Video Comparison of Four MAME Spinners

[KevSteele]

I just finished a "video preview" that compares four MAME-compatible spinners: The Oscar Pro, Oscar Model 3, Oscar Up/Down, and SlikStik Tornado.

The 3-minute Windows Media (.avi) video shows each of of the spinners in action, and compares them side-by-side to each other. A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you're considering adding a spinner to your MAME cab, check it out.

Visit http://users.adelphia.net/~kevsteele/mame/index.html
to view the video.

(And yes, the actual "Spinner Roundup" review is still in the works, and I should have it done in a couple of days!)

Kevin

[Jakobud]

3 minute spin time! sweet!

[phizzle]

That movie was hot.
I think i may of ejaculated.
Thanks!

[CitznFish]

That movie was hot.
I think i may of ejaculated.
Thanks!

I bet that impresses the girls!    

[Frostillicus]

Wow that is excellent! Thanks kevsteele for making the video - great way to compare all the features of the popular spinners

[KevSteele]

Wow that is excellent! Thanks kevsteele for making the video - great way to compare all the features of the popular spinners

Thanks -- it really helps to see them in action, doesn't it?

I am writing a more detailed comparison review as well, which should fill in all the little things you just can't squeeze into a 3-minute video.  

Kevin

[HeadRusch]

I'm waiting for the special edition DVD....with extended cut scenes of all spinners

Seriously, does the enhanced spin time on the Tornado mean any type of "feel" issues when trying to quickly change direction?

I've mounted an Oscar 3 in my CP and I find it "perfect"...

[KevSteele]

I'm waiting for the special edition DVD....with extended cut scenes of all spinners

Seriously, does the enhanced spin time on the Tornado mean any type of "feel" issues when trying to quickly change direction?

Heh...give me more server space and I'd be happy to give you the "director's cut"  

As to the Tornado and the spin time -- the Tornado turns on a dime (to use another cliche). It has a large feeling of mass but it also turns quickly.

The Model 3, for comparison, turns just about as quickly, but feels "lighter". It may just boil down to a matter of taste, in the end.

In my review I'm trying to "chart" all of these factors, including how easy it is to change directions with each spinner, how accurately you can stop the spinner, and how sensitive the spinner is to "backspin." As you can guess, that means a lot stuff to sort out and write about, which is why I'm still writing the comparison.

I'm almost getting sick of spinners.

Almost.  

Kevin

[jdjuggler]

Well, I have to say that it bugs me to see that Oscar's Up/Down spinner wobbles or seems loose as shown in the video.  I was ready to buy one, but now I'm not sure.
Kelsey,
Is the wobble normal for this spinner type?
I may have to stick with buying the Pro or 3 spinner.
I like your products, but this "loose feeling spinner" doesn't seem quite right.
Thanks,
JD

[OSCAR]

Kelsey,
Is the wobble normal for this spinner type?
I may have to stick with buying the Pro or 3 spinner.
I like your products, but this "loose feeling spinner" doesn't seem quite right.
Thanks,
JD

This is addressed in the PDF installation document available on the product page on the Oscar Controls website.  Because of the tolerance add-up between the shaft/sleeve/bearing and also by extending the shaft so it will accommodate a wood control panel makes this "wobble" visible.  The original control had a very slight amount of play, too, but it is more exaggerated in mine due to the longer shaft.  An extra bearing is supplied with my DOT spinner that can be installed in the control panel to eliminate this condition.  I installed a Pro and a DOT side by-side-by in my own test panel, and when the extra bearing is installed, the DOT is just as firm as the Pro or M3.

FWIW, I didn't install the extra bearing in my own control panel because I didn't feel that it affected gameplay at all, but it does make it more visually appealing.

BTW, Kevin, nice video comparison!

[jdjuggler]

An extra bearing is supplied with my DOT spinner that can be installed in the control panel to eliminate this condition.  I installed a Pro and a DOT side by-side-by in my own test panel, and when the extra bearing is installed, the DOT is just as firm as the Pro or M3.

Hey Kevin,
I hope you're not too sick of spinners yet!
Any chance we could talk you into showing us (video) the difference in the DOT spinner with the extra bearing installed?
It may affect your review... And, opinions about this product.
If you some time, I'm sure many of us will appreciate the effort.
Thanks,
JD

[GroovyTuesdaY]

3 minute spin time! sweet!

Just a side note,   i have gotten my tornado spinner to spin for over 6 MINUTES!!!!! (6 min & 3 secs.)

Its definetly is amazing to watch.......no , it doesn't matter for actual gameplay that it spins that long, but what it does show is just how smooooooooth and creamy the tornado spinner actually is!   Its kind of nice to see all these spinners in action together.

Once again the tornado BLOWS YOU AWAY..ugh....no pun intended. lol.

g~

[Brax]

That was so incredibly nerdy.....

I feel dirty for watching it.  

[Sshado]

That Tornado spinner is impressive, but don't forget...

Size matters.  With the Oscar Pro wheel being approximately 3 times larger, it only needs to spin a third of the time the Tornado spinner does (although it doesn't)

I had the Pro and it did what I wanted (Tempest) just great.  I have since sold it and am waiting for the DOT spinner

Sshado

[KevSteele]

JD,

I'll see what I can do -- I'm sure I could add a little video showing the DOT spinner with the bearing installed.

The additional bearing does reduce the wobble, but it also slows the spinner, so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

Sshado:

Size really doesn't matter (it's all in how you use it   ) the Tornado uses a different encoder, and is just about as sensitive as the Pro. I did a "spinner sensitivty" test for the review, bumping up the analog sensitivity settings in Tempest for each spinner until I got backspin.

