Hardware & Technical Flightstick question.

[Deathman16]

Hi all, im back again. I recently purchashed a Saitek fly 5, to which broke within 3 days, im hoping to get my money back and looking for something decent to work on ED. My idea is to get the Saitek x52 hotas flight controller, but im unsure if it will work with ED, or if its even worth it, its the only thing around the same price range.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Regards, ben.

 

[Rick Venus]

Got the x52 a couple of days ago and love it!
Just plugged it in and proceeded to die repeatedly and hysterically while trying to figure out (but not look up) the button mappings.

Blameshift Drive Charging!

 

[rebelredneck]

Tried both the X 55 and Thrustmaster warthog ... and in my opinion the warthog is worth the extra investment ... the X 55 seems to cheap and plastic for its price tag compared with the warthog

 

[Deyu]

Hi all, im back again. I recently purchashed a Saitek fly 5, to which broke within 3 days, im hoping to get my money back and looking for something decent to work on ED. My idea is to get the Saitek x52 hotas flight controller, but im unsure if it will work with ED, or if its even worth it, its the only thing around the same price range.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Regards, ben.

The x52 and x52pro are basically the official ED joysticks. Even the in-game joystick and throttle are modelled after them. I have an x52 and it works like a charm.

 

[Sugarat]

I have had x52 pro six months, after going through 2 other joysticks in 3 months. Saw lots of comments about x52 quality but pleased to say had no problems other than a little "jitter" on the throttle, which was easily fixed by setting a tiny deadzone. Hotas for this game makes a huge difference imo. Didn't really think I needed one before I got it, don't think I could go back now tho'

 

[Genus]

I'd stay clear of the X55, does not work well with Elite. I've had no end of issues with it from ghosting, phantom instructions leading to death and lately, stick death. The throttle still works after 6 months though. Hopefully the replacement unit will work better...

Go the extra mile and grab a Warthog, or risk an X52 Pro is the best advice I can give you.

 

[zx81]

I like you had the fly 5 .. it also broke and went into a constant roll .. the wires inside are just to short, I've re-soldered mine at least 6 times I got fed up with that and got the X52 Pro .. much much better joystick .. so many buttons its a bit confusing at first but you don't need to take your hands off it at all wen playing and the protected hard mounts button is great.. no more accidentally opening fire when docking (admit it you've all done it! ) I was originally going to get the X55 Rhino but it does not have the twist rudder and you will miss that if you have been using the fly5.

 

[Egg90]

ED was designed around the x52, the button layout you see on your ingame virtual stick is exactly the same so yes it will definitely work.
A lot of people diss the x52 for being plasticy and cheaply made, but a lot more including myself have been very happy with it. There are a few issues that seem to crop up if you are unlucky, which people have solved with a little DIY. I've used mine a lot over about 8 months and have had to take the base off the stick to re-attach a broken wire, and add some grease when the stick movement became creaky.
Others will probably tell you to get a Rhino or Warthog instead, but then you are looking at serious money

 

[Deathman16]

I like you had the fly 5 .. it also broke and went into a constant roll .. the wires inside are just to short, I've re-soldered mine at least 6 times I got fed up with that and got the X52 Pro .. much much better joystick .. so many buttons its a bit confusing at first but you don't need to take your hands off it at all wen playing and the protected hard mounts button is great.. no more accidentally opening fire when docking (admit it you've all done it! ) I was originally going to get the X55 Rhino but it does not have the twist rudder and you will miss that if you have been using the fly5.

You actually nailed my issue perfectly, i undocked fine, and then it just went dead and into a constant roll.

To those saying get a warthog or rhino, thats not possible, as im relying on the refund from the fly 5 and a little extra i can scrape together to buy the X52 hotas.
I cant even push to get the pro.

 

[zx81]

as far as I'm aware the x52 and pro are practically the same the pro has a lcd screen which can display button configuration or if the game supports it game information ... I however have not installed the joystick software so the LCD is useless in my case.

as for the constant spinning I was in the middle of a dogfight when it happened I thought he had hit my engines or something I thought that's a cool engine damage effect ... then it didn't go away

 

[rebelredneck]

ED was designed around the x52, the button layout you see on your ingame virtual stick is exactly the same so yes it will definitely work.
A lot of people diss the x52 for being plasticy and cheaply made, but a lot more including myself have been very happy with it. There are a few issues that seem to crop up if you are unlucky, which people have solved with a little DIY. I've used mine a lot over about 8 months and have had to take the base off the stick to re-attach a broken wire, and add some grease when the stick movement became creaky.
Others will probably tell you to get a Rhino or Warthog instead, but then you are looking at serious money

Sorry breaking after 8 months and you fixing it yourself to me is not acceptable!!!

My old quickshot 2 joystick outlast 4 spectrums (48k, 128k, +, +2) and that was 30 years ago

Just goes to show they dont make decent products nowadays

 

[Antmax]

X52's do that too after a while. The metal shaft rubs on the wires coming out the bottom of the metal shaft till the wires get severed. Takes a while but still pretty bad design. I replaced about 6 wires over the last year with thicker wires from a old case front panel USB/sound cable.

Then the handle started getting sloppy where it joins the shaft. Superglued them together to fix that which fixed a lot of the problems so I didn't need to stiffen the spring to compensate (hide the slop by adding pressure along the shaft). Then I got an old FFB and CH throttle and never looked back. Saitek sticks have that awful vertical spring in the center which messes up accuracy when transitioning across the center. Something I no longer have to worry about. Plus I can set variable spring, damping and resistance electronically.

