for Saitek users

[Chivas]

I have the X52 and wouldn't recommend it.

Personally I would wait for the Thrustmaster Warthog Hotas. It will be expensive, but it appears to be very well engineered. It is not available yet but it appears to be almost ready. There is a review at Simhq under Hardware and Software articles.



http://simhq.com/

[Romanator21]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5boQrJLp1jA

I took it apart and checked out the innards. Apparently the plastic joints like to grind away and leave a sort of dust on the inside. After cleaning it out it worked OK again, for a bit, but it still does this every now and then.

[SEE]

I keep cleaning and lubing my Saitek Cyborg X (rebadged as the FLY 5) and have the same problem for the same reasons (my AV8R suffered the same problem!) The yoke components are manufactured using the incorrect type of plastic and it grinds away. Not only does it become 'sticky' it develops 'slop' in the centre position as the components wear. The Cyborg Fly 9 (for Xbox) appears to use highly polished Nylon and better materials all round but more expensive - nice movement but has reliability issues with the 'wireless' circuitry. Can't win with Saitek products and will look for an alternative. Why Saitek didn't use the same materials on the CYborg X (which shares the same Yoke design as the FLY9) baffles me as I would have paid more to have a better quality movement.

[swiss]

Originally Posted by Chivas

I have the X52 and wouldn't recommend it.

Personally I would wait for the Thrustmaster Warthog Hotas. It will be expensive, but it appears to be very well engineered. It is not available yet but it appears to be almost ready. There is a review at Simhq under Hardware and Software articles.

http://simhq.com/

Actually you cant compare a $100 stick to a $400+ one - not everybody has that budget.

Plus, when it arrives you can expect it to be full of bugs, since it's 1st series.

[=69.GIAP=TOOZ]

I use a 2nd hand Saitek X-45. I've had no problems with it except the spring gets a little stiff on occasion, and the throttle isn't 100% smooth - but I've been abusing it for about 5 years now and it still does what I want it to. From what I can tell the X-45 was maybe Saiteks last decent product.

[blades96]

I owned a Saitek Cyborg 3D Rumble Force and also agree that they are poorly built. It was off center from the start and prone to sticking so I had to put grease on it as mentioned for another joystick above.

[desigabri]

I and my brother had two X45 and they worked pretty well until we broke (all two) the fire switches (meccanical support of the switch) We repaired them but opening the X45's we found a very bad handcraft product. Probably they were the 2th, 3th or my be 9th level of quality because we brought them at very low cost as offert in a big discount.
So we decided to remake al the connections chancing wires when needed. Some time later other switches started braking: the VIEWs ones the FLAPs ones and then we loose precision of the 0 position of a lot of axis. We used them for about 4 years. After that we brought two X52PRO (used ones, on eBay with rudders pedals too) and until now from 1 year, we are very happy for the precision and the meccanical strong of them.
Only I didn't use or try any other model of joy's so I can't compare them vs others.
We didn't opened the X52PRO's but I'm pretty sure that they aren't the 9th quality choise.

[badatflyski]

owing a X45, a X36, rudder and a cyborg evo, no pb's at all from years except 1 firing button on the x45 that quit working. changed with the one from the x36 (modded for helicopter flying) and here we go again.
Happy with Saitek. good stuff for the money

[meplay]

Originally Posted by blades96

I owned a Saitek Cyborg 3D Rumble Force and also agree that they are poorly built. It was off center from the start and prone to sticking so I had to put grease on it as mentioned for another joystick above.

I got the ffb version of your stick, had it since hmm i dont know, maybe 14 years maybe (i could be wrong my first stick and its been a hell of a long time) years, maybe shorter, and its been good to me, my m8 had the MS sidewinder 2 ffb (think thats the name) and when i compared them i thought they felt very similar, but this was a long time ago, ive got some money away for a new stick but donno what to buy!

[BadAim]

I'm also a longtime Saitek user, and I've found their biggest problem to be a lack of quality control, having had my original x52 last through 3 years of heavy use, then it's replacement go wonky in six months! I'd not really expect something at the price level of Saitek to last more than 3-5 years of heavy use, and it's hard to beat all those buttons!

I do believe from what I've seen that the early bugs with the x52 are pretty much worked out, and the newest versions of their software/drivers are quite good.