X-Arcade QA problems

[Chris Goodwin]

First off, I want to thank the people who gave me their opinions in the other thread.  I took those into account, and those of other people, and then went ahead and bought an X-Arcade.  

I'm curious as to whether anyone else has seen QA problems.  When I got it home, I found that the right direction on the right joystick didn't work.  I returned it to Fry's, and exchanged it for another.  On this one, the right joystick, left direction (should generate "d") doesn't work.  I'm almost positive it's the physical switch; I tried it on my wife's computer, and it didn't work there either.  I also opened it up and shorted directly across the wire connection on that switch and got the correct response (a "d") without any hesitation.  

I've got a third one on hold at Fry's pending return of number 2, but I wanted to send a quick note in case there's something else that's simple before I do.  Any ideas?

Edit:  Aside from the non-working switch, I'm really happy with it.  

[gndprx]

I spoke with x-arcade about this when I got my original CP.  The microswitches have a nasty habbit of poping out of place during shipping.  It's simple to fix though.  Just open up the bottom and make sure that the switch is firmly seated in the locator pins (switch holder)

It seems to be a design flaw in their packaging that allows the unit to get banged around a little too much during shipping.

[Chris Goodwin]

Did that.  No change.  Pushed the microswitch contact with my finger, got the click but nothing else.  Shorted across the wire connections and got keystrokes.  It is in fact as firmly seated as all of the other switches (as was the previous one).  

Could be a bad batch, could be a QA guy was asleep on the job.  

[paigeoliver]

Could be that the word on the street (*cough* X-Arcade is crap *cough*) is true!  

[Chris Goodwin]

Well, I dunno.  I've read a few reviews from people who have actually put their hands on it and played with it, who said it was teh r0xx0r.  Most of the "it's crap" crowd seemed to have been passing along the word on the street.  

If anyone has played with it and says it's crap, I'm all ears.  But as I said, aside from the QA hassles, I've enjoyed the hell out of it, at least for one player games.  

[gndprx]

Well, I posted my feelings on the thread when you were originally considering the X-Arcade

If you play fighter games, you will hate the sticks very quickly.  Pulling combo moves is horribly inacurate and I don't know if I'd attribute it to the resistance or lack there of on the stick itself or the quality of the micro switches

I'm replacing mine with Happ's the first chance I get and swapping all the button switches out for Cherrys

The only portion that I am happy with is the encoder because I use it for my consoles as well and use the programmability function of it.

[Chris Goodwin]

gndprx, I remembered that and again I thank you for the opinions.    I don't play many fighting games.  I may replace the sticks and buttons later on down the road, but I'll see how it works for me in the meantime.  

[gndprx]

FYI, here's my "X-Arcade" as it sits now...



I pulled it all from the tiny control panel and mounted it in my full control panel.

Just make sure to label your wiring before you do this...it's a mess under there and there are no labels on the encoder itself.  Just a bunch of 5 pin connectors.

[rampy]

the x-arcade joysticks are comprable to a happs super... the only signifigant difference is the microswitches.

Now paige might be a switch savant but I doubt when comparing a happs super to a x-arcade joystick you'll find *that* much difference.... as noted before if you were into fighters you'll probably end up wanting to swap in happ competitions or the like (and if you like 4 way games that's a whole different story/mod)...

Now the buttons... they do feel slightly cheaper/thinner plastic and if you were gonna notice the "inferior" zippy microswitches it would be hear (or here =P).

Paige probably more at home with a leaf stick anyways which doesn't compare to happ microswitch (or x-arcades for that matter) *shrug*

To your original question.  I can't speak for their quality control but I have heard of people (myself included) needing to futz with the metal actuator arms to get the sensitivity right/to my liking ( now should a commercial out of the box joystick shouldn't have this problem, and you were right to return it....)  you should be able (if you take it apart) to see what's happening to the levers/switches to see what's doing physically.

Maybe there was a disgruntled worker that day who made a pallet full of x-arcade 2 player sticks with the actuator upside down and really bent funny actuator arms? *shrug*

good luck,

Rampy