Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick review - a compact, feature-packed flight sim controller, for less

New heights

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick resting on a light surface
(Image: © Future/Phil Iwaniuk)

TechRadar Verdict

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick is considerably cheaper than the Thrustmaster and Logitech flight sim controllers that dominate the market, but matches them for features and even brings some new design ideas. It’s lacking that satisfying weight to keep itself planted, but otherwise, it’s a stellar mid-budget option.

Pros

  • +

    OLED data display

  • +

    Smooth stick operation

  • +

    It has ALL the buttons

Cons

  • -

    Slightly too lightweight

  • -

    Some buttons feel flimsy

  • -

    High resistance

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One-minute review

Flight sim peripherals are expensive. Thrustmaster’s Warthog HOTAS is the gold standard at north of $400 and Logitech’s cheaper X56 is still more than $200. Turtle Beach wants to undercut them both with this HOTAS-flightstick hybrid and, like a veteran Tom Cruise attempting some bit of cinematic aerial derring-do, it pulls it off in style. 

There are 27 programmable buttons nestled around the joystick, laid out sensibly in an ambidextrous design that makes it easy to dial in useful mappings whichever hand you operate it with. The feel of those buttons isn’t uniformly ‘premium’, with some noticeably wobblier or flimsier than others, but something had to give if Turtle Beach was going to deliver all this for $120. 

It’s not a traditional HOTAS, and purists might not get on with using the throttles and flightstick all on the device. For beginner virtual pilots and space-conscious aviators who don’t want to jam up all their USB slots with flight peripherals though, the VelocityOne absolutely sticks the landing and is a top PC controller or Xbox controller for flight enthusiasts

Price and availability

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick resting on a light surface

(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)
  • $122.99 / £119.99 / AU$250
  • Significantly cheaper than Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS
  • Available in the US and UK

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick represents great value for money and that all begins with the design foundation Turtle Beach put in place to combine HOTAS inputs with a regular flightstick. Somebody in the headset-strewn corridors of Turtle Beach HQ can pat themselves on the back for that one. 

Slapping all the combined inputs of both peripherals onto one unit obviously makes it easier to hit a lower price point than the big players in flight sim controllers.

There aren’t outright cut corners when it comes to build quality, but you can feel where some cost-saving switches and button caps have been drafted in to keep things affordable. That does mean that those after a no-compromise, truly premium control experience will find more to like in Thrustmaster’s incredibly weighty and well-constructed Warthog HOTAS. For everyone else, it’s a steal at this price point. 

Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Dimension6.46 x 8.54 x 9.07 inches (164 x 217 x 230 mm)
Weight1.81 lbs (821g)
CompatibilityXbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
Buttons27
ConnectionUSB-A to USB-C

Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick: Design & features

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick resting on a light surface

(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)

There’s a striking but sensible design to this unit, which works like a hybrid of a HOTAS and a flightstick. It’s laid out symmetrically, with banks of input buttons in two neat rows on either side of the stick. 

But there are inputs hidden all over this thing. You just keep finding them. The textured metal ring around the base of the flightstick? That’s a dial. You twist it to register an input. On the stick itself? Not only two hat switches, a trigger, buttons, and a scroller, but also an OLED display. Honestly, it’s like a 2000s rapper and a reality show production team got their hands on this thing. It’s just missing the aquarium. 

At either side are the throttles, which give you a pleasing little click at 0% and 100% to give you some haptic feedback that you’re at either extreme. There’s even a trackpad, which defaults to a highlight cursor in Microsoft Flight Simulator so you can look around and select different cockpit controls that you don’t have mapped to an input - unlikely, given the plethora available here.

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick resting on a light surface

(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)

The joystick itself feels beautifully smooth across its axes, and it’s designed with a lot of stiffness. That’s great in some, but not all, scenarios. When you’re making big inputs – think dogfighting in a space combat sim – it’s great to have that resistance to keep your movements precise. But if you’re trying to get a commercial jet full of holidaygoers down onto the runway without evacuating their extortionately-priced egg and cress sandwiches all over the gangway, you don’t want to feel too much centering spring around the zero point as it tends to ‘snap’ you back to that center position.

This isn’t necessarily a flaw of the joystick, but a nuance that takes a bit of getting used to. You can counteract it with an increased deadzone. 

The OLED display can be programmed to show you a selection of useful readouts, and although I tended to forget to look at it while I was in-game, I was captivated by it when I first plugged the unit in and saw it light up. 

Speaking of lights, there’s backlighting under each of the two banks of buttons on the base, a ring at the base of the joystick, and some subtle backlighting around the thumb buttons on the top of the joystick. These are split down the middle into a turquoise and orange colour scheme which gives the VelocityOne a distinct look. A look that I’m onboard with, if you’ll excuse the fantastic aviation pun. 

Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick: Performance

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick resting on a light surface

(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)

The make-or-break moment for a control device with this many inputs is what happens when you load up your game and head over to the controls menu, praying to every known deity that there’s a control scheme already established for it. 

Thankfully to all those deities, Microsoft Flight Simulator on both PC and Xbox knows the VelocityOne well and has a sensible layout for it that maps most of the controls you’d want, where you’d want them. 

I did a little bit of tweaking to the defaults, which is to be expected given the breadth of planes within that title. Everyone has slightly different needs depending on whether they specialize in haring about in prop planes or doing super-serious Airbus routes as realistically as possible. What matters is that there’s a decent starting point for everyone.

The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick resting on a light surface

(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)

This is such a time saver. However, that’s (nearly) where the control profiles end. XPlane 11 and 12 recognize it right off the bat and offer a ready-made profile, but otherwise, it’s up to you to map your own inputs in games like Elite: Dangerous and War Thunder

Not a huge deal, but it would be nice to see some more profiles added in the future. 

PC and Xbox compatibility is handled pretty seamlessly, too. That flashy OLED display lets you know when you’re in compatibility mode for either platform, and I had precisely zero turbulence when plugging it into either device. It was recognized and functional without any hassle.

Should you buy the Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick?

Buy it if…

You want a more affordable HOTAS than the big players offer
It’s not weighty and it doesn’t look military-grade like Thrustmaster’s option, but it costs far less.

You want to keep your flight sim setup minimal
There’s a lot to be said for having HOTAS and flightstick controls all in one unit. Your USB ports thank you in advance. 

Don’t buy it if…

You prefer a looser centering spring
It feels great in combat scenarios, but the snappy spring can make delicate commercial flight inputs trickier. 

You’re a PlayStation pilot
It’s PC and Xbox only, and it’s obviously intended for titles like Microsoft Flight Simulator - which doesn’t appear on PS5 as of now.

How I tested the Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick

  • Tested for several months
  • Tested with Microsoft Flight Simulator, Ace Combat 7, Elite: Dangerous
  • Compared with Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS

Thankfully the air miles involved in testing this one were virtual, otherwise I’d have a hell of a carbon footprint to offset. Microsoft’s serious Flight Sim drank up the testing hours, along with more fantastical experiences where fighting and loop-de-loops are a bit more commonplace.

Phil Iwaniuk
Contributor

Ad creative by day, wandering mystic of 90s gaming folklore by moonlight, freelance contributor Phil started writing about games during the late Byzantine Empire era. Since then he’s picked up bylines for The Guardian, Rolling Stone, IGN, USA Today, Eurogamer, PC Gamer, VG247, Edge, Gazetta Dello Sport, Computerbild, Rock Paper Shotgun, Official PlayStation Magazine, Official Xbox Magaine, CVG, Games Master, TrustedReviews, Green Man Gaming, and a few others but he doesn’t want to bore you with too many. Won a GMA once.