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Logitech Buys Saitek (betanews.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the further-expansion dept.
PC accessories maker Logitech announced that it is acquiring Saiket brand and its line of flight sim controller assets from MadCatz for $13 million in cash. From a report on BetaNews: Today, the company announces a surprising acquisition. Logitech has officially bought Saitek -- maker of simulation controllers. While the move was unexpected, it actually makes a lot of sense. Logitech gains entry into a niche gaming segment that depends heavily on high-priced controllers. "First, these products are just great. We know a thing or two at Logitech about what makes a gaming product stand out and these products deliver exceptional experiences. Don't take our word for it -- we've seen the Saitek fans on the forums. Second, simulation games are cool and getting cooler. Whether you're into driving, flying or exploring space, there are fresh new titles available and more to come. Some of these titles are even VR enabled and we believe that dedicated controllers will stimulate and enhance the total VR experience," says Logitech.
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Logitech Buys Saitek More

Logitech Buys Saitek

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  • Saiket my ass. You missed out "the" too.

  • Goodbye Quality (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16, 2016 @10:14AM (#52900041)

    I'm not confident this won't just result in Saitek being pilfered for engineers and then allowed to stagnate or close, while we are still stuck with Logitech quality. I have had a number of lousy experiences with Logitech gaming devices. Most recently, a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro that developed an annoying permanent yaw to the left, for which calibration has not worked to solve or alleviate. Of course, Windows 10 borked calibration, but still...similar experiences with several other Logitech sticks.

    Now mice, that's a different story. Logitech makes a good basic mouse. I've got a few that are 10+ year old laser mice that still work just fine.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      Logitech was never poor quality for lack of engineers. It was/is poor quality because of the shitty pots (potentiometers) they use in their products that cause them to require constant recalibration after only months of use, and are totally worthless as little as a year after purchase. Saitek used higher quality, though I guess that's all going to change now.

    • Their basic mice are fine. And I use the m705 now for wireless, while recommending the m310 for home users. BUT, the Performance Mouse MX is still a sore spot. An $89 mouse and the microswitches wore out on the mouse buttons after only a couple years. Had great tracking and great ergonomics, but that design doesn't matter if you cheap out on the one moving part.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Calydor ( 739835 )

        A couple of years? Consider yourself lucky.

        The mouse button switches on the M/570 trackball mouse wear out after 4-6 months for me, particularly the right mouse button. I really wish there was an alternative with the same form factor, but alas.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Khyber ( 864651 )

          "The mouse button switches on the M/570 trackball mouse wear out after 4-6 months for me, particularly the right mouse button"

          That's because your middle finger has more strength than your index finger. Your middle finger is usually the one hitting the right-click unless you're left-handed. Given the same plastic type, switch construction, and equal weighting between usage of left/right mouse buttons, the right one will wear out far faster.

          Guitarists learn this early on, and focus more strength training on t

        • I had one of their Marble trackballs and my left button stopped working pretty soon. There was even a video on Youtube for replacing the microswitches for that EXACT model. That makes clear how common that is. It seems that if you really want to keep using Logitech mice and trackballs your only good alternative is to change the microswitches when they break

      • Their basic mouse are crap, especially the wireless ones. Been there, done that.

        Try one of these to see what you've been missing:

        * G500s [amazon.com] or
        * the the earlier G500 [amazon.com].

        I've been using these for years without any issue. I finally wore my first G500 out after ~ 5 years of heaving FPS gaming.

        --
        Dark Matter is the aether of the new millennium. Where is the physical evidence??

        • It must be difficult to play a FPS while heaving. I hope you feel better soon. (I know, it was a spell check error, but it was funny to see).

          I like the MX Master mouse I got for my laptop:

          http://www.newegg.com/Product/... [newegg.com]

          It works really well, and rarely loses connection. I have never liked wires on my mice, they always seem to get hung up on something when gaming. Previous to this one though, I used a Logitech Trackman trackball. It was nice never having to pick up and move the mouse at the pad edges w

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

      Now mice, that's a different story. Logitech makes a good basic mouse. I've got a few that are 10+ year old laser mice that still work just fine.

      I still use my Logitech M-BA47. I've been using that mouse since I bought it. And apart from needing to fix the left button because the switch plunger was eating into the button leg inside, and cleaning it once in a while, it still works just fine too.

      • I am using a Logitech Trackman Wheel (the replacement for the original marble wheel with the thumb ball) and I have had to replace all of the microswitches, some of them more than twice. I'd really like a replacement for these crappy Omron switches that would work in the same spot.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

          I never replaced the switches themselves and they're Omron. And I've used this mouse for gaming as well as for desktop use, daily.

          Maybe it's the design of the hardware that puts a different stress on the switches in your Trackman Wheel?

          • Maybe it's the design of the hardware that puts a different stress on the switches in your Trackman Wheel?

            Could be a different switch, too. I'm not sure where my remaining spares are, or I might check.

