Aviator Flight Stick Rev X360

If you love flight combat games like Ace Combat 6 and Tom Clancy’s HAWX but haven’t ever played them with a real flight stick controller, you really need to give the Saitek Aviator Flight Stick a try. A flight stick will absolutely make a big difference in how much fun you have with these games, and for just $50 the Saitek Aviator is a pretty darn good investment. Find out more in our full review.Quick Hits Title: Saitek Aviator Flight Stick Produced By: Mad Catz Genre: Flight Stick Controller Pros: Price; surprisingly intuitive; works great; definitely makes flight combat games more fun Cons: A bit of a lightweight

Features

The Aviator Flight Stick is a one-piece unit and the only setup you need to do is put together a little hand rest on the stick with a couple of included screws. The throttle lever is on the back of the unit and offers a wide range of movement so you can set your speed. The stick itself has full 360-degree movement as well as yaw control by twisting it left or right. On top of the stick there is B, Y, X buttons (and the X button has a cover over it you have to flip up like a real missile button in a real jet), and the trigger on the back of the grip is the A button. There is also a small control stick on top that takes the place of the right analog stick on a normal 360 pad for camera control. On the front of the unit there are buttons for the bumper buttons, stick buttons (like when you press in the analog sticks), Back and Start, and another control stick that represents the d-pad.

There is also a switch on the side of the unit that lets you select between two modes where the button assignments are slightly different. Mode 1 is for HAWX and Ace Combat 6 and Mode 2 is for the Blazing Angels games.

It should also be noted that the Aviator Flight Stick is compatible with both the Xbox 360 and the PC, so for $50 you can get a lot of use out of it if you are a big flight sim/combat fan.

When you get everything figured out, which only really takes a few minutes, using a flight stick is an amazingly natural feeling. When using a controller there are so many buttons to control throttle and yaw and camera and everything else and it is actually quite complicated. When using a flight stick, all of the controls you need are within easy reach and you can do multiple things at once without contorting your hands into claws trying to hit all of the buttons you need to. It makes the game far more intuitive and satisfying and fun and once you use a stick it is hard to go back to a regular controller for flight games.

My one small complaint about the Aviator stick is that it is really, really light. Gamers have been trained over the years to not trust lightweight accessories, particularly from third-party manufacturers, and it is easy to be kind of skeptical of the Aviator when you pick up the box and feel how light it is. We have used it for a couple of weeks now with no problems, though, so in this case you shouldn’t worry too much about build quality. Another slight concern with the weight is that it might slide around too much during use. No worries here either, as it has rubber feet on the bottom so if you play it with it sitting on your desk or coffee table or even your lap it doesn’t move around too much despite not having any weight to it.

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