Edit: Ultimarc Shipment DELIVERED - I'm HAPPY!

[Stingray]

I don't want to speak for Peale, but it doesn't look to me like he's trying to take any business away from Bob Roberts (who I agree has fantastic service). He's just trying to offer a product that Bob Robert's doesn't.

-S

[SirPeale]

No disrespect to you at all, Peale, but until Bob fails me miserably (or ends his service), he has me as a lifetime customer.  

None taken.  

[zaphod]

I don't want to speak for Peale, but it doesn't look to me like he's trying to take any business away from Bob Roberts (who I agree has fantastic service). He's just trying to offer a product that Bob Robert's doesn't.

-S

No, no, I totally understand that.   I guess the point I didn't make very well is that unless Peale had everything that Bob did, I would still have to make a separate order from him, with additional shipping fees.  I guess I am just looking forward to the day when I can make one order from one person and get everything needed for a cabinet.  I really hate paying shipping that penalizes very small orders.  

That said, if Peale could get the I-pacs into the states and keep the S/H to less than $12, he would have my business.

[SirPeale]

I would have to order a metric ton of them to make shipping worthwhile.

The kind of things I would have on hand would be the basics (more or less because I do not have the room on hand to store other stuff) like buttons and joysticks, harnesses, connectors (molex and otherwise) coin doors (which I have now, but I have to finish them up) and their mechs

[paigeoliver]

Peale, if you expanded your stock a bit then I would be quite willing to deal with you. I just LOVE dealing with Bob though, because he carries SO MUCH stuff. I often just wander through the (admittedly poorly laid out) website and end up buying something off some obscure page or another.

Peale, ideally you could become the one stop shop if you could carry all of the following.

Encoders.

Joysticks (several different models, including the Reunion 4-way). Please carry the stuff that has the happ/wico bolt pattern, and not the stuff with the odd japanese bolt patterns that don't fit existing panels (which is what the other encoder makers carry). You might want to see if you can get the repro Wico sticks too.

Buttons, leaf and microswitch.

Those would be a minimum.

IDEALLY you would also have.

Spinners (ideally, everything Oscar sells).
Trackballs.
coin doors.

Adding those 3 would pretty much cover the needs of most mamers and allow them to order only from you.

I actually don't care who does it, but the state of things right now is this.

Average mame project requires orders from.
Bob Roberts
Oscar Controls or Slikstick.
Andy or Groovygamegear
Ebay.

It would be so much nicer to order everything from one place. Now granted, Andy does seem to have a lot to offer now. But it isn't really want I want. I prefer 3" trackballs, and I prefer to have happ/wico bolt patterns on my joysticks.

[Stingray]

Average mame project requires orders from.
Bob Roberts
Oscar Controls or Slikstick.
Andy or Groovygamegear
Ebay.

I don't know if my MAME project is average or not, but I do indeed have parts from all of those sources, and in addition I also have some parts from Peale! Building a MAME cab is a little like an online scavenger hunt.  

-S

[Zakk]

The tracking: Here's a hint...the tracking number you get has an X in it I think, don't put that into the search box, or it won't find your package.  I thought it wasn't working either till I left that out.

Brokerage fees remain in place to Canada.  I have one here for my new minipac...an extra $12 to add to the price of shipping.  They are now getting me 100% of the time.  

However, there isn't really a lot that can be done, it's not Andy's fault, hell if the boards were coming UPS from the states to here it would be $50 in brokerage (not an exaggeration).  

It boils down to the fact that the products are good, you just have to factor in a bit of hassle and extra expense to get them here.  

Peale: You know I don't mind ordering from you  But I figure that YOU would have to pay the shipping and brokerage fee to get the boards (unless that is a strictly Canadian bit of corruption, hell we're ripe with it up here!)  Which would increase the price, then shipping again, and a possible brokerage fee across this border, payable by the buyer.  Just food for thought, I'm not discouraging you!  

Damn maybe I should just break down and try a keywiz, but the way I look at it, if it ain't broke.... Has anyone done an impartial comparison of the two encoders?

Whoo, I'm rambling, time to shut....................

[Edgedamage]

Man it's hard not to fill this response with four letter words. But I will try it's a real hassle getting anything shipped to Canada. and then on top you have those global logistics _ _ _ t's taking their rip off fees off the top of each order. I have friends in England who I will ask if they buy things from there and ship them to Canada as a "gift" will we still get that mystery "handling charge". Also I am in the process of building my web site and I will have a Reviews section for things that I have used personally in mame projects. The reviews section will have "player controls" "video / controls interfaces"  "motherboards"
The reviews will be honest.

[Stingray]

I know nothing about shipping to Canada, so I can't offer anything there. However, I live in the US and I own a British car. I buy stuff for my car from the UK all the time and have never had anything take as long to get here as this DHL delivery took. Usually what I order ships via Royal Mail and gets here in 3-5 days.

-S

[Edgedamage]

I really think the mindset in Canadian government is: If we can't tax them to death we WILL find other ways to weasel money from them.

[SirPeale]

So far everything I've sent to Canada I've marked as a 'gift' on the customs forms.  I feel that people are taxed enough as it is, they don't need any more hassle.

[GroovyTuesdaY]

 
Damn maybe I should just break down and try a keywiz, but the way I look at it, if it ain't broke.... Has anyone done an impartial comparison of the two encoders?

