Thrustmaster F-16 Viper TQS + Mission Pack Review / First impressions

Reviewing the BRAND NEW Thrustmaster F-16 Throttle Quadrant system with Mission pack installed. An Official 1:1 Air Force replica of the beloved Falcon design. With realistic detents for idle / cut off, Afterburner. Many buttons and switches and a control panel for your cockpit and HOTAS! Available for Pre-order August 23rd.

Learn more here!:

00:00 Intro
00:33 Handle / base functions
06:42 'Mission pack' panel
09:24 Conclusions
11:47 Clicky Button ASRM

[craigh]

Thrustmaster totally missed the boat on this. They should have released this YEARS ago. Most anybody who wanted this already bought one from Winwing and I highly doubt TM's will so far superior that it will convert many users. They really missed a golden opportunity here.

[lukejohnson]

Cool video! This one is not for me personally but I really like that slap button for flares/chaff. That was a great way to utilize that space.

[bartbroekhuizen]

Excellent review, didn't knew thrustmaster was building a new F-16 Throttle Quadrant. Great to see some more competition in this regard.

[Tepnox]

Always love the ASMR clicky part ;D Interesting product for Viper pilots.

[Deltarious]

Always adore your reviews on these a ton, still personally right on the fence about getting a new HOTAS so these are very relevant to me and are a big part of what I will be using when I eventually and inevitably *do* decide to pull the trigger on one within the next couple years.

Also love the Kerbal cameo

[HyundaeCho]

Awesome review !
In the next review, I would like to know the difference between the Viper TQS and the Winwing F-16 throttle in detail.
Thank you for your effort.

[ziljanvega]

Appreciate the straight forward review! That’s a lot of visible flex in $500+ throttle 😬 hopefully they get a bit more reasonable on the price after the initial release hype wears off.

[lancedooley]

The Jammer switch just turns on the power to the Jammer. It’s in the cockpit next to the battery switch. I had a pilot mistake those two switches turning off the battery and blasting me with the EPU. Fun times….

[darrylsturgis]

Also heard that MicroProse was developing a Falcon 5.0 sim. Wonder if they had that in mind when TM developed the Viper TQS.

[EbonySeraphim]

I find it so funny all of the TM haters in the comments are singing WW F-16 throttle praises, but the WW F-16 throttle grip has core controls that multiple reviews qualify as hard or impossible to use (one or both of the knobs). I think RedKite's own review of the WW F-16 throttle grip said it! In typical WinWing style, their option offers the most buttons, but definitely not the most well thought out placement for accessibility of those extras with reliable usage, and to my notice: frequently poor activation feedback. I have a CM3 I'm still happy using for literally every DCS module I fly, but if I were to go for an F-16 unique grip, it would be this one without question.

I'm not a WW hater either -- I own an F-16EX joystick grip and appreciate it. I don't see a product I'd rather use in any price bracket for what I use it for. Button wise, of course it has the most, though when I fly the F-15E/C and F/A-18C I use The TM grip.

[grifnizzle]

I"d be very interested to see that WW/TM comparison when you're ready. I'm still rocking a TQS with the Realsim USB adapter. I've been wanting to upgrade to WW for awhile but with this coming I'm torn. I really like WW swappable throttles idea, but I HATE their software. And for some reason I have an irrational dislike of how they did the manual ranging knob, turning it into that 5 way hat bugs me for reasons I cannot entirely explain

[pyro]

The idle cutoff position being an "on" button and off being the rest of the throttle range is the same as how the TM Warthog throttle works and probably most everything else short of using button emulation software. By default this is the behavior DCS expects for binding the idle/cutoff and will work with it seamlessly.

[theack]

The website says this is $530???? WTF? For that ThrustMaster??? What world are they dreaming in?? To save my dad's life I would get ripped off and pay $530 for that thing!!!!

[alcmann]

Glad to see your back making videos ! Enjoyed the review thanks

Hopefully you can get your hands on a VKB STECS.

Keep up the great work

[TomP-]

Minus the Fisher-Price size buttons on the base it looks decent. I can see someone 3D printing a lever for the base dial for the zoom

[migueldenovi]

I don't understand why they deviate from the original design. There were probably dozens of general dynamics engineers to design that and thrustmasters come up with modifications that later end up having problems. Ergonomics is a very delicate subject. Stick with the original design and you won't make mistakes.

[ChrisV]

I will be per-ordering on day 1! Can not wait!

[AstrumPuella]

Yeah I think I'll stick with winwing. Its great there's options though. I like that the winwing is modular and very hackable.

[TheMNWolf]

3 minutes in and I am already absolutely in love with this thing, but 10 years in and my warthog throttle is still going strong and I just don't think I can justify it.

[dannyd]

Compared to the WinWing version this looks like a children's toy. The price is absolutely ridiculous.