Mad Catz X52 USB Flight Control System

Pros: I bought this Stick when it first came out in 2003 or so . It replaced the X45 .
As it is I have used this stick almost daily for all those years flying IL2,
Il2 / 46 and all the ones in between and the stick has work great for me .
I found that you needed to go into the stick and throttle to blow out the post that they had then and to apply white grease to keep the stick working top notch .
I ordered a newer version of this stick and it is even better , I have not had any issues with the hardware at this time , and the old stick still works .

When using the stick with games I went into the game settings and set up the Stick and did not use the SST software that came with the stick . Only on a very few games did It not want to work , and that was due to the game and how it was coded for sticks.

I can't tell you that you will not have any issues with the stick but after flying and using it for all of these years with just about all the top flight Sims with little or no issues I think you will get good use out of the stick.

Cons: Cons , yes there are some . One of the main ones is the SST software that comes with the stick , it mostly does not work and can causes issues with the rest of your system if you do not get it set right .
As I said above I just did not use there SST software and used the in game setup for the Stick and it worked great doing it that way.

The second con is if you need to contact Mad Catz / Saiteck then you have to search the web to find the phone number to contact them , if you send an Email to there support then it is just hit or miss if they see it and contact you back. On one occasion while contacting them I found that the person that was trying to help me with the issue did not speak English very well at all , but he stayed with me and got it done. But I will say that if you search you will find the phone number and that way is the best way to get something done !

Another item that I have seen is people giving false data and help to new users that are asking for help . I just do not understand why an adult would do that .

And the friction adjustment screw on the throttle needs to be tightened with care ! If you crank down on it without thinking you will strip it out . I found that it does not take very much to get it set to how you want it. The think I found I had to do to make it work and stay like I wanted was to set it to where I wanted and then work the throttle for awhile as it will loosen up a little from use then go back and set the friction setting again and then use it in game . After a few times doing this it will set to how you want it and stay .

Also the length of the USB cable that goes to the computer is realistically not long enough for how most computers are set up in homes , what I did was go and buy a High grade USB extender cable to add on to the one from the stick , I bought one that was heavy duty the thicker ones . And that solved that issue .

Another item that I learned was the centering spring under the stick . If after hours of use you take the spring and turn it around a few times to have it not stay in the same position all the time and to put a thin coating of white grease under it that you will not have binding .

Other Thoughts: I can say that I have got many years of use out of my X52 Joysticks !
But I also can say that they are not perfect but not to the point that they are not useable .
Yes one needs to take care of the sticks and not throw them around as they will not take that . And you need to clean them every now and then .
Taking care to use white grease to keep them lubed and not straight auto grease as it will soften the plastic .

Also I found that after using them for awhile if you would take and turn the centering spring under the control stick around a few time and to keep a light coating of the white grease under the spring that it would keep center very well and the stick will not bind on you from friction scoring on the plastic under the spring !

Pros: None.

Cons: Everything. Lets face it people.. if you dont know MadCatz reputation yet, they make the highest priced, cheapest pieces of junk on the market today. If you've ever bought a gamestop brand controller that died in a week.. congratulations.. you've experienced MadCatz products. (They're the same) If you purchased Rock Band 1,2,3, Cymbal kit etc etc.. and half of them didnt work.. congrats, you've experienced a MadCatz product. Absolute junk. Returned in 1 day. I should have known better...

Other Thoughts: If your considering this.. do yourself a favor.. take your money, throw it on the floor, and burn it. You'll get more enjoyment out of the cash that way.,

Pros: *Easy to use
*Easy to Setup
*Many controls / buttons that are all configurable

Cons: If you switch between several games sometimes you forget your own config.. But this is obviously not a con for the item..

Other Thoughts: I bought this on a popular auction site for something like $20 or $25 at the time. It was easily worth that. Although seeing I got a "steal" on them as they go for $120 I do not know if it would constitute itself..

Do not get me wrong, these are AWESOME!! I just play the games for fun or play around with MS X Simulator, I do not actually fly or anything, whereas this would constitute itself for the price..

PS- I love simply love to flick open the switch and press the fire button, like on HAKW games

Pros: Lots of lights. When it works it is good a stick and throttle you can buy. Owned over 4 of them over the years. is great to get s stable target lock and throttle has a simple layout of buttons. More lights than you could ever use.

