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First Cabinet - Joystick Selection?

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TheFallenOne:

Hey everyone! Just looking into building my first cabinet now, and I'm searching around for good prices on quality parts. I noticed that over at X-Arcade they're offering two joysticks and 20 buttons for $29.99. Compared to some of the deals I've seen, that seems pretty good to me.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience working with those joysticks, and could give me a quick run-down on the pros/cons of them. I noticed there was a review of the X-Arcade pre-made sets on the main site, but I didn't see mention of the individually sold parts, and also noted that the ones in the review did not have a 4/8 way switcher, and it seems the ones you purchase seperately do.

As well, I'm looking at setting up 4 joysticks with 8 buttons each (For general emulation as well as MAME) and am trying to decide whether I should go with the KeyWiz or X-Arcade's board (Or anything else, feel free to recommend). Once again, any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!

nickbuol:

I know someone that bought one of the "kits" with the joysticks and buttons.  I checked it out, because, like you said, they are pretty cheap.  I really didn't like the switches they used.  Nothing like a Cherry switch like Happs and others use.  Something felt just odd and cheap about the parts.  Can't explain it beyond that. 

Now on the other hand, the guy that bought them thought that they were great!  He did not have anything to compare them to, so to him these things were the greatest!

Nick


AlanS17:

The general complaint about X-Arcade from most people is not their actual controls - it's their switches. People complain that the switches are cheap. Otherwise, I haven't heard much else bad about them.

If you're looking for a 4-player encoder, you might also want to check out the IPAC4 at http://www.ultimarc.com . I'm a faithful Ultimarc fan so I may be biased, but they're really nice IMO.

nickbuol:

I second the use of an iPac.  Great product.  There are other good ones out there too, but I have had terrific success with both the iPac2 and iPac4.


pointdablame:

In general, you won't find a ton of nice things said about X-Arcade products around here.  They are decent enough for what they are I suppose, but if you want the "real" or "best" controls around, the general concensus is to not use X-Arcade.  This is mostly because of their microswitches as mentioned.

The $30 pack is decent, but by my calculations, not spectacular.  You can get 2 Super joysticks and 20 Happ buttons from PonyBoy here on the forums for about $10 more than that X-Arcade pack.  Yes it is more... but its totally worth it IMO.   Plus, does X-arcade have anything other than black buttons?? If not, you can get your choice with ponyboy.

Just a thought.  If the extra $10 really breaks the bank, then you can give them a shot.  But to be honest, if that $10 DOES break the bank... you're starting up the WRONG HOBBY ;)  Ask any of us and we'll confirm that :)

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