I don't think a "beginner" should go spend $2000 on a cab.
that's not what i meant. i was referring to their control panels. $200 for the tankstick isn't a bad deal for someone who just wants a simple no frills control panel to sit on their desk. I would never recommend anyone spend that kind of money on a cabinet like this. everyone says their stuff is inferior, but honestly i cannot tell difference between the x-arcade buttons i had in my cabinet, and the happ buttons i replaced them with. yeah, the wiring on their encoder is crappy, but you cannot beat it for connectivity to game consoles. i bought a 2 player xarcade unit around 2002, and honestly, if i hadn't bought it, i probably never would have found this website. but the truth is, i got it, used it for console games and forgot about it. a few years later it dawned on me that i could use it for MAME, then i set it up on a stand so i could stand up and play, then i started lookign into building an arcade cabinet..and thus i found BYOAC. i then built my own panel using the components from the xarcade, and eventually built another panel with u360s and happ buttons.
i think personally that the xarcade product is great because it introduces people to this hobby. yeah, most people who buy an xarcade eventually replace it, but that doesnt mean it isnt a good product.
their cabinet is a rip off however and i would not tell anyone to buy it. especially when you can usually find an empty cabinet for next to nothing if you look around for a little while.