Ultimarc t-sticks - Why do you have to pay exra for balltop?

[Chemixtry]

Maybe its a stupid question but why cant you order t-sticks with the balltop as an option? Why do you have to pay an extra $12 and the have a handle that you wont use?

[Jakobud]

Andy told me he purchases the joystick and the balltop handle from seperate manufacturers.  If he sold it with out the original joystick, he would have 100 joystick handles sitting around.

[Minwah]

Andy told me he purchases the joystick and the balltop handle from seperate manufacturers.  If he sold it with out the original joystick, he would have 100 joystick handles sitting around.

Yes, unfortunate it costs extra but it's not Andy's fault - I'm certainly glad to see the option of balltops

[zaphod]

Having these options are good in my book, even if they may seem to be an additional expense.

[the3eyedblindman]

I also noticed this while ordering from ultimarc. the ultimarc J stick is a red balltop, and 4 way switchable, so I just ordered that, it was like 20 dollars cheaper than the T stick plus the ball handle.

[etumor]

The T-stick and the J-stick, in addition to having different features, have a radically different feel.  The feature set is better on the T-stick, but I think most people would prefer the "feel" of the J-stick.  It has a looser feel that is closer to the feel of old school 4-way games.  If you aren't interested in the switching mechanism of the T-stick, then the J-stick is probably a better choice anyway.

-Jeff "etumor"

[Wizard of DelRay]

I'm glad they are sold seperately since I prefer to use them on my Competitions.  I have one on a bartop I'm currently building and am going to have one of each color for a 4 player setup (just need green and black now.)  I wish the blue was a little darker, but I guess it's better than no balltop at all.

[Will]

Since I emailed Andy with this exact question ,here is your answer.
http://www.ultimarc.com/miscfaq.html
Seems pretty reasonable to me,I decided to go with J-stick based on peoples review of the feel between the t- and j- sticks.Hope this helps..

[the3eyedblindman]

Just got my J stick in the mail, its a 4 way stick, it has a red ball on top, so why would anyone pay the extra money for the T stick and the ball top? I say get the J stick, save the money.

[etumor]

Just got my J stick in the mail, its a 4 way stick, it has a red ball on top, so why would anyone pay the extra money for the T stick and the ball top? I say get the J stick, save the money.

The reasons, as previously mentioned, are for the switchable functionablity, and the fact that it makes for a really good Q*Bert stick.  But if all you want is straight 4-way functionality, then I agree that the J-stick is the way to go.

-Jeff "etumor"

[Chemixtry]

I'm making a vertical classics cab and I would like to include the t-sticks with Mr. Curmudgeon's Willy Wonka addition so I can play some classics like ms pac-man as well as time soldiers and ikari warriars. For classic games I like the look and feel of the ball top so that was my reason for asking. I can understand now why he does it seperately. I'm gonna go ahead and get the t-stick with the extra ball-top.  Always trying to save money where I can as a grad student.