Rotary or Optical rotating joysticks?

[Stormy151]

What's the difference, feel-wise?  I've never played using an optical.

Also, I'm pricing parts right now.  Can anyone tell me where to find SNK rotary sticks?  Thanks.

[Tailgunner]

Video Connection has the SNK rotaries.

www.videoconnect.com

[paigeoliver]

There is also a Wico mechanical rotary out there. It uses the awesome wico leaf switch base. Look for the rotaries with the smooth cylinder knobs instead of the ridged ones.

I have one of these in my parts box.

[eightbit]

Mechanical rotarys click when you turn them. They require an interface like Druin's to convert each click to a rotation key press that you can hook to an encoder like a keywiz or ipac. I believe the hagstrom encoders have this interface built in to some of their models of encoders.

Optical rotarys turn smoothly more like a spinner. They require a mouse type interface to hook them up to your pc.

So it depends on what games you want to play and how you want them to feel. If you want heavy barrel/ikari warrior like action then you need the mechanical (snk30) style. If you want them to do double duty and be able to use them as a spinner then get the optical rotarys, they'll still work for ikari warriors its just not the same. If your an ikari warrior fan like me you won't like the opticals.

[zero-one]

Not all optical rotary joysticks are clickless. I have a pair of Loop 24 rotary _Opticals_ which have the same clicking action as the mechanical rotaries. To me that's the best of both worlds - the authentic feel of the mechanicals with the ease of interfacing of an optical.

Mine click 24 times per rotation as opposed to the 12 for the SNK LS-30.

I got these from an e-bay auction. I have no clue which game they came from and I haven't found much information on them.

Before I saw these I was going to purchase the LS-30's and the Druin interface. I wasn't looking forward to the expense.

[eightbit]

I got my ls30's from video connection when they were $15 each for NOS, I think I heard they are up to $40 now.