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Ultimarc Mini-Pac: Anyone reviewed one yet?

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M3talhead:

Andy (of Ultimarc.com) it seems has released a new product that compliments his growing "-Pac" lineup of home arcade encoders. The Mini-Pac. it seems has all the functionality of the IPAC-2, but it tiny in comparison! Not only that, it comes with its own pre-crimped wiring harness for simple "drop-in" CP installations.

Anyone had any experience with them? I know he produces great products and is a really great guy, but this was the first time I saw this particular product on his site.

Q*Bert_OP:

Great!!!!

It saved me about 30-45 mins of crimping/stripping wires

pointdablame:

The Minipac has been available for quite some time now.  I've used one and really really liked it.  The wiring harness is great for lazy types like me.

I have another one sitting here at my desk waiting to go into my new bartop.  I highly recommend them.

toolaa:

I was new to the scene and after some research I settled on the Mini-Pac.  I had quit a bit of trouble figuring out which version of the software I was supposed to use.  The Ultimarc site had a ton of information but I struggled at first to find the right software and instructions to program the unit.  I agree that the wiring harness was well worth the time savings for me.  I did have to lengthen a few leads to reach the end of the panels.  Overall was really satisfied and I would buy another one for my next cab.

Tiger-Heli:

Product has been around a long time (probably about a year and a half).

Review should be coming to RetroBlast soon.  (No, I'm not involved in it, just heard through the grapevine).

Note that you have to use USB to use the trackball/spinner interface.

In a rare moment, I somewhat disagree with Pointdablame, although I haven't used one.  The basic board has full functionality and is a great value if you don't mind hacking an IDE cable.  The harness will likely tend to either have wires shorter than you need or longer than you need, and when you add the cost of the harness, you could buy a standard I-PAC or KeyWiz and a mouse hack.

But that's really a cost/convenience issue.

More info is in my comparison table:  http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/main.htm#THE_PLAYERS

Software compatibility is here:
http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/main.htm#I-PAC_Software_Compatibility
(You need the old WinIPAC (non-IPD software).

Also some quick comments in the Head-to-Head Section:
http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/main.htm#HEAD-TO-HEAD

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