Logitech Buys Saitek From Mad Catz For $13 Million

[heirdeux]

The sale of Saitek comes months after Mad Catz lost its "Rock Band" peripheral partnership with Harmonix.

Logitech Buys Saitek From Mad Catz For $13 Million : Read more

 

[Krom_121]

They should have given us a usb panther xl.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Oh wow. Now I'm curious what logitech will start pumping out, joystick wise.

I've owned both Saitek joysticks and logitech joysticks and both are really good sticks.

 

[thundervore]

AH crap!!

I remember when Saitek was awesome. I still have my Saitek Evo 2 control stick where I still use it to play Jane's Combat Simulator to this very day.

Now they are in the hands of Logitech im so worried what they will do.
Don't get me wrong, im a Logitech fan I just don't trust their build quality, I have:
two M705 (best wireless battery life mouse ive used for $20),
Performance Mouse Mx (Worst mouse ive used in regard to left click issues on 3 of them),
MX Revolution (now my daily driver after replacing the internal battery),
K800 (the 9 key in the number row no longer works),
K305 (nice compact keyboard still strong after 3 years)
Harmony 700 (still going strong for about 3 years plus)
Z5500 (Awesome sound system)
X540 (Awesome computer sound system)

 

[synphul]

Sounds like madcatz is in a hot mess right now. Between losing senior management in that fashion and then basically losing saitek. Last summer madcatz got the deal to work with cloud imperium making controllers for star citizen within the saitek line so I guess that honeymoon is over. Coupled with the fact they took a loss on saitek, selling it for half of what they paid for it 9yrs ago. Even a nastier loss when you factor inflation. That on top of being replaced for the rockstar peripherals. Ouch.

Nice deal for logitech though. Their products have been pretty solid so not too worried. If anything saitek is probably in better hands now. I still use one of their more budget flight sticks and it continues to work well some 10-11 yrs later but it was an actual saitek stick, before madcatz bought them out.

 

[WFang]

My first thought : What happens now to the Star Citizen HOTAS and will it affect any such deals in the transition.

 

[bloodroses]

With the build quality, I actually trust Logitech's better than I do MadCatz; especially in the mice department. The MadCatz fighting sticks have been great though.

I've owned one Saitek product, and that was the Eclipse II keyboard. After about 6 months, the G,H keys wouldn't work unless they were pressed very hard. Slowly after that, the keys next to those did the same and so forth until the keyboard became an absolute pain to use. This was when Saitek was under MatCatz ownership.

 

[beoir]

There are a few variables for this to work out. Saitek's quality controls have dropped off a bit, so hopefully Logitech will improve them. Logitech has the tendency to cheap out on the materials for the designs, in order to pump out a large scale product. Hopefully, that won't wear on the performance quality. Logitech has better vendor support, distribution, and usually decent complimentary software packages. if they exceed on all of these points then the first gen HOTAS they put out (or rebrand) may be a decent buy.

 

[falchard]

I used to use Saitek until MadCatz took over. Their build quality became shit. I was 3/3 in defect rate with their products, so I stopped using them entirely. Hopefully that turns around. Saitek made the first keyboard for me I liked. The Eclipse. I have been using Mechanicals since then.

 

[uglyduckling81]

Isn't Logitech called Logi now? I thought they changed that a while ago.

 

[Kizna]

@BEOIR Are we both thinking of the same Logitech?

 

[Murissokah]

MadCatz CEO said "Logitech feels like a much better fit for Saitek than Mad Catz", which I have to agree, but I still feel like 13 million is a bit underwhelming for the product lineup that Saitek has, even if its just the sim controller business.

 

[kyle382]

Best news I have heard all day. Maybe the Star Citizen joysticks won't be made out of card board and paper mache now that Logitech has control over them.

 

[f-14]

i'm with kyle382 the saitek sticks sucked balls, the plastic spacers inside would always start getting plastic shavings wearing off them within a few months and your joysitck deloveped a constant list in every game. i tore apart 2 x-36's 2x45's and an x-55 and always had to replace that inner axis spacer for a brass lamps spacer from the hardwarestore and drill/router out the axis brackets another 2-3mm but after watching grant tompson videos i think i could adapt his styrofoam cutter to shave that plastic off better with far less risk and damage i would have to epoxy repair. coating the guides in epoxy and using a smaller brass spacer worked well also but too more time and effort and resurfacing that i cared for, it was more a matter of unbending undying stubborn will power to just throw my saiteks in the trash mainly due to the costs but i easily added $50 or more to their cost rather than buy a new one right away after just buying them less than a year or 2 years ago.

 

[thundervore]

@BEOIR Are we both thinking of the same Logitech?

Its the same company. they had this whole rebranding thing back in 2015 where they changed their name and logo instead of focusing on their failing mouse left click issues.

 

[Carlos_62]

@Thundervore, I so miss the Cyborg Evo. I'm left handed and there was no other joystick as good for a southpaw. I had 4 wireless Evos, and they've all broken down. With that kind of track record, I'm thinking that Saitek did some planned obsolescence in the design. I sure do hope Logitech brings it, or something equivalent back; I've never been disappointed by any device I've bought from Logitech. I think I'll start campaigning (spamming) the Logitech forums to see if I can influence them to bring it back.