Logitech X56 H.O.T.A.S In 2026 – Still A Decent Flight Sim Stick & Throttles?

I bought this as an open box but otherwise new kit from John Pye Auctions for just £92 all in – 25 percent auction fee and all – and have been using it for a little over six months now, and I have some thoughts. For those that don’t know, this is a HOTAS – hands-on throttle and stick – basically a flight stick and throttle. This one though is somewhat special considering the price. Why? Well let me show you around it and we’ll find out.

Right on the face of it, the sheer number of buttons on both the stick and the throttles is impressive. Logitech says this has 189 programmable controls, which is insane, On the stick you’ve got THREE directional switches (ie D-Pads), plus a regular button all up front, then another on the side, the trigger, another on the front, a limits override trigger at the bottom, and a full analog stick on the side (with a button under that too). On the throttle… Hot damn. That has three gated two-way toggle switches at the back, a three way mode selector dial, two rotary dials and another four two way toggles. On the throttle levers you have two notched 360 degree dials (both with buttons under ‘em), a slider, another analog joystick, a scroll wheel, two four way directional switches, a button, AND then a trim switch on the front of the handle and two more buttons. Oh and the lock that slides between the handles to tie them together. And the dial to adjust the resistance of the throttles. Few, that’s a lot of buttons! 

Just to highlight it though, those two analog joysticks are actually pretty sweet and make for a somewhat unique control method especially for in-game camera controls, or if you’re insane you could use them for something like laser targeting. I’m not that insane, sadly. Genuinely though it seems somewhat rare to find full analog sticks on top of flight sticks, so this is cool. What’s also cool is that the stick at least is hall effect – something that someone who still owns a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro flight stick is a little scarred by – meaning you don’t get stick drift which is a pretty big deal. It is worth noting a few physical things though, starting with the throttles. These are two independent levers that can be somewhat loosely locked together for either single engine control, or just for games that don’t support split throttle inputs. The lock between them though is pretty janky. The pin doesn’t go far into the inboard lever so it’s hard to lock them together properly with just that little penetration. Anyway, moving onto the flight stick, it’s pretty hard to grip the shaft comfortably. It’s just so big, it’s hard to wrap your hand around it for any length of time! Ok I’ll stop being purposefully stupid now, but genuinely I have large hands. Like size large or xl gloves kinda large, and yet this thing hurts to use. Now to be clear I do have a pain disorder and a joint disorder so maybe take my thoughts with a pinch of salt, but this just isn’t an ergonomic masterpiece for me. My fingers get strained reaching for the various buttons that are all really high compared to the side-of-the-palm rest at the base, and because of all of the input options you’re left with really only your ring finger left on the stick to control yaw in particular, and that hurts.

It’s probably worth me clarifying what games I play with this thing too. While I did hop on Microsoft Flight Simulator a few times, I was looking more for dog-fighting action rather than glacial passenger-liner landings, so I tried War Thunder, but since I didn’t fancy spending 4000 hours, or £4000, I dropped out of that one quickly. Naturally I tried DCS, but while I do in fact have an official Autism diagnosis – see it’s right here – I do not, in fact, have enough autism to play DCS. I don’t know about you, but I play games for fun, as an escape from reality, an escape from responsibilities and pressure, and as a way to relax. I can’t quite describe the exact type of pressure headache you get when you load into DCS and try and just map the god damn controls. I don’t want to have to read a 4000 page manual for a real life aircraft just to take off. This has a level of realism I just cannot handle right now. At some point I do intend to start watching some tutorials and maybe give it another shot, but that feels like a massive commitment and insane amount of energy I could dedicate to building more tools and hardware rather than learning the ins-and-outs of a small collection of frighteningly realistic military aircraft. So what do you do when you want dogfighting but don’t have a PHD thesis on the operation of the F4 Phantom? That’s right. Ace Combat. Real planes, but simplified controls and pretty obvious arcade physics. A damn cool playing experience especially for a newbie though! 

The big thing for me in the feel department is actually with the stick and its “6DoF” movement – that’s six degrees of freedom, although I think they include the analog sticks in that too so I dunno – the movement of the stick. While it is hall effect, they’ve gone with a single spring and cone design which I frankly hate. Sure, they do include a couple different springs in the box so you can tune it to the weight you prefer, but this cone design is just dreadful. It squeals as you’re starting off and then provides a lot less centering force at the edges than it does in the middle. It’s notchy and makes the experience of using the stick just kinda poor. The variable resistance across the movement of range is pretty rough too, making for a less than ideal feel. The throttles feel nicer, but they aren’t super well supported, and the heavier feel is a fine balance between feeling somewhat realistic and feeling like you’re going to snap them off. 

I don’t regret buying these things. I’ve had a lot of fun in Ace Combat 7 blasting fictional bots out the virtual skies, but I must admit I’m itching for something better. Something more ergonomic, more comfortable, and something that doesn’t freaking squeak every time I move the thing off center. For their MSRP I don’t think I would have been happy with this – which by the way is over £200 STILL, practically a decade later – but for the £90 I paid, that’s fine with me. This definitely feels better than the more basic sticks, but it’s noticeably mid-range to me. Coming from sim racing, this is absolutely the G29 of flight sims. /derogatory. If you’re looking to get into flight sims this might be an acceptable option, if you can find it discounted at least. I can’t imagine paying full price for this thing.