Mad Catz X52 Pro Flight Control System

Pros: Price point was right.

It looks nice.

Feels somewhat sturdy. Some buttons are not so sturdy. The rotary buttons under the LCD are hard to turn and you end up pressing them down to turn them which presses another function.

Cons: Wow, there are tons.

First of all I get BSOD's when playing FSX. If I press the pinky button it crashes. Every time. I uninstalled the software and reinstalled to find the same thing. If I uninstall the software and play FSX I get no issue.

The 'software' used to program the controller is junk. It really looks like something a 3rd year college student pieced together with VB 2008. It has about the same crash rate too. Put it this way, it would be easier to just go into each game and program the game. At least that way you know that the profiles stay. I tried editing the profile for FSX and 'saved' it only to find out that it didn't actually save. So I had to redo it again and again.

When the joystick is plugged in I get crazy errors on the desktop. Sometimes I can't even access "My Computer". I unplug it and it all goes back to normal.

This all leads me to the final con. The company itself seems to have tons of these issues that are unresolved. I really wish I had done more research into it. If I had I wouldn't have gotten something else.

Other Thoughts: This was one of the first 'Flight Stick' purchases I have ever made. I got it because I really got into FSX and X-Plane. I thought that it was a good middle range for a stick and I read a few good reviews for it. I also did want to pay $500 for a Warthog.

I guess when it comes to flight sticks you really get what you pay for. In this case what I thought was a good purchase was nothing but a lemon. I should have went with the $500 Warthog. Maybe then I wouldn't have BSOD every time I play my flight sim game.

Personally, I regret this purchase.

Pros: Sturdy, well-built, great drivers & software, lots of buttons, looks great

Cons: MFD is not very useful

Other Thoughts: I bought this stick because I needed something that had enough buttons, axes, and switches to play DCS A10. Very happy with it. Especially now that the price is down to around $140, I highly recommend it.

Pros: I looks great.

Cons: I don't know where to begin. I have a lot of frustration with this company. There software feels pasted together. All the rotories, sliders, and the mini mouse jitter at times to the point of uncontrolability.
Their forums and customer service is a joke.
Don't waste your money.

Pros: Looks cool.

Cons: Felt kinda cheap. Lights up like a christmas tree. Most importantly it felt unresponsive and completely out of control while flying anything. Even with up to date drivers some of the buttons would work inconsistently or stop until they were rebound. I returned it after a week.

Other Thoughts: Control imput may be dealt with differently in certain games like flight sims, but for ANYTHING else you will be much better off with a Logitech.

Pros: First time using a Joy Stick of any type. Pretty sweet everything you can do with it. Can customized all the coloring of lights and can configure buttons any way neccesary. Easy to use, Movement is soft but precise and is pretty comfortable for long use.

Cons: Trying to configure buttons at first for the profile for each game was the worst. Trying to configure everything for Arma 2 took about and hour no joke.

Other Thoughts: Searched the web though and found places to download already programmed profiles for different games (Flight Sim, Wings of Prey Etc.) that all you have to do is download and load which was awesome!

Pros: Lots of features. Most of the buttons are intuitively placed. Only takes a bit to get used to over any of the "simple" joysticks.

Cons: Very expensive considering the quality. I would rate this unit worth ~$70. The wires are messy (im not sure of a solution to this besides better placement and length) and the suction cups at the bottom always come off even when installed correctly and locked. Really should just have wide rubber feet.

The flight controls move overly-easy while the resistence points are too resistive (such as throttle afterburner and reverser). I would expect controls of this calliber to feel a bit more "heavy" realisticly.

Other Thoughts: The inside of the throttle LCD panel is cracked or has a loose wire/discoloration.

Since i have had this over a month (i was on vacation before i could test it) i am sure i maight not be able to return this device for a refund. If i am unable to work something out with Madcatz (the maker) i will not be buying further products from them for some time.

Pros: smooth feel, and works well with games that I like to play. I only had to DL a patch on their web page to get it to work with windows 7. Im not to sure how people have had issues making it work with their OS.

Cons: No issues so far

Pros: Lots of lights. Lights that change colors. The missile button goes from red to green when you lift the safety cover.

The stick is less floaty then it's predecessor the X52, accomplished by using some stronger springs.

Nothing else like it on the market except for $450 Thrustmaster products.

Cons: None of the potentiometers in the throttle work correctly. This includes 2 rotating dials and a slider they all jitter back and forth at points in their range of motion unless you fiddle with them _just so_.

The buttons feel cheap. The button clicks, while accurate, feel flimsy and unsatisfying. The toggles on the base of the stick feel like they're about to break at any moment.

There is no significant difference between this and the X52. They added lights, They changed the MFD on the throttle, and made the stick's return spring a bit stronger.

Saiteks tech support is non-existent. Expect a week for your ticket to be looked at all, and 3 weeks for a response from a human.

It is very clear that this is a brilliant product, killed by being built as cheaply as humanly possible, and that is a terrible shame.

Other Thoughts: I moved up to an X52 pro after buying an X52. The X52 also had throttle problems, bad potentiometers like the X52 pro, and loose wires so half the buttons on the throttle stopped working whenever the throttle was advanced to 100%. The X52 was returned and I bought a X52 pro from Newegg. The moment I got the X52pro out of the box and installed, I saw the exact same potentiometer juttering I had seen in the X52. Sent it back to Newegg for RMA the next day. I am still waiting on my 3rd Saitek joystick, (my second X52 pro.) Hopefully this 3rd one will not have a problem with bad potentiometers, but I don't have my hopes up THAT much.

Unfortunately, you have no choice but to buy this stick. It's the best one on the market that doesn't cost $450. You'd honestly be best served with an X52 _Provided_ you can get one that functions.

BOHICA.

Pros: looks great

Cons: still waiting on it to arrive

Other Thoughts: warning to those bundling this item with items that support rush processing, you do not get what you pay for! I bought this in conjunction with a new cpu and mobo, requested rush processing. item was purchased yesterday, when i asked customer support what the deal was the response i got was " sorry but that warehouse doesnt support rush processing, you may possibly get it by next week" when my reply was " i would hope so since i paid for rush processing and three day delivery", i got the run around and my measily two or three bucks back. i picked newegg because i have ordered from them in the past and had no issues like this before. perhaps its just a customer support person whos clueless, but perhaps newegg is taking the stance like so many other companys " thanks for your money, talk to the hand"

Pros: Very nice layout and feel, neat features

Cons: COMPLETELY worthless profile editor software, and equally worthless support. Even their website is down constantly.

Other Thoughts: Not worth the money, maybe if they fixed the profile editor software.
I will be re-selling this worthless item ASAP.