Ohh, you might be surprised by what I know 20MM. And, you can note the conflict of interest in relying possibly on the present or future opinions (or evaluations) of a team who is sponsored by the very company who makes the product they are evaluating. (edit - just saw Jocko's comments and I agree that formation flying is more demanding than combat or dueling, so, from that angle, yes....the VTB would be a wise choice). My other angle only indicating, at what point in life does the virtual world consume the real one ? Three of the members of my Falcon AF squad have suffered either a divorce or family problems from countless hours spent simming. When fathers aren't there for their son's ballgame due to building a $15000 'pit' in the basement or a young man does not get into a decent university because his team flying lowers his grades and he must attend a much lower community college, then it is balance I question.
However, on the issue of soapbox (not my intent, but I can see how it appeared that way), ... you have a good point. Apologies. This is a Warthog thread after all.
On the issue of the Warthog directly, after several weeks testing it now, I feel it is pretty nice (and better than my experience with the Cougar). But I am worried about its gimbals. I am already detecting some slop after on my right aileron axis. I like the extreme faithfulness to the real A-10 HOTAS, but looks (or metal construction) dont mean jack. It must hold up reliably ... and do so for many years to be worth $450. For those who might follow the Cougar extreme modification route, perhaps this is not a concern, as skilled machinists will likely induce after market mods to bring things up to speck. I myself though, will wait and see how it holds up until the NDA before giving a final opinion. Possibly adding $200 to $1000 of special modifications is not something I would be fond of, if I had to spend $450 in the first place.
Cyberkut - Good comments, but respectfully disagree with a few Teej - Sorry, but for some reason the hokey flight suits, just got me riled up. I know you guys were not doing anything wrong, just seen too many cases of late where folks are impersonating Gulf war veterans by wearing fake uniforms. For some reason, that was my fuse.
