One awesome joystick.

Friend of mine has one...    although I could do without the rudder pedals.

Thanks for the advice. Noted. Yup, Saitek's support sucks. We found a German guy that repairs high end hi fi equipment and he repaired a set of controllers for us no problem.

I have mixed feelings about Saitek.

Awesome designs for their products, but I've had some issues with almost all of the ones I've owned.

I started out with their x45 which I loved. My problem came with the connection into the throttle, as mentioned it can come loose and cause MANY issues. So, I upgraded to a yoke. I love the Pro Flight yoke as it was one of the first (affordable) yokes with a separate throttle quadrant. HOWEVER, the servo's in said quadrant suck. I burned through the original throttle lever server within a year. (signal jumps from idle to full power instantly, no reliability.) Because of that I had to make the prop lever the new throttle, make the mix the prop, but at least I could use the old throttle as the mix. (No longer however, totally shot.) I'm slowly working may way through all my options here. And at $150 for a new housing that may not last a year, im hesitant to buy a replacement.

Though I absolutely love their new products and REALLY want to try them. I mean come on.. They have a radio stack, cessna style throttle/prop/mix, autopilot multi use stack thing, general switch stack, the new fighter pedals, a realistic fighter joystick (pressure sensitive, no moving parts) and even instruments. They have some AWESOME stuff now, but with their quality history (for me anyway) I don't know what I'm going to do next.

However, unless you want to get into the $450+ serious stuff, there really isn't much of an option. CH hasn't updated their general FS products since I first looked at them 3+ years ago. So they're fairly outdated now. There are some 3rd party stuff available, but none of it really appeals to me. Which leaves Saitek. Both good and bad at the same time.

Anyway, on topic. I've never heard anything bad about the X52 but keep in mind, I haven't looked hard I have, however, heard a lot of good about it and it seems to be one of the most popular joystick controllers out there.

I went through 3 years on the Gaudal Canal CFS2 "fly and die" online without a problem using the X36 and we all know how intense combat can be.
The X45 was fine until my old frieng used more force than required.
The Saitek agent here was very good for a while and serviced my controllers, did the minor stuff mostly at no charge but when I broke the wire inside the X45 and called him he told me that he was out of the game and had "dumped" all the spares. I'm not sure what all the other customers did because he did sell a lot of Saitek here.
An aviation company here is now the agent for South Africa but are insane with their pricing. It would be cheaper to fly to the US or UK and buy a set. For now I'm OK but if anything breaks I guess I'll be up a creek with no paddle.

i have the Saitek ST290 Pro joystick as well as the X52.  While the X52 does offer more buttons/toggles for me to assign things to, and would be a better setup for fighters / helicopters.  I find myself sticking with my trusty-rusty ST290 Pro.  it is not force feedback but that is okay.  all i need is a joystick to be able to fly.

http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-ST290-Programmable-Joystick-Throttle/dp/B0000AW9RE

I have dropped, thrown, kicked, beaten and abused that 290 and it is basically a TIMEX. "It takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'".  I have a 3yr old that has dropped it, thrown it, kicked it and it still works.  -- asside from 2 buttons popping off.. 5 & 6 (flaps) there is nothing wrong with it. Just pop the button back on and you are good to go.

my X52 on the other hand, I paid $120 for it, and while it is a good product, at times it is just too cumbersome for my "Flight Station" (laptop of a tiny desk that does not even have room for a printer or really even a desktop monitor -- so i have to try to hold everything in my lap.... again, not enough room for a throttle AND joystick)


As for saitek the company, and their technical support... QUIT SENDING THEM EMAILS!!!!! on their CONTACT page from their website it gives you the phone numbers.  CALL THEM!!!!!!!!!!

Technical Support - USA
Tech Phone: 1-619-683-2815
Toll Free (USA): 1-800-659-2287
Support Hours:
Monday - Friday: 8am - 12p & 1pm - 4pm (PST)

Technical Support - UK
Tech Phone: +44 (0) 1633 883 110
UK only: 08450 508418

Technical Support - FR
Tech Phone:+33182880180

Technischer Support – Deutsch
Telefonisch: 089-54612710
Mo - Fr von 08.30 - 17:30 Uhr

Capt.Propwash wrote on Jan 30^th, 2011 at 5:20pm:


I did have an ST290 but the ruder never did work properly it needed a HUGE dead zone on it so that it would center. Just got a F.L.Y.5 its still Saitek and its not Forcefeed back, but it all works and has two throttles.