My new toy- ACT LABS RS Shifter

[SegaOutrun]

Bye bye steering wheel button shifters. I had been searching for a cheap G25/27 for a while now but, I came up short. I just could not justify spending that much since I already had a working wheel. Luckily, I found this ACT LABS USB Shifter on amazon for $70 and I jumped on it.

http://www.amazon.com/Shifter-Bundle-Compatible-Popular-Racing/dp/B005P9CEUA/


It arrived today and I only plugged it in to test it. Windows picked it up immediately and I was playing Daytona in minutes.

I was already planning to redo my CP to shave off the excess and integrate the steering wheel more (hopefully this weekend) so, finding the right spot for it shouldn't be too hard.

I give it a review later on.


 

[BadMouth]

I have that particular shifter and while it has served me well, I think $70 is a bit much for it.  It's almost all plastic except for the shaft & gate.
Internally, it engages gears by pressing bent pieces of metal referred to as "springs" against little tactile switches.
I don't think the springs are true springs that are formed in shape, but just bent pieces of metal which lose their spring and need replaced too soon (after bending the original ones back many times, lol).


Being able to get different gates is nice.  I keep the 4-speed gate on mine and use the paddles on my wheel for games that use a 6-speed.

I haven't used one, but if I were buying today I'd probably fork over the extra money for the Thrustmaster TH8RS because the moving parts are metal and it uses hall effect sensors which should never wear out.
http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-TH8RS-Gearbox-PlayStation-3-6306200/dp/B005QIO40S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1372861017&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+shifter

[isamu]

It's funny because that shifter bears a striking resemblance to my TH8RS shifter from Thrustmaster, which if I'm not mistaken, bought out Act Labs years ago?

[Howard_Casto]

Mind you I'm the cheap one around these parts, but my theories on shifters is unless you buy a really high end one, you will probably get a better quality product by making one yourself.  You can use cherry switches or something sturdy and make the base out of wood/metal instead of plastic.

[SegaOutrun]

Badmouth: The TH8RS was out of my budget. at $140, I could buy a used g25.

Howard: I considered making one but A) i dont have a ipac or transcoder and B) I lack building skills. Column B was probably the bigger issue.