Features:
I'll begin by saying, this thing is LOADED with features and an almost uncountable number of buttons, sliders and hat switches! Let's start by talking about the joystick unit.

   
(Click to enlarge)

At the very bottom where the stick makes contact with the base they have what the manual defines as the "Precision centering mechanism" This is made of of a spring that pushes from the joystick down to a plate that holds it firmly upward on the base. The spring is set just right so that there isn't too much free travel when you don't want movement but it's also not impossible by any means to move the joystick. Slightly up from that on the bottom side of the stick you'll see a gray piece labeled RLOCK, when pulled out it will disable the twist action of the joystick. At the lower area of the stick where your hand rests in there is a very cool pinkie switch which can be used as an actual button or assigned a shift function to allow you to double up on the things each button can do. The pinkie trigger is on a rubber covered rest that wraps around the base of the joystick to rest your hand upon. The hand rest is also adjustable in height for those with smaller or larger hands. At the very top of the inner part of the stick there is a two stage metal trigger. This can be depressed half way for one function and fully for another.

  
(Click to enlarge)

Now onto the front of the joystick that faces you. There are two 8-way hat switches, 3 fire buttons which are backlit, a mode selector dial with an LED that changes colour for each mode and finally one of my favorites, a missile launcher button which is under a flip up spring-loaded cover!

  
(Click to enlarge)

As well, on the part of the base that faces toward you, there are 3 toggle switches which move both up and down, so that makes a total of 6 functions that can be assigned to them. I like flaps and landing gears up/down to be two of these uses in my games.

(Click to enlarge)

Now on to the throttle unit. The biggest feature of this part of the system is obviously the very large throttle handle itself. It features adjustable tension so you can make it very smooth sliding or make it a little tougher to move if you want it comparable to that of a real plane. The majority of the buttons on the throttle unit are housed somewhere on the throttle handle. On the back of the handle you'll feel the scroll wheel, this also pushes in as a button to function as Mouse Button 2, and an 8-way hat switch. On the top there are two fire buttons, two rotaries (best used for pitch, trim and yaw adjustments), the mouse controller mini-stick, mouse button 1 and a smooth action thumb slider. You heard me mention the mouse mini-stick, and what that does is allows you to fully control you mouse movement and clicking all from the throttle unit. I found this extremely handy while flying in FS2004 because I was easily able to flick buttons in my cockpit without having to take my hands off the controls to reach for my mouse.

(Click to enlarge)

As well, on the base of the throttle you'll see a nice large display. This shows you the current mode of the X52, the current profile, the time (Zulu time unless otherwise programmed), the date (follows the time zone you're in) and a stopwatch. The entire screen is illuminated in the same blue that most of the buttons are. This allows for very easy visibility no matter what the lighting conditions are. Under the screen there are three more buttons. One switches into stopwatch mode, and when in that mode the other two buttons function as start/stop and reset. When the stopwatch button is pressed again it goes into regular time mode, and when in that mode the other two buttons switch between up to 3 loaded profiles.

  
(Click to enlarge)

Installation:
Installation is very quick and easy. The first thing you'll want to do is plug the throttle unit into a USB port on your computer then use the included cable to plug the joystick into the back of the throttle unit. After that, all that is left to do is to install the drivers and SST software that is included on the installation CD. After installation is complete Windows XP gave me a few popup's saying it detected new hardware and I simply let it search for the drivers and it found the installed ones. As soon as that was done the joystick fully lit itself up showing signs of life!

(Click to enlarge)

<<Previous Page<< - >>Next Page>>