saitek X45 vs X52

[Mister ED]

I have used several X45s.  I liked them, jsut had to replace them once a year. They just dont last that long.

As far as them moving around the desktop. I glued anti movment pads for dishes to the bottoms. Worked real well.

The X52 is lighter duty than the X45, I passed

[ALF]

X-52 has optical pickups for the X and Y axis so zero spiking...ever.

X-52 has a MUCH lighter spring than the X45 (or x36)...its as light (perhaps a hair lighter) as the CH sticks.  If your used to the X45/36 it going to take a week or so to become comfortable with it.  At 1st I was bouncing all over the place, but its much nicer for long flights and precision movements.

X-52 can accomodate larger hands with an adjustable hand rest and pinky trigger, you can make it as small as the X45/36 or up to about 1" bigger.

X-52 has twisty stick instead of rocker on the throttle and the twist can be locked if you dont like twisty sticks...ie:ME

X-52 has 2 stage trigger...great fo mapping maching guns for partial pull and maching guns and cannon for full pull.

Be advised the mouse wheel looking thing on the throttle is good as a press in button, but 100% useless as anything else, it dosnt record movement consitently, so it basically sucks.

There are of course variations on the button placement and such but those are the major upgrades from the prev sticks.

My X-52 review December 2004

[jaxxo]

howd ya get the 2 stage trigger working?

[ALF]

Its just a trigger that has one keypress activated when you pull it down a little, and a second (in addition to the 1st) when you depress it all the way....you can just map the seperte DX inputs to each dente (I only have 2 or 3 buttons on my stick 'programed' for AH2, I have setup the AH2 program to do what I want based on the direct X button defaults each button press has)

[RTSigma]

Here is my review of the X52 as well. I like it because of my small hands but the twisty rudder isn't my cup o' tea. If they are paired with CH Pro Rudder Pedals you are pretty much set.

http://www.gameplasma.com/articles,id,96.html

[Gunthr]

Its funny how particular individual tastes are in joysticks.  

I think the x52 is a quality stick, but its unusable for me because the control throws are just way too large.   For instance, to do a quick aileron roll, it seems I have to move the stick wayyyyyyyy farther right or left than on my sidewinder.  I just cant get used to it.

[RTSigma]

Originally posted by Gunthr
Its funny how particular individual tastes are in joysticks.  

I think the x52 is a quality stick, but its unusable for me because the control throws are just way too large.   For instance, to do a quick aileron roll, it seems I have to move the stick wayyyyyyyy farther right or left than on my sidewinder.  I just cant get used to it.

Gunthr, I solved this problem by turning up the inputs in flight sim's controls. In AH all my input sliders are at 100 for exact control. And since the X and Y pots are optical, it is very precise.

[jaxxo]

yeah my roll seems sluggish at best..will try that

[MnkyMeat]

I use to have teh Saitek X45  and it was a piece of crap...  It totaly died at one point so,,, I dcided to take a gamble and get the X52  and its been perfect for me.  It doesnt spike at all.  I figured out a great map config ( use it with Ruddr pedals and IR tracker)  Has more buttons than i could use,, lol,, I dont bother with the diffrent modes  too lazzy to map them all.   But what i do recomend,,, is to make all the buttons as keys..  ie.  2 stage trigger is F and N key..  so dont use buttons ,, make them all keys and will be very easy to program.

and if you saying you cant get use to it,  that means your just lazzy...  always takes time to get use to something new...  took me about a month or 2   just to get use to using my IRtracker,... but now that I have I will never go back to  a hatswitch...  now hatwitches are just extra keys  for vox  etc.
Good luck.

Cheers

MonkeyMeat

[Bronk]

Just turned in my X-45 to best buy. Hehe love that service plan got the X-52 as a replacement . Much smoother controls.  I think once I get use to button place ment my flying should improve.

The X-45 was just to jittery for fine adjustments.




Bronk

[38ruk]

Originally posted by jaxxo
the x52 has good grips..doesnt move at all on the desk...the twisty rudder is horribly unergonomic...pedals on the way....other than that i love it

I just got my rudder pedals with an X-52 , and i must say that the ability to fine tune is outstanding. The X-52 stick isnt molded for a hand, its basically like twisting a broom handle to me ,   so it's hard  to twist smoothly. (especially  to the left )  Its going to take me awhile to get used to the pedals , but i can see how good it will be eventually .