![]() The cover isn't really necessary - as if you'd ever accidentally hit the glowing red button and launch an AMRAAM at a civilian 737. Four other fire buttons grace the stick, one of which (button 2, traditionally used for missiles) is covered by a safety cover. There's a snazzy two-stage primary trigger - give it a gentle pull to activate your cannons, squeeze it all the way to drop your nukes. To keep your right hand busy, the joystick has a large range of controls. When first using the X52 Pro, it becomes apparent why real pilots call HOTAS systems "playing the piccolo", as nearly every finger on both hands is used. Considering most aircraft have hundreds of different buttons, HOTAS makers need to be very clever about button use and ergonomics. This means the pilot can access every setting without ever having to take their hands off the controls. This does not mean the stick is "Hot As", rather it stands for "Hands On Throttle And Stick". For those who are unfamiliar with the X52, let's take a look at some of the features of the X52 Pro that have been retained from the original. As such, it includes all of the goodies that made IGN love the original X52 back in January of 2006. It's almost identical to the existing X52, with a few new bells and whistles. in fact for squadrons you need to change an option or you cant bind to one of the buttons on throttle.The X52 Pro is not a new design. for the most part you can just plug it in and play but there is a tiny app that has some options you can change. theres no real introduction to how to set up or use the stick. The instructions are just a paper with a link to drivers. this can be hard to hold in place when youre in a dogfight making hard turns. If i had to complain i would mention that while this has suction cups, depending on your desk, etc. Perfectly adjusting your speed to come up behind a TIE fighter, then flip up the safety and blast it with missiles and strafe it into a fiery ball just feels so much more satisfying and easier to do. it also just looks and feels amazingly cool, you will likely exclaim aloud how amazing it is several times, even while alone. you can spend hours customizing the buttons for a game but when you get it right its so smooth and give you a huge advantage over people fiddling with keyboards and controllers. there are buttons and joysticks everywhere on this, they are all lit so you can easily see them and they are all positioned perfectly to reach and use. the build quality is great, it fits perfectly in your hands and can adjust for larger/smaller hands. i can say it did not take long before it was obvious this is worth the money. i was hesitant to spend this much on a flight stick, but i wanted the throttle with it and reviews seemed to point to this being one of the best without going really crazy on price for a casual user. I really like flying games, rogue squadron for gamecube was my favorite, so when Star Wars Squadrons came out i had to get it, and of course a flight stick. If you’re just getting into flight sims and don’t want one of those all in one joysticks then this would be a good rout for you. overall I probably have about 35 hours on it and I would recommend it for a beginner budget setup again without jumping into the premium setups. The joystick is pretty solid but the motion does feel a little “budget” the spring tension can feel weak thus resulting in some drift which can be altered and fixed in game through the axis sensitivity etc. I had to move my setup so I removed the suction cups and I did find that once they were removed they did pop up a few times since there was no easy way to remove them in the first place without getting a fingernail under one edge and breaking the seal which did deform the edge a little. Once they’re down they’re gonna stay there. It comes with suction cups that stick very securely to your desk and they worked very well. Some of the pretty big YouTubers who play flight sims have started on this setup as well and still recommend it before going premium. You get a ton of buttons and controls that allows you to get pretty immersed in the game without dropping $500+ on the more premium setups. ![]() For a beginner setup I think it’s a great buy. Either way I used it pretty seamlessly on DCS and MSFS20. ![]() The only issue you’ll find is some lack of customization in keybinds and the throttle portion of the HOTAS will not light up. Regardless though it still does work and works pretty well without the updated drivers. When I plugged in the HOTAS I was a little upset to see that the software didn’t work with windows 11 and only the older versions and they haven’t put out an update for it yet. I used it on a gaming laptop with the newest windows 11. I bought this a few months ago to use for Microsoft flight sim 20 and for DCS. ![]()
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