Best Review Products

An incredible piece of hardware. My wave covers all the bases, but this is the kind of tool that never leaves your side. I live in Hawaii right near the beach so my tools always rust. The high-grade materials used in the Skeletool CX haven’t rusted on me even to the slightest degree after extensive time and use. This tool has the important basics that will prove vital should you find yourself in a survival situation. I find a hundred new uses for it every day.

It took me a little while to learn how to flick the blade open in one movement with the “blade launcher.” For me I needed to flick my wrist at the same time, as part of the opening process. Once I learned that, it became almost addictive, flicking my knife open, just because it’s fun. It really is amazing how it can have so little friction yet be such a tight and solid a little folding knife. Now, after a couple of months, I’m finding that it does take some cleaning and lubrication to keep the mechanism working right.

The c300 is the basic version of this knife, just the blade, no carabeeners or tools. I’m not sure if I’d like the extra weight or bulk of the fancier versions. This is a perfect size and weight, and feels fine in the pocket. I still have the pocket clip on it, and use it some, but often I just carry the knife in my pocket. The clip is not that intrusive, and actually helps make the handle fit in your hand. Using the knife, it has the feel of a big knife. I like the nylon handle. It’s well-designed and feels natural. I like the matte finish on the stainless blade. The quality of the knife is immediately apparent. Everything fits to very close tolerences. Locked, the blade feels solid, without any slop. I can’t think of a better all-around single blade pocket knife, whatever your use. I think the price is very good, it is a good value. The fact you can just flick it open so nicely is just icing on the cake.

Nice feel, great knife. Sharp out of the box, sweet tool. I wish I would have bought this sooner. I own a few leathermans, and I feel their knifes live up to the quality of their outher products.

The Saitek EVO Force looks a bit too sci-fi if you are like me and enjoy flying vintage aircraft, but one thing I have found from Saitek in general that their products are a good value for the money.

I wanted more immersion from the IL-2 WWII combat flight simulator that I have been enjoying for the last few years, and this joystick delivers the performance I was after. Most importantly, as what ever aircraft I am flying approaches stall speed, the stick shudder tells me that I need to push the throttle to maintain attitude (and altitude).

One thing (besides high tech looks) that I’d say is a shortcoming, is the spring tension is a bit weak. I wouldn’t want to be fighting the full G-forces of pulling out of a dive, but perhaps adjustable force may be a feature that would make this type of product better.

That being said, I am pretty happy with this product over all for its reliability and value.

I purchased the X52 stick and throttle for use with Falcon 4.0 Allied Force (F4AF), an F-16 simulator, and they’re working out pretty well. I’m impressed with the sheer number of inputs, as well as their variety, including the three 8-way hats, the slider (which I’ve mapped to my airbrakes), the two rotary knobs (which I’ll map to my sensor elevation and sensor strength once I get that far; I’m still learning to fly at the moment), and the tri-mode switch + shift (which lets you make any button/switch do six different things).

The X52 uses non-contact magnetic hall-effect sensors for the stick’s axes, as opposed to rheostats or other contact-based technologies. This means that the stick should maintain its smoothness and precision over its lifetime, as there are no brushes to wear out.

A single spring is responsible for centering the stick in both dimensions. The design seems like it will more reliably return to center over time, as opposed to sticks with two pairs of opposing horizontally-oriented springs that center each axis.

The software included for programming the inputs is really intuitive, and I was able to get the behavior I wanted in a few minutes, without having to read a manual or a help page.

The bases of both the stick and throttle each have two holes going all the way through from top to bottom, which’ll make bolting them down easy.

I only have two complaints: 1) the Cyborg styling looks stupid, and 2) the stick exhibits constant resistance throughout its range of motion (as opposed to increasing resistance the farther it is moved from center; “progressive” resistance). I could’ve spent another $100 and bought the X52 Pro to avoid these issues, but couldn’t justify it. Besides, it doesn’t cost Saitek $100 to change the styling and add an additional spring.

I’m using the X52 alongside CH Products’ Pro Pedals USB, and they do not conflict with eachother, at least not when playing F4AF.