    • Forget quality. Goodbye sane pricing! (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Have you paid attention to logitech pricing lately?

      They only have one thumb actuated trackball anymore that MSRPs at 50 dollars.

      They don't manufacture the Force3d anymore (and when they did it was 60ish dollars for something with weak force effects, sloppy recentering (+/- 400-1000 on a scale of 8, 16, or 32k per axis), and no deadzone adjustment.

      The CHEAPEST force feedback steering wheel they now produce is 250 dollars for a PS3/4 model, 300 now for the G37(27?) or successor, and raising by 50-100 dollars

    • "developed an annoying permanent yaw to the left, for which calibration has not worked to solve or alleviate"

      I had exactly the same fault on my first Saitek X55. After some back and forth I got it replaced under warranty. A few months later that replacement had all the stick buttons stop working unless I twisted it 1/3 left or right. The initial attempt to solve that was a replacement stick handle (it's designed to be removed so you can change the re-centering spring, they supply 4 different ones). TH

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )

        "I'm not confident, should I actually use it, that the X56 will have no issues before the 2 year warranty period is up. "

        Give me one week and I bet I'll fish out any problem it has. If you'd like, I'll even send you the money for the shipping + device. I love embarrassing the shit out of Logitech with any use/teardown I do of their products, especially their shitty webcams. The embarrassment never goes public (I e-mail them with my findings,) but their engineers know me by name and hate my guts when I point

    • I had a good Logitech gamepad with four face buttons and two nice shoulder buttons and a D-PAD, although two buttons were turbo buttons. I want the game port back, lol. There's some additional cost about having to make it a USB device.
      Analog sticks drive the price up a great deal too.
      I mostly want a low cost gamepad, digital only but not skimping badly on the quality. Could sell a pack of two with a USB hub.

    • I only have two Logitech gaming devices (G15 keyboard and a wired gamepad), neither of which I would describe as poor quality. I've also had few to zero issues with just about every Logitech device I've owned, save headsets. Obviously, YMMV.
    • I haven't had much luck with Logitech mice. I bought one of their trackballs (Marble trackball, price around 35€) and the left button stopped working after about a year. Investigated a bit on the Internet and found out they use the same (crappy) microswitches on that model that on their super cheap (10€) mice. That model of microswitch is widely known to be unreliable.
      Coincidentally I had such a cheap mouse and its left button also stopped working after some months of use. I checked that the mic

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by K10W ( 1705114 )

      I'm not confident this won't just result in Saitek being pilfered for engineers and then allowed to stagnate or close, while we are still stuck with Logitech quality. I have had a number of lousy experiences with Logitech gaming devices. Most recently, a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro that developed an annoying permanent yaw to the left, for which calibration has not worked to solve or alleviate. Of course, Windows 10 borked calibration, but still...similar experiences with several other Logitech sticks.

      Now mice, that's a different story. Logitech makes a good basic mouse. I've got a few that are 10+ year old laser mice that still work just fine.

      I've had issues with their mice, razer and corsair too. Only company whos mice work perfect for me are Mionix. Opening mice up I notice most are not made to be repaired but mionix ones although aren't made for that are designed in a way swapping a switch to differentactuation pressure or changing cable for shorter one etc are easier than a few other brands. Only issue I actually had with my stock naos 7000 was the middle button jammed hence opened it up but it was fine, just some crap had got in the hole h

  • I haven't done any flight sims since way back in the day (the market for them fell out over 10 years ago and things became stagnant). Long enough ago that HOTAS was still all keyboard/joystick port. But I do fondly remember using my Saitek setup. Looked and worked beautifully. My only complaint was that some games did not test with HOTAS so they keyboard emulation worked poorly, such as multi button press. The technology had become stagnant and all of the major sim game developers went bankrupt and got boug

  • Good (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CeasedCaring ( 1527717 ) on Friday September 16, 2016 @10:17AM (#52900071)
    Saitek QA has been in the toilet since they were bought by MadCatz in 2007.

    • Is MadCatz a subsidiary of Dice?

    • I know, I don't understand some of these "now the qc is going to go down the crapper" posts...the qc was already in the crapper and anyone who ever owned the x-52 and 56's know this.

      If anything this might actually make things better, logitech may be the defacto generic brand but at least some of their products are good (I actually like their wired gaming mice and keyboards).

      Anyway CH sticks ftw, they are ugly and old looking but you wont find a better, or smoother action for the price...their just so damn u

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dave562 ( 969951 )

        I have an X55 and it lasted for about a year's worth of playing Elite Dangerous before one of the hats on the stick went out.

        The RMA process was smooth and they replaced both the throttle and stick. I thought that they made a mistake, but a week later one of the hats on the throttle went out. I guess that they were being proactive.

    • That doesn't surprise me. MadCatz produces the only mice on the market that are flawed by design and cannot possibly work.

