I loved my X-45 and would still be using it today if the spring didn't suck on it. Spring started wearing out in about 6 months, then it was all downhill from there. I'm not a big fan of their spring system, but I've heard of X-52's lasting a long time. I guess it depends on how much flying the person is doing. When I had my X-45 I was flying over 20+ hours a week.
I've met some cool A-10, 16, B-1, F-18 and B-52 pilots that were cool. Then I've met some idiots that have no right to be flying.....it amazes me sometimes.
Going for the glass pit also, that's my plan. Main monitor is a 40" LED, below that is a 26" LCD and I have a 19" and 15" in the garage not doing anything. Gonna add one of them, just don't know what's going to go on it.
You have to remember when the A-10 actually came out.....that's what it was made to do...kill tanks and lots of them. The A-10 is 30 years old, while new tech keeps being added to it....tech tech is being made for everything else also.
You can use the mini stick to control the radar. I haven't played in a long time so I may not be the best person to give advice. Best thing to do is download someone's profile and modify it to your liking, that's what I did many years ago. Do a search for DCS/FC CH profiles.
How many people can play online currently? Someone mentioned back in the old days about having 40-50 people in red flags. Which made me think to a post I saw a few weeks/months back about only having a small number of people in the same server. I haven't played FC/DCS in over a year, so I'm out of the loop. I'm wondering will we see 40+ people online in servers again? Those were the days when it was fun.
I use CH pedals and had used them for over 10 years. I'm 6'2" 200 pounds and I don't have a problem with them, maybe because I'm use to them. It all depends on the user if they like things are not.