gimbals. This is really what you’re paying for in a joystick and is the single most important part of it. This is the mechanical device that the stick grip pivots on. Cheap sticks use poor gimbal designs (cup and ball) that have a high contact area and are often prone to stiction and/or other issues. More expensive sticks use better engineered, stronger, and better built gimbals. See this excellent post here by /u/TrueWeevie about gimbals. Expensive sticks have better control software. Far, FAR too many people underestimate the usefulness of a joystick's control software. This software lets you do things like assign keymaps for programs, macros, custom sensitivity and response curves, axis reassignment or axis inversion, and depending on the software other more complex functions. However this can be somewhat mitigated with programs like Joystick Gremlin and VJoy. But you can do some really cool stuff with joystick software. Expensive sticks have better resale value. You can probably reclaim 80-90% of what you spent on a good stick or HOTAS if it's lightly used and you decide you don't like it. I've seen 5 year old CH gear go for a mere $20-$40 less than brand new stuff. Right now (2020-01-28) second hand quality gear is easily selling for MSRP. A quick note on prices: This stuff is very subject to regional pricing, some of it extremely so. Don't be surprised if you go on Amazon or whatever and see different prices listed than what I have down here. For the most part I've used CAD regional pricing for what I could find around where I live as a guide. I’ve also used pre-2020 pricing history so people get an idea for what this stuff should ACTUALLY cost, since the last 12 months have seen a MASSIVE spike in HOTAS costs. It’s up to you to decide if the current “premium” is worth it. As for budget and what you “should” spend, my advice is to get the best system you can afford. Almost across the board more expensive systems are better quality, and that curve is exponential. You’ll never regret buying a better quality HOTAS.. But you may regret buying a cheap one. Also note that, as with any mass produced device, there WILL be failures across all the manufactures. Buying a $1,000 HOTAS doesn’t guarantee you’re not going to have issues. HOWEVER, it DOES guarantee that you’re significantly less likely to. Some of the cheaper HOTAS systems have an extremely high failure rate. Note that this is also not an exhaustive list. I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as I can here, but it’s impossible for me to cover everything. I’ve also decided to ONLY cover things that are currently in production (so you won’t see any of the old Saitek stuff on this list). I’m also not going to talk about very high end enthusiast gear like Winwing and Brunner, as these generally aren’t even considered by first-time HOTAS buyers (and this post is long enough as it is).