WINWING 16EX Metal Joystick Grip (with Shaker Kit) Review

Key Features

• Aluminum alloy with laser engraved symbology
• Adjustable hand rest
• Vibration motor
• 5 x 4-way direction switches with press button
• 1 x 8-way direction switch with press button
• 11 buttons
• 1 Mini-joystick
• 2 stage programmable trigger
• Expansion bolt-on (EX-16) adding:
  • 1 x Directional switch
  • 1 x mini joystick with press button
  • 1 x 2 stage programmable trigger

Unboxing

As usual all items are well packaged and arrived undamaged. The joystick doesn’t have the expansion add-on attached from factory and is a task the owner will need to do (if they want it added). Both items are wrapped in a clear plastic wrap and inserted in foam providing ample protection for its journey to you.

In addition to the protection, once the stick is removed you will also need to remove a protective plastic nipple over the connector at the bottom of the device with a warning label on how to secure the stick to the base. Overall, very well protected for its travels across the globe to your cockpit.

Box Contents:

F16 Grip
F16 EX Expansion
Tool kit

Note – As is the standard with WINWING, no manual is included. These can be found on their Website > Download Center > Download.

Manual

Diving into the website to locate the manuals I noticed that we have a few options available to us that link to the exact same manual. Perhaps some minor cleanup of the website needs to be done.

As is the WINWING way, the manual is simple and covers the basics to get you up and running and will take you through the addition of the 16 EX expansion, adjustment of the hand grip and mounting of the stick to a base.

Given the simplicity of the device itself and the warning notice you remove from the plastic nipple on the connector of the stick, you could do most of this without reference to the manual.

Construction and Materials

Straight away you notice how solid the stick feels in your hand. Looking closely over any gaps in the construction and casting your eyes over the lovely laser engraved lettering, you notice how professional and well put together this unit is.

The device feels great in your hands, solid and with some weight

While all the plastic buttons do what they need to, I did notice some sideways or sloppiness in the overall movement of some of the buttons. An example of this is putting your thumb on the red bomb release button located on the top face (also plastic), I did notice quite a bit of movement available by simply moving my thumb around the top of the button. While this is definitely not something to be concerned about, when compared to something like the Thrustmaster Warthog, you will notice more movement in the buttons over a stick such as the Warthog.

Another area that stood out was the two-stage trigger. There is a simple click as you pull through the first stage however a different feel altogether for the second stage. It’s not a consistent double click as you pull through both stages. I’m not sure if this is done intentionally to provide a different sensation alerting you to the fact you’re now firing the weapon or just simply the way the mechanism works for the second stage. I also noted that upon each pull of the trigger my index finger would get a healthy dose of lubricant from the trigger mechanism that I’d then unfortunately deposit on other items around my cockpit without realising. However, this free donation eventually subsided after 2-3 days of usage.

The wrist adjustment is also all metal with two thumb knobs, one as the adjustment that slowly raises the guard vertically up the shaft of the joystick and the other to lock it in place.

While the main construction of the stick is made from aluminum, the F16 EX expansion body is made of plastic. While they’ve done a good job in the plastic molding and production, it’s not to the same standard as the aluminum stick it attaches too. It’s minor and in the heat of battle you’ll never notice, but under the lights and taking a closer inspection, I would of liked it to be constructed from the same material as this premium stick. The expansion itself adds more buttons and another programmable trigger made out of aluminum. The trigger mechanism has an up position, a middle position and a spring-loaded final position to pull towards you before returning back to the middle position and plays a great role as a trigger guard in the AH64 Apache.

Setup and Configuration

As you can never have enough buttons when it comes to flying in something like DCS in a H.O.T.A.S configuration, I elected to install the F16EX Expansion which is performed relatively simply by removing a few bolts, the black rubber nipple that covers the plug and securing the unit to the stick using the included longer bolts by tools provided.

