Logitech's budget sticks are notorious for having very variable quality. Some go bad within warranty, some just outside it, while some keep working adequately for years.
Every logitech stick I have personally tried, however, has failed me miserably. Then I moved to Saitek, went through two Cyborg Evo sticks which, while the sensors (potentiometres) were much better than those Logitech used, also started to go bad and in addition the build quality was quite weak which lead to destruction of index finger trigger on one of the sticks.
Currently I am using a Saitek X52 HOTAS controller, and while it is on paper an excellent controller you might want to stay away of it, at least if it is the basic version with blue trim. If you can get X52Pro at acceptable price, that might be better, but the X52 has at least the following issues:
-inaccurate centering mechanism that leaves a bit of "play" near deadzone, leading to difficult handling right at the centre zone (fixable by removing the gimbal spring, though leads to stick becoming completely free-moving with no centering forces)
-inaccurate twist handle centering mechanism that can make the stick continuously twist rudder to one side or the other (fixable by removing the twist handle spring, requires opening up the handle, be careful with the wires)
-bad ergonomics (arguable); especially the pinkie switch at the joystick itself makes it almost impossible to properly grip the stick and leads to tension in your right hand
-bad design of X/Y axes on the joystick - the Hall effect sensors' placement results in huge hardware deadzone with the original design as well as non-linear raw response from the stick axes.
*deadzone is always bad
*non-linear raw input is bad; you should always make sure that when you slowly move joystick from one side to other, the cursor's speed through the little box remains as constant as possible. Not so with default X52 - it's exponential instead, meaning the cursor moves a little on the center zone and moves FAST to the edges when you move the stick beyond 50% deflection
*can be fixed with a modification to the magnet placement in relation to the Hall effect sensors. Has its problems, but overall results in a better controller.
-bad overall design of several aspects:
*wiring; the wires used by saitek are quite stiff and prone to wearing and tearing. I have had several wires severed in my throttle unit as a result of repeated back and forth movement; while possible to fix as they occur, they are extremely annoying and require some hand-eye co-ordination skills
*wiring locations - on the stick itself there is quite a bit of loose on the wires leading to the handle of the joystick, which can lead to them getting chafed and worn and eventually cut. Can be prevented by wrapping the wire bundle with electrical tape before this occurs.
*PS/2 connector between the throttle and joystick unit is prone to bad contact, leading to momentary loss of connection between throttle and stick. This would otherwise be quite harmless, except every time it happens, the joystick's centering resets on the position it happens to be at. That means if stick is deflected, that position becomes the center of the axes that were deflected. This is a horrible pain in the arse, as you then need to manually re-center the stick again by detaching the PS/2 cable and re-inserting it while joystick is at central position. At best this gives you several seconds of lack of control, and ad worst it can lead to you stalling out of the sky and crashing, or getting shot down, or whatever depending on game you are playing, but it won't be good.
Most of these problems would be solved by Saitek using some common sense and higher quality of wires.
...that said, it is a decent controller with good feature set, good programmability and, depending how demanding you are and how good an unit you happen to receive, will likely give you good years of use. You should just be aware of these possible issues you might experience with it, before you buy it.
The X-52Pro on the other hand apparently has several of these problems solved, such as the linear response/deadzone issue, and it also has programmable MFD (multi-function display) which the standard blue X52 does not have; the MFD in it is a waste of space and utility room, only thing it does is glow in the dark and show what profile you have selected. Oh, and it has a stop watch utility, I guess you can use that if you want to do some navigation or pattern flying.
Also note that in general joystick quality has hugely degraded from the late 90's. Currently, pretty much only CH Products and Thrustmaster's high-end products are the joysticks where you can count on the quality of electronics component remaining properly good for a decent period of time. With Saitek, Logitech, and other budget manufacturers you pretty much get what you pay for - components whose quality control is not always exactly reliable, and can lead to problems such as discontinous response curves, spiking of the axes, or permanently faulty calibration. With some models, you can technically replace some components (potentiometres, namely); with others you'll be stuck with RMA hassle or just getting a new stick and tossing the old malfunctioning one at the back of some closet or something.
Overall, I would recommend staying well away from Logitech Attack 3, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro and especially Force 3D Pro.
I have also had bad experience with Logitech-manufactured stick called Wingman Force 3D, which is very similar to Force 3D Pro except carries the Wingman brand, for absolutely no merit of its own.
Also stay away from Saitek AV8R controllers. Bad build quality, bad ergonomics, not worth it at all.
In fact, what I would recommend looking at most for a budget/medium range stick is Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS (with separable throttle) and T-Flight joystick (with integrated throttle), as well as Thrustmaster T.16000M. While I have not had personal experience with these sticks, they are built by Thrustmaster which is a company of great renown regarding gaming peripherals (Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar and Warthog are pretty much the best ones you can get I think).
They can't be worse than Logitech and Saitek's budget stick offerings.
