X52 Hotas

[Aramazia Kin]

I was thinking of getting a X52 for elite but what is going on with the reviews and such for this stick? I see some people absolutely love it, but then some say it's terrible and breaks after a short time! Is it a lottery as to whether you end up with a good one or not? I don't really want to spend £100-150 on a game controller that has a 50-50 chance of being bad.

[funkynutz]

Check out the VKB Gladiator NXT. https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/gladiator-nxt/

It's the dogs bollocks for the money. Ridiculously accurate sensors, rock solid, user serviceable (with guides), tons of buttons.

As you're posting in £, I'm going to assume you're a Brit like me. Get the standard version instead of the premium (keeps cost below £150 and avoids paying a chunk of import taxes and VAT on top of it - price will drop when you get to checkout and put in your address for UK delivery as they'll remove EU VAT), just order the upgrade kit at a later date if you want the analogue thumb stick.

I've bought 2 so far. One for each hand. Only got the upgrade kit on the right, and I've got spare buttons after configuring everything in Elite. Seriously contemplating buying one of the switch and throttle quadrant units they've got now as well (that's to replace my CH Pro throttle for flight sims - I don't recommend these, they're crap for the money).

[Princess Pilfer]

The Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS setups are notorious for cheap parts and quality control issues (respectively.)
I'm reliably informed that even if you win the Logitech Lottery the throttle starts to fairly reliably fail at 500-900 hours of use. (ie in 1-3 years of normal use.)

The bottom line is *basically* that you can get a cheaper hotas like the X52 that will probably die in 2 years, or you can more expensive, higher end thing that will reliably last you for 10+.

[funkynutz]

Don't you use a VKB as well Princess? Or are you on Virpil? (they're nice as well, bloody expensive though).

[Princess Pilfer]

I have a Gunfighter, yes. I don't regret it for a second, but it's massive overkill.

For me the difference maker (I was determined to spend a lot of money because tax returns) was that I find the idea of a joystick on your joystick stupid, they're functionally useless for everything except like adjusting the radar in DCS or something (which I don't play,) but VKB lets you replace it with an 8 way hat, which is way more useful in way more games.

[funkynutz]

MCG? Tasty bit of kit that if you can afford it. Unless you've got the F14 version... I can see why people would like it, just... not for Elite.

I've actually got the thumbstick on my right Gladiator set to do both joystick and 8 way hat. A quick click enables headlook in case I'm not using my head tracker (or if the battery dies, I really should get around to making a USB powered version), hold it for half a second and it switches to an 8 way hat that I use for issuing crew commands. Also works well for zooming in the map, and operating the FSS tuner/zoom, and the turret in the SRV.

I'm gonna shut up now so someone else can get a word in

[Alrik]

I use the X52pro since 2010, and it still works.

[Princess Pilfer]

"I have X and it has lived through Y" is not a strong statement. When you're making buying decisions you can and should be considering average, not individual experiences.
Individual experiences are essentially irrelivant, for a number of reasons. (Bias, use case, luck, experience.)

They mentioned there's a lot of negative reviews of the X52, and it's for a reason. If you end up with the Saeteck version or an early logitech version the quality control is known to be quite bad. If you end up with a more recent model it's still spotty and they're not impressively durable or long lasting.

[Aramazia Kin]

Originally posted by Princess Pilfer:

The Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS setups are notorious for cheap parts and quality control issues (respectively.)
I'm reliably informed that even if you win the Logitech Lottery the throttle starts to fairly reliably fail at 500-900 hours of use. (ie in 1-3 years of normal use.)

The bottom line is *basically* that you can get a cheaper hotas like the X52 that will probably die in 2 years, or you can more expensive, higher end thing that will reliably last you for 10+.

Funny you should mention Thrustmaster and individual experiences as I already have a T-flight that's worked great for the several years I've had it, but now I want something a bit less basic.

Originally posted by FunkynutZ:

Check out the VKB Gladiator NXT. https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/gladiator-nxt/

That does look cool, but I kinda want a hotas and buying 2 of these is a bit out of my price range!

