Review: Saitek X52 stick/throttle control

[MonstersFromTheId]

First; full disclosure, I've got nuthin' whatsoever to do with the people that make or sell this joystick. Just found sumpthin' here that works well with Celestia, and thought I'd pass it on.

Second, I make no claims about this being "the best thing to use". "Best" depends on what you feel you want or need, and this CERTAINLY is NOT exactly what anyone could call a "cost effective" choice. I'd put it in the bordering on nutty, or going overboard category. But if that's where you are or want to be, well,.. then,.. maybe the X52 is something to look at.

That said...

The SAITEK X52

It's expensive. I paid $114.00 for it (!). Yeah, I know, that's crazy, but I plan to use Celestia quite a bit, and I've blown more than that taking the family out to dinner, while coming home with nuthin' more lasting or useful than a doggy bag or two, so...

It's also obviously designed for gamers that like to use fighter jet sims, not controlling what you see on a 3D star map, but...

There in lies its advantage as a means of controlling Celestia.

The X52 is designed to mimic the H.O.T.A.S. (Hands On Throttle And Stick) ergonomic layout employed in modern fighter jet aircraft.

The idea behind that system boils down essentially to covering the throttle and stick with a plethora of buttons, hat switches, sliders, and twist knobs, that allow a pilot to control a wide variety of functions without ever having to take his or her hands off of the throttle or stick.

Thus...

THE ADVANTAGES:

Since all of the controls on the X52 are user configurable, (and there are a LOT of them), after spending a day or so deciding which control you want to do what, you wind up with a control system that allows you to control most of Celestia's functionality without ever having to take your hands off the throttle or stick.

For example:

I can now choose whether or not I want to see the orbits of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets, all independently, without ever having to take my hands off of the controls.

I use one of the two "hat switches" on the stick to control the x/y movement of the cursor on the screen.

I can use the two position primary trigger to select objects by pulling the trigger half-way down, and then center that choice (or not), by pulling the primary trigger all the way down (or not).

I can use the secondary or "pinky trigger" to reverse view (the equivalent of hitting "*" on the keyboard), which I find absolutely invaluable for when I over-run a target star system, planet, moon, or other object, something I find myself doing a lot more often than not.

Track object ("t"), follow object ("f"), synch orbit ("y"), show/hide constellations ("/"), are all controlled by other switches on the joystick, all while using up/down on the joystick to control pitch, right/left to control yaw, and twisting the stick clock-wise/counter clockwise to control roll.

I have one of the thumb buttons on the throttle set up to issue an "all stop" command ("s" on the keyboard), while another thumb button is used to issue a "reverse direction" command ("Q" on the keyboard), while a third thumb button on the throttle is used to issue a "clear current choice" command ("escape" on the keyboard), all while controlling speed by either pushing the throttle forward ("a" on the keyboard), or pulling it back ("x" on the keyboard).

DISADVANTAGES
Obviously the cost. You can do nearly as well for half as much, but there IS a reason that jet aircraft don't use a trackball with just half a dozen configurable switches to control things.

It's not Mac OS X native, which means if you're usin' a Mac (like me), you'll have to download a third party joystick preferences panel, and the only one currently offered by anyone anywhere does have its limitations.

You can't control the width of control dead spots (i.e. how far a control has to be moved before anything begins to happen). All you can control is the level of "sensitivity".
That's a pain in the butt.
By the time you get the sensitivity level down low enough so that the stick doesn't put you into a continuous yaw right or left (before it's even touched), you're stuck with a pretty "deaf" stick. I.e. you have to move the stick around 10 degrees off center before anything happens. Doesn't exactly allow for tight course control. This means that you can only control your course by using short bursts of pitch, yaw, and roll, which means you have to get pretty good at what pilots call "trend awareness and control" i.e. staying ahead of what your ride is doing, or about to do, 'cause if you don't, you're going to wind up in an extraterrestrial bean field.

NOTE: this is ONLY a problem if you're using the X52 with a Mac. The X52 comes with its own configuration software for Wintel machines that allows plenty of control of things like control dead spots.

Pulling back on the throttle for too long to slow down (supposedly the equivalent of holding down "x" on the keyboard) causes an odd effect.
It will NOT bring you to a stop. Instead you wind up "approaching" zero speed, but never getting there. Hold the throttle all the way back for too long and you soon find yourself moving at a speed of
"0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000m/s"
So what's the problem?
The problem hits you when you want to start moving again. You have to push the throttle forward, and hold it there, for at times nearly a minute, before all the zeros burn off, and you FINALLY start moving again.
Bottom line:
If you want to stop, set-up and push a stop button, don't try to stop by holding the throttle back.

That's about all I can think of, hope it helps.

"Monsters John! Monsters from the Id!"

[MonstersFromTheId]

Re-reading my post it occurs to me that I give the very strong impression that the X52 can be used right out of the box to do all the stuff I have it set up to do.

THAT IS NOT THE CASE.

The X 52 does absolutely NOTHING AT ALL right out of the box.

After plugging it into an available USB port (which you HAVE to have, see the system requirements on the box before blowin' any bucks on this puppy), you then have to spend a considerable amount of time settin' this thing up.
You have to pick, and then set, what every single solitary control does, one control at a time, and in some cases one axis at a time, before it'll do anything at all.

There are no defaults. At least not when you're using it with a Mac. There may be a few defaults if you're able to use the configuration software that comes with it, but since that configuration software only works on Wintel machines, and I don't own one, I can't advise on that score.

Peace love 'n frisbees;
MONSTERS