Goodbye CH, Hello Saitek

[Eagler]

well the trim moves in the direction u spin the rotor but u have to center it to stop it otherwise it will max out in the direction it is going, not always bad. With the indent on the rotors, finding center is easy. My setup isn't for everyone but it works ok for me and my 109.

[AKSWulfe]

The rotaries are useless for trim, I had a hat assigned to trim- but then lost the main 8-way hat because it stopped working so had to move my views to the other hat.

I found the rotaries work very well for RPM1 and RPM2 inside the game if you assign them there.

Works well when you need to save gas or need to glide a long distance.

Just remember to turn it back up after that sortie. I forgot and ended up flying around a 190A8 at 5,000RPMs- I got 5 kills with it- but it was so slow and horrible at zooming it was pathetic.
-SW

[Vermillion]

banana, my darling prison Biotch  

I don't need no stinking lighted buttons  

And I got my "up" ie 5 key on my pinky button on the stick, so up and any direction was programmed easily on my first try in speed keys.  

btw as Yankee said, I caught your damn "Minnesota Cooties", and now I am sick as a dog   I'll get even at next years CON.

[DrSoya]

Only 16 views, banana?

I programmed mine for 24. I use the "mouse hat" thingie on the throttle, up and down shift the view accordingly, and left and right zoom out and in. That way, in bomber sight mode, I can zoom in while at the same time looking down at my target.

I use the pinkie switch for switching zoom on or off.

I use rotaries for trimming. That's what they're made for, and I have a thick skull and wanted to use them for that purpose, so I manage.  

Hat on the back of the throttle controls level autopilot, gear, displays clipboard and damage. D button is for talking, "mouse" button for voice commands to GameCommander (yelling "17 front!" takes less time than deciding which key will send me to front gunner on the B17, and frees my other hats for something else).

BTW I think you don't have the "mouse" button on the X45. Well, I think that's the button most likely to fail. Mine is beginning to give me trouble.

I really like my stick, but it really pisses me off that Saitek won't release the Windows 2000/XP software anytime soon.

[Rendar]

Lighted buttons are a Godsend.  My room is usually pitch black, so I can see things better at night in WWIIOL.

Of course I have WinXP...so the X45 will have to wait.

BTW, is calibration necessary for the X45?

[Kratzer]

Thanks for the setup Eagler... I'll take a look when I get home tonight.

It would be great to be able to assign the rotary axis to the trim - which I can do in that Il-2 demo and in CFS2 - it was great, but for some reason both would only recognize the 'thumb' rotor.

As for the setup, since we're whippin' out and comparing:
The 4 way left hand hat on mine is set to flap control, or I would put it there... the second hat on the right hand is for head movement (left, right, up, back), the left hand 'mouse' button is gear - I can't get the mouse mini-stick to calibrate correctly, so it is nothing... the pinkie switch is the map, the 'launch' is zoom, the 'D' fire is WEP, and the 'C' fire is mapped to my battlecomm mic toggle... but I think that i need to move that switch onto the 4 way left hand hat so that I can more easily look in a direction and talk over BC at the same time.  The left hand 'fire' is an 'up' modifier to go with my views on the primary hat.

[Swager]

banana!!   What ya doing with your "old" CH stuff??

I heard Funked sold a USB CH Combatstick for a good price,  I never knew!  

[Pongo]

The longevity of the top hats on the x36 is pretty much anemic, very nice stick to fly with though.

[Kratzer]

I dunno - I've had my X36 for more than a year, and the hats work fine.

[lord dolf vader]

right at 2 years on mine, hat is a little squirly but not a prob. am still totaly in love with it .