I'm in the market for something as I've become dissatisfied with the X56 I bought the X56 less then 2 years ago and while the buttons didn't wear out like the X55 that I'd had for years previously it is garbage. The joystick sticks and and is sloppy. The throttle will advance by itself to full unless you have the tension turned up to the point where it's hard to move the throttle quickly. Logitech really failed on the X56 in my opinion. I wonder if all their joysticks are now the same crappy quality. I know I have a couple old Logitech G Extreme 3D Pro that all the buttons on the bottom stopped working.
I was thinking to buy the vkb but since the throttle I have is no good I may need to buy a complete rig. I bought the Thrustmaster
Thrustmaster T.16000M stick and throttle for cheap but it feels that way to me. The stick doesn't seem to have much travel to full deflection (kinda like the TM hotas) and the throttle feels like it cost about $5 to make. The TM hotas I had started spiking badly on the twist axis after about 6 months.
I was leaning to the VKB for $135 but this seems like a decent deal, however, I'm not sure I want to be the guinea pig who finds out all the crap that's wrong with it 6 months down the road.
I'm also considering a CH pro stick but I've heard some stuff lately that makes me think their quality has slipped.
And then there's Virpil which I know nothing about.