Hardware & Technical Saitek X-52 Pro v. Saitek X-55 Rhino v. Thrustmaster Warthog Comparison

[Jypson]

Greetings CMDR's! I just added a Saitek X-55 Rhino to my gaming collection and made a video comparing it to the Saitek X-52 Pro and Thrustmaster Warthog. Hope you might find it handy if you're on the fence about getting a HOTAS or replacing an existing one!

[video=youtube;a-45rEmZP1U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-45rEmZP1U[/video]

 

[Mrozak]

Nice review overall, except during the comparison you forgot some things on the X52 Pro throttle:

- The scroll wheel on the back of X52 throttle (thats 3 more inputs you can use)

- The MFD roller buttons (thats 3 inputs on each, so 6 more inputs)
possibly 8 inputs if you sacrifice the built-in stopwatch and use the start/stop and reset buttons for something else.
Yes, for some dumb reason, they can't be programmed via the programming software from Saitek/MadCatz, but you can use other little tools, found all over the internet, to make use of them in any game.

...so, since you are comparing number of buttons on each of the sticks, it doesn't seem very fair to skip these 11! inputs on the X52 throttle base.

EDIT: sorry, i am not trying to be an *ss, just accurate, so one more thing - on the X52 Pro stick, you skipped the mode selection wheel, which can be also used for anything, not only for switching modes. That is another 3 more inputs.
To be clear, i really like the review, just maybe consider mentioning these things in the comments/description, for sake of completeness.

 

[Jypson]

Nice review overall, except during the comparison you forgot some things on the X52 Pro throttle:

- The scroll wheel on the back of X52 throttle (thats 3 more inputs you can use)

- The MFD roller buttons (thats 3 inputs on each, so 6 more inputs)
possibly 8 inputs if you sacrifice the built-in stopwatch and use the start/stop and reset buttons for something else.
Yes, for some dumb reason, they can't be programmed via the programming software from Saitek/MadCatz, but you can use other little tools, found all over the internet, to make use of them in any game.

...so, since you are comparing number of buttons on each of the sticks, it doesn't seem very fair to skip these 11! inputs on the X52 throttle base.

EDIT: sorry, i am not trying to be an *ss, just accurate, so one more thing - on the X52 Pro stick, you skipped the mode selection wheel, which can be also used for anything, not only for switching modes. That is another 3 more inputs.
To be clear, i really like the review, just maybe consider mentioning these things in the comments/description, for sake of completeness.

Nice critique! It's my bad not mentioning them. Most of those buttons I never used because they didn't fit my play style I guess. I would be very interested in seeing your key bindings, is there a way to share that kind of thing?

EDIT: Added a link in the info part pointing here so people can see your input first hand! Thanks again!

 

[Mrozak]

oops, double post, sorry
....i dont get this, why is that image still here??? i removed content of the whole post

 

[Mrozak]

Nice critique! It's my bad not mentioning them. Most of those buttons I never used because they didn't fit my play style I guess. I would be very interested in seeing your key bindings, is there a way to share that kind of thing?

Yeah, would be nice to have some on-line webpage with picture of the sticks and fields to type in the function you bind to whichever control, and then share those via simple links...
I was thinking about creating it once, but lazyness got the better of me.

Anyway, made a drawing in Dia Diagram Editor (not the best tool ever, but its free, and does the job).
In case anyone would find it usefull, here is the template (of course you need Dia from the link above): View attachment 54992
View attachment 54991
This is all i normaly use for ED, keyboard is thrown aside and i go to it only when having to type system names on the galaxy map.
Most of the time i dont even use the Throttle, only Stick and Keypad.

And in case anyone is wondering what the heck STICK INPUT (disable/enable) is for, well..
I dont like any resistance on the stick, so i removed the spring completely, which obviously have a potentially annoying side effect - if take your hand off the stick, it will fall forward and start rotating your ship along its pitch axis.
So, when i want to prevent that, or i am cruising in straight line and dont want to hold the stick all the way, i just switch off the input (by overriding X/Y axes inputs).

EDIT: one thing i forgot on the control scheme - the keypad Enter is also used to retract/deploy hardpoints.
EDIT2: second thing i forgot - with numlock ON, the keypad + and - are used to 0/25/50/75/100 throttle stepping (a tiny simple autohotkey macro is helping with that)

 

[Jypson]

Yeah, would be nice to have some on-line webpage with picture of the sticks and fields to type in the function you bind to whichever control, and then share those via simple links...
I was thinking about creating it once, but lazyness got the better of me.

Anyway, made a drawing in Dia Diagram Editor (not the best tool ever, but its free, and does the job).
In case anyone would find it usefull, here is the template (of course you need Dia from the link above): View attachment 54992
View attachment 54991
...this is all i normally use for ED - keyboard is thrown somewhere aside, and i grab it only when i need to enter system names on the galaxy map.

For some reason it's always a surprise seeing other CMDR's keybindings. It's kind of like a little window into the way they play and the priorities they place on certain systems or functions. Thanks for sharing

How's your HOTAS holding up? I used my X-52 from March -> August (6 months) and have had multiple failures. The button you use for FA Off no longer functions, most of the LED's on the thruster have died, the magnetic indent failed and had to be removed, the 4-way rook-hat (press right) on the flight-stick no longer has resistance, and the flight-stick spring is feeling pretty loose. I would have sent it back, but dealing with Amazon JP is a bit of a hassle as my Japanese is not great!

Fingers crossed that the X-55 doesn't wear out so quickly!

 

[Mrozak]

I must say i am lucky then, because mine is perfectly ok, but i got it only 1.5 years ago (which is longer than your 6 months, but still not enough to be sure of its quality).
I dont want to jinx it, but so far it feels like it could last decades.
Mechanically, only the mode selection wheel feels a bit unsure - it is firm, i can hardly turn it without using both thumb and pointing finger, it does work ok, but it doesn't "click into position" perfectly when turning and switching modes, but i am not sure if it ever was different.
It is really hard to believe that many ppl often have some problems with it, i always think that there must be some explanation, that maybe what they got comes from some bad serie/batch, i dont know... maybe i am just exceptionally lucky, or maybe the disaster will come soon enough, we'll see.