Logitech G X56 H.O.T.A.S Throttle and Joystick Flight Simulator Game Controller, 6 Dregrees of Freedom, 4 Spring Options, +189 Programmable Controls, RGB Lighting, 2x USB, PC - Black

In a nutshell I think this is probably the best throttle and stick at this price point. In fact it's a really good price for what you get. I'm very happy with this buy. The only negative thing I can say about the throttle is that it lacks 0%, 50% and 100% detents (e.g. for afterburner). Otherwise, tons of switches, ability to split the throttles, multiple modes.. all you need. The stick's great. Again plenty of buttons which feel really satisfying to use, the spring in the can be adjusted if you want an easier time moving the stick, or if you want to make it more difficult. In terms of feel it's good, but not incredible - going higher end would get you that, but we're in the mid-range. I am totally satisfied with the quality here. The software's garbage. You'll probably find yourself having to clear profiles every time you boot your PC, since you'll be using the ones in the game. Don't discount the X56 just because of the two clicks it takes to do that.

PROS • Ergonomic feel • Many customisations, hundreds of programmable controls • Easy plug and play, might need to tweak keybinds/settings • 30 buttons, some with multiple functions including: two way switches, knobs, triggers, hats, joysticks and sliders. • Compatible with many games including MSFS, DCS, Star Citizen, War Thunder, etc. • Split throttle, allowing for intense combat mechanics. CONS • A bit expensive for budgets, but I recommend as it is worth it. • Throttle is a bit stiff, even at the weakest setting, sometimes it moves across my desk. • Supposed reports of ‘ghost inputs’, I haven’t had a problem with these yet, pretty decent otherwise. OVERALL REVIEW The Logitech HOTAS X56 is a great hands-on piece of flight simulator hardware, with an excellent design and features for customisation. It has customisable RGB and is a great medium budget option for sim users. RATING - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ EDIT (1 year later) - The stick and throttle are still working perfectly fine, definitely no ghost inputs, still a 5 star worthy product, 100% worth the money.

After a year with the X56, I'm really happy with my purchase. I use this for DCS in VR and it works really well. The joystick is too big for my hands and I had to artificially raise the palm rest at the base (using layered cardboard) by about 1 cm so that I could rest my palm and still reach all the buttons but you have to be careful not to raise it too high as you can cover up the button at the very bottom of the actual stick. Once I found the right level to raise the palm rest then it was comfortable but be careful with this if you have small hands. The throttle is built really well and is comfortable. It also has heaps of buttons and switches which is excellent! It does have 3 things that you need to consider - The throttle movement is a little on the heavy side and doesn't slide easily. I would have liked it if it was a little easier but that's a preference thing and you get use to it. - The throttle doesn't have an afterburner indent. For those flying fighter jets, that means you won't get the physical nudge on the throttle once you've hit afterburners so might not realise they're on. Not the end of the world but something to think about. - The throttle takes lots of power and people have had issues with buttons being triggered randomly due to using a non-powered USB hub. Make sure you have a reliable direct USB connection to your PC or a powered hub to plug it in to. Overall, the HOTAS is the best in its class and to get anything better you would need to pay ~2-3 x more for a professional Warthog, WinWing or Vipril Hotas so although not perfect, it does represent good value for money.

I love this thing. It has such a nice feel to the grasp for both hands and the buttons are all perfectly placed. I've had no problem with mine and I've had it a year now. The hat's on stick feel great to the thumb touch too. If I had one gripe it's that the joystick is a little large, but maybe I just have small hands. And in fairness it does come with a section to keep your hand reat a bit higher which is good. The colours of the lights are a nice touch and can be changed too. Great HOTAS set up for professional gamers.

Plus points: Throttle controls can be bound or unbound together to work as one lever or 2 Momentary switches spring back with good response. Everything easily within reach. Programming buttons - software allows adjustment of basically everything for use within games / Sims. Very very adjustable so many buttons. RGB lighting also very adjustable as well as brightness. Has mounting holes on the units to mount to desk / sim pit style brackets. Although the rubber feet do allow to be placed direct on a desk without it moving too easily. Bad points - Lack of an internal cable management for excess cable length. The throttle resistance knob is a bit sticky and often won't allow rotation. Even a minor adjustment results in either no resistance at all or stiffer than would be desirable. Summary - Having used HOTAS style controls in the past this is certainly my favourite to obtain. Controls are very adjustable and the ergonomics are superb. The build quality appears very sturdy as it should be for its cost. Would certainly do sim pit pilots proud. Only drawback being the throttle resistance knob

