Need advice from joystick vets.

ghostookami

G
So I've only recently pick up this game last week. Its been amazing so far and I can tell I will be spending a lot of time in it, as well as some of the other upcoming space flight games in the coming years.

I have never owned a joystick and wanted to dive in and see what was out there. at first I was lead toward the Saitek x55/x52, but after reading a lot of reviews in newegg, amazon and reddit I feel like that thing is plagued with issues and am not willing to spend 200$ on an "if it works" situation. I looked at thrustmaster, but they are either waaaaay out of my price range or they don't look that promising. One I was looking at was the Thrustmaster T-flight hotas. While its what I want, a joystick+throttle it combined only has 12 programmable buttons and still being 200$ on newegg, 100$ on amazon.

The only other one that I might like is the 30$ Logitech 3d joystick. Its way cheaper than the thrustmaster and has the same amount of keys. only con is it doesn't have a throttle.

So help me out here guys, im at a loss. I want something that's built great but isn't over around 200$.
 

wizzpig

wizzpig
Hello there Commander Ghostookami :)
I have used the Logitech 3D and I have to say it's a great little budget joystick. The only issue I found with it was after a while it became a little 'loose' and so I had to adjust the dead-zone area in the game settings. Other than that, I thought it was really good, with a nice light feel and pretty comfortable. I had no issues with using it along with keyboard for thrust and throttle etc.

I've recently switched over to the X55 Rhino and I am loving it! Personally, I have had no issues whatsoever. I particularly love the throttle. So much so I am at a loss as to how I managed to fly without it.

:)
 

jhoff80

J
The T Flight HOTAS X is only that expensive because it's currently out of stock everywhere. I picked it up 2 weeks ago for $50 shipped. As for it not having enough buttons, personally I find it to have more than enough with the right profile. The game lets you set up shift buttons to add more functions. See Crab's thread for a great start.
 
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ghostookami

G
I keep second thinking myself and its driving me nuts. I really do want a throttle so im going to see if I cant find a thrustmaster hotas x, I have heard through youtube and such that people were picking it up really cheap so yea I don't want to pay twice what others paid. on the other hand maybe I should just try the Saitek x55, I could always RMA it I suppose.

EDIT - T-dog, what OS are you using. ive heard the x55 has some mess ups on windows 8/8,1
 
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CMDR. GALAHAD 1960

C
Hey cmdr. Iuse the thrustmaster hotas x it really adds to the immersion and makes you feel like a pilot of your ship. mapping the buttons and there are plenty, is very simple and there are lots of other cmdrs.set ups here in forums. In my opinion it is money worth spent! also you should check out voice attack while you wait for your stick to arrive. again money worth spent and the trial is free check out you tube. I hope this was useful. happy contrails
 

Cmdr Andy B

Cmdr Andy B
i use an Xbox 360 controller and have done since beta, with the ability to set modifiers only having a dozen buttons isn't that much of an issue as you can still set plenty of controls up.

this is my controller setup:

left throttle+B to deploy landing gear,
left throttle+Y for my scoop,
both throttles together opens the gal map,
right throttle+B activates hyperspace (B on its own supercruise)
Y+D pad for targeting next (right), previous (left), highest threat (up)
right throttle+Back toggles flight assist on/off.

all other controls are as standard bindings for a control pad, i don't use Yaw as i can fight well enough without it.
 

ghostookami

G
well, I just read a comment on youtube that put something into perspective. I don't REALLY need all those buttons on the x55....soooo I kinda am looking for the thrustmaster tflight x....BUT I CANT FIND ONE! lol why does it have to be sold out everywhere!
 

Cmdr Andy B

Cmdr Andy B
ghostookami said:
well, I just read a comment on youtube that put something into perspective. I don't REALLY need all those buttons on the x55....soooo I kinda am looking for the thrustmaster tflight x....BUT I CANT FIND ONE! lol why does it have to be sold out everywhere!
Click to expand...

because ED was released just before xmas and all the new players bought out the stock of them ;)
 

Wolfox

Wolfox
ghostookami said:
So I've only recently pick up this game last week. Its been amazing so far and I can tell I will be spending a lot of time in it, as well as some of the other upcoming space flight games in the coming years.

I have never owned a joystick and wanted to dive in and see what was out there. at first I was lead toward the Saitek x55/x52, but after reading a lot of reviews in newegg, amazon and reddit I feel like that thing is plagued with issues and am not willing to spend 200$ on an "if it works" situation. I looked at thrustmaster, but they are either waaaaay out of my price range or they don't look that promising. One I was looking at was the Thrustmaster T-flight hotas. While its what I want, a joystick+throttle it combined only has 12 programmable buttons and still being 200$ on newegg, 100$ on amazon.

The only other one that I might like is the 30$ Logitech 3d joystick. Its way cheaper than the thrustmaster and has the same amount of keys. only con is it doesn't have a throttle.

So help me out here guys, im at a loss. I want something that's built great but isn't over around 200$.
Click to expand...

Look for a stick that uses magnets for stick position, you won't regret it!! Might be more expensive, but you will be having a better feeling. I had the thrustmaster like the T-flight but without the Throttle, My that stick was BAAAAAD, i used it for a while on my left hand, only nice point was the fact that you could find the sweet spot easily due to the stick becoming more stiff at half run.
Now I have a T16000 M, another planet!!
If you find a stand alone throttle, go for the combination T16000M+throttle. I think is the best cheapest combination.
If you will plan to have VA, yes all the buttons are not needed, you can also bind most command on the top buttons and with Shift possibilities you can double or triple the button capabilities/functions.
 
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Badda Boss

B
I had the same doubts looking at the reviews on the X52/55. Seemed to be a hit and miss thing.

I did jump on the 55 (I like the design WAY more than the 52 and the spring system is cool).

What I did was buy it from a vendor that guaranteed to take back (any) item for any reason and give me money back if not satisfied.

And I have had no issues at all - only joy (pun intended). The combo of the X55 and the DK2 is absurd, and the immersion and gameplay joy in Elite is top notch.
 

Rick_Black

R
I have a X55 and i really like it a lot so im not sure why you read so many bad reviews... As far as not having enough buttons, get voice attack its really awesome for the immersion feeling since it only makes sense that you would be able to talk to your ship in the future.This is from my DK2 setup post. Voice Attack> It uses your windows speech recognition engine so you need to set that up for best results. So go to the Control Panel then Ease of Access then under Speech Recognition take the Speech Tutorial and the Train Your Computer To Better Understand You. After that if it still does not recognize a specific word then you just need to open notepad or similar and use the method you learned when going through the setup process. You can even setup the alphabet (I use the phonetic alphabet) and numbers with it so you never have to take the rift off to type again. I think that is as close to total immersion as you can get.
 
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Flangduck

Flangduck
I got my X-55 specifically for all the 'extra' buttons, hat switches, rotaries, etc.
Useful not only for ED but for all other flight sims.
After comparing this to the X-52 which I had been seriously considering it was a no-brainer.
Now if Frontier would just release a ship that could make use of the twin throttle ability......... :>)

For those that do own one there are a few helpful tools provided by fellow players.
This one in particular gets my nod of approval: Saitek X-55 Bindings Reference Sheet
 

simone

simone
I bought a joystick just for the game but went back to using mouse and keyboard because it is just more precise to play
 
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