For Elite on the Amiga is was all about my trusty Competition Pro, still got it but sadly sold off the Amiga. I found Frontier and FFE were best on keyboard and mouse, especially when using num keys for manual thruster controls (think this was part of the JJFFE mod?).
Think I'll be going for the X52 Pro this time but waiting to hear how it handles in the full game rather than just combat builds. Not sure how well all the trading and navigation controls will map to a joystick or if it will be a case of switching between joystick and keyboard / mouse.
Also there is the Saitek X55 coming out soon so will see what the reviews for that are like.