controls for control panel? general questions about trackball and spinner.

[shateredsoul]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a 3" trackball but was pointed to a website as having good prices.  Is  $110.99 + shipping really the cheapest I can get for a good ps/2 and usb trackball? I did find some cheaper ones for like 20 shipped... but I they weren't for usb and ps/2.

Also... does my arcade control panel really need a spinner? I never even used one in the arcades (... I mostly played tmnt, street fighter, and neo geo games, and light gun shooters). I only played games that required a trackball until later in my life, but is it really worth adding a spinner when the cost is about 90 dollars 0_o?  I didn't even know what it was.. until I looked it up in the wiki. Can I just use the trackball for those same games?

[milkit]

really, the cheapest PS2 ready trackball is the x-arcade one. its $59. you can also buy a converter to make a normal trackball into ps2 for about 45 bucks. Or you can just get an encoder that will encode all of your joys/buttons and trackballs like the mini-pac opti for $70 and use a normal trackball also

[DashRendar]

I think spinners were used mainly for the classic era of games.  They can also be used nicely with a front end like Gamex and HyperSpin to quickly cycle through games.

Not needed, but handy.

Also-

but is it really worth adding a spinner when the cost is about 90 dollars 0_o?

I have never understood why they're so expensive.  It seems like a joystick is a lot more complicated than a spinner, but joys are always cheaper (even the best U360s).

[shateredsoul]

Yeah same here, not sure why they're so expensive.  The only thing I can come up with is, with things that are produced in low quantities to make a profit you'd have to sell it at a marked up price.

Whereas a lot more people buy joysticks so although you're making a lot less profit for each joystick sold, you're selling a lot more joysticks than spinners. Same thing with academic videos sold to universities, they produce about 500 copies but they sell each one for about 300 or 500.

Yeah... I might consider this option later down the road.

As far ad the track ball.. so it may make sense for me to buy that arcade one and buy the adapters/encoders. Does this method, using the mini pac or converter, work well?

** also, has anyone had experience with the x-arcade trackball? What did you think? W/ shipping it's about 65 dollars... and so far I read good reviews.

[DashRendar]

I've never owned one, but I've *heard* that the X-Arcade trackballs are one of the better items they make.  They get a lot of flack for their control panels, but the trackballs are supposed to be pretty decent.

Regarding your options, you have a few choices:

Suzo-Happ Trackball with USB/PS2 interface, $166.25
Very high quality trackball (there are a lot of cheap junk ones out there), but it's more expensive

Suzo-Happ Trackball with regular interface, $97.35 plus an optical encoder like the Opti-Wiz Trackball Encoder, $14.95
A little more work to wire up, but still using quality parts- and the price is cheaper than the Happ USB option above

Electric ICE-T Deluxe Trackball, $116.95
If you want an illuminated trackball, this is a great value made by a respected manufacturer

U-Trak Smart Trackball with USB, $94.00
Ultimarc's trackball, doesn't require a trackplate and you can add LEDs for illumination later if you wish.  Another great manufacturer

These prices don't include shipping or taxes, but give you an idea of some good choices out there.   

[CheffoJeffo]

If price is an issue, get a rebuilt trackball and do a mouse hack ... or get a rebuilt trackball and a new interface (OptiPac, OptiWiz). There are some ops who maintain the trackballs in their GoldenTee machines by just pulling them and dropping in new ones. folks buy up those pulls and often rebuild them (I've bought a dozen or so over the years and all but one of them just needed a cleaning and some 3-in-1 oil. Doing it this way, I've never spent more than $10 for a trackball).

milkit (he's already posted in this thread) has used trackballs for $25 shipped (his thread title reflects a quantity discount):

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=99797.0