I know my thread is about mice, not HOTAS, but there seems to be a lot of logitech fans in the mouse area.
Yeah, that's what got me thinking...
I have used quite a bit of Logitech equipment through the years...and it served me well.
Unfortunately, their stuff wears out, and when it does, in the intervening years...they move on from whatever design they used...and switch things up for newer models.
Most of the time this has happened, for me at least, the feature changes were not kept with the new interactions...and breaks the deal for me. BUT, their stuff wears out...it doesn't break...which is all i really ask for out of any of my electronics.
I expect things to wear out, too. My X-55 lasted just shy of three years. The trouble is that two years and nine months, still mostly servicable, but failures starting to mount up was a bit short for a controller that retailed at over two hundred soverigns.
-Rant alert!-
I was actually looking at the X-65 or the Logitech G940 (thanks, Shadowdancer) when the X-55 came out. I'd tried the Warthog and the X-52s and didn't like either. One was far too much like the military kit I used in my last life; I know, I know, it's meant to, that's the whole point, but I still don't want reminded of what I used to do for a living!
The other just felt like a toy. I know, all of these things are, but hey, immersion, y'know?
I was a bit wary of second hand kit and the G940 had a terrible reputation, so I was getting by with my older sticks. The Thrustmaster X is a cracking bit of kit and my old Cyborg 3D is still going strong- with the bonus of having force feedback in my older flight sims, always worth a giggle.
But the X-55 took my breath away! It looked fantastic- all the buttons, hats, axes and sliders a lad could want, lovely soft feel plastic, five stick tension settings in a robust, tool free mechanism... I just had to have one.
And here comes the rant. Supplies were limited, so British retailers hiked the already steep asking price through the roof. I'm pretty sure I saw one advertised at close to £300!
It was sheer profiteering.
I imported mine from Germany, and even with shipping managed to get it for under 160 notes. Rip off Britain at it's level best... and breathe...
The HOTAS itself was- is- even better than the hype. It's an absolute joy to use and worth every penny of the asking price. I'm not sure I'd be able to say that if I'd forked out the outrageous amount our grubby retail racketeers were charging.
Regardless, the throttle was almost unusable by the end of January, so with a heavy heart I took it apart and set about bodging a temporary repair. It should hold for a few weeks, maybe even months.
But it
will break again.
So I'm stuck on the horns of a dilemma.
Do I just bite the bullet and buy an X-56? If it lasts as well as my '55 it'll be good for around 33 months. That works out at less than £7 a month before failure...
Or do I hold out for an Eastern European throttle? A couple of hundred quid for the throttle alone and a whole new set of button pushes to memorise... VirPil reckon their unit will be ready by March, VKB might be the end of the year or even longer, assuming that their
atrocious web site ever gets it's act together.
Decisions, decisions... :S
