Hydra yoke ?.....I don't think it is.

[spidermonkey]

Link

I think I scored a pretty good deal on this yoke. Its listed as a Hydra yoke which I know has it's differences from the Star Wars series yokes in that the "y" axis is scaled differently as well as the centering springs. The more I look at it , the more it *doesn't* look like a Hydra yoke but rather a Firefox or even one of the Star Wars series yokes. I've been comparing pics from KLOV and both Hydra and Stun Runner have different handles with extra buttons. This yoke looks like it has the older Star Wars/Firefox handles. Also I remember someone (Lilwolf?)  stating that the Hydra yoke has all of its gears (both X & Y) inside the steering hub. This one looks to have the X axis gears on the outside like the Star Wars units have. I'm hoping this isn't a Hydra yoke since they require quite a bit of modifying to mechanically convert them into Star Wars yokes but if it is then I'll deal with it since I got it for a nice price. Can anyone confirm that this isn't a Hydra yoke from the picture? It sure doesn't look like one to me.

[ArcadeMaze]

It looks like a Roadblasters yoke.

I have a hydra yoke, and it looks almost identical to the Star Wars yoke except that the grips are different, and the triggers are mapped differently.

Oh yeah, and it has a loud orange sticker on the yoke cover.

[RayB]

That Hydra appears to be in a Star Wars cabinet.

Maybe they had kits for converting different yokes....

[ArcadeMaze]

That happened a lot.

They had just one kit, but it appears operators liked putting it on Star Wars machines because it had a yoke already.  The bad thing is, even though it looks right with the Hydra yoke, it is really hard on the wrists when you have to twist toward you to get airborne.

The yoke never seemed to be mounted by itself, there is a mounting bracket that seemed to always get install also, which puts it at the tough angle....



Most of this is conjecture, so if anyone one knows better, tell me I am full of it.....

[ArcadeMaze]

Heck RayB,

If you want the full horror:

 

[RayB]

 

GAHHHHHHH!! I banish thee to Gorfian hell!

...or something...

[Rocky]

That's not a RoadBlasters controller.

It does look like it's able to be used for X and Y though. Nice find.

[2600]

Why don't you think it is a roadblasters controller?

From the ebay pic I can see the encoder wheel and the PCB for the Optics.
Roadblasters is the only yoke that is optical that I know of.
Also, the housing unit is smaller just like Roadblasters.

[Kremmit]

That is definately a Roadblasters.  Not only is the optical wheel in evidence, but that little black thing you see poking out from the front on the bottom is supposed to have the (missing) bottom rim attached to it.  And if you know what you're looking for, you can see the housing tapering in at the bottom, which none of the other yoke-type controllers do.



Sadly, the Roadblasters controller is not a yoke at all- there's no y-axis guts inside the housing, and the handles are mounted to a metal rod that's welded in place- it definately does not turn. 

I don't think it's good for anything other than a dedicated Roadblasters machine.  Sure, you could run it through an Opti-Pac or mousehack and hook it up to MAME for 270degree games, but I'm pretty sure you'd have loss-of-callibration issues, just like the guy who built the optical yoke, or like everybody had with 720 joysticks before MAME started recoginzing the callibration wheel.

I'd get in touch with the seller and see if he's got the appropriate controller somewhere, because that one won't work for Hydra, which is clearly what he was selling it as.

If you do end up with it,  you can probably still make your money back.  The Hydra boards ought to be worth something by themselves, and you could probably sell the Starwars grips, triggers, thumb buttons, and switches all separately to guys trying to rebuild SW yokes.

Good luck!

[Rocky]

From the small picture, it looked like a gear on the back instead of an optic wheel.

[spidermonkey]

Thanks for pointing this out guys. I haven't sent payment yet so I e-mailed the seller stating that a friend noticed that the yoke in the pic is for Roadblasters and won't work with the Hydra PCB and is it possible that he just took a pic of the wrong yoke . I guess I'll just have to wait and see what he says.

[RayB]

Would any of you complain about this auction or is this pretty much my fault for not knowing what I'm looking at ?

Usually, an auction is supposed to accurately depict what is being sold. Otherwise it's fraud. Exceptions might be if it says "examine the photos; I am not resonsible for any errors; I don't know if this is this or that, etc" ie: covering his butt.

I think it's a little much to expect bidders to be Yoke experts.

In this case his listing clearly calls it an "X-Y" yoke. But the one pictured is RoadBlasters, so you'll have to ask him about it. And then maybe mutually agree not go through with the purchase...

[Kremmit]

I haven't sent payment yet....

....Would any of you complain about this auction or is this pretty much my fault for not knowing what I'm looking at ?

I wouldn't want to pay him for it, since it's obviously not the item his auction description is claims it to be.  You take the risk of negative feedback for this if he's unreasonable, but one neg isn't as bad as thirty bucks + shipping down the toilet.

That said, I don't think I'd complain to Ebay about the auction itself.  It's entirely possible that the guy didn't know it was the wrong yoke any more than you did.  You might consider giving him a negative feedback if he's a dick about getting you the right item or nullifying the sale.  The only way I see him deserving an ebay complaint is if he re-lists it without correcting the description.

[cyruszain]

Can anyone confirm that this isn't a Hydra yoke from the picture? It sure doesn't look like one to me.

I was doubtful at first, but now that i see the pics i took of my Roadblasters control...i think others may be right in saying that it is a Roadblasters control. Though that bottom bar is missing. I have seen it mistaken for a Star Wars yoke and vice versa many times. Whether they are "playing" stupid or just don't know is another question.
here are the pics i have of my Roadblasters control. It does have a large plastic gear.
One thing though  as you can see in the auction pic. the cable is hooked up to the "optical board" what is the cable with the red end??? roadblasters does not have that one....it is really hard to tell from their pic though.
ON A SIDE NOTE!!!   Don't risk getting bad feedback...just bite the bullet. you can sell the items off and get your money back. In fact, if it is a roadblasters control and Since mine won't work left to right i will buy the control from you.

[spidermonkey]

Thanks for the offer Cyruszain but the seller was actually pretty cool about it and apologized for not knowing what type of controller it was. He said that both the pcb and yoke were sold to him as Hydra parts so he just took the guys word for it. It sounded to me like he realized he got caught and was playing stupid but I didn't stir the pot because he let me back out of the auction. We both agreed that it was just a misunderstanding and that we would both leave positive feedback. I let him post feedback first just to make sure. I'm glad things didn't go sour and screw up my clean feedback history. So far he hasen't relisted it but I'm waiting to see his description