The Pro had backspin at about 40, the Tornado at 55. Setting the sensitivity below these setting completely eliminated any backspin. (This is with mouse acceleration off and mouse speed set to the lowest possible setting).

For comparison purposes, the original TRON spinner had backspin at 50, so they're both in the ballpark.

Overall, I didn't notice any differences between the spinners with regards to sensitivty. They're all sensitive types.

Brax

You think you feel dirty for watching it? Imagine me sitting at my computer narrating a video about spinners!  

Kevin

[shmokes]

You should get a job with PBS.  Or maybe you could teach a distance-learning math class.  

[KevSteele]

Teaching math? Ugh...trust me, you do not want me teaching anyone math!  

JD,

Your wish is my command -- I added the sleeve bearing to the DOT spinner and merged the videotape of the change into the main video.

The sleeve bearing does get rid of the "wiggle", but you also gain additional friction, which makes spinning and the up/down motion just a little bit harder.

You'll have to watch the whole video again (all 3 minutes 10 seconds worth!) to see the difference.

Kevin

[jdjuggler]

Kevin,
Thank you!  Everything is clear now...  Of course, it's still a tough choice.  Do I really care that the up/down spinner with the bearing doesn't spin for a long time?
Someone else brought up a point regarding the games that you take your hand off the spinner during gameplay, to be few or none.  So, maybe it's not such a big deal.
Decisions... Decisions...
Thanks again,
JD

[KevSteele]

JD,

Spin time, to me, is an indicator of how "smooth" (or frictionless) the motion is of a spinner. The DOT spinner tracks well, has the great up/down motion, but it just isn't the smoothest spinner.

Part of that is due to the fact that it is the slight "play" when you turn the knob, before the pins on the inner shaft contact the outer shaft (with the encoder wheel). This causes a noticable "click" sound and feeling each time you start to turn the knob.

The other lack of smoothness comes from the slight wobble (without the sleeve bearing) or the increased metal-on-metal friction (using the bearing).

These are necessary compromises to add the up/down motion to the spinner, but it's something you should be aware of.

Kevin

[Vectoraster]

Hey, do you guys remember the "dark ages" when you couldn't buy a spinner?  Lots of good homebrew ideas but it seemed like everybody who tried to get it going gave up pretty quickly (Twistygrip, Chris Fulton, etc.)  Man we've come a long way.

Nice video, Kevin.

Hey JD, if you're only going with one spinner remember that the DoT spinner is identical to the original in terms of wobble and clicking and it's designed for a very special type of game.  However, the original Tempest spinner (of course) was a much simpler design, no clicks or wobble (by the way, I can't detect wobble on my OSCAR DoT), spun longer than Tron or DoT, and created that BRRRRR sound when you put muscle on it.  In Discs of Tron, the gameplay is much different (way slower) and calls for aiming accuracy that's best provided by a DoT spinner.  In other words, don't buy a DoT spinner expecting to bring back that Tempest emotion.  It's adequate for Tempest and opens up options for a wider range of games but if it's the Tempest feel you're after, there's better choices.  I use the OSCAR PRO for all my Tempest needs.  Then again, you might not even care too much about Tempest.  Naaah - that's not possible

[Sasquatch!]

I can't be the only person who found the humor in the intro music, can I??

Nice video, Kev.

[hyiu]

How about Arknoid ?? Does it feels good using DOT to play arknoid ??..... (or arknoid alike games ??....)

[KevSteele]

hyiu,

Arkanoid games are great with the DOT spinner - the large knob makes accurate positioning easy, and it's kind of nice to be able to launch the ball just by pushing down on the spinner.

Sasquatch,

I though about putting more of the opening song in, but thought I'd just be playing the joke into the ground. Guess not.  

[Lilwolf]

hahaha  I thought it was campy to put intro music on it...

I had to go and watch it for the 3rd time to figure out what song it was...

Sad...  

[jdjuggler]

Vecto - Thanks for the info.
Still having trouble deciding.
Regarding game types, I do want an all purpose spinner.  I do like Tempest, but also looking for proper use of all spinner games, driving games, arkanoid types...  And, DOT is nice too... But, I would hate to diminish the spinner usablity on all these other games just to support 1 game.
Thoughts?

[Frostillicus]

Heh now that I listened to it closely it is a pretty good choice of music...  

[jakejake28]

i luv the music, but the monotonous voice , it must take effort to sound so boring (well, politicians can do it)

[KevSteele]

i luv the music, but the monotonous voice , it must take effort to sound so boring (well, politicians can do it)

It's called "reading from a script" -- seriously, I hope I'm not that dull-sounding in person (of course, the fact that I actually made a video about MAME spinners probably speaks volumes about my social skills... )

How about my "Monster Truck Rally" voice? "MAME SPINNERS, SPINNERS, SPINNERS! Watch them battle it out in the ARCADE CONTROL PANEL of DOOM!"  

[jakejake28]

hah..
reminded me of french class back in high skool (back in '99) of the french 3 book, Allez Viens. the video that came wiht it had an announcer just like that.
nah, but really, it was a good review. i have both the tornado and the pro, and prefer the pro for most games, but because i play racing games w/ spinner, i use the tornado for that

[HeadRusch]

I think i speak for everyone when I say:  Next time, use a nice booming REVERB on your narration.
I like the monster truck voice idea..

"OSCAR PRO SPINNER <reverb OSCAR PRO SPINNER...oscar pro spinner....oscarprospinner..>
ITS>>>AWEEESOOMEMEEE

....and dont miss CRUSH-BOT, the JET POWERED CAR EATING MOOONNNSSSTTEEERR....
free balony for the kids"