Deleted member 110222
D
Starting to sound like I'll be getting that new Thrustmaster if my X52 dies...
![[VR] Mad Mike](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
yeah, despite loving my X55 whilst it is working, i think I am with you there. I cant justify thowing 3 figure sums of cash at hardware i know has huge design issues in it. I cant believe saitek did not fix their highly publicised issues with the throttle wiring loom AND that the ghost button presses are still a thing.
I fought with myself over this, looking at the X-56 and the new Thrustmaster product. I ended up buying a full set of CH (Stick, Throttle, Pedals), should be here in a week or so. I'm not crazy about the pedals, but there seem to be few options in the price point. The Saitek has too many reported build quality issues, and the Thrustmaster won't be out for a while (and I want to try without twist on the joystick, since people say the accuracy is much higher). I'll post back once I'm settled in with it and see if the $300 investment was worthwhile.
hello
yes i have also bought the x56 and i have same problems with the very stiff throttle. also i am dounted by the many buttons (i had the x52 wich had problems with the handles rubber being sticky) and no support whatsoever. also the x52 had a handrest on the stick which you can alter the hight of, but this one doesn't so i cant reach the upper 4way hat switch and i do not have little hands. i wish i had just bought a new x52 pro
yes i have also bought the x56 and i have same problems with the very stiff throttle. also i am dounted by the many buttons (i had the x52 wich had problems with the handles rubber being sticky) and no support whatsoever. also the x52 had a handrest on the stick which you can alter the hight of, but this one doesn't so i cant reach the upper 4way hat switch and i do not have little hands. i wish i had just bought a new x52 pro
I am currently running on my second X55 after my first one broke (the RMA only took 3 months and an email thread with MadCatz' Global PR director)
One thing is for sure, im never buying a Saitek product again. I probably wont be able to anyways as MadCatz who own Saitek are going bust.
Last year they had to sack 30% or something like that of all employees
One thing is for sure, im never buying a Saitek product again. I probably wont be able to anyways as MadCatz who own Saitek are going bust.
Last year they had to sack 30% or something like that of all employees
I hate the stick (X-55 & X-56). They're an ergonomic fail. All of the hats and buttons are badly placed, with the exception of the big pinky at the back.
The throttle, however is (IMO) the best one out there for form and function in ED. so my fave setup, and has been for years now is the X-56 throttle along side the X-52 stick. Perfect.
The throttle, however is (IMO) the best one out there for form and function in ED. so my fave setup, and has been for years now is the X-56 throttle along side the X-52 stick. Perfect.
I agree. The stick is allright, but actually I preferred my X-55 stick. The new thumb 4-way-and-button is a bit inconvenient. Using it as secondary fire button works for missiles or cannons, but not for weapons where you want to hold down the button for longer periods of time, as it is basically impossible to keep the button pressed and still keep the stick centered while doing combat maneuvers. I had to move secondary fire to the button between the hats on top of the stick, but keeping my thumb there weakens my grip on the stick.
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In contrast, the throttle feels great. Its layout is second to none, would there not be the quality issues, it would be the absolutely best throttle you can get for Elite Dangerous. Unfortunately I can also say that my X-55 throttle after 22 months of use had the typical problems of some buttons not working reliably any more. (They worked well when the throttle was pushed forward, but did not work any more when it was zeroed, which is a typical symptom of broken cables. ) As it was still below the 24 months of warranty, I sent it back and got my money back (no replacement X-55 available any more) so I switched to the X-56.
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I very much expect cables to break again in the future. I've looked up the videos on the devices internals and can say that the way the cables are being handled, it's not surprising to happen. That's why I currently don't open anything, to not void the warranty. If it really lives longer than 24 months, I also don't worry, I know where my soldering iron is.
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In contrast, the throttle feels great. Its layout is second to none, would there not be the quality issues, it would be the absolutely best throttle you can get for Elite Dangerous. Unfortunately I can also say that my X-55 throttle after 22 months of use had the typical problems of some buttons not working reliably any more. (They worked well when the throttle was pushed forward, but did not work any more when it was zeroed, which is a typical symptom of broken cables. ) As it was still below the 24 months of warranty, I sent it back and got my money back (no replacement X-55 available any more) so I switched to the X-56.
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I very much expect cables to break again in the future. I've looked up the videos on the devices internals and can say that the way the cables are being handled, it's not surprising to happen. That's why I currently don't open anything, to not void the warranty. If it really lives longer than 24 months, I also don't worry, I know where my soldering iron is.
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All you need to do is read /hotus to get a good idea how the X55/56 perform.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hotas/
Quality? No.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hotas/
Quality? No.
