Gadgetory

so joysticks are a category of products that I haven't really gotten into much the last time I bought one was back around the release of the first Hawks game since I'm more into arcade flight than sim flight incidentally it was a Saitek aviator 0:01 and it ended up being the main reason I didn't really get into that game because it felt like such a shoddy piece of kit compared to my old Thrustmaster Top Gun the only other joystick I've ever owned which I only actually replaced because it requires a game port but with elite dangerous being dangerously fun and star citizen coming eventually we hope I felt like it was time to jump in and jump hard with the X 55 Rhino the top-of-the-line flight sim accessory from say tech Corsairs h ATI GT in each 100 GTX all in one liquid coolers improve both the appearance and cooling of your PC click my face to learn more so let's get this out of the way this puppy not cheap it costs more than the Moto e 2nd gen cell phone review that I'm working on well it doesn't cost more than the review it cost more on the phone but you guys get the point and while it certainly packs a wallop in terms of features my initial impressions of it actually weren't entirely positive opening up the package I was greeted by environmentally friendly paper-based packaging the separate flight stick and throttle units that together make up the hotels or hands on throttle and stickiness of the device some documentation and three optional Springs which combined with the one that comes pre-installed and the option to go bareback gives the user the ability to adjust the tension of the stick to five different levels without any tools or special modifications the stick assembly was easy just pop it in place so the contacts line up and tighten the ring plug in the two USB cables install the software from the say Tech's site and you're ready to rock sounds good so far Linus what didn't you like well honestly the biggest thing is that for $200 I expected something a little more substantial feeling I can forgive the noticeable clunk that exists when centering the stick thanks to the spring tensioning system but the flex that even my weak hands can detect in the plastic of the stick shaft and the sheer lightweightness of the unit just don't feel like I just spent $200 on something honestly say Tek probably could have impressed me by simply putting lead plates in the bottom of these because then at least I could actually use them at all without bolting them to my flight cockpit or desk something that's not convenient for everyone but all of that above stuff was for the most part feelings and looking at this objectively I don't see any better options on the market at this price point with more premium feeling HOTAS units like the warthog from fresh master costing about twice as much so let's see if I can get over these feelings and appreciate the functionality of the X 55 Rhino boy does it ever have a lot of it the software is a touch on the buggy side and crashes from time to time even when doing something completely unrelated to the stick like writing this review but it never happened in game and it's pretty easy to use allowing everything from Universal dead zone configuration and response curve adjustments to remapping buttons to macros that can include keyboard and mouse inputs on the aforementioned buttons did I mention buttons buttons buttons buttons button button button buttons did I mention buttons let's start with the stick excluding the twisty rudder control something that I wish had a simple lock for games that don't support it that would be nice but including the four-way hats which this mama has 18 discrete inputs about two-thirds of which I can reach without too much effort while flying in spite of my baby sized hands and the decidedly grown-man sized stick they're trying desperately to handle the sheer number of inputs combined with the good to excellent tactile feel of the switches across the board is a definite selling point of this stick even without the throttle you can find almost anything you'd need to do in an arcade style game to the stick alone which I guess leads us over to the throttle my favorite piece of this product unlike the joystick I didn't find the throttles construction disappointing if your air or spacecraft has separate engines on each side the left and right portion of the throttle can be controlled independently or you can lock them together the tension of the throttle can be adjusted via dial on the side and while it was too stiff out of the box after about 5 minutes I was able to get it configured just right for me which brings us to buttons again o-m-g flatten button button buttons truthfully I may have lost count at some point because with all the toggles and buttons I counted 34 discrete inputs plus the 5 rotary inputs plus the three separate modes that can be accessed with the switch at the bottom left I mean landing gear countermeasures silent flight mode seatbelt no smoking light if your craft has a function the chances are excellent you can find a button on the X 55 to bind it to which leads pretty well into my general impressions of using fifty-five as expected without the stick or throttle bolted or stuck to anything they slip all over the place but once they're secured boy is it a lot of fun to fly with this thing it makes my a v8 er look like a toy and once I'd quickly studied the default mappings for elite dangerous had me pulling maneuvers I simply couldn't on my top gun which I've actually since obtained a USB adapter for thanks to the nearly unlimited number of inputs that I could bind to individual thrusters energy rerouting weapon system etc etc etc I never once felt like accuracy was an issue during my use of the product so I guess their 16-bit hoop-dee-doo granularity on the X and y-axis is paying off and the backlighting particularly on the throttle where it's a bit more prominent is a godsend when you're fumbling for a switch in the dark so I guess its conclusion time from my griping the X 55 is a really great choice for folks who are after bang for the buck most of what I didn't like was a minor annoyance and I feel like all of the deficiencies I mentioned can be overcome one way or another the included bolt through holes on each unit allow it to be installed on a weighted base if you don't want to permanently mount it somewhere the fact that I couldn't conveniently reach a lot of the buttons was overcome by the sheer number of them and thankfully if you're like me and you'll love one of the pieces but not the other they each use a separate USB cable so you can mix and match with something else if you really want which leaves the one real criticism for $200 I think the plastics in the stick especially should be heavier and more solid feeling or State X should at least take advantage of the fact that it's removable and offer some alternative sticks for folks who have smaller hands because I found this one a little on the uncomfortable side or for folks who want something that feels more premium but it's still a darn good value if you get a good one because many online accounts while my unit had no issues do point to the QC on it not being exactly perfect speaking of perfect this is a perfect segue to audible.com which of course it isn't but don't worry about it it wouldn't be the first time I'd screwed up a Segway they've got over a hundred and fifty thousand audiobooks and with their audible membership you get one audiobook per month with discounts on additional ones as well as a slew of other benefits but why would you want an audiobook you might ask well because maybe you want to oh I don't know read but you don't have the time to actually set aside to stare at a book like if you're in the car or you are a forklift driver or you you know really really hey you know dinner with your family and they don't notice that you have like your headphones on or but anyway the point is they've got all kinds of different audiobooks even stuff that you can listen to with the kids like Winnie the Pooh by a a Milne I had no idea they had that on there the membership is affordable and if you sign up now at audible.com slash Linus which is linked in the video description the first audiobook is a hundred percent free cool beans there are no beans just audiobooks so guys thanks for watching like this video if you liked it dislike it if you thought it sucked leave a comment on the Linus tech tips forum which is linked below if you'd like to well comment on the video and you want to avoid the cesspool of YouTube comments also linked in the video description is a place where you can buy a cool t-shirt like this one give us a monthly contribution if you love what we do and you want to support it and a place where you can change your Amazon bookmarked one with our affiliate code so we got a small kickback whenever you buy oh I don't know this product or something else we cover on the show or 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