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Saitek X52 PRO or Saitek X55 Rhino?


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I am stuck between the decision of two HOTAS sticks right now, this will be my first one I will ever own. I am currently using a XG900 joystick so the build quality of the X55 will be no problem because my joystick is all plastic and hasn't broke yet after about 2 years of use. I just need a HOTAS stick to play DCS games, I currently own A-10C and I am thinking about buying Black Shark 2.

 

I have read up on both sticks and the X55 apparently has some problems with the twist rudder becoming squeaky (some people say it goes away with in a month or two of use), and also the centring ring doesn't properly centre the joystick and some buttons stop working.

 

Everyone says it is worth the extra money for the X52 PRO, but people say that some of the buttons on the stick stop responding within 1 week - 2 months or the stick completely dies, but some people love their X52 PRO even after 6-10 years if use.

The Thrustmaster Warthog is out of my price range or else I would buy that, but if anyone has the X52 PRO or the X55 Rhino do you have any problems with your stick? and this really isn't much of a problem with the Rhino because of the changeable springs but how loose is the stick? (preferably the X52 PRO because it seems loose in videos)

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I upgraded to the X-55 from the X-52 pro, the X-55 is far superior, only issue i have is the hand rest on the stick isn't adjustable.

My youtube channel Remember: the fun is in the fight, not the kill, so say NO! to the AIM-120.

System specs:ROG Maximus XI Hero, Intel I9 9900K, 32GB 3200MHz ram, EVGA 1080ti FTW3, Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVME, 27" Samsung SA350 1080p, 27" BenQ GW2765HT 1440p, ASUS ROG PG278Q 1440p G-SYNC

Controls: Saitekt rudder pedals,Virpil MongoosT50 throttle, warBRD base, CM2 stick, TrackIR 5+pro clip, WMR VR headset.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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I'm using one of the original batch X-52 Pro's from around 9 years ago, still works though it is starting to show its age. On mine, all the buttons still work, though a pair of them only work maybe 4 of 5 times. The stick itself still works good as new and remains very accurate. For me the problem area is the throttle. It uses old fashioned pots instead of hall sensors and they are starting to wear out it seems. They are doing a lot of jittering now but as said, the thing is about 9 years old and has been used heavily during the course of that time. So that's pretty good quality imho.

 

In any case, I'm actually thinking of picking up an X-55 to replace it in the next month or two. Hadwell, can you say what specifically about it is better aside from the obvious "moar buttons!" :)

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It's good you to open this thread. I'm thinking to buy X55 too.

 

Currently I have X52Pro. I'm using it more than 3½ years, and no any problem. Stick, throttle and all buttons work great. But I just realized, if you connect throttle to USB HUB, you see flickering input, remarkably.

 

Well; I'm planning to switch to X55 next month. I wonder that I will gain more buttons or functions, or lose some of them? I'll be happy if anybody (who has used X52 and 55) can compare or lead me to existed thread about this... {Thank you.}

 

:)

i7-2600 @3.4GHz | Corsair 16GB @1600MHz. | MSI GTX1660Ti Gaming X | Samsung 256GB SSD (Win10HPx64)
Samsung G5 32" + Samsung 18" + 2x8"TFT Displays | Saitek X-55 Rhino & Rudder | TM MFD Cougars | Logitech G13, G230, G510, PZ55 & Farming Sim Panel | TIR5
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As far as I know, it has single stage, unfortunately.

i7-2600 @3.4GHz | Corsair 16GB @1600MHz. | MSI GTX1660Ti Gaming X | Samsung 256GB SSD (Win10HPx64)
Samsung G5 32" + Samsung 18" + 2x8"TFT Displays | Saitek X-55 Rhino & Rudder | TM MFD Cougars | Logitech G13, G230, G510, PZ55 & Farming Sim Panel | TIR5
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I'm using one of the original batch X-52 Pro's from around 9 years ago, still works though it is starting to show its age. On mine, all the buttons still work, though a pair of them only work maybe 4 of 5 times. The stick itself still works good as new and remains very accurate. For me the problem area is the throttle. It uses old fashioned pots instead of hall sensors and they are starting to wear out it seems. They are doing a lot of jittering now but as said, the thing is about 9 years old and has been used heavily during the course of that time. So that's pretty good quality imho.

