After 1000(s) of hours in Elite Dangerous since we first entered the little 5-system Alpha bubble, my Saitek X-55 Rhino finally gave up on me. It was at a slightly awkward moment too: I had taken my slightly modded FDL into a Weapons Fire Detected [Threat 1] USS, which in this case was a small wing of dropships harassing some traders. I disposed of the first two, but when engaging the third, the internal spring in the stick broke and my ship started yawing like it was on permanent FA off. After the last dropship was gone, I logged out, pulled the X-55 apart and decided that it had lasted long enough. It has been put aside for spare parts if need be. A few of the buttons on the throttle were already on their way out, as was the button on the stick I had been using for UI Focus.
Time to upgrade. The Saitek/Mad Katz X-55 had its idiosyncrasies: The light bases means either be gentle on the stick or screw it down - it has holes for mounting on something more solid. However, it also has a slightly plasticky feel to it indicating it may not handle being treated roughly very well. Or rather, it has that plastics/composites feel, which is not necessarily flimsy and one should probably aim for precision rather than brawn when flying. It can be squeaky, but that is nothing a bit of silicone spray won't fix. And some of the buttons I never quite figured out how to program.
Since I was overall impressed with the X-55, I decided that the X-56 might be a worthy successor. Logitech has taken over the Pro Flight HOTAS series and seem to have gone for a setup that is VR friendly. The new stick is similar to the X-55 overall, although blue on black rather than red on black. And the back-lighting is different and takes a bit getting used to. The lights on the throttle seem much brighter than those on the stick. The little nipple on the X-55 throttle has been replaced with a mini-stick, and the thumb button on the left side of the X-55 stick has been replaced with a mini-stick as well. These work great together for thruster control, especially with FA off on the right pinkie switch for some Silent Mode gliding. However, I used the thumb button for the secondary weapon trigger before and now have to unlearn 1000 hours of firing/scanning habits.
ED has an X-56 default configuration which seems to work well right away without too much tweaking. The stick is responsive and can be used precisely with the default base spring attached. Like the X-55, it comes with a handful of other springs of different resistance, and these seem better balanced for the X-56 compared to the X-55 springs. The throttle is very stiff right out of the box, but it should soften up after a bit of use if it is anything like the X-55 throttle. It did not have the issue of signal bleed that I experienced with the X-55, but that may also be due to better powered USB 3 ports on my desktop compared to the laptop I gamed on until a year ago.
After an hour or so of tweaking settings I took to the demo scenarios to see how the setup worked without having to risk sacrificing the old FDL in the process. The first two scenarios (target practice and single sidewinder) revealed an issue with a dead zone on the pitch, yaw and roll axes that I could not get rid of. It may be an issue of the scenarios, though, as the third and fourth scenarios (slightly more aggressive single and duo opponents, respectively) did not come with that issue. I went into the main game to test it with the FDL, and it also did not have dead zone issues. The two new mini-sticks make thruster use during turning very effective as well. Having secondary fire set to the "A" button on the tower part of the stick is a bit awkward, but I should get used to it. There are still a couple of buttons on the throttle that appears not to be programmable with ED.
Overall I'm happy with the X-56 so far, although we shall see after a few hundred hours. It is an improvement over the X-55 and got rid of some of the main issues with the X-55. The plasticky feel should fit well with Empire ships if you are so inclined. If you are violent on the stick, it may not be for you, though, as it is rather light despite the large base. If you worry about the spring in the stick breaking during yaw (seems like it happens at times), I suggest getting pedals for yaw. However, it already takes up two USB 3 ports, so you will need an excess of these to add pedals as well.
S
Time to upgrade. The Saitek/Mad Katz X-55 had its idiosyncrasies: The light bases means either be gentle on the stick or screw it down - it has holes for mounting on something more solid. However, it also has a slightly plasticky feel to it indicating it may not handle being treated roughly very well. Or rather, it has that plastics/composites feel, which is not necessarily flimsy and one should probably aim for precision rather than brawn when flying. It can be squeaky, but that is nothing a bit of silicone spray won't fix. And some of the buttons I never quite figured out how to program.
Since I was overall impressed with the X-55, I decided that the X-56 might be a worthy successor. Logitech has taken over the Pro Flight HOTAS series and seem to have gone for a setup that is VR friendly. The new stick is similar to the X-55 overall, although blue on black rather than red on black. And the back-lighting is different and takes a bit getting used to. The lights on the throttle seem much brighter than those on the stick. The little nipple on the X-55 throttle has been replaced with a mini-stick, and the thumb button on the left side of the X-55 stick has been replaced with a mini-stick as well. These work great together for thruster control, especially with FA off on the right pinkie switch for some Silent Mode gliding. However, I used the thumb button for the secondary weapon trigger before and now have to unlearn 1000 hours of firing/scanning habits.
ED has an X-56 default configuration which seems to work well right away without too much tweaking. The stick is responsive and can be used precisely with the default base spring attached. Like the X-55, it comes with a handful of other springs of different resistance, and these seem better balanced for the X-56 compared to the X-55 springs. The throttle is very stiff right out of the box, but it should soften up after a bit of use if it is anything like the X-55 throttle. It did not have the issue of signal bleed that I experienced with the X-55, but that may also be due to better powered USB 3 ports on my desktop compared to the laptop I gamed on until a year ago.
After an hour or so of tweaking settings I took to the demo scenarios to see how the setup worked without having to risk sacrificing the old FDL in the process. The first two scenarios (target practice and single sidewinder) revealed an issue with a dead zone on the pitch, yaw and roll axes that I could not get rid of. It may be an issue of the scenarios, though, as the third and fourth scenarios (slightly more aggressive single and duo opponents, respectively) did not come with that issue. I went into the main game to test it with the FDL, and it also did not have dead zone issues. The two new mini-sticks make thruster use during turning very effective as well. Having secondary fire set to the "A" button on the tower part of the stick is a bit awkward, but I should get used to it. There are still a couple of buttons on the throttle that appears not to be programmable with ED.
Overall I'm happy with the X-56 so far, although we shall see after a few hundred hours. It is an improvement over the X-55 and got rid of some of the main issues with the X-55. The plasticky feel should fit well with Empire ships if you are so inclined. If you are violent on the stick, it may not be for you, though, as it is rather light despite the large base. If you worry about the spring in the stick breaking during yaw (seems like it happens at times), I suggest getting pedals for yaw. However, it already takes up two USB 3 ports, so you will need an excess of these to add pedals as well.
S