I am actually in the market for a HOTAS, was about to pull the trigger on an X52 pro is this a good idea? Love the look of the x56 but the corpse a lot video was an eye opener. Was about to pull the trigger on a RAT 3 as well! Not gonna happen now...
Just received my X-56 that I bought on Amazon. If anyone plans on getting one you may want to wait (wish I had). There is no manual (yet) that I can find (ticketed at MadCatz). The dual throttle is excessively stiff no matter what setting on the adjuster. I am not that surprised as the X52 I bought and sent back was the same way. Time will tell if this gets better.
The worse problem is that there is a massive (non-adjustable) dead zone in the x and y axis in Elite Dangerous. It works in Star Citizen and Evochron Legacy so it is not the stick itself but maybe not as compatible with Elite as they claim. I can move the stick through 50% of it's throw before my ship moves and then it is full on so very hard to use with small ships.
The set up software is not the same as with the X52 as it has no setting page that you can use to check each button and switch for functionality.
Hope others have better luck with this one.
After initially returning my defective-out-of-the-box X-56 for a replacement I can say that so far, the HOTAS is OK however, it seems like everything I have been hearing about it is true. It creaks. No manual. No instructions. Profiler software sucks. Calibration slips. Clunky setup. Can't seem to map the "Slide" button to anything. Support you hear back from in a couple of weeks when you send an email, usually a request to "send video".
That being said, running "joy.cpl" and re-calibrating solved initial dead-zone and ghost-input problems, configuring small dead-zones back in for all the joysticks (3!) solved the "jumpy" problem. I will use the Rhino profiler software when a decent manual/tutorial is written for it (I am not holding my breath). Just take the time to map it all in the game controls options. Mapping the mini-joys to thrust axes is very cool, the throttle gets a little smoother over time but not much.
Maybe the hard-core player will be able to make full use of the X-56 but so far I have not mapped most of the toggle switches on the throttle and think that the most useful part of the X-56 is the 2 mini-joysticks. If you can live without those, save your money.
I'd wait for the new Thrustmaster FCS
http://www.thrustmaster.com/en_US/products/t16000m-fcs-hotas
and see how the reviews are.
Newegg says October 3 for availability... I got one on pre-order.
I got seriously interested in these. The video is for the Warthog but they have mounts for all of em basically.
Still... 200€ for 2. If I had not just ordered two of these to attach to my chair: http://www.ebay.com/itm/131595999461?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I would have went for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN83TQoI-bk
Looks awesome.
Still... 200€ for 2. If I had not just ordered two of these to attach to my chair: http://www.ebay.com/itm/131595999461?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I would have went for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN83TQoI-bk
Looks awesome.
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I got those for my x55 (which broke unfortunately). these are very nice mounts! now i wait for the thrustmaster before i get the x56.
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I have x55, had the same issues also that same issue for stick its was getting very stiff and noisy.
Fixed with applying regular oil - especially effective for stick - works like new no noise at all...
About general quality its bad...this is my second unit, first had failed switches basically i can use it for exploration, but not for combat anymore...
Just received my X-56 that I bought on Amazon. If anyone plans on getting one you may want to wait (wish I had). There is no manual (yet) that I can find (ticketed at MadCatz). The dual throttle is excessively stiff no matter what setting on the adjuster. I am not that surprised as the X52 I bought and sent back was the same way. Time will tell if this gets better.
The worse problem is that there is a massive (non-adjustable) dead zone in the x and y axis in Elite Dangerous. It works in Star Citizen and Evochron Legacy so it is not the stick itself but maybe not as compatible with Elite as they claim. I can move the stick through 50% of it's throw before my ship moves and then it is full on so very hard to use with small ships.
The set up software is not the same as with the X52 as it has no setting page that you can use to check each button and switch for functionality.
Hope others have better luck with this one.
It works. I am using one and everything you read or hear about the X-56 is true, good and bad. They (Mad Catz) are not going to do anything about it because they have no competition to encourage improvement. Nobody else is making anything even remotely similar. It is sad, that as poor in quality and expensive as the X-56 is, it is still the best HOTAS option for ED because of the extra mini-joysticks. All any other company has to do is make the same HOTAS with slightly better ergonomics and higher basic quality and MadCatz would be forced to improve their product. I do not use the Rhino software.
As for your dead zone problem I had the same problem and found that using Windows joy.cpl to re-calibrate the joystick(s) and throttle solved that for me. After re-calibrating I actually had to add dead-zones back in for all the joysticks, they all got so twitchy. Several users have noted the throttle action can be improved by opening the unit up and removing most/all of the grease/lubricant in the throttle, this voids the warranty so I live with it.
