Another thing that didn't work quite as intended is the stick rotation lock, once you pull out the lock you shouldn't be able to rotate the stick, but with little effort my stick rotates and feels as if something is about to give when I do so. I could tell right away that this was not supposed to be like that, but I don't use the switch, so I wasn't going to go out of my way to go through the return process. For one, the "mode selector" switch was easily able to rotate past it's intended positions. I was let down as I got to play around with it more because of certain things that felt "broken". I was really impressed with the size and detail and feel of this stick. This stick blew me away, but there were some issues. Metal to metal is never a good idea without lubracation with moving parts. Saitec should be doing this at the factory. I chose to try to solve the problem my self rather than go through the hassel of sending in back and it paid off. Two tiny drops of machine oil took care of that. Needless to say I was a little upset after spending over 150 bucks for it and I have only had it a couple of months and just gave it a good review.Īfter a little investigating I discovered that the problem was the large washer under the spring rubbing against the shaft of the joystick. My stick suddenly began to " bind up " a little when doing a right bank in my flight Sim, the motion was not smooth anymore. I felt that I needed to share this problem with other X-52 Pro owners. I just gave this stick a review in Jan 2014, not more than a week ago.
I will update this if I run across any notable situations, but don't expect any. i am not sure but I am hoping I am as fortunate with the new system and before. I may have been lucky or due to taking time to program and setup the system may have made a difference. I have read many reviews and honestly I have never had any of the problems some people have mentioned. I hope the new one is as good as my first.
I wound up taking it apart and seeing what it was made of and I was really impressed with the construction and the maze of wires. The joystick though, still worked like new. Some of the switches just stopped working and the throttle was sticking. I just ordered the new x52 pro flight system and am looking forward to the freedom of flying at home again.ĭue to an injury I was not able to fly for a while.
No need to fret over their software unless you like spending a lot of time trying to get it all to work. Win 7 by itself does a great job of configuring the X52 Pro system as soon as you plug it into a usb port.
The new Haswell i5 4670k oc'ed to 4.2 Ghz and the Asus GTX 770 really kick butt on the new bedroom setup! Oh by the way, I have never used the Saitek Driver or sst programming software as to it being a pain in the posterior from past experience. I setup a Digital Storm Vanquish level 4 machine in my bedroom due to arthritis in my knees at age 56 makes it difficult to make the trip up and down the basements stairs to the old i7 950 oc'ed to 3.85 Ghz and a pair of GTX 570's for multi monitor ops.
I can not testify to the longevity since I have only had this setup on my bedroom simulator setup for a couple of months now. The configurable led backlighting when looking at the settings from the device and printers area of win 7 is pretty awesome and there are a considerable number of back lighted switches and knobs on the pro system that really makes it stand out from other devices on the market. The Metal parts of this stick and throttle gives a overall better impression of quality to the Pro version.
It returns to center better than I ever remember my old X52 did.
The dual spring design is also a plus in the twist ( rudder ) part of the Pro. I have had an original CH yoke and I now use the CH Eclipse and CH rudder pedals in my main sim setup in my basement and even though they are great yokes, I can fly more precise with the X52 Pro. The X52 Pro is listed as having twice the sensors and I believe it is true as I have never had the precision that it delivers to my flying. I had a Plain Saitek X52 years ago and one of the Hall Effect Sensors would Intermittently Fail and the stick would not center in roll otherwise it was a good stick.