I have the mode toggle set to "landing" (lowers gear, balnce pips, radar range short) "normal flight" (raise gear, pips to engine, radar long) and "combat" (deploys weapons, pips to weapons, radar short)
You can set the transitions to do things as well within the saitek software.
I also include some odd key combinations to link in with my custom voice attack profile to tell it what the saitek is doing: important for counting things like remaining shield cells etc.
I'd be happy to send my saitek profile for people to look at (PM me), but you'd have to be aware I also have a custom elite key layout...