Looks great once attached and only takes a few minutes

The stick will be mounted to the WINWING Orion 2 Joystick Base (Reviewed separately) and mounting proved to be the most difficult part of the setup. Nestled within the base of the stick is a connector (PS2) providing the connectivity to the base. This little connector hangs off a very short cable that goes up into the shaft of the joystick and has very limited movement both left/right and doesn’t extend far out of the base at all. I can see why they included a warning both in the manual and as a warning label you need to remove during preparation.

I don’t have what I’d consider large fingers but even with my slender and aerodynamic fingers couldn’t get enough grip on the connector to hold it tight as I slowly brought it down into the plug. It would simply push out of my fingers and hide back up inside the joystick, must be cold?

I had to use a set of pointy-nose plyers and gently grip the connector and hold it down in the plug as I brought the stick over the base and then used the metal ring on the thread and secure the stick to the base. Once secured the connector hasn’t moved and nor has the stick from its position. 

Get in there little fella!

Upon connecting to your computer and opening SimAppPro (WINWING’s software suite) you’re prompted with the obligatory firmware update notice which I’ve come to appreciate and expect from new devices from WINWING.

After gladly updating, you are presented with a wealth of information similar to their other devices. Those familiar with other WINWING products will easily navigate through the variety of settings and options available in the software.

Multiple pages exist taking you through calibration, options for the multi-position switches, vibration intensity, calibration and profiles.

As with other products such as the WINWING F-15EX Throttle Grips, you have the ability to download community-built vibration profiles for the stick adding haptic feedback to certain actions within the simulator which not only includes DCS, but now also MSFS (Microsoft Flight Simulator).

If none of those row your boat, you can build your own vibration profile using the functional but not pretty vibration creation page.

How do they feel and fly?

The Stick feels just as good hooked up as it does when you first grab it out of the box. That weight does cause issues elsewhere with the base but that will be covered in another review of the base separately.

The situation with the sloppiness in some of the buttons noted during unboxing plays no role once airborne. I didn’t notice anything off putting with the buttons and everything handled well and what you would expect from a device in this price range.

With the F16 EX expansion and the extra buttons makes me wonder how I flew in DCS before without access to that many buttons on the stick. The ability to call up things like the map ON/OFF, radio, rearm was fantastic in the F18 Hornet and F16. Where this really shone was with the AH64 Apache. As the pilot, having your AI George controls on the two multi position switches made it so easy to control him that I found myself spending very long hours in the Apache and many sorties back and forth as controlling George was so convenient and I still had buttons for everything else I needed. 

Far left black multi-directional switch is a reach!

As the expansion sits on the far-left top corner of a stick gripped by your right hand, it required me to change grip when using the top black multi-position switch so my thumb could reach it. While not a big deal, I’d suggest putting less frequent assignments here as continually changing your grip could get annoying over time. It was also a similar situation with the aluminum trigger guard button on the expansion that requires your index finger to activate. I found that my finger wasn’t quite long enough to grab it down from its top position and a slight move of my hand was required. None of which was a big deal but someone with rather small hands may require more movement to activate these buttons.

Like the throttles I’ve previously reviewed, I really appreciated the vibration I was getting through the stick from the community-built profiles. Having the stick start to vibrate as you get close to stall pulling MAX G really added to the immersion and I cannot see myself ever wanting to use the version without inbuilt vibrating motors.

Conclusion

The WINWING 16EX Metal Joystick Grip with a Shaker Kit, offers a robust and highly adaptable control option for combat flight simulation. It’s a feature rich and well-built bit of hardware that boasts a high button count and with a vibration motor providing haptic feedback enhances your enjoyment. Despite minor issues, such as some button sloppiness and a tricky base connection setup, the joystick delivers a solid, immersive experience. The expansion module, although plastic, adds further functionality, making it a great addition. Overall, it combines excellent build quality and practical features that make it a great addition to anyone’s home setup.

Great overall package, 8/10