  • Bring back the Saitek Eclipse II (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Best keyboard I've ever owned.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hydrian ( 183536 )

      Take a look at the Perixx PX-1100. It is the same dang keyboard. Great build quality. I use it all the time.

      Now, if Perixx made a version with a trackpoint in it, I'd be in heaven.

    • Still using mine, when I use my desktop anyway, which is not too often. But it still works great.

  • Logitech Quality has declined measurably recently, that's my experience anyway. Their flagship mouse MX Master has quite a few driver issues and also the DarkField sensor seems to have problems with some surfaces.
    Saitek/MadCatz was the alternative I was looking to, especially because of their wide range of wired mice. Just this weekend my buddy bought a new mouse and skipped Logitech and bought a Mad Catz Rat (yeah, I know, the naming is over the top). Despite having some negative reviews I consider them be

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ChoGGi ( 522069 )

      I've had two rat7s, both have had issues with buttons not working, one of them is completely dead (doesn't get detected when I plug it in). First one lasted a year or two, second one started fucking up within 6 months.
      It's too bad since I really do like the customizable layout.

    • Their flagship mouse MX Master has quite a few driver issues and also the DarkField sensor seems to have problems with some surfaces.

      Drivers? For a *mouse* ?
      It's fucking USB HID device (or bluetooth wireless if your laptop has Bluetooth 4.0 LE and you go dongle-less).
      It's just a bunch of axis and buttons (though you have to admit that the MX Master mice tend to have a little bit more than the average of them).
      You just plug into anything with generic USB HID support and it should work out of the box.
      If it doesn't work, you shouldn't blame Logitech, you should blame the retarded operating system that fails at basic USB HID.

      The only thing t

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by godefroi ( 52421 )

        Drivers? For a *mouse* ?
        It's fucking USB HID device (or bluetooth wireless if your laptop has Bluetooth 4.0 LE and you go dongle-less).
        It's just a bunch of axis and buttons (though you have to admit that the MX Master mice tend to have a little bit more than the average of them).
        You just plug into anything with generic USB HID support and it should work out of the box.
        If it doesn't work, you shouldn't blame Logitech, you should blame the retarded operating system that fails at basic USB HID.

        Oh, you plug it in and it works, but you don't get all the fancy per-game remapping and 30s startup time and 1-2GB RAM consumption. Those are worth something too, you know.

        In other news, Logitech's "drivers" have always been shit.

        • Oh, you plug it in and it works, but you don't get all the fancy per-game remapping and 30s startup time and 1-2GB RAM consumption.

          It works in my case.

          The whole stack support them:
          - Linux' USB HID driver perfectly supports all the available axis and buttons my the MX Master.
          - The SDL library used as a middle ware support multiple extra mouse axis and buttons.
          - Quake3 supports binding any commands to any input. (You just get fancy name like "Right Click" on the first few buttons. Then it's more like "M_BTN7"...)

          For stupid games that don't have a good re-mapper, there's always things like (rejoystick, joy2key, qjoypad, etc.)

          As usual, the

  • A Saitek flight controller is the best.

    If Logitech takes away that legacy, however, there will be another company to pick up the slack. It would be sad to see Saitek decline, like watching a friend turn to alcohol and slide into the gutter. but the miracle of capitalism is that demand will be met. Whatever happens within five years there will still be an excellent flight controller on the market. At $250 a pop Saitek controllers are selling for now it's just too lucrative. CH, Thrustmaster... someone will

  • Saitek has had some issues (Score:3)

    by Chewbacon ( 797801 ) on Friday September 16, 2016 @01:12PM (#52901459)

    There are some discussions out there about saitek having supply chain issues and products being on backorder indefinitely. One in particular is their rudder pedals, which used to be reasonably priced, now costs hundreds of dollars. Hopefully Logitech will get things on track. The flight sim controller isn't a crazy lucrative business unless you are really enthusiastic and the ultra enthusiast is shopping above Saitek's quality.

  • Gains entry into? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    While the move was unexpected, it actually makes a lot of sense. Logitech gains entry into a niche gaming segment that depends heavily on high-priced controllers.

    I don't understand where this statement comes from.

    The WingMan came out in 94, and their racing wheel in 2000. They've been making gamepads since they used to look like SNES or Genesis controllers and we plugged them into MIDI ports.

    They've been into REAL gaming peripherals long before all the stupid "keyboard and mouse is best for everything" PCMR bullshit EVER started.

  • Slim Devices (RIP)

    For those not familiar, way back in the early 2000's Slim Devices put together a hardware/software package for whole house streaming audio that is STILL ahead of today's current technology. Logitech bought them in 2006, actually made a few improvements until maybe 2009-10, but I am guessing that is while the most of the unit was still staffed with Slim engineers. In 2012 they discontinued the line, followed up with the EU Radio (stupid fucking name) which was in the same housing as the l

  • We want you to bring back the best trackball ever created! Please Like it, if you want to see this happen folks: https://www.facebook.com/Bring... [facebook.com]

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