New Product - OSCAR Pro spinner!

[OSCAR]

I have a new spinner available called the OSCAR Pro.  It is an all new, heavy-duty spinner that features an extra large encoder wheel.  With this new encoder wheel, there is a dramatic speed increase without producing backspin.  Only minor tweaking of the settings may be necessary based on the mouse driver used and Windows mouse speed/acceleration settings.  For example, on Tempest I bumped up the MAME Sensitivity setting to "30" from the default "25", and it works great.

The new design allows for a very simple installation without a mounting plate.  All that is required for installation is drilling a single hole in your control panel.

The Oscar Controls website, http://www.oscarcontrols.com, has been updated with all the information on this new spinner.


--Kelsey

[SirPoonga]

Can one upgrade their normal spinner?

Hey, q*bert restrictors coming out?

[bhille]

Oscar,

Are these basically Model 2's?  I was looking on your website and the model 2 you can have up to 4 attached to a Oti-Pac...is that true with the Pro's too?

Brian

[enemyace]

Kudos to you Oscar, you continue to innovate. This spinnner looks to be seriously well-though out and makes for a super clean install. Very nice. And the price is still reasonable.

[Garvv]

Wow, looks very nice Oscar; the underside-mount feature is excellent, although it looks as though it requires either and optipac or happs encoder to work, and is not a stand-alone control?

Any chance we'll see a DOT type spinner in the near future?  I know that a lot of people out there would love to be able to play tron/gorf/ikari warriors/heavy barrell without needing to install a trigger stick stick in addition to their spinner.  Give it some thought, I think there's a definite market for such a product.

[enemyace]

Any chance we'll see a DOT type spinner in the near future?

[JustMichael]

Looks awesome Oscar.  Now how much for just the big spoked wheel?  )

[OSCAR]

Thanks for all the great replies!  I'll try to clarify some of the items you all have mentioned.

1.)  The Model 1 & 2's are not upgradeable to the Pro, as they don't share common parts other than the knobs.  This is especially true of the Model 1's, because the optic bracket on the Pro does not have the correct orientation for mouse optics.  FYI - mouse optics read movement vertically, so they have to be oriented such that the encoder wheel passes between them from top to bottom, unlike how opto-switches read movement horizontally across their path.

2.)  The additional restrictor plates are next on the list.  Best estimate right now is a couple of weeks, but don't hold me to that just yet.  

3.)  The Pro does use the same style optics as used on the Model 2, so the number of simultaneous spinners that can be connected is determined by the optical interface you are using, be it either an Opti-PAC, ME4, KE72-T, etc...

4.)  DOT spinners... very much still a WIP.  I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete yet.  Besides, I just committed to getting the other restrictor plates out first.  

5.)  While I hadn't considered that people would want to purchase just the new encoder wheel, I don't see a reason not to offer it separately for those wishing to make their own spinners/steering wheels/whatever.  If anyone is interested in purchasing just the encoder wheel, please send me an email.  A word of caution, though... when testing this new spinner with a mouse hack, I found it to be quite susceptible to backspin.  As I was not able to produce backspin with the larger opto-switches, I'm speculating it has to do with the tooth size/spacing, or the mouse optics themselves.  I only tried it with the same Logitech mouse I use on the Model 1's, so perhaps other mice may not exhibit this behavior.


--Oscar

[Garvv]

An ikari joystick could in effect be used for DOT, but I don't think that you could turn a spinner into an 8-way joystick for use with ikari warriors.

A DOT spinner used in conjunction with an 8-way already found on most people's panel will allow you to play the games I mentioned without the need for additional trigger sticks or rotary joysticks.