Logitech G X52 Pro USB Flight Control System - HOTAS Joystick and Throttle for Flight Simulators - LCD Display, 3D Twist Rudder, Programmable Commands, USB 2.0 - Compatible with Windows PC

From someone who's been into top level flight combat sims since the late 90's, this is an excellent value for a flight control system. I started with the TM F16 and WCS/RCS and migrated to the TQS to the Cougar system and finally to the Warthog along with a Saitek X36 system for my kids. The X52 is a great system that balances the need for full HOTAS control and reasonable price. Yes, it still uses potentiometers instead of hall effect or optical sensors in the top end controllers but if I ever wear them out, the replacement is simple, similar to doing it on the old F16 FLCS. USB connectivity is great and configuring or using pre configured switch settings for simulations is straight forward and simple.

I went down the rabbit hole.I got MS FS 2020 and started playing that with an XBox One controller."Hmm, this would be a lot better with a real joystick and throttle..." I said. "But no, no more 'stuff'. I don't need it!"I got one. No regrets. Makes the experience 100x better. This stick has a nice balance of being "affordable" (at least, compared to some of what else is out there. If you're spending thousands on a sim-rig, this isn't for you, but you probably already knew that) and fully-featured.There are a lot of buttons on this thing. I recommend you find a PDF of a button mapping and print it out, and write down what you have everything mapped to as most games will refer to the buttons by their Windows Joystick button numbers instead of the letters that are printed on the stick and throttle.

So it has been a little over a year since I purchased this HOTAS and I figured that I should write a little review of it. For the most part, I'm quite happy with it.The joystick is very responsive to movements since it uses magnets and hall sensors for the X & Y axis. Not sure what the twist (rudder) sensor is but it works good too. Ergonomically, it feels good in the hand and the button placement is pretty good though I have occasional problems hitting one or the other of the hat switches when I move my thumb over to the C button causing undesired input. The three switches on the base are not bad though it would be nice if they had different shapes so you can tell which on you have your finger on if playing in VR like I do about 1/4 of the time I'm using it. Sooner or later I'm going to design and 3D print up some custom levers for it. Looks like the knurled knobs on it can be removed easily enough with a screw on each side. I found that I don't use the 3 position mode selector because the games I play using it, mainly Elite: Dangerous, change what the inputs do based upon what mode the game is in. Flying, landing, driving, etc. Makes setting up additional modes redundant. But it could be a nice feature though I'd not make a decision on it unless you absolutely know you will need it.The throttle I'm quite happy with and have little to no complaint with it except for the built in detent. But that can be easily disabled if you don't mind opening up the throttle and removing one plastic piece and spring. The throttle lever is smooth and responsive to movements. I would suggest going into the settings right away and disabling the "clutch" feature for the I button. I found that I'd rather have it function just as a button. I have no use for the LCD display on the throttle and I can't see that it ever would be of great use in any game. If you are serious about your flight sim then I'd expect that you would have better ways of seeing the information than the LCD can display. The two roller/switches on it don't do me much good but they could have decent usage for trim on a flight simulator I suppose. I would rather have rotary encoders instead.Now for my complaints and they mainly concern the joystick. A year and probably greater than 1000 hours of usage and the matte coating has started to come off in many areas. Not a big deal though. But my real issue is the centering of the joystick. The dual spring & conical disk that it uses just are not adequate for the task. I can let go of the stick and it never truly returns to center. And it has gotten worse over time. I took it apart for a little bit of exploration over the past couple of days to see if I can improve how it centers and I think I have a couple of ideas but I don't know if I can overcome the issues with the springs and conical disk. The inner spring I found was not doing anything except for at the extremes of movement. I'll have to disassemble it further but it looks like the plastic bushing in the center of the cone is cracked or has way too much space between it and the central shaft of the joystick. The small spring wedged itself down between them. But even after I pried it out, it is still free floating and does nothing for centering. I printed a 3D spacer to give the main spring some more stiffness but it didn't have a huge effect. There is just so much slop in the stick around center and that is the major downfall of this joystick.This is an old design now that hasn't changed in a long time. The component boards inside still say "Saitek" on them, which is the company that Logitech bought to get the joystick line. It is probably long past time to have a refresh on this model as well as the base x52 and the x56, which I had for a short while but I think the ergonomics on that thing are simply terrible.Overall, is it worth the asking price? Barely. And I do mean just barely. Features vs. complaints do edge out on the positive side for me. I have never used a Thrustmaster HOTAS and if I was in search for another stick at this price level, I'd like to get my hands on one just to compare the feel and features. I like my x52 Pro but not enough to build any brand loyalty to it. There are more feature rich sticks in a modest jump in price like the x56 but to make the next jump up in quality you will have to make the leap from costing $$ to costing $$$$ to get something like a Virpil. But that is way beyond my range at this time. They sure look nice, though.

Pretty good for flight sims just gotta program key binds to get best out of it

I have wanted to dip my toes into flight simming for a long time, and the big problem I've had is finding a stick that will work with DCS (that is, has enough hats and selector switches for modern aircraft) while being at an affordable price. There are some nice looking sticks out there, but I just dont have $500+ to drop on some professional level equipment when I really am looking for a higher end entry level product. The X52 seemed perfect, plenty of buttons and switches, enough hats, looked comfortable and exactly what I wanted. Plus the price (~$200 at time of review) was pretty attractive as well. So I pulled the trigger.The stick itself is nice. Its all plastic and feels like it, but the buttons and switches all feel comfortable and nice. I have big hands, but the throttle assembly felt a little large to me. Maybe something I would have gotten used to? In the pro column, though, is that the throttle has a ton of little buttons and switches tucked away, stuff that would make MFD use in DCS very simple or which could be good radiator toggles in IL-2. All the buttons on the stick, felt good and natural. In particular was the Fire A button which is tucked away underneath a safety cover. Flipping that open and hitting the button underneath is SUPER satisfying. I really wish this stick had worked out, because I do like it.But I have to give it a one star review because the stick very quickly ran into serious functionality issues. Like, my very first flight out in IL-2. The throttle worked fine and in two days of testing never had an issue. In that same time, the stick maybe worked normally through one dogfight and otherwise had major issues. The stick axis worked, though would some times get 'stuck' in a certain position (eg. nose down) and had to be reset either by pushing the axis all the way to the gimbal limit and let it move back to center. Or, in as many cases, it needed to be unplugged and replugged into the throttle base. The toggle switches on the stick's base always worked, but about ten minutes into use the buttons on the stick started to die. Either they would stick 'on,' for example the trigger would stick on and I would shoot through my ammunition, or more commonly (about 80% of the time) they would just stop working all together. I was prepared to fix this on my own, I figured it may have been a software or drive issue. But after doing some digging, no, this is a common hardware issue in the stick itself. It seems the only solution is to take the stick apart, remove any damaged wires (hopefully there *are* damaged wires, not always the case it seems) and then resolder the whole thing. Quite frankly too much work to put into a product that I purchased brand new. And this seems to be a very common problem with the stick, one that Logitek has seemingly decided not to fix. After doing a little more reading online (wish I had done that in the first place tbh) it seems like the whole X50-series has similar QA and build quality issues, either the sticks come broken or they wear out so quickly as to require a quick upgrade to something better.So overall, despite being a well *designed* and satisfying product I would have to caution you to be very wary in actually purchasing this stick. Its probably not something worth buying new, rather something you may treat as a 'project' stick which you might repair/modify one day into an actually good stick. Or, as someone put in it in one of the troubleshooting threads I read, with the x52 it seems the first thing you'll get is the stick, the second thing you get are tears, the third thing you get is a new stick.