Many ways to optimise your HOTAS set up at home: desk and chair mounts

We are living in a golden age of flight and space simulation, with Flight Simulator, Star Wars Squadrons just out and Elite Dangerous and No Mans Sky fully established and finally Star Citizen playable to some degree. This means you can take out that old flight stick and throttle and TrackIR 5 that have been gathering dust for the last ten years and get it working again. Or you can buy a new one, together with a set of VR goggles.

What doesn’t show on the pictures though, is the amount of desk space these things take up and the tangle of wires that comes along with it. Ergonomically, having them on your desk is not the best place to have them as you sit to attention in order the get to them.

There are basically three philosophies to having a better home HOTAS setup: mounting them on your office chair, mounting them on your table and buying a dedicated chair setup.

Buying a dedicated chair (and not quite going the full cockpit route)

The nicest system I have seen is the Obutto, which is a system of not just chair, keyboard, mouse, joystick and throttle mounts, but also of monitor and speaker mounts. Expect to start at around EUR 900.

Wolf Hardware has blue and Red chairs as well as an armrest kit that will set you back around $375,-

In this category, Monstertech has a stand as well for EUR 255,-

GT Omega has a GT Omega Steering Wheel Stand PRO for Logitech G29 G920 with Shifter Mount V2, Thrustmaster T500 T300 TX & TH8A for GBP 110,-

You can get the unit from GT Omega Directly

This can be combined with the GT Omega ART Racing Simulator Cockpit RS6 Gaming Console Seat for Logitech G920, G29, G27, G25 Steering Wheel Pedals & Shifter Mount V2 PS4 Xbox One 360 TMX, with Stand & Reclinable for GBP 360,- if you really want to go the cockpit route

This can be upgrade with the ART Flight stick stand for EUR 80,-

Attaching your HOTAS to your desk

Your stick / throttle manufacturer will sell you under desk mounts but these can be prohibitively large and expensive.

Fortunately there are aftermarket sellers. Undoubtably the main player in this realm is Monstertech. They have attachment arms for your HOTAS but also for your MFD’s and tablets as well as a mount to put up your joystick in the centre position

Their table mounts are sized for the specific joystic / throttle that you have and start at EUR 89,- for silver and EUR 109,- for black.

Predator mounts offers a selection of very solid desk mounts with accessories in both silver and black. Plates are ordered custom to the jostick model. They will also sell accessories such as cable clips to keep your cabling nice, as well as an attachment plate for the VKB hanging box (in different colours), so that can be neatly clipped to the back of the mount. To unclip these you push downwards, so you knee won’t accidentally bang into them and assembly is very easy. Edit: Sadly, Predator Mounts has gone into receivership. Do not send money that way any more.

A new player to the game is AlphaBravoTango who offers Stowaway Mounts. These fold away easily under your desk when you are not using them. They are metal where it counts and 3d printed covers. The maker has a reddit thread here and you can buy them on Etsy.

AliExpress has similar mounts going for EUR 50,- a piece though that come with a mousepad

J-PEIN costs around $90 and is supposed to be solid too

They have an extension for the warthog (10/15/20cm)

From the LichiETC 3C store at EUR 41,-

There’s a company called Foxxmount which makes mounts that look a lot like the old Predator ones.

Amazon US has the J-PEIN (upgraded) desk mount for $70,-. This is the goto Korean cheaper version. These come with a lot of bolts.

Hikig is another manufacturer that looks like J-PEIN selling for around EUR 80,- on Amazon.

MEZA has a set of two mounts for $179,99 at Amazon, which look a lot like the J-PEIN. You can find the Meza website here. These come with a lot of bolts.

Reddit user Sessine has an excellent writeup of a DIY HOTAS under desk folding attachment system which can be stowed away easily

Reddit User dlongwing has an alternate method of having a foldaway HOTAS rig under his desk

r/hotas - I have a fold-away HOTAS rig hiding under my desk (Round 2)

SciMonster has created a Thingiverse rail which you can 3D print yourself and allows you to slide the hotas to the sides and lock the joystick to the right and in the centre

Mount your Virpil Throttle and Stick to linear rails so you can slide them along your desk.
This allows you to move your HOTAS aside when you use the computer for other work.
When flying your aircraft or spaceship, a spring-loaded locking meachanism holds your HOTAS securely in place.

The files are designed for the VPC Desk Mount V2/V3:
https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-desk-mount-angled-adapter-mt-50-throttle.html
which is compatible with the VPC MongoosT-50 Throttle.

An adapter plate for Virpil Flightsticks (VPC WarBRD Base) is included (with and without a mounting option for the 15 button Elgato Stream Deck (MK.1). MongoosT Base untested.
Source: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4916920

For around GBP 55 you can buy a generic table bolting system from Amazon

Attaching your throttle and stick to your chair

This is the cheapest route which you can do with a fair amount easy of DIY. Although it’s ergonomically very comfortable, the downside, however, is that the wiring moves with your chair and you will always be in a tangle of wires all over the place.

Turn an office chair into an Elite: Dangerous HOTAS with 3D prints

How to mount HOTAS flight sticks to an office chair for Elite: Dangerous and other flight sims is a very clear video showing how to use a simple clamping mechanism to attach everything.

Custom Foldable HOTAS Chair Mount (Made on the cheap!)

Is a good howto

VESA HOTAS mounts for IKEA Markus chair shows how to put the brackets on step by step

Amazon has the bracket for GBP 36,- here

And here

To affix your HOTAS to any boarding you may want to use 3M Dual Lock Reclosable Fasteners Heavy Duty Industrial Use Black TB3550 1″ x 10 ft Mated Strip Indoor/Outdoor Use Great for Metal, Glass, Acrylic, PC, ABS

Naturally Monstertech has these mounts too, starting at EUR 92,-

Reddit user Sarai_Seneschal has this neat setup with a VKB Omnithrottle

https://preview.redd.it/6ew7tkyg5iy51.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddc42beac74fde645074e86e4b50f9b99a112f54

Random other solutions

Some people have used two Mobotron MS-426 Standard Car iPad Laptop Mount Holder Stand ($110,- each). The big advantage of this is that the joystick and throttle can be moved completely out of the way.