Great review. I'll add a few comments that are unmentioned in the reviews.
Another X52 Con - The X52 "sliding ring" mechanism of applying pressure to stick is highly counterintuitive to flying, as it requires the MOST pressure to start moving from center, and gets easier as you gain leverage. This can make the stick very difficult to make those minute last-second adjustments lining up a shot, as you have to push hardest to start the stick moving from center, and it's very easy to overshoot where you'd intended to move it to, because it's hard to start and then moves more easily.
CH - Con (mitigating factor). While the complaint about the size of the stick is very much spot on, it's really very easy to adjust the hand rest to a comfortable position simply by cutting a piece of foam and taping it in place on top of the actual hand rest on the stick. (Or alternatively, see Homeboys thread where he removed a section of the stick to shorten it ...)
(AH specific) Using rotaries for managing trim in AH is no where near as optimal as it is in other sims I've flown, and therefore isn't nearly as much of a "PRO" for the Saitek stick if this is your only sim. This is because every other sim I've used a rotary control in has adjusted trim instantaneously to the position of the analog control which was intuitive (but potentially allowed for non-realistic trimming, as it's not possible to trim instantaneously in a real aircraft). AH on the other hand seems to have the trim "adjust into" the position of the analog control at what seems like exactly the rate it would move if you held down the keys to adjust trim, which because we don't have any stick forces to "feel" our trim state in, meant a constant battle of over and undershooting the desired trim state as you tried to "guess" where the trim was going to end up, especially as the X52 lacks enough range to allow anyone but a surgeon to adjust the rotaries with the absolute precision required.
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