[Princess Pilfer]

Get 1, and track down a stand alone Thrustmaster TWCS throttle.
(I'm told they also have reliability issues but unless you're willing to drop 300+ dollars on your setup there's no way around that)

If you can track one down they'll run 80-100 USD. (If you pay more than that you're being ripped off) which would bring your total to 200-250 depending on what variety of NXT you got and kind of price you found the TWCS for.

(PS, the Tflight probably hasn't worked great, you just haven't had expereince with what 'works great' actually is. I felt the same way about my CH Fighterstick, and then I got something better)

[funkynutz]

Originally posted by Aramazia Kin:

Originally posted by Princess Pilfer:

The Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS setups are notorious for cheap parts and quality control issues (respectively.)
I'm reliably informed that even if you win the Logitech Lottery the throttle starts to fairly reliably fail at 500-900 hours of use. (ie in 1-3 years of normal use.)

The bottom line is *basically* that you can get a cheaper hotas like the X52 that will probably die in 2 years, or you can more expensive, higher end thing that will reliably last you for 10+.

Funny you should mention Thrustmaster and individual experiences as I already have a T-flight that's worked great for the several years I've had it, but now I want something a bit less basic.

Originally posted by FunkynutZ:

Check out the VKB Gladiator NXT. https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/gladiator-nxt/

That does look cool, but I kinda want a hotas and buying 2 of these is a bit out of my price range!

I'll sell you my CH Pro Throttle for 40 quid!

[Stelar Seven]

I have the x 52. It's my 2nd. 1st one died after a year but Logitech replaced it free.

I love the button layout and the size. The Hotas combo hits everything I need. Some.of the keys I double up wirh voice attack.

While it's a joy it's also got issues. The software is garbage. On the new unit my left "throttle mouse" is now conflicting with the actual mouse and I have to load the interface to fix that and keep tie led on.

So while I love it. I can't reccomend it. It's better than my Theustmaster but I'll get something else when it finally dies.

[Alrik]

Originally posted by Princess Pilfer:

"I have X and it has lived through Y" is not a strong statement. When you're making buying decisions you can and should be considering average, not individual experiences.
Individual experiences are essentially irrelivant, for a number of reasons. (Bias, use case, luck, experience.)

They mentioned there's a lot of negative reviews of the X52, and it's for a reason. If you end up with the Saeteck version or an early logitech version the quality control is known to be quite bad. If you end up with a more recent model it's still spotty and they're not impressively durable or long lasting.

I have a very old Saitek version.

And I checked Amazon for the Gladiator, no reviews at all. So i guess i must trust the reviews on the manufacturers website, and those are all good...

[Princess Pilfer]

Pretty much all of the good HOTAS manufacturers sell directly from their own sites.

But I don't trust the reviews on the site (those can be curated), I trust the reviews on places like Reddit.

[funkynutz]

Originally posted by Alrik:

And I checked Amazon for the Gladiator, no reviews at all. So i guess i must trust the reviews on the manufacturers website, and those are all good...

First... I don't trust amazon reviews totally anyway. A lot of them are fake/paid for. Feel free to ask me any questions about the stick. Also check reddit user reviews as Princess suggests, and/or watch a few youtube videos. Just make sure you're looking for the "Gladiator NXT", the original Gladiator is older and lacks many features/buttons that are on the NXT version (if memory serves the original is modelled around a WWII fighter plane stick, the NXT uses VKBs own "space combat" kosmosina grip).

Second... VKB don't sell on Amazon (at least not in the UK). And as far as I'm aware they don't ship to resellers either (high end joysticks are a bit of a niche market). Their official shops are https://vkbcontrollers.com/ for the US, and https://flightsimcontrols.com/ for the EU.

[GC13]

Originally posted by Alrik:

And I checked Amazon for the Gladiator, no reviews at all. So i guess i must trust the reviews on the manufacturers website, and those are all good...

VKB gets amazing word of mouth, so if I need to replace my x52 they're who I'm going with. They finally released a throttle, so once those start shipping and getting into people's hands you're going to see a lot of buzz around them.