by David Piner on Dec 15, 2015
The Saitek X-55 Rhino H.O.T.A.S. System is a marvel of technological and video game wonder, enabling you to enjoy almost any game that has flight controls and utilizes gamepads to its fullest extent. We got a review copy and I’ve played with it for about two weeks now, and I can tell you that’s drastically changed my thoughts, opinions, and experiences in games like Elite Dangerous, where the throttle control isn’t a novelty: it’s a way of life.
Now I’m not giving it every bit of praise yet, we’ll go through and look at the different components piece by piece, all isn’t well in wonderland, but I will say that there is definitely a marketspace, especially with the separate throttle providing a huge advantage in something like Elite Dangerous, when there are times you need to give it gas and times you need to stop, and lots of in-between.
The joystick is interesting to describe, because it's very well made and feels great in your hands, but also has a lot of flexability with the buttons. You get a very hefty base, that’s nicely weighted. The joystick itself contains five clickable buttons (two pinky, two thumb, one index), the standard “hats” at the top, and then a mouse-like point of view button. Connecting the joystick to the base is an interchangeable spring that allows you to control how much tension you feel when you move it, everything from nearly nothing to a real force to move the joystiq around, based on how you want it. I actually just realized there is another button reachable with your index finger, that’s sort of like Operation Wolf arcade style missile launch on the side of the gun kind of button.
The button setup is very nice for fighting games, especially like Elite Dangerous where you have two alternate set of weapons and can use the trigger on your index for your main and the thumb button for secondary. A pinky button and switch gives you two more easy to reach options to fire just from the joystick itself, whereas the red button at the top gives you yet another option.
The best part of the joystick is the comfort in your hands. I've used it for several 5 hour Elite Dangerous play sessions without much fatigue. The worst part would be the odd feeling lower HATs switch, but it actually works better the way it is for ED where you just literally need Up, Left, Right, and Down.
The throttle has 7 two way switches (14 total buttons), two turn knobs, and then on the throttle itself it does left / ring engine (super handy in X-Plane and Flight Simulator X if you want to use engine power itself to turn), three spin knobs on the throttle itself, one sliding button, three regular buttons, and several other buttons I can’t describe what they are, but they’re there.
The throttle itself has a lock to control both the left and right together, or separate them for a more authentic experience.
The best part of the throttle is the strong tension and variety of buttons it has. The worst part of the throttle is making sure it's secure to the table (it holds up very, very well, but you need to make sure the table is flat and the rubber feet can get a grip on it, or secure it one of the post holes it has).
I didn’t play around much with the software, outside of reassigning a few keys. It seemed to be useful, but I’m a very simple person with a very simple mind, and figuring out what purpose many of the options (beyond assigning buttons for Elite Dangerous for the SLD and thumb nipple) have, but my understanding is hardcore flight enthusiasts would find it very useful, in addition to adjusting the setup based on what spring you have installed.
The joystick and throttle are well built throughout. I haven’t had any failure yet with some rather heavy use. I’ve dropped ‘em on the ground simulating pulling it off my table a few times and they still operate just fine. I’ve given the buttons lots of abuse, on purpose obviously, and nothing has fallen off.
The quality of materials goes from super impressive to kind of wonky though. The pinky toggle, lower HAT switch, and the turn knobs on the throttle feel a little bit cheap. Lots of plastic is in use, but the joystick and throttle itself feel top notch.
Out of the box the throttle was very tight, but playing with it, it loosened up a lot.
Nothing was broken out of the box, all the toggles worked, buttons worked fine. Everything came out great.
A common misconception that is that joysticks are the end all best all for flight simulation, which isn’t really true. Yokes are the absolute gold standard in flight. Yokes are similar to car steering wheels, but you can pull back on them to control the nose, and turn left and right to manage the ailerons. Foot pedals control the rudder and then a variety of other controls for the flaps, landing gear, radio, lights, defoggers, etc. are in the cockpit
Joysticks, or side-sticks/center stick, provide better control in high-G applications, like fighter jets. This is where joysticks come in handy for simulating authentic flight controls of military application planes and, in many purposes, spaceships like in Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen. Not to insult its performance with controlling commercial airliners, I just felt it’s important to note what makes the X-55 special.
The X-55 shines compared to other entries in the field is the number of buttons available, which is important for the new generation of space dogfighting simulators where your ship has a variety of controls and buttons that you don’t want to really ever have to reach for the keyboard unless you absolutely have to.
To make the clearest point possible: the throttle is beyond the realms of human understanding when it comes to controlling flight in Elite Dangerous. Being able to adjust your speed on the fly without clicking up and down frantically provides not only a super immersive experience, but also one where you sort of get an unfair advantage. A lot of times you need to speed in fast to get within range, then cool your engines to be within optimal fighting speeds, and sometimes you need to gun it again to get back in range. Having fine control of your speed is a huge advantage, and it alone, makes this set amazing for ED.
The buttons though is where it sets itself apart. Elite Dangerous has a lot of buttons to press and a lot of things to click, from cargo hold controls, lights, and silent running and everything else, you can easily bind everything you need to the plethora of buttons. The toggle switches are great, because up and down can mean two different things. Since you have to throttle up to engage your hyperdrive, I bound it to the 2nd toggle from the top, which means as I start to speed forward I can flip on my hyperdrive and away I go.
Some major highlights are the pov toggle where you can move your head around and look, especially if not using the VR headset. Additionally, the bottom HAT switch works great for controlling menus within the game and adjusting system power. The wealth of buttons makes it so easy to target an enemy, control fire groups, adjust thrust, fire your weapons, and manage your systems all at the same time, making it way more intuitive than keyboard control could (at least in my opinion anyway).
While I haven’t had the chance to play through with it on Star Citizen, I can easily offer up the idea that it would have a very similar experience.
Setting it up was a beauty, most of the controls were configured, and following a simple guide online I was able to get the deadzones perfect and pretty much fly whatever I wanted, however I wanted to, with extreme precision.
As for flight, it performed to specification. It’s hard to praise the plethora of buttons for FSX, because FSX can have lots of buttons or just a few, depending on the realism settings, and even then it’s often alright to click through the panels in the simulated 3d cockpit.
Similar to FSX, the controls worked above and beyond expectations, with a very quick setup. The dual throttles worked fine with a variety of dual engine planes, and I was very happy with the performance, in both doing loops in a stunt plane and long-hauls in a commercial jetliner.
Surprising, it didn’t take long to get it setup, and then flying jets and helicopters worked just fine. There is a lot of value in joystick controls for some players here, because there is definitely a difficulty curve and it’s easier with the combination.
The Saitek Rhino X-55 HOTAS system is a treat. Coming in at an MSRP of just $199, there isn’t much reason in my mind you wouldn’t snag the system, especially for Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous. You can sometimes find it on sale, but often times you’ll also find it sold out. One of the important factors when looking at things like the plastic bits is that you’re getting a joystick and throttle controller, with interchangeable springs, below the $200 price point. That’s literally the only complaint I have, and it really doesn’t bother me.
So would I recommend it? Yeah, it’s a great deal, and is pretty much going to be exactly what you need for Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous and anything that could use a joystick. Considering both components are separate, you could easily only use the throttle or the joystick itself, depending on what game it is – if mouse flying is easier for you in space, you can just as well use your mouse and then the throttle, and vice-versa.
Anyway, I’d say it’s great, and perfectly on par with a high-end system at a reasonable price.