FWIW, I've got an X52-pro *and* a CH Fighterstick + CH Throttle.
I do like the X52-pro: lots of buttons and stuff, it looks good (once you've turned the leds down!) and the twist stick for yaw works well and is fairly intuitive. The quality/feel is OK, a couple of the controls seem a little awkwardly placed (for me), and the throttle can be a little 'sticky'. No big show-stoppers though. Locking the twist yaw out doesn't do an awful lot, however this probably doesn't matter.
The CH stick is a really solid, dense (fibre-filled I think) plastic and looks slightly less refined, but (imo) has the edge on quality and switchgear. It'll probably last forever - you can tell CH make industrial controls as well as sim stuff. If I was going to pick a few niggles, the pinkie button would be nicer if it was offset rather than being central (X52 is the same) and the trigger should be a microswitch instead of a click button type. Again, not really a big deal, but I might fix that.
The CH Throttle: (I've got the older version without an analogue mini-stick - it has an extra hat instead). Solid and smooth, doesn't look as 'bling' as the Saitek one, no rotaries but a few more usable hats.
It's been tough deciding which to keep, but I've decided to go with the CH stuff (means I've still got to get/make pedals), and my lad will be *very* pleased to get an X52-pro.
Bottom line: I like both systems, each have slight pros and cons (neither is 'perfect') and would be happy with either. The bling will be appreciated by my 14-yo son more than me, and I wanted to give rudder pedals a go, so that really swung it for me.