Also, I wanted to add that I've tried Perfect 360's thinking that it would be more like original/leaf. I found that the springs were too tight and there was too much resistance (arms got tired). I even had different stiffness on two perfect 360's springs (both were too tight), which was interesting as well. In general, I used to be in love with the idea of perfect 360's, and I used to hate all square actuators myself (mostly based on experiences with Imperial's, not Happ's). But the serious play testing on robotron made me a true believer of happ comps for 8-way use.
One stick that I have purchased but not tried yet is the Suzo magnetic induction (Hall Effect) joystick. Right off the bat, I notice the throw is very short and you can feel 8 distinctive notches. Doesn't seem like it would be a good robo joystick, but don't really know. I don't really feel motivated to try it out since I feel extremely comfortable with my happ comps with balltops from tornado terry.
I also have the original joysticks, and I ran those for a while. The problem with originals is that the individual characterstics of the leafs require constant tweaking (I put on all new leafs when I first got the cabinet). Also, when (not if) you slam the joystick, you can change those characterstics. This throws off your motor memory of knowing where to move the stick to get contact at the precise time that you want. So, in my opinion, happ comps are way better than original joysticks, even properly tuned, it won't last...
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- Ahigh