 

In any case, I'm actually thinking of picking up an X-55 to replace it in the next month or two. Hadwell, can you say what specifically about it is better aside from the obvious "moar buttons!" :)

 

well it's roughly the same quality as the x-52, the dual-throttle friction adjust is amazing on the x-55, it makes the x-52s look like it was duct taped on as an afterthought, not only does it have more buttons, but its got more rotaries, and the rotaries are also push-buttons, it has two pinky triggers on the stick to make up for the lack of the two stage trigger

 

but other than that, it's roughly the same quality as the x-52 pro.

 

basically i like to think of it as an x-52 pro with dual throttle and more rotaries and buttons... = far superior to the x-52 pro


Edited by Hadwell

My youtube channel Remember: the fun is in the fight, not the kill, so say NO! to the AIM-120.

System specs:ROG Maximus XI Hero, Intel I9 9900K, 32GB 3200MHz ram, EVGA 1080ti FTW3, Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVME, 27" Samsung SA350 1080p, 27" BenQ GW2765HT 1440p, ASUS ROG PG278Q 1440p G-SYNC

Controls: Saitekt rudder pedals,Virpil MongoosT50 throttle, warBRD base, CM2 stick, TrackIR 5+pro clip, WMR VR headset.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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X-55

 

I've had my X-55 for about 2 months. It has allot of cool adjustable settings but has one BIG NASTY glitch. Things randomly turn on & off. Landing gear goes up & down, APU starts in flight, an engine will shut down, speed brakes will deploy. Tried calibrating, wiping out set-ups & re-loading profiles, swinging a rubber chicken in circles over the damned thing....notta. Hopefully MadCatz or Saitek will have an answer if I can get a response from them.

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I've had my X-55 for about 2 months. It has allot of cool adjustable settings but has one BIG NASTY glitch. Things randomly turn on & off. Landing gear goes up & down, APU starts in flight, an engine will shut down, speed brakes will deploy. Tried calibrating, wiping out set-ups & re-loading profiles, swinging a rubber chicken in circles over the damned thing....notta. Hopefully MadCatz or Saitek will have an answer if I can get a response from them.

 

i'd RMA it or return it and get another, sounds like you got a dud... i haven't had any issues with mine at all, other than like i said, stick doesn't have adjustable palm rest.

My youtube channel Remember: the fun is in the fight, not the kill, so say NO! to the AIM-120.

System specs:ROG Maximus XI Hero, Intel I9 9900K, 32GB 3200MHz ram, EVGA 1080ti FTW3, Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVME, 27" Samsung SA350 1080p, 27" BenQ GW2765HT 1440p, ASUS ROG PG278Q 1440p G-SYNC

Controls: Saitekt rudder pedals,Virpil MongoosT50 throttle, warBRD base, CM2 stick, TrackIR 5+pro clip, WMR VR headset.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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Hi to all , i have a x55 , and i have to say it's great.....with a10 i am not touching the keyboard anymore expect for radio comms, but.....

But still i have to say the software for mapping is really not intuitive, it took a lot of effort to understand and map properly.

And the mouse nipple is not working well at all.

Still the thrust is so smooth it's now really easy to air refuel and you have so many buttons and rotative .... i like it a lot.

No problem with the twist neither with the springs or whatever, the joystick works great and is precise is just a matter of setting and again setting is not easy with this product, it takes time and effort.

So if you are not going for the warthog hotas and like me you dont want to buy pedals i think x55 it's a good product.....just be patient to learn the software.

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Not the X-52 Pro. Mine also had a problem with the mouse stick intermittently drifting hard right. Plugging and unplugging it 50,000 times (3 or 4 really) would eventually get it to work. Gave it away after getting a warthog and it haunts the new owner eternal as well.

 

I am not too impressed with the Saitek Pro Flight Combat Rudder Pedals either. They have a lot of jitter on the toe breaks, though I set dead zones in the Windows control panel and they seem to work fine.

