Ndal,

Hi, no I've never had that 'disconnect' and 'reconnect' problem with it. Then I used to run everything through a powered USB hub (DLink). Although the PSU for that HUB died and what I thought was a powered USB HUB actually wasn't (which would explain some Tripplehead problems I had back in Feb). Now I have the Saitek stick plugged into one of the MBs USB ports.

I've come across that USB hub overload setting in Windows before. Looking for it I found something interesting.

In windows 7 if you open up the properties for the USB HUB I noticed you get information about available power and required power.



I'm not sure how accurate these numbers are, they seem a bit round for live readings and possibly just OEM values entered into the driver?? Either way the X65 seems to need a lot of juice.

Got to playing around with the old Saitek software for my Cyborg 3d Gold stick. In the control panel for this they do have the ability to calibrate the stick. As you all know the control panel for the X65F doesn't. I can only assume Saitek figures its not needed for the X65. Some games.. Falcon 4/AF and Free Falcon 5.5 have the option to center sticks in setup. Something to try to see if you can get your X65 to center, and not have any drift in the game. Free Falcon supports the duel throttle, and it works (at least in the config screen).

IL-2 also support setup for the joystick in their hardware screen. A small utility program IL2-joyctrl is out there (mission4today.com) too.



If you have these you might try the center options in their setups, and see if you still have the "pull" in either direction. I use deadzones on all three stick axis to limit unwanted input. The force sensing when set on a softer setting can pick up a lot of unwanted input.

If you've tried Saiteks trouble shooting guide to get the stick to come in to a center, and its not, I would return the stick under warranty.

I know when mine has had that issue it was becase the s-video cable pulled out of the stick, yes was my error. I had to exit the game then unplug and replug it in to get the center back. I now ahve had it for almost 3 months of heavy use and I still love it. I am also looking at the WH but with the throttle failures I will wait for 5 months to a year and hopefully the price will drop.


Bullet

Thanks for the help Flexman, CBR and Bullestop.
Mine has also 500mA capability, and total mA was within the capability (tested unplugging other devices in the same HUB) but I still hear disconnected/connect sound several times.
Messed around with S-video cable but still no luck.

I come to think its more a mainboard problem as my P55 board inherently have some eratta around USB that may be causing the issue.
I'll go back to previous core2 mainboard and see what happens.

I have good news btw.
According to the official support, they are going to release a new driver for X65F which will address the alignment issue.

I got hold of a X65F from Amazon recently. It arrived with one of the hats snapped off the stick, so I duly returned it to Amazon and had another sent out. I have sent this back and got a refund from Amazon. Why?
Well, where do I start...
Fundamentally, I found that there was an awful lot of bleed for the X and Y axes. Even a simple banking manoeuvre can't be done without the nose of the aircraft rising or falling all over the place.
The throttle was very stiff. I read in one or two places that Saitek say this is because of the grease its parts are oiled with, and that you should "vigorously" move the throttle to and fro for 60 seconds. Well, apart from not wanting to wreck the kit and cause damage I'd struggle to get covered by the warranty, this is not a long-term solution. In fact, on a long uneventful flight, it's not even a short-term fix as the grease quickly cools down again.
There are other less important flaws in my view: The microstick is too fiddly, and some of the hats on the throttle are in places where they often get knocked, the stick is enormous - way too large for my hands. I was having to reach up a long way to get to the picle button, which made manoeuvring to avoid fire on ingress difficult. And I don't like the boxes attached to the throttle for force settings.
The main point though, is the bleed for one axis to another, which made the stick unusable for me. Lucky I got it from Amazon as they refunded me without a problem. I got a second-hand Cougar HOTAS instead which i'm loving. It's all the things that the X65F wasn't: ergonomic, easy to use, and very accurate.

The x/y axis bleeding is not a product of the product itself, but a product of people not knowing how or not having the patience to make proper adjustments to the force settings in conjunction with the deadzone, response curve and force strength settings (the latter being the most important). Then there is just of course the issue of some people will never be able to adjust to a force sensing stick. The stick can be adjusted where you don't have negative impact x/y axis bleeding (and I mean literal up, down, left and right without ever noticeably crossing the calibration lines) and still have a smooth response from the center to all of the outer limits, but for anyone that just wants to use a force sensing stick out of the box without making those adjustments, then forget about it.

The throttle stiffness becomes a non-issue after a couple of weeks of use and it stays that way. The mouse stick is fine if sensitivity adjuments are made and I can control it where it goes completely up or down or left and right without any bleeding as well and diagonally along with being able to draw circles. Not perfect circles, but not any worse than what I can do on my CH Pro Throttle's mouse stick.

The only things I did differently on the throttle is I removed the front two hats and just used the bases they screw in to to manipulate the hats. It works great that way and makes the throttle more ergonomic and no accidental bumping of the hats with any of the fingers. As far as the two hats next to the mouse stick, since they are also 8 way hats, I programmed them to use the corners of the hat instead of the up, down, left and right. This had a more logical feel to it when manipulating the hats based on the design of the throttle.

I did ditch the cheesy mounting brackets that Saitek provided to mount the force settings and additional buttons box as I built a separate box that it fits into in front of the throttle and also hides all of the HOTAS cables in it. It looks a lot better that way and doesn't move. I also like how these buttons are right in front of the throttle instead of on the throttle base itself where I would actually have to take my hand off the throttle.

One thing that I will say that is absolutely paramount to this HOTAS setup working optimally as well is to have it mounted. It makes a world of difference because I did extensive testing both ways and the response results for both the stick and throttle are entirely different. Just another man's experience.

Achilles I have the Cougar and the throttle feels terrible.

I took the detents off but even with the loosest settings,it's sticky,not precise and useless.

And no I'm not spending over a grand to fix the crap thing.

Seems the CH hotas still stands tall.

I've read forum after forum and they come up trumps.

I've also read if you put a force mod into the Cougar the base deforms after a while.

Although it is not something you should expect to have to do, transforming the Cougar throttle from sticky to a very nice feeling is a matter of an hour of your time as well as some Scotch tape and aluminum foil, not "over a grand".
http://cougar.flyfoxy.com/mods.php#smooth

I have a X65F and I'm having a issue that I hope you guys may have a answer or fix for? I've plugged in my stick and loaded the software and drivers. the problem is that I cant get it to calibrate but what is strange is the calibration bars have a mind of there own. seriously I dont even touch the stick all I need to do is move my hand over or close to the stick and I can witness the X/Y and rudder bars move on their own. (very strange like I have a magnetic field around me). I've tried all the usb slots I have on computer and that didn't help. Any suggestions?


thanks

Hollywoody


HP i7 920 gtx260
W7 64bit

update...I tried a powered usb hub and I still have this same problems. anyone know why would the movement of someones hand close to but not touching the joystick make the joystick show input like if I were holding it?