10/29/2012

Saitek PZ55 Pro Flight Switch Panel Review

Saitek PZ55 Pro Flight Switch Panel
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This is a interesting little piece of plastic. And Irecommend and enjoy it with some unfortunate reservations. Be aware of a few little things that make you go, "Huh, what were they thinking?"

It ships with a hex tool to unscrew the screws on the companion pro flight throttle for mounting.Problem is, it's the wrong size....way too small...so you will need a #3 hex tool handy if you want to mount to the companion yoke. Also, the instructions suggest using the 2 inner screw mount points.I suggest you use 2 mount points wider apart, other wise the panel will sway from side to side.

The mounting bracket is quite flimsy.So much so that when you flip switches the panel console moves, front to back.Disappointingly poor engineering design especially when you see they have plans to hang more stuff off this in time to come.

The mag switch is mixed up (L/R should be R/L)

You can't assign or change functions to switches on this unit as you can with the yoke or throttle.

The Saitek website doesn't tell you what driver version is the latest much less what issues it addresses.

OK, that's the annoying stupid stuff.

The good stuff:There is a new driver available on the Saitek web site!The inoperative cowl flap switch has been fixed with driver rev 6.5.8.4(But it's either open or closed, nothing incremental.)

The inoperative deice switch has been fixed with driver rev 6.5.8.4(Still, if it's not implemented in FSX, why designate a switch for it?)

The incorrect landing gear light sequence has been fixed with driver rev 6.5.8.4 (Green is down, Red is in transit, Amber is gone)Everything else is really nice and I do enjoy not having to look for all these switches on keyboards or screens. Simply plug it into the back of the companion yoke and run a quick program which installs as an FSX (simconnect?) plugin and thats it.

My test flights were on a system running Vista 64 with an FSX default C172, a default Mooney Bravo and everything worked except the cowl flaps and as noted above.Also worked with an add on Eaglesoft Cirrus SR22. So, pretty successful for out of the box. And it looks cool.

But for silly oversights, Saitek could have had a brilliant unit here instead of just a good one.They need to pay attention to detail. Makes you wonder who is in charge of things there...and why?

So, it's 4 out of 5 now with the new driver.

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Product Description:
Feel like a real pilot with realistic clearly labelled controls in easy reach with the PZ55 Pro Flight Switch Panel from Saitek. Features include switches for engine on and off, landing gear, a large selection of cockpit controls, works with Flight Sim X, LED's for landing gear matching the status in the game.Works with XP, XP64, and Vista.

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