 

I am not impressed with Saitek products. Can't speak about the X-55 though. Never put my hands on one.

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I've had my X-55 for about 2 months. It has allot of cool adjustable settings but has one BIG NASTY glitch. Things randomly turn on & off. Landing gear goes up & down, APU starts in flight, an engine will shut down, speed brakes will deploy. Tried calibrating, wiping out set-ups & re-loading profiles, swinging a rubber chicken in circles over the damned thing....notta. Hopefully MadCatz or Saitek will have an answer if I can get a response from them.

 

Is this happening when you're playing multiplayer only, specifically when you have TeamSpeak up. There is a bad interaction between the Saitek Profiling software for the X-52 Pro (not sure if it is the same or similar) and TeamSpeak, where you need to change 'Default' to 'Keyboard and Mouse Only' (in TeamSpeak) Settings>Options>Hotkeys, bottom right drop down. It does al kinds of daffy things otherwise.

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xaoslaad hit it on the head. I had the "ghosting" issue the first time I played multiplayer and yes the "keyboard and mouse only" setting fixed it immediately.

 

Dale

i9 9900K @ 5.1Ghz - ASUS Maximus Hero XI - 32GB 4266 DDR4 RAM - ASUS RTX 2080Ti - 1 TB NVME - NZXT Kraken 62 Watercooling System - Thrustmaster Warthog Hotas (Virpil Base) - MFG Crosswind Pedals - Pimax 5K+

VFA-25 Fist Of The Fleet

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I own the X65F which the X55 is very similar to. I have to say for DCS A-10C it's awesome but also very frustrating, as it so nearly has everything I want but some important things are missing (mostly the dual-stage trigger but also the lights switch on the throttle). I also owned the X52 Pro (and the X52 and X45 before that) and there is simply no comparison with the X65F (and I presume the X55), but they were fine for most games (especially Il-2 back then).

 

If you can't afford the HOTAS Warthog I think it's a good choice, though I recently spent the money to buy the HOTAS Warthog and wish I'd just done that from the start.

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X55 pre-order owner here. Love it minus the two stage trigger. Also read an article on... I wanna say simhq? That said they would make new sticks that plug and play into the base. Maybe they'll make a stick with a two stage trigger who knows.

Only issue with my stick is the mouse nipple is junk. I made a YouTube video about it, and some people commented their problems and fixes as well. Also, I have a dcs a10 profile for the x55 if you decide to go that route!

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X-55

 

The "Ghosting" issue does this on lone wolf mode, I haven't even tried multiplayer. Does it in FSX as well, guess this one is a Lemon. Worked great for about 2 weeks then went straight to the POS mode. Let's see how good MadCatz customer service is. Let you know what the wait time is & how many hoops I'll have to jump through.


Edited by Muttley12
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  • 1 year later...

And?

 

The "ghosting issue" is fixed?

 

Questioning this, because I'm about to buy a X-55 in two weeks. I'll give my X52Pro to a friend of mine for a reasonable price and will buy X-55.

 

I like lots of hats, rotaries and switches on X-55, and I'm aware of cons of X-55 (positioning of hats/castles, no adjustable wrist unlike X52Pro, single stage fire bla bla bla). I've read lots of reviews and watched videos (including Ralfidude's one).

 

Generally I'm lucky about the health of electronic devices. I use many many devices in all my life. Today I'm at 40, so far no any electronic has died in my hands. Shortly, I don't care about what people are complaining on some bad sides of X-55, but ghosting problem.

 

I just wonder if this bug has been fixed by Saitek ... or .. .or MadCats?..

 

Thank you.

 

Edit: I've read a couple times about a powered USB hub is needed to resolve ghosting issue, right?


Edited by Devrim

i7-2600 @3.4GHz | Corsair 16GB @1600MHz. | MSI GTX1660Ti Gaming X | Samsung 256GB SSD (Win10HPx64)
Samsung G5 32" + Samsung 18" + 2x8"TFT Displays | Saitek X-55 Rhino & Rudder | TM MFD Cougars | Logitech G13, G230, G510, PZ55 & Farming Sim Panel | TIR5
>>MY MODS<< | Discord: Devrim#1068

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