Synopsis / TL;DR
Left handed person successfully uses right handed HOTAS flight system from Saitek to pilot Elite Dangerous – using stick in LEFT hand, no modifications required.
Background
So to those relatively few left handed people who are wondering if this is possible, as a left handed person, I took the gamble and ordered the Saitek Rhino X-56 HOTAS flight stick and throttle system, for using in Elite Dangerous. I now use this system to fly ED, using the stick in my left hand and the throttle control in my right. This works amazingly well for me, with no issues at all apart from one minor concession.
Just to be clear, I use the flightstick, intended to be used in the right hand, in my left hand. I use the flight throttle, intended to be used in the left hand, in my right hand.
Having always been a left hander, I always felt somewhat under provided for in the game controller market. Yes, I can understand the ‘economics of manufacturing’ arguments in relation to the percentages of right handed vs left handed users in the world making the production of such specific kit rather difficult for so few potential sales. I have generally always used sticks that were symmetrical, ie catered for either right or left handers. But with throttles specifically, I had not encountered a ‘left handed’ throttle - ie one you use in the right hand. This write up is dedicated to all the left handers out there who look on in awe at the bountiful plethora of options available to the more numerous right handed section of the human race, and wondered if they could use a right hander’s HOTAS system.
Options and considerations prior to ordering the stick
So I had considered many different options, mostly based on using twin symmetrical sticks, but felt the “throttle” side of a twin stick set up lacked enough buttons to provide a full HOTAS experience where you have access to a multitude of buttons without having to take your hands off the controls or look away from the screen to decide your next input command.
My previous set up simply consisted of a symmetrical stick, used in my left hand, which had some buttons and throttle lever on it, utilised in conjunction with a keyboard. This fundamentally lacked the requisite amount of input controls require to pilot ED properly. I constantly had to look away from the screen to see a given control binding, and crucially, did not really allow for a full 6 degrees of freedom level of control, which, let’s face it, if you’re going to take ED seriously, you need to get involved in, especially in combat.
I briefly tried mouse and keyboard – but this just doesn’t cut it for me. I also tried twin sticks, which whilst I did enjoy some degree of control, I just felt I needed a more direct throttle control method, plus the increased number of button controls a throttle unit offers.
Having scoured the internet for different products, the X-56 took my attention for a variety of reasons. I studied many photos of this product and scrutinised them for quite a while, as it appeared I could use the kit as a left hander, ie with the stick in the left hand, and the throttle in the right hand with a little creativity and no modifications required. This was really just an exercise of simply mentally visualising which controls could be used, any which would prove to be a problem.
Usage: The Stick unit
So the first question to ask is, “how can a left hander possibly use a system design for a right hander?” Let’s start with the stick. There are two main issues with holding the stick in your left hand.
Firstly, the right sided palm rest is clearly on the wrong side of the stick. I use the stick with the whole unit rotated slightly to the right, which allows enough palm connection with the rest plate whilst still allowing access to the all-important hat controls on the face of the stick (all three of them).
The stick is big. For right handers the stick comes in for criticism that you need medium to large hands to use comfortably. For a lefty the same is true, perhaps more so as you have to rely on the right sided palm rest with the stick rotated very slightly to the right, so balancing reach to the buttons without lifting the palm takes a little getting used to, but I was comfortably settled in within 10-15 mins of use. For me, with what I’d call medium sized hands, this works out just fine. The reach is usable and this can be used over an extended period of time in comfort. My “muscle memory” kicked in very quickly and all was good.
Secondly, regarding the stick’s left sided analogue thumb stick, just forget it even exists. I cannot find a way to hold the stick in the heat of combat and still utilise this mini stick in any meaningful way. As a lefty, your palm will totally cover it. Fortunately it is so light that after a little use, you don’t know it’s even there. Yes, as a left hander you forego the use of what is arguably one of the best features of this stick, but as I said in the intro, there are one or two concessions you’ll need to make. Just keep it non-assigned to any command bindings and you’re good to go.
Usage: The Flight Throttle unit
So when I was analysing the photos of the product on the internet in the “research” phase of this endeavour, I paid special attention to the shape of the throttle handle itself. What I considered, and subsequently now employ in use, is that the entire unit can be rotated by about 225 degrees, so that the throttle unit is facing away from you and slightly to the right (hence 225 degrees: 180 plus about another 45).
This is principally to allow the forefinger and index to sit on the thumbstick so that the thumbstick Y axis is facing directly towards from you. Essentially the 225 rotation allows the ‘towards you / away from you’ alignment of the axis, as the stick is mounted at an angle on the side face of the throttle handle; therefore by rotating the unit slightly, you are able to keep oriented on the thumbstick’s directionality - when using the throttle unit, you can push or pull the stick knowing that you’re operating it directly up or down. Left and right therefore fall naturally into place. This principle also applies to the smaller 8-way sticks adjacent to the thumbstick. Again, push away from you for “up”, pull back for “down”. The push / pull lver action of the throttle is unaffected by the rotation of the base unit.
