Saitek Pro Flight X55 Rhino H.O.T.A.S. System - Photo Heavy

anthony566 · 12 Sep 2014 at 16:55

Well my Saitek Pro Flight X55 Rhino H.O.T.A.S. System arrived in a small wardrobe sized box

thanks OC

First impressions .... it massive Jim !!!

both units feel well built and they do have a nice weight to them the lighting is adjustable and unless you have the hands of a 12 year old its not to badly laid out.

The switches on the Throttle all feel solid the rotary's are plastic and feel ok but would have been better with maybe a rubber coating ??

The Throttle its self can be split and had a friction adjustment all in all I thing this gets an 8.5/10

I have no issues with clicking ( reported by a few users ) and the stick centres its self perfectly all be it quite sharply with the std spring but this is easy to change with one of the three tuned springs that is provided with the stick.

setting it up was very easy you just download the latest version of the software and drivers from Saitek ( as no cd provided )

I have taken a few photos.

Noxia · 12 Sep 2014 at 19:17

Nice write up but I have to diagree on a lot of this:

both units feel well built and they do have a nice weight to them the lighting is adjustable and unless you have the hands of a 12 year old its not to badly laid out.

The switches on the Throttle all feel solid the rotary's are plastic and feel ok but would have been better with maybe a rubber coating ??

The units are not heavy enough at all, the throttle, even on the loosest setting moved on my desk, some users have had success using that rubber slip matt stuff. The joystick is also not heavy at all compared to much cheaper ones.

The joystick is massive, I have large hands and I had to lift my hand off the rest to access the top buttons, throttle felt good though.

Agree the switches are quite solid but its a shame they aren't toggles. Agree about coating too, it's the grey HATS that really cheapened it for me.

Hope you enjoy it and it doesn't turn out to be a turkey like many.

anthony566 · 12 Sep 2014 at 19:32

I am not sure if they have revised this in any way but I can confirm that the joystick and the throttle did not move at all during the 3 hrs testing I did with these so lets hope they have resolved this issue ...

I will up date this in a few months to see how it performs over time.

The other thing I did read was that people had issues with the dead zone .... When I set this up yesterday I can confirm that the slightest movement on the joystick and throttle received a response as I set it with no dead zone to test how sensitive it was.

Noxia · 12 Sep 2014 at 19:50

That's good but I don't think the weight has changed, I would have loved it if it worked but you know the saying once bitten twice shy. A shame as I think one working properly would be great. I was playing Elite though so quite a lot of hard rapid movement. Might take a punt on an X52 Pro.

MrMoonX · 12 Sep 2014 at 20:37

MadMossy · 12 Sep 2014 at 23:55

First thing to do is lube that stick up, I had a lot of noise when twisting the stick, but now its silent, made it feel so much better.

anthony566 · 13 Sep 2014 at 00:56

MadMossy said:
First thing to do is lube that stick up, I had a lot of noise when twisting the stick, but now its silent, made it feel so much better.

I did think about this before it arrived but when I looked at the base it is covered with a grease and is very smooth so i am not getting any friction noise but I do have some grease to add to it if it drys out

Can I ask what did you use on yours ???

anthony566 · 13 Sep 2014 at 01:51

Noxia said:
That's good but I don't think the weight has changed, I would have loved it if it worked but you know the saying once bitten twice shy. A shame as I think one working properly would be great. I was playing Elite though so quite a lot of hard rapid movement. Might take a punt on an X52 Pro.

It does sound like you had righ old time with yours Noxia .... That is a shame. I have noticed tonight that each unit has holes in each corned with counter sunk edges so it is possible to screw theses units down ( not sure I would want to ) if you are wanting to build a more permanent cockpit setup so this would resolve any movement issues....

Just a thought !!!

Cosimo · 13 Sep 2014 at 11:22

Makes my old X52 look prehistoric. I do like the lighting. What are you flying with this?

dcsarge · 13 Sep 2014 at 13:24

Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to get a nice sheet of metal shaped to the base of each unit and use the screw holes to fix it as an extra weight. You could then stick something grippy like felt or rubber sheet underneath to protect your desk and provide grip. Not ideal but it would add weight and avoid the need to clamp/screw/velcro them down.

*Disclaimer* When I say 'not too difficult' I have the DIY skills of a turnip and no realistic idea of cost. This idea was posted from inspirational setting of the bathroom.

Zarf · 13 Sep 2014 at 19:30

I've used 3M double sided sticky pads on mine, they are surprisingly effective. I was thinking I'd have to cobble up a mounting solution to clamp it onto my Obutto, but the pads do a great job.

anthony566 · 13 Sep 2014 at 19:58

Cosimo said:
Makes my old X52 look prehistoric. I do like the lighting. What are you flying with this?

anything really ..

I am using DCS, Take On Helicopters, IL2, Arma3 but I mainly like flying Helicopters

lurkio · 6 Oct 2014 at 19:19

Well , mine arrived ............... and .. faulty

The H3 up button does not work

Will have to return the joystick for a refund

Nice stick , but the programming software has less functionality than the X52 Pro software , so it would be a downgrade going from X52 pro to this stick

Noxia · 6 Oct 2014 at 19:50

Same button I had issues with I think, QC is non existent on these things. Total lottery

lurkio · 7 Oct 2014 at 21:33

My mate got one a few weeks ago

He had issues with the throttles being a bit loose

Mustang · 8 Oct 2014 at 04:27

That is a thing of beauty, thanks for the pics, I'm waiting for a X-65F refresh to come for my next stick purchase.