Saitek joystick advice

[joe bob]

I am in the market for a new joystick. The coolie hat on my Saitek x-52 is starting to refuse to pan right with increasing frequency.
I had a peek and was shocked to find that prices seemed to have doubled since I was last in the market.

I recently saw a discussion about Saitek being in trouble. They have changed ownership since I purchased mine. The thread focused on the return policy but I was wondering if the quality of manufacture has suffered.
I have always preferred Saitek because they are well built and last a long time. Has that changed?

Their Rhino and thrustmasters warthog look great but are solidly out of my price range. 500 plus is insane.
Looking at photos of the X-52 pro it seems there are even less buttons on the throttle base that can be used . The buttons I use for on my regular X-52 for drag chutes and such appear to have been replaced by thumb wheels.
I need more buttons not less! Any recommendations?

[Wingmate]

I have an X55 and is probably the last Saitek product I will buy (my last stick was an X52 Pro and I got my Dad an X52 one year). It is still for the most part a high quality stick but the stick seems to be designed for large hands, and the split throttle while nice seems to have different friction for the left and the right engine so I normally keep it locked together. I also miss the detents in the throttle that the X52 had and would prefer a different system for stick centering. It seems all Saitek has done was to add buttons and not really improve on what the X52 was. There have also been many people who seem to have had problems with recent-ish Saitek products and have had issues with their support.

The thumb wheels on the X52 pro are also buttons. The Pro version also has a more solid construction and uses a lot more metal parts than the base version.

Hope this helps at least somewhat.

Cheers
-Josh

[txnetcop]

I have to have force-feed back and it has to feel at least as good as the Cessna 140 I used to own. I bought a Saitek Cyborg Evo Force joystick in 2006 and it still works perfect. I had the Microsoft force-feedback early on but it gave up the ghost and I stupidly sold it...there are parts out there for it! Anyway except that it gets mighty warm I have never had a one day of problems. I've been since the Bruce Arwick days...in fact I used be a project manager for Spectrum Holobyte. This is the best stick I have ever owned.
Ted

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=saitek+cyborg+evo+force

[joe bob]

Thanks guys, that is helpful.
I will probably end up with the X-52 pro or some equivalent.
My X-52 has lasted 13 years of constant use, I can't complain too much about that.