The shape of the throttle is actually quite well suited in the right hand, with the thumb being able to neatly hook in the back of the handle to help push it forwards, and generally lock it into the palm of your hand, and your forefinger and index finger falling naturally onto the three sticks.
Controls Settings and X-56 Rhino software
So clearly by rotating the throttle unit so that it’s essentially backwards facing, you’ll need to amend some of the setting inside ED in the Controls menu. For the Flight Throttle you’ll need to set the Axis to reverse, so that when you pull pack the throttle ED correlates this to a decrease in Throttle, and vice versa when you push forwards.
If you’re assigning any axes to the thumbstick, you’ll need to reverse the X Axes (left = right, righ=left), and optionally reverse the Y Axis depending on your preference.
The Flightstick obviously is not rotated, and this is therefore set up as you would normally prefer. X axis is unchanged and Y Axis direction depends on whether you like to make Up push the nose of the ship down or up. All other controls for both Stick and Throttle will just be picked up by ED as a Button Assignment and are therefore not affected by any of this left-handed wizardry. I use the X-56 Rhino programming software for quite a few of the binding on my setup, however none of them are due to the left-handed setup so I won’t go into them in detail here.
E
Control scheme suggestion
Clearly different users will have different settings preferences. I won’t list my full set-up – this has evolved quite a lot over the last two weeks since getting the X-56 and getting used to what feels best. However here are some suggestions for Left-handed uses.
Conclusions
So if you’ve ever wondered, “I’m a lefty, should I do it?” : As long as you have medium to large hands, I would say give it a go. However I have to caveat that by saying there are reviews of the X-56 from right handers who’ve said that they have medium to large hands and have complained about the size. I guess it’s a matter of preference, irrespective of handedness, however as mentioned in the flightstick section above, you’ll need to rotate the stick slightly to the right to reach the buttons and still utilise the palmrest. For me however with my “medium” hands, I can use this stick in my left hand with no problems at all, for as long as I want to game for in any given session.
The stick obviously is fairly expensive, and I guess you should do your visual “research” of the kit prior to splashing the cash, particularly given you’re not going to use it in the way it was designed for ergonomically (however I have to say the throttle handle feels much more usable reversed! Saitek take note).
Hope the above is of use to left handed pilots out there, whether in ED or any other sim.
Left handed person successfully uses right handed HOTAS flight system from Saitek to pilot Elite Dangerous – using stick in LEFT hand, no modifications required.
Background
So to those relatively few left handed people who are wondering if this is possible, as a left handed person, I took the gamble and ordered the Saitek Rhino X-56 HOTAS flight stick and throttle system, for using in Elite Dangerous. I now use this system to fly ED, using the stick in my left hand and the throttle control in my right. This works amazingly well for me, with no issues at all apart from one minor concession.
Just to be clear, I use the flightstick, intended to be used in the right hand, in my left hand. I use the flight throttle, intended to be used in the left hand, in my right hand.
Having always been a left hander, I always felt somewhat under provided for in the game controller market. Yes, I can understand the ‘economics of manufacturing’ arguments in relation to the percentages of right handed vs left handed users in the world making the production of such specific kit rather difficult for so few potential sales. I have generally always used sticks that were symmetrical, ie catered for either right or left handers. But with throttles specifically, I had not encountered a ‘left handed’ throttle - ie one you use in the right hand. This write up is dedicated to all the left handers out there who look on in awe at the bountiful plethora of options available to the more numerous right handed section of the human race, and wondered if they could use a right hander’s HOTAS system.
Options and considerations prior to ordering the stick
So I had considered many different options, mostly based on using twin symmetrical sticks, but felt the “throttle” side of a twin stick set up lacked enough buttons to provide a full HOTAS experience where you have access to a multitude of buttons without having to take your hands off the controls or look away from the screen to decide your next input command.
My previous set up simply consisted of a symmetrical stick, used in my left hand, which had some buttons and throttle lever on it, utilised in conjunction with a keyboard. This fundamentally lacked the requisite amount of input controls require to pilot ED properly. I constantly had to look away from the screen to see a given control binding, and crucially, did not really allow for a full 6 degrees of freedom level of control, which, let’s face it, if you’re going to take ED seriously, you need to get involved in, especially in combat.
I briefly tried mouse and keyboard – but this just doesn’t cut it for me. I also tried twin sticks, which whilst I did enjoy some degree of control, I just felt I needed a more direct throttle control method, plus the increased number of button controls a throttle unit offers.
Having scoured the internet for different products, the X-56 took my attention for a variety of reasons. I studied many photos of this product and scrutinised them for quite a while, as it appeared I could use the kit as a left hander, ie with the stick in the left hand, and the throttle in the right hand with a little creativity and no modifications required. This was really just an exercise of simply mentally visualising which controls could be used, any which would prove to be a problem.
Usage: The Stick unit
So the first question to ask is, “how can a left hander possibly use a system design for a right hander?” Let’s start with the stick. There are two main issues with holding the stick in your left hand.
