Tosten Military Grip vs Infinity Military Grip

Submitted by irishpilot (Ryan Riley) on Sun, 10/23/2022 - 21:21

Forums: 

Hi all, I’m prepping my ES for my upcoming AFS panel and I want to get all three trim axis wired to a stick grip vs panel toggles. I want to spend more eyes out time vs looking at old trim panel switches and indicators. So, with that in mind, it looks like the Tosten Military Grips or Infinity Grips give me the switch options needed. I know the Infinity grips have at least one more switch, but I’ve heard the palm rest is large enough to require some reworking of the tube to get it to cant inward enough to not hit the side of the plane. 

My buddy is building an RV and I saw his Tosten grips up close. They are small, lightweight, and have the min number of switches I want. Before I pull the trigger on them, I just wanted to poll the group and see if ya’ll are running either and what your thoughts are.

My planned grip switches are PTT, Autopilot Disconnect, aileron/elevator trim, and rudder trim. Both grips have enough switches to make that work.

-Ryan

artairman's picture

I put the Infinity grips in

Submitted by artairman on

I put the Infinity grips in my IV-P back in 1997, and don’t recall having to make any significant mods. My set-up: pitch and rudder trim on the cookie hat, left top toggle aileron trim, right top toggle speed brake deploy/retract, middle stalk button GTN750 audio command activate, and bottom stalk pinkie button autopilot disconnect. All buttons still working well for the last 25 years…

rpastusek's picture

Ryan

Submitted by rpastusek on

Ryan

i installed an Infinity stick grip when I built my IV-P in 2007. It’s configured like Doug Johnson’s (above post) except my elevator and aileron trim are on the coolie hat, and rudder trim on an adjacent toggle. I’ve had 15 years of trouble-free service. Don’t know how you could determine beforehand, but the quality of the switches used is the biggie. I’m not familiar w the Tolsten grip-it’s likely a newer product??

Dont get fancy w the configuration/function of switches-make as close to what you have been flying with as possible…my two cents…

Bob

Thanks Bob, that’s my plan.

Submitted by irishpilot on

Thanks Bob, that’s my plan. The mil planes use the pinky switch for nose wheel steering, so I’m thinking IDENT right now or maybe com flip/flop. Not sure yet. 

As for the Tosten grips, I emailed with Kevin and he is very responsive. His mil grips are newish, and he’s built up a great following with the Vans crowd. I ultimately went with JD’s design because it’s more familiar for me and there are a lot of Lancair owners flying them, so if I run into issues installing, I know a few to call :-).

I don't know Tosten. I have

Submitted by bnairn on

I don't know Tosten. I have Infinity stick grips in my Super ES. If you go with Infinity, call JD at Infinity Aerospace, versus buy from Aircraft Spruce. Love Spruce, but JD adds way more value. Let him help you map out your config. He keeps every single customers' config on file and how lots of reference points for how your peer cohort have configured theirs. 

I can mimic the above three

Submitted by Jbarrett@carbin... on

I can mimic the above three comments.   Like Bob P., I have aileron trim on the coolie hat, not rudder.   I think I purchased the Infinity sticks from JD in 96 or 97 and have been flying with them trouble free for about 13 or 14 years.   Buy them from JD if he's still active.   Haven't heard of the Tosten product before.

 

 

I installed the Infinity

Submitted by wxtogo on

I installed the Infinity grips in my Lancair IVP in 2004, purchased directly from Infinity, and have had 18 years of trouble-free service with well over 1000 hours flight time.  They are quality built and rugged.  From what I could read on the Tosten website, their offering is similar, yet impossible to assess the quality of manufacture without physically inspecting the grips.  The Infinity grips are split in half, left and right halves, and clamp around the control tube with a fastener that passes through the control tube, very secure.  I could not determine the mounting arrangement on the Tosten grips from the info on their website.

New ES in April 2022.  Loving

Submitted by Limadelta on

New ES in April 2022.  Loving my Infinity Grips.  Bought em years ago when I thought I was done but was 90% done with 90% to go.  Don’t know the other grip, but I am happy with mine.

All, thank you for the great

Submitted by irishpilot on

All, thank you for the great 1st-hand experience. I’ll give JD a call as well.

I just ordered 2x Infinity

Submitted by irishpilot on

I just ordered 2x Infinity Grips. I've sent the order in without a plan to map the #5 pinky switch. I'm curious as to what ya'll use that switch for? My ES does not have speedbrakes. My switch mapping plan is:

1. Coolie hat - elevator/aileron trim

2. Trigger - PTT

3. Toggle - flaps

4. Thumb rest switch - Autopilot Disconnect

5. Pinky grip switch - Nothing so far

6. Top outside switch - horizontal toggle for Rudder Trim

 

 

donsak's picture

Pinky for Ident

Submitted by donsak on

Pinky for Ident

Lancairmikees's picture

I have custom made rosewood

Submitted by Lancairmikees on

I have custom made rosewood grips so cannot comment on the preferred manufacturer in this thread. However, once set, I almost never use aileron trim, but mine is on the coolie hat and rudder trim is on the panel. Hindsight, I would put the rudder and elevator trim on the stick and aileron on the panel. 

I am going to keep the

Submitted by irishpilot on

I am going to keep the aileron trim on the hat as it is muscle memory for me at this point with my military flying. My ES currently has Ray Allen trim switches and indicators mounted low on the panel, which pulls my eyes inside to trim vs staying outside which I do not like.

 

Taco's picture

I agree 100%.  My rudder trim

Submitted by Taco on

I agree 100%.  My rudder trim needs slight tweaking with every power, prop or airspeed adjustment so I moved it to the top-hat when I had a panel refit.  Muscle memory for the change did not seem to be a factor for me.  YMMV. 

I've got a little different

Submitted by jimanderson on

I've got a little different view.  When I designed my ES panel and controls (with great help from Dave Buckwalter), I decided to go with Tosten grips, and the aileron trim on the panel, not the grip.  One of my goals was to make the transition from my Cessna to the ES as easy as reasonably possible.  The Infinity grip is cool looking, and provides a lot of features, really more than I wanted to have to commit to memory, especially in the early transition hours.  So I have the elevator and rudder trim controlled with the hat, the trigger controlling push to talk, and the rest of the buttons dedicated to com 1/com2, flip-flop and AP disconnect. My belief was that this configuration would be easy to learn, with fewer opportunities for mistake.  The Tosten grips are significantly smaller than the Infinity grips.  By the way, How do folks label the functions on their grips?  

Jim, the size of the Tosten

Submitted by irishpilot on

Jim, the size of the Tosten grips is why I was interested in them. I think you made a good choice. I called both companies and JD at Infinity had all the switch combos I wanted and we went over my exact use for the plane. 

 

I don't think folk can go wrong with either company as both are quick to answer questions and have a useful product. 

Kevin at Tosten's offers

Submitted by jwhults on

Kevin at Tosten's offers laser labeling of all switches with his military stick grips. I've not seen that on anybody else's grips (...since the military). He had a labeled military style grip at Oshkosh this last year. His "Soft Touch" coating is still available too, you just can't have both on the same grip. I'll send some pics of the labels in a couple days. 

FYI, my three switches across the top of the grip are 1) Rudder trim, 2) Pitch & Roll trim on the coolie hat, 3) Flaps.