I did.
Been die-hard
Saitek for many years, X45 to X52, and now X55.
Wife got me X55 for Christmas. That's part of my motivation for keeping it. But, in the grand scheme of things, I can't say that I strongly recommend converting from X52 to X55.
First, let me say this: if you don't like Saitek products, you won't like the X55. I'm not going to debate Warthogs and Cougars vs. X55. If you're in the USD $500 HOTAS market, these are not the controllers you're looking for. Move along. The question was X52 vs. X55, and those will be the boundaries of my discussion.Some observations;
- Most of what you like about X52 you will still find in X55. Somewhat affordable full-featured
HOTAS arrangement with more than enough buttons and switches to cover the bases in any sim you're flying. The programming software works mostly the same.
- My main beef with the X52 (and X45) was that they did not
look like proper aircraft controls. They look like spaceship controls or something. I found myself a bit embarrassed on the occasion when, after describing myself as a 'serious' flight simulator pilot, showing someone my desk-pit. The X52 just looked more like a video game console joystick. Now, with the X55 attached to my desk, I'm almost anxious to show someone. There's no mistaking that their function is to fly combat aircraft.
- In terms of buttons and switches; without actually counting them, there is not significantly more to work with on the X55. Both the X52 and X55 give you more than you will need, especially if you use the mode switch.
- X55 is split throttle. X52 is not. If you don't fly anything that's twin engine, this doesn't matter. Even if you do fly the P-38 (in IL2) for example, it's cool to have a throttle handle for each engine, though 99% of the time you operate them together anyway. The split throttle is cool, though not nearly as substantial a feature as I envisioned it would be.
- Here's the worst part, though
Saitek claims it is a selling feature: the stick and throttle are two
separate USB devices. The cannot be combined as one device with the programming software as I had hoped.
Saitek says this provides the user with greater flexibility, if say you wanted to use only the stick
or the throttle. I'm not going to say that nobody would ever want to do this, but I'd like to think that the target audience for the feature would be pretty damned small. Why does this "feature" suck?
a) For some older sims, they cannot recognize the throttle axis as being on a separate device as the stick X and Y axes. You may simply no longer be able to fly some older stuff you were using the X52 for.
b) Some sims have a maximum number of USB devices they can see. IL2 has a hard limit of 4 USB devices it can recognize. And you can't choose which ones. IL2 picks the 4 it wants to see. This might not be a big deal, but it was for me. I had to unplug and retire my CH Throttle Quadrant unit just to allow the X55 to work in IL2.
- The X55 friction lock is kinda funky. It's not consistent. Even at the lightest setting, it it pretty stiff to move at first, but at any setting, as you move it back and forth a few times, it loosens up to almost no friction. Then when you stop moving it, and after a couple of minutes, it frictions-up again. It's hard to describe. You almost have to feel it for yourself.
- I like the metal toggle switches. They look and feel good. I've seen some reviews/complaints from people saying, "they're not true on/off switches! They snap back to the middle position!" And right they are! But this is for SIM aircraft, which mostly require MOMENTARY keypresses to operate aircraft functions. Yes, you could program on/off toggles to generate momentary keypresses using the software, but in 'naked' (unprogrammed) mode, you would end up with DirectX keypresses that are always pressed. Each toggle is a momentary contact switch with two 'activate' positions and a center neutral position.
- The X52 mode switch is on the stick. The X55 mode switch is on the throttle base. Though the X55 stick and throttle are two separate USB devices, when plugged in at the same time, they are programmed under one profile, and the mode switch works on both.
- The mouse nipple on the X55 is a real pain in the ass. The way it is designed, it's hard to find the 'natural' up/down/left/right positions with your thumb. I have to fiddle with it to get the TDC where I want it. Was not a problem with the X52.
- The X55 throttle has two thumb hat switches that can be set as 4-way or 8-way hats. They, too, are pains in the ass. It's nearly impossible to hit the position you want without accidentally hitting others. They should have been 2-position toggles, also. I have them programmed as 4-ways, but I only use 2 of them, making them essentially 2-position toggles.
- The stick has 'phantom' buttons. When you look at the Windows stick properties, you can click all the buttons and check them. But you will also see buttons 15, 16, and 17. There are no buttons 15, 16, and 17. Turns out they represent the position of the MODE switch on the throttle base. By that means, you can actually program a function to occur when you cycle the MODE switch (e.g. change to A/A mode, A/G mode, etc.). SEEMS like that would be a good feature, but one problem. When 'naked' (no profile loaded), one of the buttons is always ON. That screws things up sometimes when trying to assign buttons in the sim. The sim always sees button 15 pressed. [I devised a solution but it's kinda complicated. In each profile, I first unassign the MODE switch in Mode 1, and then re-assign it. Not sure why it works, but it does. Now when I activate a profile, the Button 15 keypress goes away.]
- X55 programming software now also provide ability to set curves for each axis. Don't want a linear response curve? You can adjust it nearly anyway you want. I found the rotaries on the X52 to be too sensitive to work well for aileron trim in IL2. Move it the tiniest bit, and the plane is rolling hard one way or the other. I set an X55 rotary for aileron trim, and gave it a very flat response curve in the middle. Now it is not nearly as sensitive and I can tweak the trim just a hair.
- X55 software also lets you adjust deadzones for each axis and rotary.
- There's no LCD screen on the X55. Who cares? I dunno. Maybe somebody cares.
- The changeable stick tension spring is cooler than I expected it to be. I've never been particularly concerned about how much force it takes to move the stick, however it is a deal breaker for some sim pilots. The X55 gives you 5 options for stick centering force; 4 different springs, or none for zero centering force. I ended up using the smallest (weakest) spring, which feels best to me.
- Like the X52, the X55 has a twisty-stick for rudder if you don't have pedals and you want to use it. However, the X55 does NOT have a lock-out button for the twist. It takes conscious effort to twist it, though, and I have not found it to be a problem in combat at all.
Having the X55 for a few weeks now, would I again make the decision to jump from X52 to X55? Probably not. There's just not enough
functional difference to make a difference. But... I'm glad I have it now and I am committed to using it and making it work for what I fly. It's just been much more challenging to do so than I had anticipated. And relearning all of the switches and buttons is rough no matter how you slice it. My fingers are still working from muscle memory and trying to hit the X52 buttons they'd been pressing for about 8 years. They're not there anymore.
