When I was building my Supercade variant, it was mandatory that I make my control panel Discs of Tron -compatible. I was originally looking for the Oscar controls unit, but when they were not available, and I could not locate a used DoT spinner, I expanded my search and found the Blackhawk.
Wow.
This unit is one of the nicest, most well-built components in my control panel, and graces top-center on the panel (see web links at end). I waffled between the primary and secondary versions, finally opting for the only slightly more expensive Primary. Now, understand, I was new at this, so those that see the control panel will realize that its overkill; the Opti-Pac installed in my panel could have handled it, or conversely, the Apache could have handled both the spinner AND my trackball. But by making the devices separate I have some future expansion flexibility.
Now, about the unit. Spinning it, it is solid, and smooth as butter. The up/down switches are solid and reliable. Tron, Discs of Tron, Breakout, Arkanoid, Tempest, and Cameltry are all slick, fast and reliably fun with it. I re-wired the unit (switching the top and bottom switch leads carefully) so that I can use the trackball mouse and a quick tap on the spinner is the same as a left-mouse-click.
When the unit had a malfunction several months out, they were good to swap out my controller board. When my kids got too excited and whaled on the spinner a bit too enthusiastically, they cheerfully shipped me a replacement spring. Now, this is not to suggest that their gear is not top of the line. It is rock solid and reliable, after almost a year of use its still smooth. Their customer support is first rate.
I won't build another arcade panel without their Blackhawk, simple as that.
I just started a web page to show off the arcade cabinet, and plan to post detailed pics of the arcade machine soon.
Apache controls are found here:
http://www.apachecontrols.com/store/And a pic of my new cabinet (completed, this is a WIP picture) is here:
http://home.comcast.net/~lbrown-amigoid/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html