Saitek X45 Questions

[Innominate]

Well it looks like after a year and a half, and some 5000+hours of use, my afterburner is finally starting to die.

I've been looking at the X45 for a while, but have had some reservations about it.  I'm wondering if anyone here who owns one could answer a few questions for me.

• I owned a Saitek Cyborg 3d for a while, and had to ditch it because the centering mechanism on it wore out, and became unbelievably mushy.  I noticed the X45 uses a similar method for centering.  Does the X45 spring mush out after a month or two?  And if it does, is there any easy way to fix it or get around it?
• I really like the rocker control for rudder on my afterburner, but on the X45 the movement range seems very small, is the rudder control on the X45 precise enough for small control movements with the rudder?
• Recently Saitek has finally released SGE drivers for win2k/XP.  There are also third party drivers available that I've seen.  Do any of these drivers offer full programming abilities for the saitek sticks under win2k/xp?  Are there any bugs or issues with it?

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[airspro]

Buy another afterburner IMO , no way the main hat switch on a x45 last you 5000 hours .

[Eagler]

I use pedals with my X45 so dunno about rocker question - use it for aileron trim which it works very well for me. But my guess to this is yes.

I use Win98 for games (XP dual boot for work & other stuff) so dunno about Win2k questions, just know you can't use rotors with win2000/xp. think the rest works well.

The center spring doesn't wear out for me. I have the hat and trigger go in about 6 months. I get around this by buying stick at CompUSA with in store replacement warranty for another $10. Then in six months go switch it out for new X45, lay down another $10 for another replacement policy, in 6 months - repeat process.  

try it, take it back if not happy - but it ain't gonna last anywhere near 5000 hrs ( 2 hrs a day = 2500/365 = almost 7 YEARS - ahhh .. nope

[-dead-]

Recently Saitek has finally released SGE drivers for win2k/XP.  There are also third party drivers available that I've seen.  Do any of these drivers offer full programming abilities for the saitek sticks under win2k/xp?  Are there any bugs or issues with it?

The Saitek SST Drivers for XP with full programmability are slated for release on Friday (was last Friday, but it was - surprise, surprise - delayed). The drivers are no doubt going to be buggy, although hopefully less so than the old SGE stuff.
The third party dhauzimmer ones may well do all of it, but they aren't the most accessible or easy to use/program yet.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by -dead-
The Saitek SST Drivers for XP with full programmability are slated for release on Friday (was last Friday, but it was - surprise, surprise - delayed). The drivers are no doubt going to be buggy, although hopefully less so than the old SGE stuff.
The third party dhauzimmer ones may well do all of it, but they aren't the most accessible or easy to use/program yet.

delayed again

[Innominate]

The dhauzimmer are pretty good, and programming the stick with hazardscript is easier than it seems.

[Nifty]

end of october for rotary programming...

suuuuuuuure.

It'll take them the rest of the year I bet.  

oh well, I'm getting used to not having the rotaries do anything.

[sourkraut]

I've had my X45 since last January and I'm already starting to have problems with the main hat switch. When I pull right on the stick the hat switch thinks its being pulled right.


Use dhauzimmer's driver and program with hazardscript.

Sour

[krazyhorse]

ive had no probs with mine , iuse the rotories for rpm (prop)  and trim (airleron)

[Innominate]

How do you use a rotary for trim?

[krazyhorse]

set it up under ah configs in setup joystick,oops my bad its on my aux switch

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Innominate
How do you use a rotary for trim?

you break it into three bands

two large ones and a small one in the middle

the one in the middle is your dead zone (neutral) with the ones above and below the activators. you move it out of middle to trim which way you want then move it back to center to stop. Easy once you get the hang of it.

here's an example of it:
http://www.pogbird.com/AcesHigh_Profile.zip

this uses the rocker in the throttle as aileron trim, the rotor up front as rudder trim and the thumb rotor as elevator trim

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Eagler
delayed again

and again .. now Nov 22