[Tigger88]

Hi Guys,

I'm recently back to IL2 1946 & want to get more into my flying - using my old Trust joystick I'm just not cutting the mustard! So a HOTAS setup looks to be the way to go.

So money wise - not going to spend a fortune & having mooched the forum I'm going for the X52 as the best bang for medium buck.

So do I buy X52 or X52 PRO - I can't see any recent comparisons and wondered if the situation has changed much? Is the extra

[{HVY-E}Jinxx]

I know that you're looking to save $$$, but ask yourself, do you want to spend a bunch of money on a piece of plastic with inferior quality or wait a bit more, save your money and get something that will last for years.

Saitek is KNOWN for it's substandard quality. Especially with respect to the wires. Most people who've owned them for a while (had mine for 2 days only), will tell you that the wires will develop internal breaks. That will mean you will suddenly loose control over a button or axis.

I've had my Cougar for about 10yrs now and have only just recently (last month) had to replace the gimbals (took me all of 8 min). Now of course there are other upgrades for the Cougar as well, and those can get spendy, but after you're done, you'll have a stick that will last a lifetime.

The next best stick/throttle combo, IMO, would be the CH Pro set. Again, a little bit more than the Saitek stuff, but FAR superior in quaility and craftsmanship.

Bottom line, don't waste your money on garbage unless you absolutely need a stick right this second. Deffinitely don't buy a used Saitek from anywhere. They are most likely already at the end of their short life cycle and will fail on you within a year if not months or days.

[Guest]

I bought a refurb saitek x52 about 2 years ago. My down axis on the hat switch is gone now which is annoying. But it wasn't a big investment either.

[Fincuan]

No idea on X52 Pro, but the regular one is pretty good bang for the buck. I've had mine since 2004 I believe, and so far no problems with it. Everything still functions as it should. My only gripe is the "wonky" feeling of the stick at its stock state, but there are several ways to fix that with a custom mod which takes a few minutes. In modern sims I use the whole setup, while in IL2 I only use the the throttle and replace the stick with an MS FFB2 because the latter stick has force feedback and generally feels better.

[Ramstein]

The Saitek X36 I bought new many many years ago lasted 6 years.. (they never broke, only developed a small bit of slop, and very little, but enough to retire them..) The Saitek X52 Pro and pedals have been going great since then... no problems... none. period. Software and support are fine.
8)

[clayman]

Same here .... I've had my X52 for four years now .... never a hick-up.

[Bearcat]

Saitek makes good products... Not to take anything away from other manufacturers (Personally IMO Cougars are HIGHLY overrated.. an over $200 stick that you still have to drop money for in order to make it really good? I don't think so... ) CH is good too ... but I really dont think there is anything out thewre that beats Saitek as far as bang for the buck goes.. Now as far as your question goes.. If i were buying a joystick now and i didnt have my spare MSFFB2 in the closet or my current MSFFB2/X-45 stick setup.... I'd go with an X-52 Pro...

[[OAC]Baloo]

does anyone know why a saitek x52 would on occasion recenter itself in flight, and cause your aircraft to go full elevator up and or left alieron roll for no reason. saitek has contacted, they said update drivers on motherboard chipsets and x-52 itself. that was done and i still have the problem randomly. the x-52 is three months old. saitek ask the stupidist question as to whether i had a second computer to try the x-52 on. when flying these games who has the money for a back up computer and also have trackir and all the other stuff twice. any suggestions guys,thanks [oac]baloo

[yammo]

First let me say that when asking for a breakdown of differances between x52 standard/pro,
answering to go Cougar or CH isn't in any way an answer.

To focus the thread, I'd like to re-state the original question, as I would also like to know if
someone knows the big diff, (except that the pro has a programmable MFD).

I do have an x52, and it is good "bang for the buck". There are two main issues with it though,

Problem 1:
Occational the x52 may reset, resulting in a recalibration off-center.
>>(Unplugging--replugging--resetting the IL2config is the only solution given by saitek.)

Problem 2:
The rotaries have some jitter and may occationally drift.
There is no "fix" for this, other than to change the rotary a little more.

So, my main question would be, (No I'm still not buying a Cougar for a redicilous amount of money, and still having to spend even more money and time on modding it to perhaps get even close to satisfied)...
...are any of these two issues resolved in "x52-pro"? In my opinion, this would constitute a good argument for going "pro". Otherwise, I still argue, the standard edition is a damned good "bang for the buck".

[Pirate]

I don't know if you are still looking at this thread as advice on what to buy but....

I bought a x52 standard about 4 months ago and I am really happy with it, I couldn't say anything about the durability other than it hasn't gone wrong yet... but i am always gentle with the stick. The stick does very rarely reset during use, it is only the stick itself that does this - it is connected by a s-video cable to the throttle which has the usb, unplging this lead and plugging it back in again works fine to recalibrate back during flight. The mouse wheel on the throttle is the main cause of the stick resetting itself, and I don't use it.

As far as I know, after researching after i bought it (something I recommend against) is that the Pro is made using different sensors for the analogue parts, they are apparently of higher quality, more precise and more reliable. Aside from that and that the MFD is programmable on the Pro there aren't many differences, but that said had I known the pro was more reliable I would probably got that instead for the extra