[Raven Morpheus]

Well I upgraded to the X52 pro...

Decided against the CH Fighterstick because the trim wheels aren't actually separate axis from reviews that I've read, so they're rather useless.

Having tried the X52 pro for a day or two now I'm not really liking it at the moment. I find that it's just too plasticky overall, although some bits are better than the X45 like the "safety cover" on the "Fire" button, the centre hat switch and the spring mech doesn't stick like my X45 (although I think it could be a little tighter). It's base is lightweight compared to the X45. The throttle handle is bigger than the X45 and the rotaries on the throttle handle are poorer than the ones on the X45, for one thing the detents seem non existent or at best very vague as to where centre is, and the lower rotary, the smaller of the two, is tight. Oh and there's a detent or two in the throttle itself - which I understand can be removed by removing a part under the throttle lever.

Plus of course there's no rudder rocker on the throttle, which I already knew. I've tried the twist and surprisingly it does work rather well, although I haven't (and probably won't) get used to it.

My biggest concern is that I'm having problems landing again - and I do think it's because the X52 pro is that little bit inferior (or so it seems so far), because I just went back to my X45 (I've managed to "fix" the faulty wiring for the moment by wedging some paper under the socket for the throttle plug) and did exactly what I've been doing with the X52 pro and managed to land just fine, although I almost run out of runway - I'm doing it on Midway with the F4U-1D, so it's a short runway anyhow and I usually do almost run out of runway...


EDIT - decided to void my warranty and do the magnet mod on the hall sensors in my X52 pro, using 2x 2mm x 4mm x 1mm strong magnets. And I added a couple of spacers at the top of the spring, and wow! It's like a different stick. Just managed to land an F4U-1D almost as I would using my X45. Think the key, besides the sloppy spring and poor hall sensors, though is trimming, I'm using my X45 throttle (the stick is on the floor) and the rotaries on that make a huge difference. Shame I can't plug in just the X52 stick and X45 throttle without their counterparts and link them so I can use the pinky functions on the X45 throttle!