Golden Tee trac ball question

[BigDaddyE]

I come humbly come to the feet of the arcade masters on the board.

As many know, I have been working hard to construct a cabinet, utilizing an old Gauntlet cab. Through the help of the board, I am probably 70-85% done. I can play games, but there are issues, as always! I was at it pretty hard before summer here in the States and then activity dropped off quite a bit.

Well, with Christmas coming, I am attempting to get the cab more in line to play.

In playing around this summer (aka testing!!!), I had a friend who plays alot of Golden Tee try my cab out. He loved it, BUT...... he wanted more action out of the trac ball (complained of jerkiness and lack of ball smoothness). I have an Ultimarc U-Trak and I thought it was me, but after the test session, I guess I wonder if anyone has an USB trac ball with the same smoothness and action of a Golden Tee ball?

Don't take this as an Ultimarc slam in any way, Andy has not done me wrong at all, in fact, Ultimarc has been more than generous with me! I think this may be a case of needing a different trac ball for my increased needs.

I look forward to the community help.

Big Daddy E

[taylormadelv]

Xarcade trackball....
http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-parts-and-accessories/product/x-arcade-trackball-assembly/

However...
IF you get the opportunity to play Golden Tee with the 4.5" Missile Command, "Maxi" trackball; you will never want to play with anything else, trust me.

[AndyWarne]

Our U-Trak should match or exceed the spec and feel of the Golden Tee so if you can drop me an email we can try wo work out what the problem is.

Andy

[TOK]

My guess if you have an emulation issue and not a hardware issue. You might have to fiddle with the analog sensitivity to get it feeling right. The other thing is that he may be playing on a really well worn Golden Tee that has a loose feeling ball.

I'm using a Happ USB trackball and also happen to have a Golden Tee Fore machine and can go back and forth between the older MAME'd versions of GT and the actual machine without having to readjust. The ball in my GT machine is just a standard Betson, they're nothing fancy.

[AMDman13]

Do not get a USB trackball if you pay a lot of Golden Tee or any other game for that matter! The optical boards on the Happ USB trackball are not good at all. They seem to wear out very quickly. Also, many people have trouble with backspin or severe hesitation. I play a lot of Golden Tee and I had the USB version first. It was okay for about a year and then terrible. I replaced with new USB optical boards and they were just as bad (brand new even). I finally bit the bullet and replaced with the Happ arcade style Trackball (new red optical boards)and finished it off with Andy's Optipac as an interface. It's way better now!   

[TOK]

Do not get a USB trackball if you pay a lot of Golden Tee or any other game for that matter! The optical boards on the Happ USB trackball are not good at all. They seem to wear out very quickly. Also, many people have trouble with backspin or severe hesitation. I play a lot of Golden Tee and I had the USB version first. It was okay for about a year and then terrible. I replaced with new USB optical boards and they were just as bad (brand new even). I finally bit the bullet and replaced with the Happ arcade style Trackball (new red optical boards)and finished it off with Andy's Optipac as an interface. It's way better now!   

I've read about these problems and don't have them. Happ USB ball here, and its a few years old.

[CheffoJeffo]

There were some bad boards for the Happ USB, but they weren't universally bad. Like TOK, I have had a Happ USB ball running without problem for years.

[BigDaddyE]

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the help! 

Big Daddy E