The best trackball of all!

[idsane]

Trying to pick decide on the best one with cost, flush/clean mounting, and ease of setup in mind. As far as I can tell from other posts, there are three trackballs out there: the happ, GGG, and ultimarc ones.

1) Clean mount: From all that I have seen, it seems like a mounting plate covered by plexi looks the cleanest. I like the look of TOK's here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=82835.0. I don't like the bezel and large flange of the ultimarc, or high ball bezel of the GGG. So, can a mounting plate be used with any of these 3 balls to get that clean look? 

2) Ease of setup: It seems like I will have to cut a huge oddly shaped hole out to get the entire trackball assembly through, then route 1/16" to flush the mount plate with the top; correct? 

3) Ease of encoder setup: It seems like all of these have USB plus 3 mouse button interfaces that come with them, so draw on this? 

4) Cost: Seems to be a large discrepancy here. I can get a Happ 3" USB, with light, with mounting plate, plus shipping, for $100 flat through ebay from a tornadoterry. The GGG would be 117(main unit and light)+14(mount plate)+ ~13(shipping)= $144 for the same setup, or 44% more. The ultimarc would be $93 with the USB option (which I think has the mouse buttons?), no mount needed, $29 for a light,  and 14 shipping, so 136 total, or 36% more. Is there anything that I am missing that makes these units better/worse than their competitors?    (It seems like the makers of these products frequent the forums so would love to hear from them if possible as they are no doubt the most knowledgeable)

Thanks in advance for any of your opinions! 

[Afterburner]

I have a dual trackball setup.....both are X-arcade trackballs and I've been very pleased with both.

I routed out the underside of the CP with countersunk bolts holding the housings onto the CP.  I applied the artwork and then covered everything with acrylic / plexi.



These connect as either PS2 or USB and come with three buttons which frees up numerous inputs on my keyboard encoder card for other stuff.  Only $60 each.  They aren't anything fancy, aren't lit, etc.  Just basic 3-inch trackballs that work.

[drventure]

I picked up a couple of translucent blue HAPP 3" balls from Tornado Terrys and have been very happy. They're built like tanks. and with the mounting plates, pretty easy to install.

You do have to route a bit of an odd shape out on a 3/4 CP, but it's not that big a deal.

The housing is large though. Make sure you leave enough room around them when placing buttons, etc.

[jimmy2x2x]

Make sure you leave enough room around them when placing buttons, etc.

This is excellent advice, To play a frantic (marble madness) or long spin (golden tee) trackball game, you want a decent amount of operating room around the trackball.  Very often you will see multi controller panels with the trackball right in the middle of it (usually with lightning coming out of it) personally I would move the trackball as close to the player as possible, you need space to the left, right and between the trackball and screen, NOT between the player and trackball.

It doesnt matter if your hand comes off the CP when you are spinning towards yourself, the space really matters in the other directions.

Mashing your fingers into a joystick, spinner or button aint that much fun.

[severdhed]

I went with the ultimarc trackball, for ease of mounting, and I am nothing but happy with it.  you dont need to use that mounting ring bezel thing, it mounts just fine without it...

[gryhnd]

X-gaming: $60, plug and play.  Not a translucent ball though.

The way I mounted mine, there are no through bolts, etc:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=101714.msg1075974#msg1075974
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=101714.msg1075970#msg1075970

[javeryh]

X-gaming: $60, plug and play.  Not a translucent ball though.

The way I mounted mine, there are no through bolts, etc:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=101714.msg1075974#msg1075974
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=101714.msg1075970#msg1075970

I just read that thread the other day and FINALLY got around to mounting my trackball from underneath like you did.  I bought the metal strapping but haven't screwed it in place yet - I'm hoping Sunday...

[idsane]

Thanks for the replies guys. I wasn't aware of the X-arcade version so I will have to do some research into that one. Can you use the mounting plate for that one too? I like yours also severed; didn't know the ultimarc could be mounted that cleanly. Does the resolution or smoothness of spin differ from any of these models?

[RandyT]

Does the resolution or smoothness of spin differ from any of these models?

If resolution (and very bright lighting) is important to you (better function at the desktop and with PC games meant for a mouse) then there is only one arcade trackball which currently offers this functionality as a standard feature.  Unfortunately, it's out of stock at the moment, due to manufacturer backorder.

RandyT

[Afterburner]

Thanks for the replies guys. I wasn't aware of the X-arcade version so I will have to do some research into that one. Can you use the mounting plate for that one too? I like yours also severed; didn't know the ultimarc could be mounted that cleanly. Does the resolution or smoothness of spin differ from any of these models?

No mounting plate required.  Just some long bolts or screws.  I routed out the underside of my CP just a bit and the whole trackball housing is mounted up to it.  It's completely enclosed.  It is kinda large, but as you can see from my CP above, I have dual trackballs and still had plenty of room for buttons and two rotary 8-ways.

[shateredsoul]

I got the the translucent blue happ trackball (usb inerface), I'm very happy with it!

[EvilNuff]

I went with the happ 3" translucent from Tornadoterry, recent purchase but I love it. 

[bigjase]

I am looking for the same type of information, but I would like the trackball to be 2 1/4 size. I would like something that is basically just plug and play so I don't need to add any interfaces. I also want to change out the actually trackball with a billiards ball. Lastly, I need to be sure I can mount the trackball from underneath the control panel, as I've painted the panel and won't be putting any overlay on it. I was looking at the Happ trackballs, but it seems that those need to be mounted from the top, correct?

[EvilNuff]

The happ that I have is usb, plug and play, and you mount the mounting plate from the top and then the trackball mounts from underneath to that.

[bigjase]

The mounting plate would be noticeable when looking at the control panel, correct? I would like to only see the trackball, as I painted the design on the control panel and it would pretty much ruin the design to have anything else showing other than the trackball.

[gryhnd]

The mounting plate would be noticeable when looking at the control panel, correct? I would like to only see the trackball, as I painted the design on the control panel and it would pretty much ruin the design to have anything else showing other than the trackball.

see my post above.

[bigjase]

Thanks gryhnd. From some reason I was thinking I couldn't do that with the Happ trackball.

If I'm reading everything correctly, you left about 1/4 of an inch of wood?