I really tried hard to like this, but it defeated me. I've just completed my THIRD return of this product. All of them had similar albeit slightly differing issues, but ultimately I just cannot feel I can trust this hardware to last more than a month. Perhaps you'll win the lottery and get the good one, but in my opinion the price tag is too high for that gamble. Keep in mind all these issues were either present right out of the box or developed within 30 days. The throttle is unusably stiff, even at its 'loosest' setting, and its resistance is always uneven throughout. The analog thumbstick on the joystick - the biggest selling point for me - sticks in the back position on two of the models I tried. The joystick has serious slop, requiring arduous deadzone calibration to get it working well, but it never feels good. The buttons on the back of the throttle are spongy and cheap and also prone to sticking. On one of the models I had, the wiring was so bad inside that after a while, twisting the stick to yaw made all the LED's in it flicker. The yaw spring is also hellishly stiff; it'll give you hand cramps after a couple hours of use. The stick also creaked like a barn door. Now, the throttle itself. I had to buy two different USB hubs just for it. The first I got because I was told that the throttle needs to have its own USB slot, or else it misses inputs, phantom-presses buttons when it likes, you name it. The second one I got was realising it needs its own POWERED USB hub. That's right - to work correctly, it needs an entire powered USB hub, not shared with anything else, or it doesn't work correctly. I can't fathom how anyone thought that was acceptable. When you get it out of the box it'll feel great. It's made of good materials, the ergonomics are beautiful, its heavy, it feels like quality. But I promise you, it isn't. Save your money until they fix this mess or until someone else designs a HOTAS as good looking but with actual working internals.

Ok, so I have played with other HOTAS systems, some cheaper and some more expensive, and I can honestly say I am quite disappointed with the quality of the X56. The only reason I went for this is because I have no room under my desk for rudders, so a premium system wouldn't work for me, I needed the Z axis on the stick. The Throttle Unit:- Unless you are built like a weight lifter and have this screwed to your desk or clamp, you will find this completely unusable, the friction adjuster does let up the play a bit, and after a few wiggles to and fro, it does free up, but over a period of several minutes, the throttle settles back into stiff mode and you have to wiggle it again to free it up, absolutely pointless and of no use whatsoever if you require precise control of your throttle inputs. The switches, knobs and dials are great, there are a lot of them so you can bind plenty of assignments to your preferred sim and with the 3 mode switch, you could potentially triple your inputs with the right programming. The Joystick:- The X & Y axis is sticky from the immediate centre, more so on the pull back, but once you pass the initial bite, it is quite fluid and precise, I've had to set my input curves quite wide to ensure I don't 'over input' whilst moving from centre, and with a bit more tweaking, I think this will work quite well. As with the throttle, there are plenty of hats and buttons you can program up, but there is a lot of room for improvements. The trigger only has a single detent, why? . . . . The thumb mini-stick (C) needs to be swapped for a 4 way directional switch so you can rest on it without it moving. Hats 1 and 2 are the wrong way round, the more prominent castle should be at the top and not at the bottom as you have to clamber over it to get to hat 1, and the POV and button A should be swapped to as you clamber over the POV to press button A, if you were to swap them around, button A would be in perfect reach from the thumbs resting position on the mini stick (C), maybe I am being a little picky but the fact is, sim equipment is getting more advanced and the X56's are sadly being left behind. Overall, the 'Black Friday' sale price (in my personal opinion) reflects it realistic/ true value against other systems on the market, and definitely falls into the average category, if the throttle system was better designed and operated properly, I would have bumped another star on, but the fact is, when you have to prime the throttle to free it up mid flight, you have to ask yourself, "what is the point?" Conclusion:- This is now falling behind in the technology and being out-performed by less expensive systems, I personally feel the X-52 Pro is better than the X-56, ok there are a lot of buttons on the X-56 that are not on the X-52 Pro, but buttons aren't everything, you first need precise controls and that is what lets the X-56 down. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this system as I would have been very disappointed, the reality is that the X-56's are not high end, they are mid-range at best. Is the X-56 HOTAS system for you? Well that depends on what you operate and what level of immersion you are looking for. If you are whizzing around the clouds or galaxy throwing all cautions to the wind, then the X-56 is a good buy, as an arcade system, the X56 will more than meet the grade and will serve you well, and with the amount of buttons on it, you'll not need to much (if any) keyboard inputs. If you require precise input control for a carrier landing, or micro inputs whilst air to air refueling etc, then the X-56 will probably not meet your expectations, you'd be better off with a premium HOTAS system. The X-56 system is dated and needs a facelift, there are far better (and worse) systems out there and I think this could be a whole lot better, at the minute, there is no quality gap between the X52 and X56, and there needs to be one in order for customers to feel they are making a step up to a quality mid range HOTAS, fingers crossed for an X-58 system in the future.

The performance of this stick as compared to a traditional, potentiometer based systems is huge. The Hall Effect sensors provide great resolution, fine-grained enough for good helicopter control, I use the stick mainly for this purpose; most casual enthusiasts wouldn't want to fork out the big bucks for an actual Cyclic Sim control and this is a great compromise in my mind. I would say that both the throttle and the stick would be easier to use if you have large hands, I do and find it comfortable but I could see someone with smaller hands having a few issues reaching a couple things without moving the stick around too much. The spring adjustment for the stick is great, having a few to choose from with varying tensions is a great idea IMO, for example I would use a stiffer spring for a fixed wing compared to a helicopter, where you need that easy fine-grained control with very little movement of the stick. The tension adjustment on the throttle could be a little better but it does work. I mainly use this with X-Plane 11 + 12 on MacOSX with no compatibility issues; all axis, buttons, switches etc are detected in X-Plane and function correctly. The devices are detected by name inside X-Plane.