Firstly, the right sided palm rest is clearly on the wrong side of the stick. I use the stick with the whole unit rotated slightly to the right, which allows enough palm connection with the rest plate whilst still allowing access to the all-important hat controls on the face of the stick (all three of them).
The stick is big. For right handers the stick comes in for criticism that you need medium to large hands to use comfortably. For a lefty the same is true, perhaps more so as you have to rely on the right sided palm rest with the stick rotated very slightly to the right, so balancing reach to the buttons without lifting the palm takes a little getting used to, but I was comfortably settled in within 10-15 mins of use. For me, with what I’d call medium sized hands, this works out just fine. The reach is usable and this can be used over an extended period of time in comfort. My “muscle memory” kicked in very quickly and all was good.
Secondly, regarding the stick’s left sided analogue thumb stick, just forget it even exists. I cannot find a way to hold the stick in the heat of combat and still utilise this mini stick in any meaningful way. As a lefty, your palm will totally cover it. Fortunately it is so light that after a little use, you don’t know it’s even there. Yes, as a left hander you forego the use of what is arguably one of the best features of this stick, but as I said in the intro, there are one or two concessions you’ll need to make. Just keep it non-assigned to any command bindings and you’re good to go.
Usage: The Flight Throttle unit
So when I was analysing the photos of the product on the internet in the “research” phase of this endeavour, I paid special attention to the shape of the throttle handle itself. What I considered, and subsequently now employ in use, is that the entire unit can be rotated by about 225 degrees, so that the throttle unit is facing away from you and slightly to the right (hence 225 degrees: 180 plus about another 45).
This is principally to allow the forefinger and index to sit on the thumbstick so that the thumbstick Y axis is facing directly towards from you. Essentially the 225 rotation allows the ‘towards you / away from you’ alignment of the axis, as the stick is mounted at an angle on the side face of the throttle handle; therefore by rotating the unit slightly, you are able to keep oriented on the thumbstick’s directionality - when using the throttle unit, you can push or pull the stick knowing that you’re operating it directly up or down. Left and right therefore fall naturally into place. This principle also applies to the smaller 8-way sticks adjacent to the thumbstick. Again, push away from you for “up”, pull back for “down”. The push / pull lver action of the throttle is unaffected by the rotation of the base unit.
The shape of the throttle is actually quite well suited in the right hand, with the thumb being able to neatly hook in the back of the handle to help push it forwards, and generally lock it into the palm of your hand, and your forefinger and index finger falling naturally onto the three sticks.
Controls Settings and X-56 Rhino software
So clearly by rotating the throttle unit so that it’s essentially backwards facing, you’ll need to amend some of the setting inside ED in the Controls menu. For the Flight Throttle you’ll need to set the Axis to reverse, so that when you pull pack the throttle ED correlates this to a decrease in Throttle, and vice versa when you push forwards.
If you’re assigning any axes to the thumbstick, you’ll need to reverse the X Axes (left = right, righ=left), and optionally reverse the Y Axis depending on your preference.
The Flightstick obviously is not rotated, and this is therefore set up as you would normally prefer. X axis is unchanged and Y Axis direction depends on whether you like to make Up push the nose of the ship down or up. All other controls for both Stick and Throttle will just be picked up by ED as a Button Assignment and are therefore not affected by any of this left-handed wizardry. I use the X-56 Rhino programming software for quite a few of the binding on my setup, however none of them are due to the left-handed setup so I won’t go into them in detail here.
E
Control scheme suggestionClearly different users will have different settings preferences. I won’t list my full set-up – this has evolved quite a lot over the last two weeks since getting the X-56 and getting used to what feels best. However here are some suggestions for Left-handed uses.
- Throttle ministick: used as an analogue thrust control. Pull back or push forwards for thrust up and down, left / right for thrust left and thrust right respectively. Used in conjunction with throttle provide excellent positional and speed control.
- Thumbstick 1: Left / right to select Target or Status panels. Up/down to push through the pages within each panel.
- Thumbstick 2: Left/right/up/down to operate within that given page.
- Small blue side button: select option in the panels.
- Throttle rear buttons: used to either Toggle FAO
Conclusions
So if you’ve ever wondered, “I’m a lefty, should I do it?” : As long as you have medium to large hands, I would say give it a go. However I have to caveat that by saying there are reviews of the X-56 from right handers who’ve said that they have medium to large hands and have complained about the size. I guess it’s a matter of preference, irrespective of handedness, however as mentioned in the flightstick section above, you’ll need to rotate the stick slightly to the right to reach the buttons and still utilise the palmrest. For me however with my “medium” hands, I can use this stick in my left hand with no problems at all, for as long as I want to game for in any given session.
The stick obviously is fairly expensive, and I guess you should do your visual “research” of the kit prior to splashing the cash, particularly given you’re not going to use it in the way it was designed for ergonomically (however I have to say the throttle handle feels much more usable reversed! Saitek take note).
Hope the above is of use to left handed pilots out there, whether in ED or any other sim.
