The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Reviews => Topic started by: SAVAGExMLGPRO on July 17, 2016, 12:03:03 am
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Has anyone bought any products from X-Arcade? If so, how were the products?
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Ive had a tank stick for about 3 years. I haven't had any issues with the board, but I didn't like the button colors so I changed those out and I also changed out the joysticks.
If you dont know or dont care to learn building a control panel then I would recommend one.
Are you planning on putting it in the Cab you posted earlier?
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IF your trying to be cheap they have great buttons and sticks. IF you want to be upping your fighting game with an arcade stick they are the bottom of the barrel. I went the cheap route got the two players button and stick set and then got a cheap encoder from else where
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I started with the X-arcade 2 Joysticks and button packs for a control panel.
Almost immediately I replaced the Joysticks with Happ Competitions. 8 way operation is iffy at best with the XArcades. Added 2 Happ buttons for side buttons.
Earlier this year I built a bartop. Joysticks moved over fine.
Xarcade buttons are not deep enough for 3/4" MDF + 1/8" acrylic. They are shorter than standard Arcade buttons.
Replaced all the buttons except sidebuttons with GroovyGameGears's Prime buttons. No issues. Low priced as well!
Preference of microswitches:
XArcade - STIFF buttons, requires lots of force to press. Side scroll shoots made my hand cramp up.
Happ - They wear in nicely. Not too heavy. But you can feel the resistance.
GroovyGameGear SST - Nice light and crisp engagement. HIGHLY recommended.
TL DR: Don't buy XArcade stuff. Not worth it.
In the end 18 buttons and 2 joysticks cost just about the same as the Xarcade crap.
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I agree with the general sentiment. I own a tankstick that I bought on CL for cheap a few years ago. Its well build and sturdy, but the component quality is mediocre at best. I would recommend the tankstick for more casual arcade fans who don't want to wire their own CP. I would not recommend buying joystick or button packs from them - you can get better components for around the same price as others have pointed out.
So yeah - tankstick is fine for folks who don't have the skill or desire to build their own CP. For the builders out there, steer clear of xarcade.
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Ive had a tank stick for about 3 years. I haven't had any issues with the board, but I didn't like the button colors so I changed those out and I also changed out the joysticks.
If you dont know or dont care to learn building a control panel then I would recommend one.
Are you planning on putting it in the Cab you posted earlier?
Yes i am putting them in my cab. I bought the 2 joystick and 20 buttons with 20 microswitch package. They just arrived but they seem very nice. Just need to drill the holes for the panel and place them in!
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The one thing that I don't think people give them enough credit for is that something like the Tank Stick or the Dual gives you something to actually PLAY while you're dinking around building your cab and perfect CP. That was definitely worth the price for me - especially since my project has moved at a snails pace. At least it was always there to fire up a game of Ms. Pacman or Galage...
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I've got a Dual Stick. It works with anything. Paid $40 for it off Craig's List. It's great.
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I bought a 27 inch wells Gardner monitor.
The bezel was a POS bent piece of cardboard they charged me 45 bucks for
Complete rip.
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I went with a Tankstick for my first build. I will say that the product is great, but their customer service is dreadful. Don't buy anything you may return. I returned another one of their products & after 3 months I still didn't have a refund. As soon as I disputed it with my CC company, they finally issued my refund.
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Along the same lines, i'd like to know what you tank stick owners think of the trackball? Is it good? Last time i asked someone, they just said: EVERYTHING XARCADE MAKES IS THE WORST CRAP, NO MATTER WHAT. (I'm paraphrasing)
But when it comes to trackballs, there are no lowER cost options outside of x-arcade and REALLY bad eBay crap (with no rollers or anything.)
What does everyone think?
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Along the same lines, i'd like to know what you tank stick owners think of the trackball? Is it good? Last time i asked someone, they just said: EVERYTHING XARCADE MAKES IS THE WORST CRAP, NO MATTER WHAT. (I'm paraphrasing)
But when it comes to trackballs, there are no lowER cost options outside of x-arcade and REALLY bad eBay crap (with no rollers or anything.)
What does everyone think?
I think its a decent one. Good weighty feeling, rolls fairly smoothly. Mine is about 8 years old with no signs of problems thus far. It gets used moderately, but has survived at least a couple dozen games of Golden Tee - which is the ultimate workout for a trackball :)
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Along the same lines, i'd like to know what you tank stick owners think of the trackball? Is it good? Last time i asked someone, they just said: EVERYTHING XARCADE MAKES IS THE WORST CRAP, NO MATTER WHAT. (I'm paraphrasing)
But when it comes to trackballs, there are no lowER cost options outside of x-arcade and REALLY bad eBay crap (with no rollers or anything.)
What does everyone think?
I think its a decent one. Good weighty feeling, rolls fairly smoothly. Mine is about 8 years old with no signs of problems thus far. It gets used moderately, but has survived at least a couple dozen games of Golden Tee - which is the ultimate workout for a trackball :)
8 years? Nice! Although, I want it primarily for golden tee, haha! But I'm sold. Thanks for the input.
Sent from my Atari 2600
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I have just about every adapter made for the xarcade, and some custom interfaces that was given to test out. As you can imagine, I have nearly every console to date that is operational, all keyed into one huge 9 pin serial switchbox. I also have the solo and tankstick models. Everything works flawless, even the USB version. I replaced the microswitches but that was the only mod.
For all the other console controllers, i use in conjunction with xarcade interfaces such as the xbox360, especially driving wheels, or flight joysticks, is the cronus Max. There is some additional mapping for deadzone with joys and wheels with cronus, but none are required for the xarcade interfaces.
I would look at getting a Cronus Max to extend your current xarcade adapters with the ps4, wiiU and Xbox one. The xbox360 interface (which plugs into a psx interface) with the cronus plays Xbox one games perfectly with the xarcade joystick controllers.
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IF your trying to be cheap they have great buttons and sticks. IF you want to be upping your fighting game with an arcade stick they are the bottom of the barrel. I went the cheap route got the two players button and stick set and then got a cheap encoder from else where
What was the reason for not sticking (no pun intended) with the original X-Arcade encoder?
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I recently replaced the encoder board, wiring, joysticks, buttons and switches. The originals were ok, but mediocre quality.
Now I'm using a U-HID board from Ultimarc, which can handle all the buttons, trackball and 2 spinners I bought from GGG, all on a single USB connection.
It was a couple full days of work, but well worth the effort.