Saitek X52 Flight Control System

Very Good Joystick for the Money!

Posted Feb 7, 2006 - I used to have the some of the higher end replica joysticks, but I found them too expensive, easy to brake and did not have the twist handle feature. The X52 is a good joystick that is relative inexpensive for what you get and offer great control. I have been a Saitek fan for a couple of years now, and although the design is simple its robust and should provide years of gaming support. The only thing that I would complain about is the lack of support for the joystick on the Saitek website. It seems that they do not even have the drivers for the joystick, so don’t loose that disk.

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Saitek X52 Flight Control System

Posted Jan 12, 2007 - I'm not sure why some people say the mouse function on the throttle is useless, because it works quite well and in most games I don't have to touch the keyboard or the mouse to play at all. The only thing it really is missing is a right click but that can be programmed with software. For the price I'd say this is one of the best joysticks with throttle I've seen, but can't reliably compare it to the $200+ Thrustmaster setups since I don't have one. The only thing keeping me from rating this setup 5/5 stars is the weird resistance changes in the throttle. I've tried adjusting the tension and that doesn't affect it.

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Best controller I've used so far

Posted Aug 21, 2006 - I've used many flight joysticks in my time. This is the closest stick to providing everything I need. The only drawback is force feedback, which in nice in some games. Otherwise, there are so many programmable buttons so that you won't have to just play flight simulators with this. The controls do get loose after awhile.

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Great Stick!

Posted Jan 10, 2006 - ---First of all I was kind of disappointed when I tried to get it to work with Battlefield 1942 and found the throttle wasn’t recognized by the game (though I did NOT by any means get the stick for that game) Secondly as stated above some people have has issues with the drivers. While I have been able to get it going without much trouble with the drivers, there are a good amount of people who haven’t had as good of luck as me. And while these problems were usually resolved after a lot of trouble playing with the old/new drivers, it is always disappointing if your $100+ product doesn’t work right out of the box. ---Also GTV61 must have had a faulty stick as the mouse control on the throttle (A GREAT FEATURE BY THE WAY!) should not and does not give any problems if it is programmed correctly. And, while the drivers are not available right on the website support area (as they should be Saitek...) they are available: you have to do a little more work then GTV did. ---Instead of going to the Saitek website (www.saitek.com) if you go to the download page of Saitek (found at ftp.saitek.com) your can eventually come to (if you search right) ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/x52/x52_151205_32.exe (for Windows XP Home or Pro) or ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/x52/x52_151205_64.exe (for Windows x64). If you copy and paste the correct one (depending on your Operating System) in to your address bar you will start downloading the driver immediately! ---All in all this is a one of a kind product and if you are looking for a great stick for either a flight sim or Battlefield 2, this is the one! Truly "The only thing missing is the smell of airplane fuel as you head to your next dogfight. - Peter Suciu of PC Magazine."

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x52

Posted Oct 4, 2005 - If you are into flight sims or any online shooters that involve flying, ie battlefield 2 then this is the flight control system for you. The manual could have been better, but the build quality, the software and overall design of the unit make up for the manuals lacking. In short, this it the best flight control system I have ever used and I have been gaming from the late 80's. Enjoy

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Best flight stick i've ever used

Posted Jan 31, 2006 - I went out and got this controller for my birthday present almost exactly one full year ago. Since then it has never given me problems. It is a little bigger and heavier than most other joysticks, however that gives it a more realistic feel to it. the throttle is fully adjustable as far as the ammount of pressure it takes to move it. It goes from push it with your pinkie to pull off the suction cups before it moves at all. The multiple hat switches on the control stick come in handy, as well as the rotating and smaller throttle style controls on the actual throttle stick. On the throttle controller there is also the LCD. That and all the buttons are fully adjustable as far as illumination (brighness of the LED's and LCD screen). The features of the LCD are very handy and take very little time to figure out by simply fiddling with it. As far as the drivers go, I didn't even read the manual. Just install the drivers and go look at the joystick setup panel in the windows control panel and calibrating is SO straight forward that i had no reason WHATSOEVER to even glance at the manual. Since setting it up i've actually looked at the manual to see all the features that the X52 supports and i couldn't even list them all here. I have never worked with saitek support and cannot vouch for their service, however, due to the simplicity of setting up this EXTREMELY complex product, they have me as a customer for life.

