Thrustmaster TCA Quadrant Airbus Edition (Compatible with PC)
$89.99
$129.99
31% off
Reference Price
Condition: New
Model: PC
Top positive review
31 people found this helpful
Works great. To buy at a lower price, check the price frequently.
By Ima Consumer on Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021
I got MSFS in August 2020 and I had been using the keyboard for flying, but trying to control an aircraft with just a few controls on a keyboard can be very frustrating, indeed! Now that I have it, I really enjoy it, and it has really made a difference in my flying and landing performance. I really like it! This joystick has been for sale at highly inflated prices for months, sometimes even approaching twice the retail price. If you are interested in buying this, but you refuse to pay an exorbitant price, I suggest you keep checking Amazon's price every day. When I bought it, It was being sold by third party vendors through Amazon, but very few of those vendors had positive ratings, so I kept on waiting. My patience was finally rewarded when I found a vendor with 95% positive ratings, who was selling the product for under $100.00. I bought it right away. About a month after I bought it, I once saw it for sale by Amazon directly, and at the original retail price, too! So, my advice is, if you see a good price from a reliable vendor purchase it immediately, because that price won't last very long. I hope this helps. Happy flying. UPDATE: As of 2/20/21, Amazon is selling it for less than $70.00, but won't deliver until early April. If you're willing to wait, this is the best price ever. UPDATE#2: As of Oct. 2021, The joystick locks up after a minute or so into the flight. Then nothing works! It came with a one-year warranty, and I have submitted my information to the manufacturer for a replacement. It has been over three weeks, and I am still waiting to hear when the item will ship to me. i like the product, but their customer service needs to be improved. UPDATE#3: I received the replacement joystick in November 2021. Unfortunately, it totally quit functioning in less than a month. However, it is still under the original one-year warranty and Thrustmaster has agreed to send me a second replacement at no charge, for which I am grateful. I am waiting for that. UPDATE#4: It turns out that the second sidestick did not need to be replaced. The problem was a misunderstanding on my part. Initially, the second sidestick started exhibiting the same problems as the first one, but eventually, all of those problem went away. I have no idea why, but it is really working well now, so I am very happy about that. It a lot of fun to fly again, not having to worry about the sidestick malfunctioning. Also, I want to thank Thrustmaster for their support. While they weren't the fastest, they certainly knew what they were doing, and they were very helpful and patient with me. I am very pleased. UPDATE #5 1-21-23. After using this sidestick for over two years, I bought a new one. The reason: Over the last few months, I have noticed problems with the aircraft whenever I tried to take off. The plane would veer to the left on the runway, often so severely that sometimes I was unable to keep it on the runway at all. I would try to counteract this by steering heavily to the right. A week or so ago, I read that the problem could be resolved by disassembling the sidestick, but I decided that was too complicated for me to go, so I ordered another one, instead. All in all, this has been a great product, even ignoring the initial problems I had experienced.
Top critical review
12 people found this helpful
Hall Effect sensors on 2 axes, but ugly 'noisy potentiometer' on rudder axis Z is ongoing issue.
By Robert MacIntel on Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2021
For the money, this is a wonderful controller for Airbus commercial jets in MSFS (2020) and other supported flight simulators. The 'throttle' slider is NOT hall-effect sensor controlled (it's a regular potentiometer). Because the slider has a short throw area, it does NOT function well for throttle in an airbus. You are better served to buy the companion Airbus TCA Throttle Quadrant (also from Thrustmaster) which calibrates much better in MSFS (I pilot the FlyByWire A320 and use both pieces, joystick and Throttle Quadrant). Both of these taken together work well and are (relatively) inexpensive as compared with other TQ's and Yokes. [Edit]: There is a well known issue with the twist grip axis (used by some who do not purchase separate rudder pedals). This also is controlled by a potentiometer and NOT hall-effect sensor. Over time, the twist rudder develops electrical noise which makes the rudder 'jump' unexpectedly and wildly. Sadly this is documented on YouTube with a number of videos advocating methods to take this item apart and re-route the internal wires. Your other choice is to contact Thrustmaster and ask for a warranty replacement. Thrustmaster makes you jump through a number of hoops to document the issue. This includes creating a 'prove the issue is happening' video where you show the electrical noise issue in the Windows 10 calibration window. Also, you must actually destroy the item (cut off the USB cord) before they will ship you a replacement. Thus, you are without your flight controller while you await the replacement. All of this would be OK -if- the replacement did not also suffer from the same issue, which sadly, keeps happening to me. It takes a few months or more for the problem to surface. I thought I could be fine by simply disabling the twist axis in Microsoft Flight Simulator, but then FlyByWire decided to make nosewheel steering 'separate' from the rudder. So my stand-alone rudder pedals were not enough to control turning while the plane was on the ground, and I had to re-activate the twist grip axis to control the nosewheel steering. The noisy potentiometer problem meant the plane would not taxi properly and I was back to chasing warranty replacements. Summary: This device is reasonably good as an Airbus sidestick controller (would not recommend for non-Airbus aircraft), and the 18 programmable buttons are a definite plus as well, very handy in MSFS for things like parking brake, spoilers, flaps, nose trim, etc. You could do worse as the price apparently is coming down, but be prepared to chase your tail with warranty claims. I think the warranty is only 12 months (which isn't much considering the 'known issue' I'm describing here. I have reached out to Thrustmaster and asked why they haven't permanently fixed (re-engineered) this problem, but no definitive answer was forthcoming from Thrustmaster. In this day and age, it's pretty amazing a major company like that refuses to 'make a good product great'.
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