Rating: 
Summary: As advertised
Review: Because of some earlier reviews I was concerned because I have XP. No problem, all I did was follow the instructions and it installed easily. Works great on Combat Flight Simulator 3. The key board is no longer necessary.
Rating: 
Summary: Good value for money
Review: Day 3 since I received this Joystick throttle pair and I already am a much better pilot. First impressions :1. The joystick and throttle feel a little stiff, but this may solely be because they are new. I saw one unit on Display at BestBuy and it was much easier because of all the use/abuse. 2. The friction on the throttle seems adequate, it however creaks a bit when you try to use it. 3. I love the number of buttons on this joystick, there about 8 buttons , plus 4 POV buttons . 4. The base isn't as heavy as it looks. When you try to push on the throttle, because of the stiffness, the whole unit just moves. There are rubber stoppers on the bottom, but they arent very good at gripping the surface. I like to see tiny suction feet on the bottom for a better grip. For now I push down on the throttle and push forward at the sametime. 5. The overall feel is good and I am pretty happy with the purchase and for its price its truly a good buy. I would have loved to see force feedback on the stick, for the same price of-course :P .
Rating:
Summary: Good value for money
Review: Day 3 since I received this Joystick throttle pair and I already am a much better pilot. First impressions : 1. The joystick and throttle feel a little stiff, but this may solely be because they are new. I saw one unit on Display at BestBuy and it was much easier because of all the use/abuse. 2. The friction on the throttle seems adequate, it however creaks a bit when you try to use it. 3. I love the number of buttons on this joystick, there about 8 buttons , plus 4 POV buttons . 4. The base isn't as heavy as it looks. When you try to push on the throttle, because of the stiffness, the whole unit just moves. There are rubber stoppers on the bottom, but they arent very good at gripping the surface. I like to see tiny suction feet on the bottom for a better grip. For now I push down on the throttle and push forward at the sametime. 5. The overall feel is good and I am pretty happy with the purchase and for its price its truly a good buy. I would have loved to see force feedback on the stick, for the same price of-course :P .
Rating: 
Summary: Good Feel, Questionable Quality and No Support
Review: First off, the look and feel of the X45 is awesome. The separate control bases for stick and throttle quadrants are well thought out, and full size hands should have little problems reaching and working all the button combinations. From all appearances if you're a flight sim or Mechwarrior type, you'd be hard pressed to find a better dual combo for the money...or would you?
Initially I had problems with the rudder control switch being sticky, causing uncommanded torso twisting in MW4 about a month or two after it went into service. Applying a lubricant to the switch corrected the problem, but only for short while. I finally had to disassemble the throttle and loosen the potentiometer retaining screws 1/4 turn. There is no dead-band adjustment for any axis on the X45. Two months later the rudder return switch spring failed. Ok, figured this stick was one of those that was built either on a Monday or a Friday and chalked it up to bad luck.
I then went out and bought ANOTHER X45, and within a month the trigger failed (bad solder joint), the stick centering mechanism (spring and retainer) developed a crack in the base ring and began to come apart. The final straw for me was the rudder centering spring failed in this unit too. I could forgive the odd failure, however two such failures in two sticks becomes a pattern and in my opinion a serious design flaw.
Lastly, you can forget about Saitek customer support ...I'm not convinced they actually man this section. Their responses to emails and phone messages have been less than what I expect with regards to product support. My recommendation would be that if you are a heavy gamer and desire dual controls, avoid the X45 and save your money for the high-end dual units like the Thrustmaster Cougar. For myself, I completely avoid Saitek products now.
Rating:
Summary: OK for combat flight sims, not for "regular" flight sims.
Review: I am a licensed pilot and a hardcore user of FS2004. I bought this for the idea of a seperate throttle and all the programability promised by Saitek. The joystick itself is good, good feel, movement,etc. Some of the cheesy plastic pieces could disappear and no one would miss them though, like the plastic "shield" over the fire button. The throttle was nice too, but stiff. I guess if you kept using it, it would work itself in. But I have always used a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick. I program the extra buttons on the base for functions like flaps, spoilers,landing gear,etc. There are no buttons like that on this stick. Maybe I am being nit-picky, but I just couldn't tailor this stick to be normal and not like a combat sim. If you love combat sims, this is your stick/throttle setup. You can buy two at this price in case you are concerned with durability and still not approach the MSRP of the vaunted Thrustmaster Cougar. But if you just like flight sims and point to point flying, acrobatics or whatever, this is not your stick. I think I am going to purchase the old Logitech Force joystick. I have the CH Pro Rudder Pedals (great, a must have!). I don't like the unreal thumb throttle on the Logitech, I will probably purchase the CH Throttle Quadrant when it comes out.
Rating: 
Summary: So far a big mistake
Review: I bought the Saitek X45 joystick and throttle combo because the allure of the dual system was so tempting. It looks absolutely amazing in the store, all those buttons, the throttle control, so many hat switchs, a mouse controller and programable modes and lights. It even has a cute little saftey latch over one of the fire buttons. It said that the joystick used a USB port. I was expecting a fabulous joystick. What I got was a dud. After opening the box I followed directions installing the software first but could not connect the throttle. The joystick is USB but the throttle uses a serial port that is larger than the one I have. I am still waiting to get a converter (Radio Shack is closed). But I installed and connected the joystick which my computer (Dell Dimension 4400, Windows XP, 1.6 GHZ, 128MB DDRRAM) said was just fine. Usually XP tells you if a piece of hardware is not compatible for it, so when it didn't I assumed the X45 had an XP driver. It doesn't. I went to the website which says it has put out a driver for XP for the joystick, but I wasn't able to download it. Right now I do not recommend this joystick. I give it about a 78% chance of being returned to Circuit City. If I could download the driver or get the converter I'll report back. When trying to play two different games (Jedi Knight II and Podracer) with the joystick they hung or crashed. Big Mistake!
