I read and viewed lots of reviews by experts and decided to buy the X56 for E: D.
I will start with my verdict that is “A device designed as a gamer’s toy. Not as a simulation enthusiast’s tool”
I have played almost 30 hours with it and I have totally different opinion with the “expert” reviewers.
Their main problem was the centering of some axis and the possible event of button failure due to lack of sleeving of the cables that connect the board to the buttons of the throttle.
The set, in my opinion, has fundamental failures as a design. It was copied from a 40 year old war plane. The stick was originally designed to be positioned between the legs at the hight of the waist with the pivot point on the floor and the throttle to be left of the left knee. On a typical 85 cm desk its sitting almost at chest height. This is totally unergonomic . Added to this, the base of the throttle is crowded with switches that hurt the wrist. I made tilted stands to place the HOTAS to a more comfortable position...
The size of the stick that seems to be a 1/1 scale replica , was built to be used with a pilots thick glove. It is so big that it is impossible to rest the hand on the rest and reach the hats on top, even with the added “step”. The distance between the back throttle buttons and the front thumb hats is so great that I (having an average sized hand) cannot reach both.
The twist rudder axis is also a failure. It is so stiff that a very firm grip is required to twist it. This is not possible while the fingers are on the triggers.
Talking about stiffness, I like the controls to be soft. So I selected the smaller-softer spring. I also set the throttle to the lowest friction. The outcome is totally confusing. The stick is good, the rudder is hard and the throttle is hard and inconsistent. The sticky grease they use to give a “realistic” sense, sticks after a few moments of no use and when it’s moved back and forth a few times it becomes loose again for a while. Plus the stiffness varies from middle to ends of motion. I have taken the throttle apart and removed as much grease as possible to make the throttle somehow loose, but its still not where I want it to be.
Finally lets talk about buttons. On the stick there is a great main trigger button, a long usable pinky trigger, an unusable round pinky trigger, a totally unreachable right side trigger and a very high positioned between 3 hats secondary trigger. If you have a 10cm thumb, maybe you can use this secondary trigger efficiently. I cannot. At the back side of the throttle there is an up-down button for the pinky (my pinky cannot utilize it), one button for the middle finger and one button for the index finger. The most efficient index finger has no hat or stick or anything close by. Just a button (and a rotating axis). The thumb has a button, an analogue stick a rotational axis and two hats!!! All within 3 square cm!
I really cannot imagine who thought of this button-hat configuration. Some fingers sit idle while some are overwhelmed by them.
Maybe flying an A-10 Thunderbolt does not require simultaneous use of all buttons and axis, but E: D does and this HOTAS is not designed to be used like this. The right hand has huge workload as the left thumb. The left index finger should get some of this. Since I could not manage the twist rudder, I assigned the yaw to the throttle’s little thumb stick. It took some time to get used to it but at least its soft and consistent. The thrusters were assigned to the up-down of the same stick and the left-right to the little stick at the main stick.
If there are things that I like about X56? Yes, it looks Great with the lights. The switches are solid and firm. All the axis respond excellent. Its so precise that you can actually fly E: D with FA off!!
The verdict…. I already wrote it. If I would buy it if I had been able to test it before? Well, no I don’t think I would. I think the X52 is a more suitable HOTAS for E: D.
PS... I had some trouble with unintended random button inputs from the throttle side. It was solved with the use of a powered USB hub.
PS2. I also had some trouble with the drivers on my Win7-64bit system. It was solved by updating windows.
I will start with my verdict that is “A device designed as a gamer’s toy. Not as a simulation enthusiast’s tool”
I have played almost 30 hours with it and I have totally different opinion with the “expert” reviewers.
Their main problem was the centering of some axis and the possible event of button failure due to lack of sleeving of the cables that connect the board to the buttons of the throttle.
The set, in my opinion, has fundamental failures as a design. It was copied from a 40 year old war plane. The stick was originally designed to be positioned between the legs at the hight of the waist with the pivot point on the floor and the throttle to be left of the left knee. On a typical 85 cm desk its sitting almost at chest height. This is totally unergonomic . Added to this, the base of the throttle is crowded with switches that hurt the wrist. I made tilted stands to place the HOTAS to a more comfortable position...
The size of the stick that seems to be a 1/1 scale replica , was built to be used with a pilots thick glove. It is so big that it is impossible to rest the hand on the rest and reach the hats on top, even with the added “step”. The distance between the back throttle buttons and the front thumb hats is so great that I (having an average sized hand) cannot reach both.
The twist rudder axis is also a failure. It is so stiff that a very firm grip is required to twist it. This is not possible while the fingers are on the triggers.
Talking about stiffness, I like the controls to be soft. So I selected the smaller-softer spring. I also set the throttle to the lowest friction. The outcome is totally confusing. The stick is good, the rudder is hard and the throttle is hard and inconsistent. The sticky grease they use to give a “realistic” sense, sticks after a few moments of no use and when it’s moved back and forth a few times it becomes loose again for a while. Plus the stiffness varies from middle to ends of motion. I have taken the throttle apart and removed as much grease as possible to make the throttle somehow loose, but its still not where I want it to be.
Finally lets talk about buttons. On the stick there is a great main trigger button, a long usable pinky trigger, an unusable round pinky trigger, a totally unreachable right side trigger and a very high positioned between 3 hats secondary trigger. If you have a 10cm thumb, maybe you can use this secondary trigger efficiently. I cannot. At the back side of the throttle there is an up-down button for the pinky (my pinky cannot utilize it), one button for the middle finger and one button for the index finger. The most efficient index finger has no hat or stick or anything close by. Just a button (and a rotating axis). The thumb has a button, an analogue stick a rotational axis and two hats!!! All within 3 square cm!
I really cannot imagine who thought of this button-hat configuration. Some fingers sit idle while some are overwhelmed by them.
Maybe flying an A-10 Thunderbolt does not require simultaneous use of all buttons and axis, but E: D does and this HOTAS is not designed to be used like this. The right hand has huge workload as the left thumb. The left index finger should get some of this. Since I could not manage the twist rudder, I assigned the yaw to the throttle’s little thumb stick. It took some time to get used to it but at least its soft and consistent. The thrusters were assigned to the up-down of the same stick and the left-right to the little stick at the main stick.
If there are things that I like about X56? Yes, it looks Great with the lights. The switches are solid and firm. All the axis respond excellent. Its so precise that you can actually fly E: D with FA off!!
The verdict…. I already wrote it. If I would buy it if I had been able to test it before? Well, no I don’t think I would. I think the X52 is a more suitable HOTAS for E: D.
PS... I had some trouble with unintended random button inputs from the throttle side. It was solved with the use of a powered USB hub.
PS2. I also had some trouble with the drivers on my Win7-64bit system. It was solved by updating windows.
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