No fancy force feedback effects since the game doesn't support them. I do miss the extra buttons though. I get by with the CH throttles extra hats that can be used as buttons and having multiple combo buttons.

 

[Darth Ender]

damn. The people's stories about fixing their $200 dollar hotas just sounds crazy to me, especially when they're less than a year old. How can I justify spending that cash when you can get a logitech extreme3d pro for 30 bucks and it has the same apparent lifespan?

Your 200 dollar joystick should not need servicing like a 30 dollar one. Something is wrong there and encouraging people to buy into the same mistake sounds wrong as well. I'd like to think these stories are corner cases but you see it discussed everywhere. Seems like lack of alternatives is the saving grace for these companies products.

 

[sikuwolfy]

I'm also in the 200$ x55 Rhino breaks a few months after purchase club. The throttle and associated buttons on it work fine, however all the buttons on the flight stick died in the middle of the game one day. Ive tried all the different community fixes I could find and the buttons remain dead. Now I'm back to my old 8 year joystick that mysteriously still works.

 

[Katkon]

I went from the X52 Pro to the Warthog. The latter is incredible - so heavy and well-built in comparison, and with far more programmable buttons. If you can spare the cash, I'd say Warthog. But be prepared to also spend some money on some combat pedals if you go that route as the Warthog doesn't have twist-yaw. You can program it to a button, but you won't get the fine-tuned movement you get with pedals.

 

[scbfromnc]

I always spend some time reading reviews on Amazon before buying. I like a joystick that has twist action (many use that for yaw, I use it for roll). It's also important to look at the recent reviews as some of the more recently released versions of X-52 and x-55 systems seem to have quality problems. I went with Thrustmaster T16000m joystick and CH Pro Throttle. CH makes some of the best products out there, but their joystick doesn't have that twist action that's important to me.

 

[Cryptex]

Each of these joysticks comes with a few "inherent qualities" that you have to deal with. X52 works amazing for Elite. More than enough buttons, comfortable grip(You haven't seen cheap plastic if you think it's made of it), and it already comes with mapping since FDev use it as their official joystick.

Some of those qualities involve pretty crappy software, some driver issues, poor internal design concerning certain wires in the base, and most frequently - the external cable connecting the joystick to the throttle can kill out on you. While I have yet to experience any of these (other than the crap software causing problems), my friend has had an issue with the external cable. (We've both had Elite since release in 2014 and have been using our Joysticks since then for it. He's had his a lot longer than me though for other stuff, so his is older)

It's a great joystick and worth the buy in my opinion, but be prepared for the off chance it may have some issues after extended use. Nothing google or the warranty can't fix though.

 

[Captain Hammer]

I fly with a "frsky taranis plus" channels 1-8 are fully proportional and channels 9-16 act like buttons i modded the case on the back and added a primary fire button and a secondary fire button . when you plug it into your pc it shows up as a standard joystick.

i have a 3 position switch (GH) set for Function Changing.
with it in the top position its in "flight mode"

Flight mode specs
Changes secondary fire to "Enable Frame shift Drive"
Changes Throttle to forward Flight only

(GH) set to Center Position is "combat mode 1"
specs

full throttle range on left stick (up full throttle forward) (down full throttle revers)
initializes secondary fire button for fire group 2
pulling up on pitch adds (Thrust up) automatically
pushing down on pitch adds (thrust down) automatically
yaw right adds (thrust right) automatically
yaw Left adds (thrust Left) automatically

GH down is basically the same as "combat mode 1" except thrusters are reversed

channels 7 and 8 are for my Arduino head tracker http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1677559
linked with this http://www.getfpv.com/headplay-hd-fpv-headset-w-32ch-5-8ghz-receiver.html
you can find cheaper VR Gear im sure i just happen to have the head play already
like Google cardboard virtual reality 3D glasses

i have almost all the buttons i need on the one remote. i got this for power distribution and miscellaneous buttons i don't use much "Landing gear, Silent running, Galaxy Map, system map, Pip allocation, comms panel, systems panel,

 

[Darth Ender]

I use my taranis plus for rc.. would look extremely weird playing a space game with it.

So i guess the argument for 200+ dollar joysticks is A. you get to repair your expensive joystick early on and probably on-going as you use it and B. You get to buy more things to provide features standard on 30 dollar ones (twist stick)

meh. I'm going to keep using my cheap one until Saitek fixes their QA problem.

 

[Antmax]

So i guess the argument for 200+ dollar joysticks is A. you get to repair your expensive joystick early on and probably on-going as you use it and B. You get to buy more things to provide features standard on 30 dollar ones (twist stick)

meh. I'm going to keep using my cheap one until Saitek fixes their QA problem.

If your handy with a soldering iron the saitek sticks are dead easy to use. Most of the problems are stupidly simple to fix if they do go wrong (typically les s than 10 minutes) and working ones can be picked up for $50 - $80 if your patient. Local craigslist has a pretty rare Logitech 940 for $50 right now. I had a Saitek X52 but switched to the MS FFB2 and CH Pro Throttle when I picked them both up for $60.

In the end the HOTAS setup is far superior to a $30 stick so long as your comfortable fiddling. Most problems are easy to fix. I'm about to splice the buttons on the base of the FFB2 and put new thumb and pinkie buttons on the stick since they are useless on the base if your left hand is on the throttle.

In the end it depends what kind of immersion you want. Authentic controls help a lot especially combined with head tracking.

I started with the Logitech Extreme 3D pro, then X52 and now use the older Pro Throttle and MS FFB2 combo which is more precise and accurate than the newer sticks.