Ultrastik 360 Several several questions! :)

[genesim]

Ok so these are lots of tough decisions to make.

I have Rotaries on Player one and a dedicated Ultimarc 4 way J stick for Pacman.

I recently lost my Qbert stick because of putting in a flight stick which I am very happy with.

So I am thinking about exchanging the 4-way for the Ultrastik, but I am coming up with reasons why.

I hate hate hate Rotaries on the second joystick, so that is why I have it there.   Also I hate not having clicking.

But there is me wondering about Ultrastik being more accurate, so first I want to try it on they J sticks mentioned above...but I still need reasons.

Is the Ultrastik able to be a scroll wheel??   Also can anyone see how doing away with the restrictors on the 4 way is a bad thing?

I mean if you can't go the diagonal then I am not thinking it is a big deal as long as weird things don't happen anymore.   

But still, I will miss the clicking, but I will like getting Qbert back even more...

Will 2 Way games play that much better as well?   Looking at how the thing works seems very promising, but will it surpass the J Stick?   I just don't know.

Lastly is it really a viable option to replace the rotaries...it being worth it because it is better?    I think not so far, but if it is really that good...

I just can't think of a better place for Rotaries to go, because on Joystick 2 it just seems akward controlling buttons from the left as opposed to the right.

[LeedsFan]

I mentioned it before in another thread... the only real reason to have a dedicated 4-way nowadays is for the purist have the old-skool feel of the 4-way gate. Where you can actually feel the stick moving diagonally along the gate from right to top for example. You don't get this feel with the U360.... but also you can't hit diagonals accidentally if you have the correct map loaded for a 4-way game.

You can map the joystick however you like. So you can have a dedicated map just for Q-Bert with just the 4-diagonals programmed. Works perfectly.

Can't say that 2-way games play any better even with a 2-way map loaded. I played 2-way games with a standard 8-way stick with no problems at all. It was the 4-ways that screwed up occasionally with the diagonals, and as I say that's history now.

The throw of the stick is quite long. If you buy one I would definitely recommend getting the round/square restrictor pack and see which feel you like the best.

I believe the original sticks for Pacman etc. were leaf sticks and not microswitches. So there was no clicking anyway.

I don't know what you mean by "scrollwheel". You mean like a mouse in Windows? If so then no. Can't comment on the rotaries. Never felt the need to use them on my panel.

[genesim]

Yes I meant like a mouse, but I realized that wouldn't do.

So in retrospect, this looks like a great stick to replace the Ultimarc J stick alone.  Thank you for your great advice.  I appreciate it.

[AndyWarne]

The U360 can actually be used as a mouse in Windows. It is limited in application though as it behaves like a mouse-pointer thats found in the center of some laptop keyboards. Not suitable for gaming use in the main.
Andy