Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent HOTAS system, great bang for the buck, November 1, 2005
As a previous owner of the X45 flight control system and avid flight sim junkie, I was compelled to upgrade my HOTAS system to something newer. I was originally looking at the Thrustmaster HOTAS system, but could not conjur up enough money to purchase one. After playing with the X52 at a LAN party, I was sold and went out and purchased one that night.
The X52 has loads of improvements over the X45 - not even mentioning the LCD MFD. One addition which I would have loved to see in the X45 are the eight removable suction cups on the bottom of the stick and throttle bases. The cups first out of the box will do some sliding around, but nothing so drastic that it'll mess your flights up. They do a great enough job to keep the stick down during normal use - provided that you don't slam the stick around, but for a flight system that costs this much, I don't think that'll be too much of a problem for most people.
Just like all other Saitek sticks, the X52 is fully customizable in both hardware and software. Not only can you move the lower shelf on the joystick up and down to fit your hand, but you can also adjust the force on the throttle stick. Like all other Saitek sticks, however, you cannot adjust the centering force on the stick itself. But I did not find this to be too much of a problem as it is much looser than all other HOTAS systems that I have owned. The X52 also comes with the Saitek SST programming software, which (again, like all other Saitek sticks) allows you to program every button on the joystick to either an axis, mouse axis, single keyboard stroke, or a complex macro.
I also fell in love with the three modes and color coded mode identification LED to let you know what mode you are in. As a result I can have a mode for A-A, one for A-G, and one mode for general tasks when playing Falcon 4.0: Allied Force, making it easier to keep my hands on the flight system at all times.
The MFD is also a cool addition to the X52. It has a time display to let you know what time it is in up to three time zones, as well as a built-in stopwatch to time your flights and coordinate your turns right on time. And if you can't remember what you programmed a button to - just simply hold down the info button and click the button you want to know about and voila! Your button's function is displayed on the screen.
All in all - a great HOTAS system for those of us that cannot afford the Thrustmaster HOTAS systems. This flight stick runs perfectly with games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and Falcon 4.0 - my two choices and recommendations to pair up with this stick.
And for those of you who want to know about Windows XP Professional x64 support - the stick works perfectly using drivers available on the Saitek website.
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an excellent folow up to the X-45, December 5, 2004
I probably spend more time than I should with flight sims, mainly IL2-sturmovik but also FS2004 and lomac, and have worked my way through a few sticks.
before I purchased the X-52 I used an X-45 for near a year. I was happy with it and it still worked perfectly, but when saitek released the'52 I knew I wanted one.
I have used it about 2 weeks now, and man is it sweet. the action on all the axis' is silky smooth,and accurate. I believe the "non contact" technology they are advertising has alot to do with this.
All the buttons are laid out in an intuitive manner, and there are more control options than the X-45 has. the blue LEDs are spiffy, and they thought to allow a way to dim or extinguish them if you so desire
The multi function display is nice to have, but essentialy just eye candy unless you need to know what time it is or what profile you are running.
overall it has a quality feel and look the X-45 was maybe lacking a bit.the hand rest on the stick is adjustable for height, which is also a nice touch. its large enough to accomodate large hands, mine arent exactly tiny and I moved the rest up a notch to be comfortable
I also liked the "two stage" trigger as now a slight pull is guns, and pull it fully and its guns+cannons.its the little things that mean so much.
anyway, it comes highly recommended by me, and at least 6 of the people I fly with also have and love their X-52's. you can't go wrong if you are looking for an advanced flightstick/throttle at a fair price.
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111 of 125 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, June 5, 2005
EDIT: Use a bit of silicone grease under the plastic swash plate disk to drastically reduce friction and improve control fidelity. Audio fader or scuba types work well, but you may also find it at a hardware store. Teflon grease also works. Use thick grease. Do not use petroleum-derived products on plastic.
We can't compare this stick to Thrustmaster really because their stuff now is garbage. Thrustmaster pretty much forced Suncom (maker of the fab F-15 series) out of business with lawsuits claiming the newcomer was infringing on their patents to produce "realistic" flight sticks. Then we now have a monopoly on the supposedly authentic stuff which has produced crap like The Cougar. Thanks Thrustmaster! Then there's CH Products...good, smooth, but ugly, expensive, and low resistence. Saitek has been making these strange looking, possibly gimmick-rich products for a while. I think they've finally created a near ultimate HOTAS with the X52.
Clearly if you don't like twist rudders on the stick (as the real Comanche has) then you need to buy some pedals (everyone raves about CH's). But the throttle alone on this Saitek is worth the price. X-Plane and Longbow Anthology (when it works, which is rarely...might have to partition Win '95 spot for it) love this system. Every trim control and slider is recognized in X-Plane. In Longbow 1/2 I have most of the flight and cockpit commands in just one main mode and its pinkie mode. I'll save another mode and its pinkie equivolent for campaign comm stuff. That still leaves two more modes on this thing. Amazing. It's a bit of a headache programming it, but not from the standpoint of design. There's so much you can do with it that it's easy to get overwhelmed with where to put what command. Then you realize you could put such and such on a pinkie shift mode and move it over to the next button, yadda yadda yadda. It'll take hours unless you sit down and plan out your programming strategy ahead of time. But it pays off. Oh, and the mouse stick on the throttle works fine. I'm using it right now to surf the net since my Viewsonic optical was DOA (with no warranty, instructions, 800-number...unbelievable). I don't want to take my hands off the controls to retract flaps and gear after just taking off in an F-4...it's the easiest moment to stall.
My first gripe is that the twist rudder is a little weak on the spring to the right, but I set a significant deadspot in the control panel configuration to prevent me from accidentally yawing when I don't want to. Also, I haven't managed to get the toggles or the fire button to recognize pinkie shifts. For instance, I wanted engine offs and weapons jetison to be toggles+pinkie, with the fire+pinkie as master arm. It doesn't work with that, in Longbow Anthology, at least. But I need the keyboard nearby for a variety of other commands anyway, so it's not a big deal. I leave master arm on, I just wanted the neat effect of switching to it on the fly. There's nothing quite like having laser designator on a stick button to trigger one or two seconds before a hellfire impact, though. The lower hat on the stick does tend to get flipped occasionaly, but I put all my target next/previous/best/close on it. That makes it less of an issue.
The stick is adjustable to your handsize (my first adjustment that seemed perfect actually was too cramped) and it feels well built. I completely discount any complaints that the stick is too easy to tip over or has too much range of motion. If you're not strapping, taping, tying or otherwise attaching them to something, then you're an idiot. You should do that with any HOTAS. Even with my old Playstation I had the Flight Force Pro throttle and stick tied to the flat arms of a wooden deck chair with wrapping present ribbon/string. Couch throw pillows, queen size pillow, and standard pillow made great cushions. You can get a whole flight seat set up with just stuff around the house or from the local department store. Friends would freak out seeing me with Gunship 2000, Ace Combat 2, Colony Wars, and Star Fighter with that setup. Like I said, if you don't do twist rudders, buy pedals. If you don't like the stick, buy a CH one. The throttle is probably the best out there. I like the Saitek how it is and for the price you're getting stick and rudder for free when the only thing left on the market anymore that can compete with this is CH at $100 per item. I'm thrilled with my purchase.
Saitek has very few useful profiles, and it is not easy to make good ones. Go to Simhq and look for any of my posts. I have a link at the bottom of my signature that will take you to a zip of profiles. Amazon apparently doesn't allow for URL's to be listed.
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