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Vista users stay away!!

Posted Oct 8, 2007 - I have purchased this great looking joystick for $129 in Best Buy. All it does is looking great on my desk. SST software does not work with Windows Vista. Saitek does not seem to care much and still sell this useless toy to thousands of people just like me. They don't respond for e-mails and year after launch of Vista they still don't have any solution. Perhaps they still use windows 95 in China so that SST ( Saitek Smart or rather Stupid Technology) software work just fine

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Best joystick I have ever used and set my eyes on!

Posted Jun 26, 2006 - This beautiful work of art created, by the genius minds of Saitek, is the best joystick I have ever used. It is certainly an upgrade from my old $5 joystick that I used to use. I love the light up blue buttons and LCD screen. I would highly recommend this joystick to any serious gamer who enjoys flying or even if you are just starting out.

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Ummmmm...

Posted Dec 4, 2005 - Never had a problem with it.... And GTV61, something tells me you can't speak 3 languages fluently anyway. The only way I can see that the manual would be impossible to understand would be if you didn't first study flight-sim terminology. In this case, it would not be the manual's fault, but yours. As for the mouse, it is pretty much useless, but I've never had to disconect the controller to keep it from conficting. BTW, all I had to do to find these pages was type SAITEK DRIVER in google, and it was the absolute first result. If you can't figure that out, please keep your mouth shut and quit bashing other peoples hard work. www.saitek.com/uk/down... www.saitek.com/manuals...

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Bad luck on my part

Posted May 8, 2006 - I bought this stick trusting the name. I used to have the x45. I had some issues getting the joystick to work from the get go. I then tried to load a profile into the stick with the software they sent. It actually blue screened my system. I have never even seen a blue screen with windows xp. so I upgrade the software from their online site. and it still crashed my system every time I tried to load a profile. Even when I tryed to load it on the fly with the buttons on the throttle it still would not load (but it didn't crash my system when I did it this way). I am a network tech, and know a good bit about computers, and operating systems. this is one that I couldn't figure out. so I had to return the product.

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This great looking joystick is about the worst com ...

Posted Jun 20, 2005 - This great looking joystick is about the worst computer device I have purchased in 10 years. The programming manual is confusing and inaccurate in all three languages. If you lose the cd containing the drivers they are NOT Available on-line. In fact NOTHING is available on-line except a sales pitch. The built in mouse causes all kinds of issues making it necessary to disconnect the joystick when it is not in use. STAY AWAY FROM THIS ITEM.

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PATIENCE REWARDS THE PILOT WITH A GREAT CONTROLLER

Posted 1 year ago - THIS IS ONE HECK OF A NICE CONTROL SYSTEM. WOULD BE PILOTS LIKE MOST OF US IN SEARCH OF A SYSTEM EASY TO USE FLEXIBLE AND EMERSES US IN A FEELING OF ACTUALLY FLYING NEEDS TO GET THIS SYSTEM. THERE ARE A COUPLE OF RANDOM QUIRKS, BUT NOTHING TO GET EXCITED ABOUT. THERE IS A MAJOR CAVIOT IN MY STATEMENT HOWEVER. IF YOU ARE IN SEARCH OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION WITHOUT PUTTING FORTH THE EFFORT TO PROGRAM THIS SYSTEM I HAVE A COUPLE OF SUGGESTIONS. (A) GET A FOUR BUTTON JOY STICK AND BUZZ AROUND USING THE KEYBOARD. (B) FORGET ABOUT FLIGHT SIMS AND GO BACK TO PLAYING SOLITARE.

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