Purchased this to play Elite Dangerous (ED,) I am not a flight sim player so this review will reflect my experiences with this single game.
The X52 PRO is the recommended controller for Elite Dangerous. after some research it appeared to me the the subtle differences between the X52 and the X52 Pro did not justify the extra £30 (at time of writing this) I still think that this is the case
the controller is GREAT. its very well made, if a little on the plastic side but that's something that I can live with. it connects to the computer via USB from the Throttle, the stick connects to the throttle via a very retro 'PS2' style keyboard connection. seems to fit snug and so far is reliable. I would have preferred a locking mechanism on this though.
I downloaded software and drivers form the official website as my PC does not have a disk drive, i would think they will be newer versions than the ones on the disk though. even though drivers are designed for Windows 7 they worked fine with my Windows 10 install.
the actual software is pretty good for one of these suites. usually they are terrible this one is at least usable if lacking more than a little polish. all in all, a good purchase.
now, here for some more detailed observations:
STICK
The stick is not as tight as I expected, but this is actually a good thing, my old stick (a £30 black window) was very tight, the extra movement that hte X52 fives you makes your movement in game feel more fluid mad tiny corrections are a pleasure.
The stick as a side to side, Rudder, movement on it that can be locked with a little slide switch. when locked it still moves slightly this can be a little distracting. i DO use the rudder feature in ED though and it works wonderfully so this is not a negative for me.
The buttons are very well lit, in fact i had to use the software to turn down the brightness to about one quarter of full. now its a nice subtle glow (applied to throttle too)
The hat switches are all sensibly located and work very well. the flip up 'safety' flap over one button is cute but overall pointless and I would expect that it will loosen off a little too much in the future. does make you feel like a serious fighter pilot though :)
the stick can be adjusted from the base of the 'pinky' moving the wrest and pinky switch up for smaller hands, i blessed with godlike shovels however and found it it perfect, i would doubt that any human would find it small. i really like this stick :)
THROTTLE
as i said i have VERY little experience with flight sticks and am not a flight sim player (just ED, and that space ships) but in my opinion the layout of the throttle is less than optimum, its massive and even i with my epic meat platters have to make an effort to reach for the hat switch and dials. it IS however very comfortable to use even though i have to adjust my grip when i move from button to button.
there are a few features that ED does not really use on the throttle, i have no use for dials or the slider. but, they do seem to work well.
the action of the throttle is 'over centre' not slider, i like this. there are little 'bumps' as you reach 80% on the way up and 10% on the way down that a a little too prominent and can put you off at first, soon i became accustomed to this and was happy with the device but some people don't like that bump. i have read that it can be disabled but you need to take the base apart, voiding warranty. (i may do that though)
there is a small dial on the side to adjust tension on the movement and it doesn't seem to make a massive difference, i leave it very loose though as it makes that 'bump' less jarring.
OVERALL
The unit comes with little suction cups for the bottom that i found really give it a fixed and solid feeling making it appear heavier than it is. i like those little suckers a lot, if you have a desk that they don't stick to there are little pads on the bottom of the stick and throttle.
overall im really happy with the unit and will be enjoying it for many missions to come, i hope.
ED SPECIFIC
to make pinkey switch work make a new profile on software and set everything to UNPROGRAMMED, then on the game select the X52 profile. all should then work well. you will have to reload profile in software after every reboot. :(
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