Rating: 
Summary: Works okay, but not very ergonomic
Review: I bought this joystick for use in the BF1942 mod: Desert Combat. I had to hunt down a special file to get this joystick to work with this game though, which was actually a limitation of BF1942.
The controller itself is pretty bulky, but I guess that's to be expected from a joystick/throttle combo. I'm used to gamepads, so this took a little getting used to.
The reason I give this 3 stars and not 4 is because of the rudder control. It's inconviently located on the thottle control in such a way as you have to bend your wrist down almost 90 deg to reach it. Using the rudder control for more than 10 minutes and you'll start to experience pain in your wrist.
Fortunately, the controller comes with a great Profile Editor utility which lets you bind the controls to pretty much any keystroke imaginable. So, you can use this in any game, but it takes time to either hunt down an existing profile on the web, or building your own.
To be fair, this joystick is probably better for flight sims than combat.
Rating:
Summary: not just for flight
Review: I bought this product to play Mechwarrior 4. I highly recommend it for those looking for an alternate control platform.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I had read good things about this stick and it looked like a great deal for a stick-throttle combo. I bought it online and was a little underwhelmed when it arrived, as my first impression was one of overall cheapness. Construction is primarily of what seems like pretty low-quality plastic with a cheap, creaky feel. I wrote it off to the low price and figured you get what you pay for and this was still the least expensive stick-throttle combo you can get. If it worked properly I would have accepted the cheap feel, but after a few weeks of use the low quality started to show. One of the two hat switches on the stick quit working entirely and the stick itself is starting to feel very sticky due to friction between the metal spring and the plastic components. There is a warranty and I could send the stick back to get the hat switch fixed but I just don't feel it's worth it. I have little confidence in the longevity of this stick. My advice would be to either save your money and buy a better stick or invest less money in something simpler.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I have been a gamer for longer than I care to admit. I picked up a Saitek X45 when my MS Sidewinder FFB2 had problems with it's main fire button not working and it's secondary fire button sometimes falling off. Other than that...I always loved it. Now I have the X45. At first I was thrilled. Just playing with the buttons and dreaming of the possibilities put an ear to ear grin on my face. However, that soon changed. You see, I'm a BF1942 DC player. My specialty as you might have guessed due to my choice in sticks is a pilot. In fact, I dare-say I'm in the top 10% of pilots for that particular game. (Yes, yes...big whoop!) Needless to say, the ability to fly competently is rather important to me. Here is where my joy became "joyless". BF1942 does not support the X45's throttle or some of it's other axis functions. This is mainly EA Games fault. The "consumers" on the forums at Saitek.com have been working for months trying to fix this problem or work around it. (No, the trend of late for the corporation's to make the customer's be the tech support and think-tank for the rest of it's customers is very much alive and well at Saitek!) The results are rather sad to be honest. But, like I said, this is not completely Saitek's fault. The problem with the X45 is the ridiculous and cheap way they came up with of centering the stick. It is centered by a large spring compressing a rounded disk piece of plastic(think disk sled) against a round ring, again made of plastic on which it is cradled. To say the least, it is gritty! Of course if you are into precision....then having to make a small, critical correction during your game might not be possible when the sudden release of surface tension makes you over-correct. Not to mention the audible groan/creaking sound it makes which makes you wonder if anyone within ear-shot thought you might have a slight flatulence problem. Another thing that is ridiculous would be the flip-top cap some yahoo put on the Launch/Fire button. Who the heck has time to flip that stupid thing up in a time of need? Fortunately, it is easy to remove. I keep it around for when I need a good laugh! If you are a MechWarrior....You will love this stick! (Minus the grit) The only thing I miss from my MS Sidewinder FFB2 is the FFB. (Force Feed-Back) And again.....the smoothness of the stick. Then again when you are suppose to be in a lumbering 60+ton giant of steel, perhaps a few imperfections here and there might actually make things more realistic! (Grin) If I decide to keep this stick, besides doing a little bit of metal smithing and replacing the plastic crap on the stick, I'm going to mount it on a wood platform....which they thoughtfully provided mounting holes underneath both units. (Good thinking, Saitek) Otherwise, more aggressive player's such as myself might have a tendency to tilt the joy over in a sudden move of intent. The X45 does have a few saving graces. #3 is it's program-ability. #2 is it's separate throttle and all the wonderful buttons, POV hats and rotary knobs. #1 would have to be it's price! For ~$70, you CAN'T find a better system in it's class! My only option besides the X45 is the Thrustmaster Cougar. However, even though it is three to four times the price of the X45, I have heard many gripes and complaints about all the tweaking and crap you have to mess with as well as cheap components in the stick. Were I not getting so long-in-the-tooth and have so many other things to worry about, I'd make my own. Then I'd sit back rip what hair I don't have out when the next day, some company finally gets a clue and come out with a near perfect stick at a near perfect price!
| 
