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PLEASE PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM SAITEK X-55


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Please please, for all that is good and Holy in this world. Stay away from Saitek X-55 Rhino. If you shopping for new HOTAS, get anything else. If you already bought it, burn it, and bring in Jesuit Priest, a Rabbi, an Imam, and a Santa Ria shaman, to cast away evil and bad spirits, that come with with product.

Dear God, all that it Holy, I have never used a joystick-HOTAS controller as utterly, completely, egregiously , numbingly bad as X-55. I do not understand how it was designed, by whom, and how on this God's green Earth did it get to market.

It is superbly low quality product, anti-ergonomic, that squeaks, rattles, gets stuck, and is terribly terribly inaccurate. Everything, just everything about it is bad. ;

Stick , regardless of spring, gets stuck, and jumps. Don't matter on how much lube and vaseline you use. Fine control of rudder is not possible. Rudder twist and hat button usage is completely impossible. The rudder twist places wrist in a painfull contortion, making thumb use extremely difficult.

The pinki break handle is a switch, when it clearly needs to be a pressure axis.

Button on stick. ALL OF THEM ARE IN WRONG LOCATIONS, difficult to reach, and even more difficult to use when twisting the stick for rudder action. It takes 5 minutes to develop carpal tunnel and 10 minutes before the pain make use impossible.

The wrist rest is too low and cannot be adjusted.

Hat switches, aside from being difficult to reach, even with large male hand, rattle, and their action is not positive. They work, they may not. Any kind of diagonal switch is tottally unreliable. Two of the hat switches interfere with each other.

 

Throttle.

There are no 8 way or even 4 way hats on throttle. There needs to be at least 1, 2 is better.

Button are all very difficult to press. They require way to much pressure, and when they do click, they do so with loud clunk that shakes the throttle. Ergonomics are terrible.

 

This is bad, poorly designed, poorly built, and overpriced product, that has ruined my SAITEK experience. I have used X52Pro, but it broke, after 6 years of use.

SAITEK needs to recall it, before it is faced with medical lawsuits, from broken wrists.

 

I have now used it for 4 months, and experience just keeps getting worse. $200 wasted, but lesson learned.


Edited by DaveRindner
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Perhaps write Saitek and inquire about a possible defective set. There is really nothing anyone here can do for you (except listen and give sympathy of course). Defective sets are not uncommon especially when talking about these types of controls.

 

Also isn't the X-55 usually much more expensive? If you purchased used from ebay or something you may want to contact the seller.

 

Best of Luck.

 

CO 6vMAW

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The unit is not defective. It was purchased new from Fry's , in El Segundo. The unit functions as it was designed, but it was designed very very very badly. It terribly unergonomic, and painfull to use. This classic corporate failure to properly design , test, and evauate the product before bringing it to market. Just shows that Saitek's new owners are not serious about market they serve. I've done all that is show on their site and Youtube, regarding springs and lubes here and there. Its no good. It is a bad bad product, that should not be on the market. I missied the whole X65F (F for fiasco), as the product was placed on market and very quickly disappeared without explanation. What ever happened to X65F anyway. X-55 is just a terrible product. X52 Pro was 'passable' after a short while. But there is no getting used to X-55. Its proportioned and designed wrong on all the critical levels. After 5 minutes by wrist develops carpal pain, after 10 the pain numbs and becomes to much. This is not a manufacturing defect this is a plain old bad design.

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... Its proportioned and designed wrong on all the critical levels. After 5 minutes by wrist develops carpal pain, after 10 the pain numbs and becomes to much. This is not a manufacturing defect this is a plain old bad design.

 

If it's so bad to use after just ten minutes, and has so much else wrong with it, why did you not return it the very next day? I am not defending Saitek just pointing out that you had options.

 

Besides, isn't this basically the same thread that you started here http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=145251 three months ago?


Edited by cichlidfan
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Wow, I have an X-55 as well, and don't have any problems what so ever with it. Is it absolutely perfect, no. Do I have the money to purchase something better? No. So, I make do, and don't have any significant issues at all with it.

I don't really see the logic of your rant. Btw, the part about the buttons being hard to press? What? Do yourself a favor, go get a Captains of Crush hand trainer and build up some superior hand strength, then button pushing prolly wouldn't be much of an issue.

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top products are known to be CH and TMWH. Saitek is gai-tek... Just watch the guy who hammers his X-52 and kicks it. I really got a DOA throttle and replaced that with CH couple of years ago. Precision, reliable, excellent after sale service.

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The buttons require too much force to push. What happens, is when I am doing something delicate, the push effort screws up the subtle hand motion. The shock wave of button push, jiggles the unit. Its subtle and shows itself in UH-1 and KA-50 modules, when hovering, or landing with rudder deflection, or firing weapons, or targeting, with rudder deflection.

Strong hand is the opposite that is needed. But there is little to argue with when after 5-10 minutes, the carpal pain the wrist just becomes diffucult to bear, and even more difficult to do small suble changes. With helicopter sims, and also fine flying for refueling, its not the deflection of the stick with hand, its more of pressure applied. Well here is where it fails. It jumps, not a lot, but enough to make to jerk the nose of the ac off. I apply pressure and nothing happens, apply a tad more, there is a creake of plastic on plastic and a jump in deflection. Been trying to smooth it out with silicon lube and petroleum jelly, but its not good. BAD PRODUCT.

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Agree on CH, but their products are not sold anywhere except Internet. Not at Fry's not Best Buy. I had CH stick long time ago before USB even. May go back to it. It is likely I will go to Thrustmaster HOTAS, but jeez, at $500 without rudder. Figure another $200 for rudder from Saitek Combat Pedals or something else, and we are looking $750 worth of equipment. Thats quite a bit for non-critical hardware. But at this point, $200 Saitek is a waste of money.

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Get a Thrustmaster Warthog set and dont look back,Its heavy duty as hell and feels like it will last a lifetime!!

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Heavy Sigh

 

Why is it that people have so much trouble with the X-55? I've had none except some initial driver issues. I guess its an effort thing. If you put no effort into it, you get nothing out of it.

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It is a well known fact that Saitek quality has gone down the drain after the takeover by Madcatz. The last decent HOTAS was the X52Pro still from SAITEK not MADCATZ. The problem don't show up immedeately but on long term. I used my X52Pro for 8 Years extensicly and have to switch to CH Products again (was my first Flightstick brand in the 90's) because that X55 is no alternative if you want a lasting product.


Edited by Beagle One
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Get the warthog, Initial price is brutal but after a while the pain goes away and the pleasure is still there.

 

Can't disagree with that. I broke my Warthog joystick (don't ask) and went right out and bought another, well, as soon as I found a good price. :)

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Not sure what effort I could put in on top of what I have put in already. I have had it for 3+ months, and its not getting better. Pain in the wrists , my wrists, is pretty real. I have tried low placements, high placement, somewhere in between. The poor sensitivity, the jerkiness, the stickiness of the stick, poor ergonomics. Those don't get better with more effort. Its a poor product. But it sounds like you know of others who had difficulties with this product.

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