saitek x45 HOTAS

[dieg777]

review here

http://airwarfare.com/AWX/features/revi ... review.htm

please reply with comments

[tallyho1961]

Dieg's review is right on. This is a great piece of hardware - not without its idiosyncrasies - but then, nothing is perfect. For the money I think it's a bargain. Don't be intimidated by this HOTAS - it looks enormous out of the box, but shrinks to manageable dimensions as you grow accustomed to it.

The best thing about the X45 is that it enabled me to fly about 95% hands off the keyboard. With three full key map 'modes' and lots of buttons, hatswitches and other inputs you have plenty of room to manoeuver and using that big, beefy throttle instead of a tiny knob or slider adds tremendously to your immersion.

Plus, the moment you put your elevator - and in my case rudder - trim on a slider your flying will improve dramatically. It was like night and day for me

My only beef with the X45 is an aesthetic one: it looks like a left over prop from a cheapo sci-fi flick. I spent an hour or two cleaning mine up by covering the blue metal top panels with black adhesive vinyl paper. The minute I did it looked lean and mean , like a P-40. I also used the flat side of an x-acto knife and some black ink to remove/hide some of the unnecessary labels Saitek have plastered all over their product.

If this customization above sounds over the top - guilty as charged - but it improved my sense of immersion a great deal and the HOTAS looks great in basic black

[Ivan Putski]

I`ve had my X-45 for over 3 years now, use it daily, it`s held up to all I`ve put it thru, good stick and throttle for the price. Puts