Well guys I went out today and picked up a
Saitek X52 from the local store...
First impressions were mixed, but after using it for a couple of hours it's got better. The joystick is well built and has a TON of fully programmable buttons, combined with 3 modes essentially tripling the potential number of programmable commands.
BLue LED's look gash but can be dimmer to nothingness or turned off. Throttle feels alright and can be tuned for slide resistance. Some of the "slider wheels" (extra axis) are placed in rather awkward positions and aren't that easy to manipulate... but i think this can be solved by tweaking the deadzones and i'm going to try that in a bit.
Anyway the important bit... how does it feel in games? Well as we all know Freespace 2 is the perfect test for any joystick... it's a fast-twitch space combat sim where accuracy is key. Does the X52 deliver? Well... yes and no really. Responsiveness is MUCH better than my Saitek Cyborg Evo, but my only real quibble is that in true Saitek fashion, the center of the stick is nowhere near as responsive as you want it to be, which makes minor adjustments a real pain, and targeting those nimble fighters in heavy dogfights can be a bit of a pain. However I am getting much better with it, so some hours training definately help, so I will see how it goes and if I don't like it will return it next week.
All in all though having all the extra buttons is a god-send, and really useful for pumping out orders and minimising interaction with the keyboard. I will expiriment with the mode switches at some point to see if I can use one mode for fighting and then one for comms and one for something else.
So far i'm giving it a 7.5/10 and will re-assess in a couple/few days.
EDIT - WOOOOO was browsing th Saitek foruma nd noticed someones made a X52 profile for Freespace 2... it has a SHIPLOAD of commandes mapped for every mode. Awesomeness, will try it ASAP.
