Anyone have any experience with these trackballs?

[DaOld Man]

Ebay link shortened by saint

[boardjunkie]

The look ok, but kinda janky at the same time. I wouldn't expect performance equal to a Happ, Wico, or Atari, but they may work just fine for the casual player. The $ is right, thats fer sher. The PS2 part is lame. I'd convert them to USB if it were me.....

[Gray_Area]

Notice the seller.

[Grimoz]

I have one and it didnt work, all the lights etc work fine and the button connections work ok but the ball just doesnt do anything so I left it off my cab.

[DaOld Man]

Notice the seller.

Is that a good or bad thing?

[JONTHEBOMB]

Notice the seller.

Is that a good or bad thing?

BYOAC Wiki is your friend :

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Paradise_Arcade_Shop

[Grimoz]

Paradise arcade are good sellers, even though the trackball I got didnt work I have bought off them in the past and all has been good, very friendly.

[CheffoJeffo]

BYOAC Wiki is your friend :

 

 

[DaOld Man]

It never occured to me to use the Wiki for vendor ratings. Is there anything the web wont do?

Plus, I wasnt really worried about the vendor until Gray_Area mentioned it. That sent up some red flags.

I was just wondering if the trackball is worth the cheap price. It sure is pretty with the lit ball.

Also, Grimoz can probably answer this, the three switches they mention that will change the balls color by grounding them, are these the actual mouse buttons, or do they just change the color of the ball?

[Necro]

I have one, as it's the only one I could find that would fit into my narrow CP dimensions.  I've tested it outside the CP and it works decently.  It's by no means a full on arcade trackball, but it will work well for most games.  That being said, my cab precludes me from even attempting to use it for something like Golden Tee - so that's not an issue for me.  I don't, however, think this would be good for that.  More for 80's trackball games then anything else.

[stu33]

I purchased one of these from paradise arcade as well.  It's worked well for me for everything I've used it for.  The kids have hammered on it pretty hard playing golden tee and bowling.  If it can stand up to a 3 and 9 year old's pounding so far, I'm pretty confident about it's durability.

Be ready though...those led's are BRIGHT.  My mobo constantly runs power to the ps2 port, and this sucker lights up the room it's in.  The switches are for the normal mouse buttons, and they ALSO change the color to red on the led.

I can also vouch for Paradise Arcade as a vendor, really went above and beyond for me, including ball-tops for joysticks that I ordered that they thought would go better with the buttons I ordered, and they were right.  And those little chocolate macadamia things are killer.

[Grimoz]

The balls come with standard Green LED's when powered on and when the buttons are pushed it turns them red, the connectors are only for the LED power, no buttons are included with the ball, you need to wire them to microswitch buttons. Paradise arcade provide free LED's in other colours like blue, yellow etc for you to mod it too your liking, you just have to ask them.

[compute]

Thanks to everyone for responding thus far.  I've been spying these for a few months now, looking to save a few bucks on my first build.  Looks like I'll be giving this one a shot.

[boardjunkie]

I may check onna these out. My current MAME build has limited panel space, so this looks like it *may* fit. Right now I just use a Wico home model trackball that I converted to USB, and that gets velcro'd to the top of the panel so when its not needed you can just rip it off and set it aside. So this one would need the USB treatment as well, and I think I'd try to find some better rollers. I'm thinking some steel PCB standoffs used with small-ish metric bearings could be the ticket. I also don't like the raised ridge around the outside edge. That just defeats the purpose of the raised part around the ball, so that would need to be ground down flush.

Does anyone have dimensions on the case? I need to know that before I even bother.

[Grimoz]

With the clips your looking around about 102mm x 102mm.

[Dechene]

I saw these last week and am about to buy two of them for some jukeboxes i'm designing.
May as well ask, is there anybody in Australia who wants to buy any as well?
The postage is $30 bucks then around $5 for each further one, so if we buy a few at once it'll reduce all our costs... (yes, i'm a tightass)

[Necro]

Two things:

1. Paradise Arcade : Def. comfortable recommending them 100%.  They sent me the wrong joys in my order and when told immediately sent me out replacements and an envelope/box to mail the others in.  There was no rigamarole, no deposit in case I didn't return, etc.  Even crazier - they accidentally sent TWO pairs of replacements.  I wasn't incredibly fast on mailing them back (took me over a week) but I got no complaints, threats, etc. from them.  I'd do business with them again in a second because of it.

2. Dimensions: 3 7/8 x 3 7/8 x 1 3/4 (in inches, obviously).  That's directly from Paradise Arcade, as I had to know the dimensions before ordering as well due to panel size.

[Gray_Area]

I have no experience with the vendor. I know who they are because I've seen them post all over here.

[mytymaus007]

Two things:

1. Paradise Arcade : Def. comfortable recommending them 100%.  They sent me the wrong joys in my order and when told immediately sent me out replacements and an envelope/box to mail the others in.  There was no rigamarole, no deposit in case I didn't return, etc.  Even crazier - they accidentally sent TWO pairs of replacements.  I wasn't incredibly fast on mailing them back (took me over a week) but I got no complaints, threats, etc. from them.  I'd do business with them again in a second because of it.

2. Dimensions: 3 7/8 x 3 7/8 x 1 3/4 (in inches, obviously).  That's directly from Paradise Arcade, as I had to know the dimensions before ordering as well due to panel size.

How are these trackballs getting mounted in 3/4 plywood

[mytymaus007]

 

[danny_galaga]

Notice the seller

sure can't spell 

[Necro]

The balls come with standard Green LED's when powered on and when the buttons are pushed it turns them red, the connectors are only for the LED power, no buttons are included with the ball, you need to wire them to microswitch buttons. Paradise arcade provide free LED's in other colours like blue, yellow etc for you to mod it too your liking, you just have to ask them.

Dammit, I completely missed this as a possibility...darn.  Would def. like to change the colors on mine out. 

And for mounting in wood - just router out underneath the panel to fit it in...or use some kind of metal mounting plate.  Prob. easier with a plate.

[koz319]

Sparkfun is advertising one that appears the same for $14.95, however they state it has a 2 inch ball. Link.

I don't have one, so I have no idea of the quality, but I can at least vouch for Sparkfun.

Koz

[BobA]

Looks like a really good price for what looks and acts like the one this post is about.

[syph007]

The pix of the ebay one and the sparkfun one look identical to me.  The sparkfun one has led in it already.  I ordered the one from sparkfun to give it a try, since you can't beat the price of that.