I would recommend the stick. I also have used the x52 a couple of years and man do i love it. Not to mention saitek (or madcatz) are excellent with customer service. When i did have issues with the stick (connection cord broke) i brought it to their local san diego office and walked out same day with a new setup.
Trackir is incredible, completely changs to feel of the game and adds a huge level of realism and the "woah im free to gaze everywhere". That being said it takes a crap ton of work to get used to. Ive had trackir5 about 2 months and with its bugginess and complexity its still very had for me to use effectively an often i turn it off
My recommendation, first saitek x52 (run u about 100 on ebay) then trackir5 (130 on ebay) with the proclip amother 30 or so.
Hope this helps
-covernow