WINWING Throttle Base 10th Anniversary Edition

Welcome to my review of the WINWING Throttle Base 10th Anniversary Edition, I have now had this throttle base long enough to do a first and final review and I will be comparing this with the Standard Orion 2 Throttle Base.

You can purchase this product here on their webstore and you can find out more information from their online manual here.

You can view the Official WINWING release trailer here.

NOTE:
This review does not include any review of the F-15E or F-15EX Throttle Grips, these will come in a later review.

Full Disclosure

The WINWING Orion 2 Throttle Base 10th Anniversary Limited Version was sent to me for free by WINWING, however this review is my own and is not influenced by WINWING to review in a favorable way.

Price

$215.95 USD

What’s in the box:

★ Throttle Base
★ 4x Suction Caps
★ 2x Hex Keys (H4 & H2.5)
★ USB Cable
★ Centre detent module (if purchased with grips)

Unboxing

The package was dispatched on the 19 JUL 2023 and arrived via FedEx on 27 JUL 2023 from China to Australia. The box was undamaged when it arrived, no dents/holes or scratches.

The outer box was covered by plastic (not displayed in the images below), within this plastic cover is plain brown carboard with logo of the Throttle, the inner box is a white carboard with the product image and included parts ticked off at QC.

Inside the white inner box, the main product and parts were all protected individually with foam and smaller parts were in individual zip lock bags to protect them from each other via transport.

The product and all parts were undamaged and in perfect condition

The Dimensions

The Look

I am only going to discuss the differences between this Limited version and the Standard version, as the I have the previous Standard version review here.

The toggle switches at the back for Pitch/Attitude Hold and Heading/Stearing Select are still chrome, with additional height and diameter to them, this makes them larger. The master arm switch now is longer with a point at the top and has physical protection from accidental movement, you will now need to lift this toggle switch to move it (forward/backward) into either ARM or SIM mode.

The encoder knobs are now replaced with larger grey, black and clear (with an arrow); these are the same ones used on their MIP panels, however there is no backlight for them, only the caps have changed.

The front of the throttle has changed the 3-position flap switch to a gold-coloured switch, and the Hook, Landing Gear and Park break are also larger and more refined looking switches. The Wing fold is now similar aesthetic to the encoder dials and an oblong hexagon style shape, however I much preferred the look of the old black knob as it had a old school look. The Launch bar switch now has a bar to it.

Overall, the look of these updates is nicer, but where they really start to improve things is with the feel for flying in VR.

The Feel

The improved toggle switches still have the same high-quality click feel, however now they will feel better in the hand and more discernable as opposed to feeling generic.

The encoder knobs being larger feel better to hold on to and use.

The Master Arm switch is the most improved and unique update, in VR you can feel for this switch without accidentally moving it, once you have identified the switch, you can lift it and move it up or down into the desirable position, it can be a bit tricky to put it in centre position, until muscle memory kicks in.

All the toggles up the front of the throttle feel the same, with the exception of identifying the switches better for VR flight, the Wing Fold knob is a bit tighter to use and does not have the same level of slack the old knob had; however, I much preferred the feel of the old switch and the aesthetics, it felt nicer for me to activate.

The sliders were also updated, not the aesthetic but the mechanics internally, the sliders are much softer with a small amount of resistance / friction and the centre detent bump is also much less noticeable, this is different from the older version which had more friction and a more solid centre detent.

Opinions

Overall, the quality with the updates is very good and I would have liked that this was the new standard, however I do understand that sometimes these things are done purely for limited edition runs.

I only have one negative gripe and one controversial subjective opinion.

The one negative gripe I have is with the bottom slider (marked ‘dial’) and the master arm toggle. When the toggle is forward in the ARM position, the slider (marked ‘dial’) will bump into the Master arm switch, I would have much preferred the sliders to be shorter in height and there is a mod that someone has made for these sliders, and I will post it here. I may consider doing this mod to my throttle base.

Now for the controversial subjective opinion, which is around the slider mechanics themselves, it has been mentioned that some people prefer the older friction with a discernable centre detent, however I prefer the new mechanics, as it means there is less stiction with the movement and the detent isn’t obtrusive as it was before, so it didn’t hamper my ability when transitioning over the centre.

Stay tuned for more reviews as I will be providing the F-15E and F-15EX reviews shortly.