Out Of Control (Saitek X6-33m)

Member Name: Modena

Product:	Saitek X6-33m
Date:	31/01/02 (1492 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price, functions, works eventually (though may depend on OS)

Disadvantages: You get what you pay for, ergonomics, installation problems; I needed to try hard to get it recognized.

My mission was to find the cheapest analogue controller for my PC, after searching through the internet and going to the High Street shops, this was the cheapest I could find. The Saitek X6-33M is an out of date analogue control pad for the PC. Please see the picture on the category page to see what it looks like.

•Features
To put it in simple terms, this is a 6 button 3 analogue axes joypad for the PC that connects through the Game port that is usually on your soundcard’s external connectors (i.e. one you need to screw in like a parallel cable etc…).

You have a Dreamcast sized joypad with and X and Y analogue D-pad on the top left, and a digital 360 degree D-pad where your thumb usually is. There is a switch for whether you wish to have analogue control of digital control.

There are 2 “shoulder” buttons (which I call L and R) that are shaped like the trigger of a gun, and pressing them feels like using a tacky light gun.

On the buttons (right hand) side, there is a throttle on top of 6 buttons. The throttle is able to glide left and right, there is the option for a digital throttle formed by the 2 of the 6 buttons on the right. Obviously there is a switch to navigate between analogue or digital control.

The remaining 4 of the 6 buttons make up for the remaining 4 fire buttons. This pad has full rapidfire features (even for the throttle). The cable is about 2 to 2.5 metres long, and there are no programming features. Oh and it’s made in China by the way…

Managed to get your head round that? Good…

•Packaging & Installation
This dish is served in a cardboard box with the controller wrapped in polythene and the manuals etc separate (or more precisely easily separable). It’s quite neat and quite cheap, typical made in China stuff right? The controller itself is easy to plug in, just like installing a monitor connection or a parallel port con
nection.

The package comes with a Win95/98 driver on a Floppy Disk and also gives you instructions to install without a Floppy. For some reason, the driver works but my PC fails to recognize the joypad when it is connected, maybe it’s because I use Windows Me. The manual config didn’t seem to work either, so I went to the website, via www.saitek.com and found 2 (yes 2) drivers for this controller and downloaded both and fortunately one of them did work and was very easy to calibrate. Help is very scarce, via a small readme or the website...

•The Feel
I’m used to a Playstation Dual Shock controller, which I have a very high regard for, this is awful compared with that, the buttons feel cheap, it feels more fragile, and the analogue stick is an awful think piece of plastic on top of another, the Dual Shock has rubberized sticks, this hasn’t. When playing the game, there is nothing obviously wrong with the pad though to be fair (i.e. the responsiveness is okay)

The ergonomics aren’t too good, there just isn’t room for your three fingers that hold the pad, if you hold it tightly, your little fingers hurt, the analogue stick is placed too far up and the digital pad is too far down and feels cheap.

•Overall
Overall, with this pad, you clearly get what you pay for, and for £10, this is probably one of the better pads. You would have to probably pay £25 to get something better than this (maybe with a rumble feature too), and that’s just the problem with PC pads, I can get a very good, fully featured Playstation 2 pad for £10 (I don’t care about programmable features), but to get the equivalent PC one, I would have to pay £30 or so, and the PC one feels cheaper! Just what is wrong? I don’t know… In my opinion, even the Microsoft ones don’t look that good…

There is probably a little risk buying something like this, a risk it wont work, a ris
k your keyboard is better, or a risk that you damage your hands! Fortunately my demands were quite low, and this did meet my needs (bar the rumbling), and if you can put up with bad ergonomics, a cheap feel, and potential troublesome installation, then this is a good choice. I don’t know what how a USB controller is better (I don’t think it’s speed because you don’t need much bandwidth in sending control signals), but if you must have a USB one, then don’t get this.

Summary: