If the difference between flight controllers was solely the number of buttons - we'd all use the keyboard instead.
The CH has 3 fundamental advantages over the Saitek:
1) Higher quality overall construction (translating to durability, and for most people, a tremendous reduction in calibration issues, spiking, and greater mechanical precision)
2) A dual spring tension system that increases resistance as you move the stick away from center (in contrast to the spring loaded sliding ring system that has the most tension at center)
3) Designed to be user repairable. Potentiometers eventually wear. If you've ever opened a Saitek X series, you realize very quickly that it's never meant to be repaired. By contrast, you can easily replace a failing potentiometer or deal with a failing switch in the CH stick.
That's not to say that it's "perfect", or couldn't be improved upon.
Congratulations on your purchase, if you are like 98% of the people who've used both, you'll be very very happy with it.
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