Cons: At that price you would be crazy to purchase it. if money means nothing then get the longest extended warranty that you can get they don't hold up. After my second one I got extended warranty because not one lasted that long. buttons tend to stop working. If you are heavy handed it might last a month.

Other Thoughts: All it is, the X52 with a different name. Its worth about 72 dollars on todays market. Thrustmaster or logiteck make a better and more dependable product. They use cheap plastic. It got two eggs because I did have some fine memories of it.

Pros: works great bought for flight sim back in 2005 still works through out heavy use it gets !!

Cons: only 1 i have is the about a year ago (2011) the paint for the 6 toggle labels came off....

Pros: lots of control options, cool leds. adjustable grip. 2 ways to mount suction cups or screws to mount permanently. very comfortable.

Cons: Software is the worst. tried new drivers tried old drivers. contacted tech support no help. If the SST software was working ,once i tried to edit a profile it would lock up and make me have to hard boot. Tried to map in game with out software but very few of the buttons are seen. came out of games like mw4 and BF3 and the software would crash and I'd have to hard boot.

Other Thoughts: I really wanted this stick. I spent a week trying to get it to work. But in the end had to rma since it never worked right. On top of that cost 14$ in shipping to me and 14$ in shipping back and paid 91$ so I got like 65$ back :( This just teaches me a lesson, don't buy Saitek online.
I will surly not try the pro version since its the same software.

Pros: A lot of button to configure for game use, throttle and stick feel great, not to loose or hard. Suction cups hold it securely to the table

Cons: After 5 days of use Blue LED Lights some times turn off while you are using it. LEDS aren't bad you unplug it and plug it back in an they start to work again.

Other Thoughts: This will be the last Saitek Joystick I buy. Since the problem is intermittent not sending it back. I guess if the problem was permanent I maybe better off.

Pros: Reliable - I've owned this since 2006 and shy of showing signs of wear from where my hands go, it doesn't show any signs of letting up

Buttons! - I've played MS Flight Simulator, BF42, BF Vietnam, BF2, BF3, and several other games using this stick, and to this day, I haven't found a game that utilizes every button on the stick. I've even talked with friends about actually making a space flight sim game together, just to see if we could use every button on the X52.

Desk Bling - It's purdy. The lights, the blue screen on the throttle, it's pretty to look at.

Clock/ Stopwatch - Sometimes it's handy to have a stopwatch while gaming, and if you play with gamers around the world, it's nice to have a GMT clock and an EST clock on your desk at the push of a button.

Cons: Buttons! - This thing has two hats I've never twisted with purpose in-game, and I've never found a use for the slider. Also, three modes might seem pretty cool, but in all of those games I named above, I've never needed to use other modes.

Not universally accepted - some games, like Battlefield 1942, won't natively allow for X52 support. You need to manipulate game files to make it work

Huge! - I have a large desk with tons of space, but if you have a smaller desk, consider a smaller stick

Short Cables - Like I said, I have a huge desk, with lots of cable management options. I can barely get the cables to reach, and it makes desk cleaning harder than it needs to be.

Bright lights - If you just want to kick back and watch Netflix with the lights off, don't count on it. You can turn the lights down on the stick, or turn the stick away from you, but it'd be nice if it had a dimmer wheel on it

Other Thoughts: I love this stick to death. I've been using it for years, and if you've ever played Battlefield with me, chances are you've heard my praises of it (and seen its results first-hand with a rocket to the face, lol). I'm replacing mine because unlike me, my stick doesn't like drinking Coca Cola, and at $90 (it was A LOT more when I bought it in '06), it's a steal. Buy this. You won't regret it!

Pros: Looks nice, has a ton of features if you get one that works.

Cons: Shoddy hardware.

Other Thoughts: DOA. Searching through various forums to find a fix reveals that this particular model dies with great frequency due to cheap components. I won't buy Saitek ever again.

Pros: More than enough functions and profiles for all your planes and choppers. Joystick is adjustable to fit your hand size. Throttle resistance is adjustable. Stays put on my desk without the included suction cups. Responce from inputs is progressive and accurate. Add the Saitek rudder peddles and flying helicopters does'nt get any better than this.

Cons: I don't really call this a con, considering how hard iv'e flogged these controls for five years, but the rudder function on the joystick developed a twitch that made flying near impossible. So here I am buying the same system again. The other will get repaired.

Other Thoughts: I'm not a real pilot but with matrox, track ir, and these controls I feel like one in FSX 10. Dual throttles would be nice, and available but, but I,m good with this.