Thank you Honeycomb Aeronautical for sending us this controller to review!

I've always been a bit of a nut for unique controllers. Simulation controllers have a special place in my heart, as they offer experiences that only the combination of hardware and software can provide. I've loved playing racing games with a racing wheel, and I've enjoyed reviewing flight simulator hardware as well. Honeycomb Aeronautical's Echo Aviation Controller is perhaps one of the most unique controllers I've ever some across, as it combines the convenience and portability of a gamepad with the complex requirements of a flight simulator in a way I've never seen. While it's not without quirks, this is one amazing controller.

Flight simulation has slightly different needs than just your average gamepad. While normal gamepads work well for a lot of genres, and some players do play flight simulators with them, some aspects of the simulation just can't be adequately covered in a gamepad. Though just one look at the Echo and the main reason becomes rather obvious: would you look at that throttle cluster!

You see, depending on the plane, some have more than one simple throttle. Some aircraft have more than one engine, for example, and pilots may want or need to adjust thrust to each one independently. In other cases, planes may require manual fuel to air mixture which is often controlled by multiple throttle levers. Another possible use is to control analog flaps or the speed brake. Whatever the case, the Echo has you covered with those four throttle sliders.

The throttles are not the only unique thing about this rather unconventional controller. To the right of the throttles is a simple scroll wheel. What this wheel does is activate a button when scrolled up, and a different button when scrolled down. This is used to adjust the trim controls. Trim is used to adjust the center of a control. For example, if you are trying to aim the nose of the plane upwards, you could pull the joystick down to aim it up. However, if you don't want to hold it that way for potentially quite some time, you can use the trim to gently aim the nose up and then have it fly itself in that direction. Given how long flights often last, adjusting the trim is a very useful way to aim the plane while leaving less room for human error.

The controls I just mentioned (throttles, trim) are on the right side of the gamepad. The left side has controls that seem a bit more 'normal'. There is a hat switch that looks unique, but in reality it's just a D-Pad with a hat switch shape instead. There is also a thumbstick, which is common on gamepads. It's hall-effect, so it should last a long time without drifting. Finally, there is a small four-button cluster, not unlike what is on the right side of a normal gamepad. It's great to see such an efficient use of space there.

In the center of the gamepad on the top there is a four-button cluster meant for menus and such. This closely mirrors a typical gamepad's Home, Start, Select, and Share buttons. Of course you can assign them to whatever you like since they are just buttons.

On the bottom below the main control area there are three levers. On the right is a toggle switch with a neutral center. This means it rests with no active button when nothing is selected, and you can press it up or down. Each position (up or down) activates a button. These are usually used to adjust flaps, but can be set to anything.

The other two levers are a bit more unique. In the center there is a two-way toggle switch, and on the left there is a two-way pull switch. Each has an always on position; one or the other position activates one of two buttons. For this reason, these levers really are best used for their intended use case: one is meant for the parking brake, and the other is meant for the landing gear (up or down). The center is ideal for landing gear and the left one is ideal for the parking brake.

On the top of the controller, where your pointer and perhaps middle finger can go, there are four bumpers, two on each side. These can be assigned to pretty much anything, and since they can be pressed independently while other face controls are in use, should be mapped to something you need access to all the time.

On the rear is the last and a really interesting control. There are two levers with little platforms for your fingers. If you press down on one side, the other side goes up, and vice verse. These are a linked analog axis. In case you haven't guessed yet, they are the rudder controls. In action they are very smooth, and feel awesome to use. There is a fair amount of movement, though of course not as much as a normal rudder pedal. Even still, it's a great approximation and they feel really nice in action.

On the rear of the gamepad there is rubber coating on the hand/palm grip part of the controller. It feels great and is of a very high quality. The plastic used is also really sturdy and thick and feels like it won't break any time soon. It also helps that it includes a fantastic hard shell case where the controller and its accessories are stored.

The accessories, outside of the case, are simple but great for long-time flight simmers. The more obvious stuff is that there is a place to store the included USB charging cable, and the USB wireless dongle. There are also five additional lever caps, primarily used on the four throttle levers. These don't change the functionality at all, but are helpful to keep things straight on what each lever does for the vehicle you're flying. For example, propeller and mixture levers have standard color schemes in real aircraft, and that's what the blue and red lever caps are for. There is also an included flap cap, and two different styles of speed brake caps if you like flying those kinds of planes. With all of that customization, I expect most flight simmers will find what they are looking for there.

In my testing, I primarily charged the controller with the included USB-C cable, and connected it to my PC using the wireless dongle. I absolutely love that I can just take a trip around town in my airplane while chilling with my gaming laptop. It's great!

Speaking of, I tested the Echo on four flight simulators. It advertises Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 support, and it does work with that, but you have to either do a fully manual configuration, or they suggest copying an XML file to the right location. What I found works best is to start the simulator, then go to controller configuration, and select the controller. Then, choose the Import option, which then lets you choose the XML file. This way it's much easier, and I found it to work better, also. I did have to tweak the settings afterwards, as not all controls are mapped by default, but it was a great start.

Actually, I found X-Plane 12 to be the closest to a plug and play experience. I didn't expect to find a built-in profile for the controller, but sure enough it has one. I had to swap the X and Y axes on the thumbstick, and I reverted some of the throttles to my preferences, but it worked great out of the box.

Aerofly FS 4 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 both worked just fine, but they require manual configurations from scratch. Unfortunately, MSFS 2024 configurations are not backwards compatible with MSFS 2020, as the controller XML file format changed dramatically between the two releases. I found reversing the axis direction a little tricky on Aerofly FS 4, but that would be true for any controller as it's a software quirk, not a fault of the Echo.

As a product, there is very little to complain about with the Echo Aviation Controller. If it had a second analog stick, it could be a killer product for space combat simulators, or even mech games like MechWarrior 5. Unfortunately, as is, it's not ideal for those use cases. Even still, I can't help but love it as is for its primary intended application: flight simulation.

The Honeycomb Aeronautical Echo Aviation Controller is quite a remarkable product. While it's hardly inexpensive, given the unique one-of-a-kind nature of the product, I believe the MSRP price is entirely fair. I will say that thumbsticks are a bit more sensitive than flight sticks or yokes are, since you have a smaller range of motion, so careful flight needs a bit more finesse than you might otherwise hope for. Despite that, I found flying with the Echo utterly captivating. If you are a flight simulation lover who travels often, the Echo Aviation Controller is a treat I can't recommend enough. It won't necessarily replace a proper HOTAS (hands on throttle and stick) or a full flight yoke, but it gets shockingly close in a much more portable form factor. If this seems like something you gotta have, then I won't stop you - it's great!