I've got the thumb button with the Flip cover as my secondary fire button. The lower thumb hat I use for views and the upper left one I've got into 4 functions (equalize shields, equalize energy, y-target, and "ignore my target"), while the hat on the throttle I've got into 4 buttons as well (cycle primaries, cycle secondaries, cycle twin secondary, and subsystem targeting). The two smaller thumb buttons on the right I've got for hostile and bomb targeting, while the flat button on the left side of the stick, I've got set as countermeasures. The pinkie trigger is what I've got set as reverse thrust, to help in rapid decel. The two thumb switches on the throttle I've got set as afterburner and support-ship request. I think I had the upper stick hat with some alternate functions thanks to the mode switch feature, but I don't use 'em so much. Oh, and I had the 3 switches on the stick base set to ETS obviously.
On another note, for anyone interested in purchasing an X52, here are my concerns about the stick. You'll find the stick itself is low on resistance, so it's a bit "floaty". I overcame that somewhat by turning the deadzone to minimal in both the stick's software, and in FSO, but its still looser than I'd like. The second is the hand grip. I find that my hand can't stay gripped to the stick the way I'd like, during prolonged, intensive maneuvers. For the former however, there is a solution on the horizon. Apparently Saitek is preparing an improved model, designated
X52 Pro. The description indicates greater tension for the center spring, so the "floaty" thing should be minimized. Unfortunately, the hand grip seems to be the same as the standard X52. The X52 Pro is listed as "coming soon" from the product selector page.
Personally, what I'd like is a more ergonomic hand grip for the stick, an actual clamp option to anchor both the stick and throttle bases, perhaps a mini-spread of the toggle switches, on the stick itself, remove the gimmicky fire button protector, and add some force feedback into the tension. Now, I have had some unfortunate experiences with force feedback in joysticks, but those were mainly from Logitech series, in which the FF unit would routinely overheat and eventually start popping out, cutting out, or outright failing. I also had instances of the tension bands that provide both FF and center-spring (FF-in passive mode you might say), breaking completely, making the stick even more "floaty" than the X52. That said, I'm guessing that this implementation of Force Feedback has improved since the series I used, so such units may be able to function with less heat production, resulting in less wear on the pulleys (or whatever they use), leading to longer lasting, more trouble-free use. If that's the case, then I welcome such implementation on a stick of my dreams... even if it has to have a cooling fan and radiators.
