while the Warthog is tempting(hey i got one myself a year ago), it wouldn't be worthwhile for flying "just" FG and some low fidelity FDM's.
also the too stiff movement of the stick makes it much more suited to fighter jet control, as a matter of fact, you can't fly the c172-detailed straight with the thing without assigning some kind of axis for pitch trim(i did with A-10 speed brake slider), otherwise you get shoulder aches after a while, i would prefer a Saitek yoke and/or a CH Products one for airliners and propeller aircraft, or a CH Products Fighterstick for jets and general aircraft use if you want precision and quality within a budget.
my overall review impressions of joysticks/yokes i tried/bought(some belonging to me or my brothers):
1 - TM Flight Stick-X(Equivelant to "TM hotas-X" but comes with stick only): razor high precision, long-lasting and truly plug-and-play(on all platforms), and most of all cheap(but not on quality), only con is too short X-Y axis travel, and rudder twist is too (soft) for coordinate turns, i suggest disabling and using with rudder pedals.
2 - Saitek X-52 Pro with Throttle: fine throttle with an idle/reverse thrust and afterburner step with friction control, so many control knobs and back slider and comes with a mouse tip, but bad stick and lazzy unlinear axis control(that's cause of bad-engineered magnet placement to the hall-effect sensors). require hardware modification to function properly, see
http://www.virtual-aerobatics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=155&p=677. overall not worth the price. in addition, bad drivers, at least with my motherboard, requires using legacy mode for USB and driver re-installation in Windows requiring messing with the registery(i didn't make this up, check with the website it's the official instructions), sometimes require replug cable to function after restart, and built-in throttle display is unusable in FSX for me, except for the stopwatch, which is a nice feature.
3 - TM Warthog: nothing more be said about it, modeled after the A-10 HOTAS, but too stiff for prop/heli fine control(since it cannot be moved swiftly around X/Y axis combined, require some force to move in either direction, needs fast short movement inputs), suited for high fidelity FDM jet aircraft with proper FCS system, works great with DCS:A10, USAF airforce stamped and personal ID for each joystick screams quality, feels like the real thing for combat, and completely made of steel material.
4 - Ch Products yoke: this belongs to my younger brother who is an FSX hardcore simmer/VA participator and does long hauls: this is the surprise of the century, plug-and-play and offers great feel for even manual approches down minimums, this is due to the compression feel of the inner spring for recentering, has three(IIRC) small axis control on the top(Throttle/Prop Pitch and Mixture), and three button at the bottom for assigning to toogle things like Gear/Flaps/Trim control, also a rotatable X-axis(pitch) recentering wheel. compared to the Saitek Yoke which feels completely loose and bad recentering characherstics that he had previously.
hope this helps.