Just an addendum to my above posting that I expect the throttle to die again:
- The way the cables are being lead and handled has not changed from the X-55. This means the same physical stress is happening to the wires and breakage still is likely.
- MadCatz on a twitter posting claimed that they changed the type of wires being used. There is no way for me to confirm that. Somebody would need to disassemble both an X-55 and X-56 and take a closer look at the wires. (And it would have to be somebody who's more an expert on wires than I am. While soldering was something they taught me during my time at the technical university, the quality and materials of wires was never discussed. )
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The mentioned video of Corpsealot makes a point that by changing the way the wires were handled physical stress on the wires could be reduced. (But never completely eliminated. ) But there's also the statement of MadCatz, that this quality problem was being addressed by using higher quality wires. If this is true or just a PR statement is, at least as far as I know, yet unconfirmed, but while cable stress will still happen, higher quality cables might move the problem several years into the future. (Which at least from the point of view of MadCatz solves the problem of the product being returned while the warranty is still valid. )
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Having a soldering iron handy might still be a good idea, but if the cable quality really was improved, I also think that the normal user won't run into the problem.
- The way the cables are being lead and handled has not changed from the X-55. This means the same physical stress is happening to the wires and breakage still is likely.
- MadCatz on a twitter posting claimed that they changed the type of wires being used. There is no way for me to confirm that. Somebody would need to disassemble both an X-55 and X-56 and take a closer look at the wires. (And it would have to be somebody who's more an expert on wires than I am. While soldering was something they taught me during my time at the technical university, the quality and materials of wires was never discussed. )
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The mentioned video of Corpsealot makes a point that by changing the way the wires were handled physical stress on the wires could be reduced. (But never completely eliminated. ) But there's also the statement of MadCatz, that this quality problem was being addressed by using higher quality wires. If this is true or just a PR statement is, at least as far as I know, yet unconfirmed, but while cable stress will still happen, higher quality cables might move the problem several years into the future. (Which at least from the point of view of MadCatz solves the problem of the product being returned while the warranty is still valid. )
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Having a soldering iron handy might still be a good idea, but if the cable quality really was improved, I also think that the normal user won't run into the problem.
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And a small addendum to the deadzone: I yet have to see a joystick which doesn't require a deadzone. Even a friend of mine who uses a Warthog sets a tiny bit of a deadzone for whatever he uses it for. On the X-55 and X-56 I also was able to operate with a very small deadzone being set on the joystick. The only thing where I needed a significant deadzone were the rotaries on the X-56 on my first setup. To understand that, on my X-55 I used the two rotaries on the throttle for speed override and vertical thruster override. Throttle override allows some nice reverse-maneuvers and vertical thrust override had a very small niche use in FA-off combat in gravitation of when landing on high gravitation worlds.
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When copying that setup to the X-56, I unfortunately found that the rotaries on my X-56 were of noticeable lower precision that on my old X-55, so they needed a much bigger deadzone. But as I quite soon afterwards learned that I could only either use the thumb sticks or the rotaries for this function and not bind both in parallel, the rotaries lost this function soon afterwards. The thumbsticks on the other hand, at least on my joystick, are very precise, up to actually being a little too responsive for my taste.
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And a small addendum to the deadzone: I yet have to see a joystick which doesn't require a deadzone. Even a friend of mine who uses a Warthog sets a tiny bit of a deadzone for whatever he uses it for. On the X-55 and X-56 I also was able to operate with a very small deadzone being set on the joystick. The only thing where I needed a significant deadzone were the rotaries on the X-56 on my first setup. To understand that, on my X-55 I used the two rotaries on the throttle for speed override and vertical thruster override. Throttle override allows some nice reverse-maneuvers and vertical thrust override had a very small niche use in FA-off combat in gravitation of when landing on high gravitation worlds.
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When copying that setup to the X-56, I unfortunately found that the rotaries on my X-56 were of noticeable lower precision that on my old X-55, so they needed a much bigger deadzone. But as I quite soon afterwards learned that I could only either use the thumb sticks or the rotaries for this function and not bind both in parallel, the rotaries lost this function soon afterwards. The thumbsticks on the other hand, at least on my joystick, are very precise, up to actually being a little too responsive for my taste.
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CH Products FTW.
Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
As Steven has already said - if you get an X55/X56, first thing to do is open up the throttle and remove most of the "Grease" from the mechanism. That will make it 1000% better - the stiffness adjustment on the left will then work correctly instead of going between "Geoff Capes" and "Incredible Hulk" settings.
Also - note that need to have the joystick plugged in BEFORE starting ED. ED won't recognise a stick which is plugged in after it launches.
Also - note that need to have the joystick plugged in BEFORE starting ED. ED won't recognise a stick which is plugged in after it launches.