T-Stiks: The Good and the Bad

[NoOne=NBA=]

I finally got my T-stiks Plusses installed yesterday, and did some preliminary testing of the sticks and the new quiet switches.
The sticks I have to do direct comparisons against are Competitions and Supers.

Movement Force/Twanging
The T-stik requires more force than either of those to move, but have the benefit of not "twanging" when you slap them in one direction and let go.
The Comps are really bad about that.
They will go back and forth several times when you do that, which can mess up a game really quickly.
The T-stik stops dead when released, which I really like.

Stick Travel/Precision
The T-stik also feels much more precise, and has much less stick travel than the other two.
This seems to help greatly on games such as Crazy Climber, where precision is more important than smoothness.

Quiet Switches
The quiet switches are about 1/2 as quiet as the stock switches (I estimated this based on rocking the sticks around in a quiet room), and quieter than the comps and supers.
They require less pressure to actuate than the stock switches, but more than the comps and supers.
The down-side to them is that they make the stick feel less precise than the stock switches.

NOTE: I think I will ultimately go back to the stock switches after I get done testing everything because the noise doesn't really bother me as much as the lack of tactile feel.

4/8 Way Switching
The switching on these works exactly as advertised, and gives a very positive (although stiff) feel in 4-way mode.
I did notice that the quiet switches may need adjustment to achieve true 4-way mode, as one of the switches I installed still allowed 8-way operation in one corner until I tweaked it.

Overall Impressions
These sticks are built for abuse.
They have a very substantial feel, when compared to the other sticks I own.
They seem to fit very well on games requiring precision; but don't work as well for me as the Comps on games requiring fluid, circular-type movements.

I would highly recommend these for anyone who wants a good looking, precise stick, that will switch from 4 to 8-way easily.
This is the market that they are targeted to, and they fill that niche well.
I don't personally play fighters; but, based on my initial testing on games requiring similar type movements, I don't think this stick is ideal for that type of game.

I am fortunate enough to have built a modular system that will allow me to tailor the sticks used to each game, so I do have the option of switching to Comps for games where they perform better.
If I were forced to use only one, of the three styles I own, it would definitely be these though.

Hope this helps the still undecided here.

[jdjuggler]

Great information, thanks.
I'm mostly looking into these for their 4-way operation.  As I'm using p360 for my main sticks.
Do you know if the Slikstik stainless steel handles will work on the t-stik plus?
Thanks.

[Tiger-Heli]

Great information, thanks.
I'm mostly looking into these for their 4-way operation.  As I'm using p360 for my main sticks.
Do you know if the Slikstik stainless steel handles will work on the t-stik plus?
Thanks.

Maybe I'm missing the obvious, but if you have P360's for the main sticks, why wouldn't you look at a less expensive stick like the Omni-Stik from www.groovygamegear.com, or a Seimitsu, or the Ms.Pac/Galaga stick from www.therealbobroberts.com, rather than a switchable stick like the T-Stik if you will never need it in 8-way mode?

[DrewKaree]

A question on the quiet switches; how much were they, and do you think they met their purpose?  

If someone wanted quietness AND "feel" or accuracy, are those switches an acceptable compromise, would you recommend another avenue, or would you advise to select which is more important (sound or feel) and choose accordingly?

p.s.
is this something that could be resolved with liberal amounts of duct tape or epoxy?

[GGKoul]

Do you know if the Slikstik stainless steel handles will work on the t-stik plus?
Thanks.

I've asked this question to the Slikstik boys and none of the stainless steel handles will fit the T-Slik.  But they are planning on releasing a them in the future.

-GGKoul

[NoOne=NBA=]

Drew,

They are only $6.00/set, but if that's ALL you order, the shipping will kill you.
And yes, they met their purpose--which is to be quieter than the stock switches.

The difference between the two switches from a "feel" standpoint is hard to describe.
The quiet switches make the joystick easier to move, but feel a bit spongy to me.
The quiet switches also allow the joystick to twang, but not nearly as much as a Comp.
The stock switches seem to recenter the joystick a millisecond or two quicker due to their heavier springs.
The quiet switches aren't BAD by any means, I just like the stock ones a little better for ME.

The games I will use these sticks on, vs. the Comps, are ones where I tend to ram the joystick where I need it to go, rather than finessing it around in little circles circles, so the heavier springs on the stock switches are actually a plus.

And lastly, YES, slow-set epoxy applied to the quiet switches during the tweaking phase would help to keep them in the EXACT place you need them.
The holes on the quiet switches are a tiny bit larger than the ones on the stock switches, so they need to be tweaked away from the actuator while tightening the screws.

[NoOne=NBA=]

OK,

After some more testing, I've decided I like the feel of the T-stik/Stock button combo better than the Comps for almost all games.

I did some more extensive playing, swapping back and forth between the two in-game, and found that the Comps feel really sloppy after playing with the T-stiks.

To reiterate, my playing style tends to be ram the stick where you want to go, so the shorter throw/heavier spring/quicker return on the T-stik works better for me than it may for some of the rest of you.

[microwrx]

I've got a 4 player cab and have 4 T-Stick's in it, 2 Plus' and 2 of the original ones.  Before anybody says why do you have 4 8/4 way switchable sticks, I wanted to have 2 of the T-Stick Plus' for player 1 & 2 and already had 2 of the original ones from my old cab so figured I'd use them as well.  Besides I like the feel better than any other stick I've tried.

I also bought the quiet switches to see how they feel but decided I like the original ones best.

What I did find was the standard T-Stick Plus shaft was longer than the shaft in the original T-Stick's that I had.  I was going to top mount them all but rather than have them at different heights decided to route the bottom of the CP at different depths to match them up.

Here's a couple of low quality pics.

http://www.saberknights.com/members/jj/cab.jpg
http://www.saberknights.com/members/jj/cp.jpg

The CP covering is just regular vinyl contact until I find something better.  Because I had to bottom mount the sticks I didn't want to use plexi and effectively shorten the sticks. The dust covers are on top to cover the crappy job I did cutting the vinyl.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I finally got the balltops for my T-stiks.
I highly recommend them.
They make the stick feel alot more "right" to me, especially on platform-type games.

I also put the one stick that had quiet switches on it back to stock.
The quiet switches don't seem like they are manufactured as well as the stock switches.
I had a couple that came stuck down, and one that would trigger much easier than the others, etc...

[froggerman]

I finally got the balltops for my T-stiks.
I highly recommend them.
They make the stick feel alot more "right" to me, especially on platform-type games.

What are "platform-type games"?

[NoOne=NBA=]

The ones where you need to climb ladders, and such like Donkey Kong.
If you don't climb all the way to the TOP of the ladders before you try to turn sideways on most of them, you will just stop climbing, and get stuck until you FINISH climbing.

[andrewonawall]

Maybe I'm missing the obvious, but if you have P360's for the main sticks, why wouldn't you look at a less expensive stick like the Omni-Stik from www.groovygamegear.com, or a Seimitsu, or the Ms.Pac/Galaga stick from www.therealbobroberts.com, rather than a switchable stick like the T-Stik if you will never need it in 8-way mode?

Ahhh, I think you may be the man to answer my question. I am designing my first MAME machine and need to decide what joysticks to purchase. I already know that I want Perfect 360s because I am into fighter games, but I am also into classics too. This is why I am considering the T-Stick Plus, because I save space with the switching 4 to 8-way feature. You mentioned that you don't really need 8-way if you are using a P360, but wouldn't the game play be different because the P360 has the more circular motion that the other doesn't? If so, then I think I would go with the T-Stick+. But if not, then I would do as you suggest and get only a four way (and a SS stainless steel ball top too).