Bad & Unknown

Bad stuff

All that sounds wonderful, doesn't it? In fact, if it does sound great, the X52 is probably the stick for you. Those readers who are experienced sim pilots have no doubt noticed certain omissions - notably the stick's performance. Believe it or not, joysticks aren't all capable of identical performance.

For example, the X52, while it generally accepts more accurate inputs than its cheaper cousin the Cyborg Evo, isn't a particularly accurate stick. It's not something I noticed at first not even later on, but after spending several weeks switching between the X52 and FighterStick Pro, it's noticeable. It's not that the X52 has become spikey, it just wasn't as precise to start with. There's a particularly annoying tendency to ignore the first few movements of tilting the stick forward, and rumor has it that this is actually a design issue rather than a problem with a batch of sticks. This isn't as noticeable in jet simulators, but when I'm flying World War II aircraft and my only armament is my forward-facing guns, the joystick has to be damn accurate for me to hit anything. There's little doubt in my mind that the X52 is more responsive than the Cyborg Evo, but it quite simply pales in comparison to the CH offerings.

Another point of contention is purely a matter of personal preference, and one that doesn't bother this reviewer personally but has been brought up by other X52 owners. The stick is very, very light - the pressures required to move it are miniscule. It's lighter than the Cyborg Evo and, compared to the Thrustmaster F-22 I used almost a decade ago, it feels like a toy. An optimistic estimate would put the spring pressure at about 2lbs. This is about one eightth of what the Thrustmaster Cougar comes with. For all its lightness, it is very smooth and pressure is uniform. There is no "clicking" past an axis, since there is one spring and it presses on a disc depressed into the stick, creating uniform pressure, unlike most joysticks with gimbals which rely on a combination of springs to center the stick.

Hazmats

Vulgar again

One of the features the stick boasts is the ability to lock rudder twist with a tab that's pulled out. This doesn't really work, since the stick will still twist - though to a more limited extent. Fortunately, the twist axis can be disabled completely with the Saitek software, which permits the owner to set a deadzone as large as he likes - including the entire axis.

Super Unknown

Where I get very hesitant about recommending the Saitek X52 asking what will come 3, 6 or 12 months down the line - will the stick still work? The X36 was a fairly reliable design, but its successor, the X45, was very flakey. X45 issues included shoddy pots (potentiometers, the devices that measure how much input the player gives), which resulted in spiking responses, as well as notoriously fragile hat switches which were alleged to have worn out in as little as 2 months of moderately heavy use.

The X52 hasn't been on the market long enough for a consensus to be reached about its reliability. One of Saitek's main goals when designing it was to fix the reliability concerns, but then again, Volkswagen promises that "new design Volkswagens & Audis are more reliable than ever before" with a straight face every 3-5 years as well. As deplorable as this sounds, we'd recommend that players invest in a store warranty for their stick. Although the X52 is very affordable compared to most HOTAS units, it is still far more expensive than standard joysticks, and this is one case where we'd go the safe route.