To my knowledge no one has done a full fledged comparison of the keywiz and ipacs.  I have used both however and thought i would fill you in on some of the differences that i have found in my experiences.
First off, i found that the keywiz was not very intuitive for the "new person".
The printed letters on the circuit board are not setup in such a fashion as to represent the real letters that are on a keyboard. I spent more time screwing around and trying to sort out what keywiz letter corresponded with mames defaults and so i could make my button assignments as hassle free as i could.
Second, i found that the keyboard passthrough flippable switch to be useless in the end, because  prebuilt panels that i bought  do not accomadate for the switch without having to drill another hole an or i would have to modify one of my other panels.
To me the keywiz was just not really fun to work with.  Is it a good encoder? yes.
Just be aware that there are some subtle differences between the ipac and the keywiz and it was in those differences that i found i much preferred working with the ipac series.  I just found the ipacs to be much more user friendly ESPECIALLY for the new person.  If your a seasoned builder, the keywiz may suite your needs.  I just found that the time i wasted trying to sort out what wires should go where to get the results i was wanting, which was basically just a MAME default key setup with as little hassles with reassigning keys as possible. In the end, i was frustrated.  I have a panel and so does my sister now that uses the keywiz.  Its functional, but the keyboard pass through feature is a must for me and the keywiz didn't allow me to use that feature without some hassle in my mind . Your milage may very according to your needs.  I just found that the ipacs seemed to approach their design with the common needs of the gamer using MAME in mind and in the end, thats what i am, so in the future, unless keywiz changes its layout and userfriendliness, i will just buy another ipac i suspect.  
Just for the record, this is NOT a spark for a debat on IPAC VS. KEYWIZ!!!  This is simply my oppinion from my experiences.  Both products "work" flawlessly, but it was in the little things that i found the differences were enough to sway me in a particular direction.

Peace~
groovY~

[RandyT]

First off, i found that the keywiz was not very intuitive for the "new person".
The printed letters on the circuit board are not setup in such a fashion as to represent the real letters that are on a keyboard. I spent more time screwing around and trying to sort out what keywiz letter corresponded with mames defaults and so i could make my button assignments as hassle free as i could.

Here's the "key" for the uninitiated looking for the simplest setups:

UDLR1 = Player 1 Joy
UDLR2 = Player 2 Joy

Inputs 1-8 = Player 1 buttons 1-8
Inputs A-H = Player 2 buttons 1-8

I = Player 1 Start
J = Player 2 Start

L = Coin 1
M = Coin 2

There you have it.  KeyWiz default inputs de-mystified.

To anyone wondering why these aren't printed on the board:

The unit is not a "MAME only" device.  While it might make sense to do this for MAMErs, it'd be much more confusing to the others who use it for dedicated PC gaming or commercial applications like kiosk controls, etc, to have to think that an input labled COIN1 = (insert a non-gaming related function here).  This is why Hagstrom and others do this as well.

Please do me a favor and start a new topic if anyone wishes to discuss any of this further.  I don't want to take over this thread with info not related to it's subject.  

Thanks,
RandyT


*edit*
grammar

[nipsmg]

 3/16/04  6 : 50 am  Clearing process complete.     New York, NY  
 
 
 3/15/04  10 : 59 pm  Arrived DHL facility.     East Midlands, United Kingdom  
    7 : 26 pm  Departing origin.     London, United Kingdom  
 Picked Up by DHL.  



DHL Tracking Number Received from Andy: 3/6
Found out about delay with cables: 3/11.
Order Finally Shipped: 3/15
Arrives in NY: 3/16
States it shuold be delivered by 12:00PM 3/16.

I have a feeling that "Clearing process complete" doesn't mean "left NY facitily for delivery"
Anyone want to make bets on this?


--NipsMG    At least it's IN THE COUNTRY! YAY!   lol

[Tiger-Heli]

Damn maybe I should just break down and try a keywiz, but the way I look at it, if it ain't broke.... Has anyone done an impartial comparison of the two encoders?

I compare them and a lot of others here (I'd call it fair, but not necessarily impartial):

http://www.fraggersxtreme.com/arcadepanels/encoder/

Specifically, the "Tale of three encoders" section at the bottom.

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Damn maybe I should just break down and try a keywiz, but the way I look at it, if it ain't broke.... Has anyone done an impartial comparison of the two encoders?

I compare them and a lot of others here (I'd call it fair, but not necessarily impartial):

http://www.fraggersxtreme.com/arcadepanels/encoder/


Holy crap dude, LOL, i never realised there were that many encoders out there lol.Thats amazing.  Nice job !

groovY~
Specifically, the "Tale of three encoders" section at the bottom.

[Tiger-Heli]

Damn maybe I should just break down and try a keywiz, but the way I look at it, if it ain't broke.... Has anyone done an impartial comparison of the two encoders?

I compare them and a lot of others here (I'd call it fair, but not necessarily impartial):

http://www.fraggersxtreme.com/arcadepanels/encoder/


Holy crap dude, LOL, i never realised there were that many encoders out there lol.Thats amazing.  Nice job !

groovY~
Specifically, the "Tale of three encoders" section at the bottom.

And it's badly out of date . . .  The MK series are no longer available, and I haven't picked up the KeyWiz Max 1.5 or the new mini-pac options or the Ultimarc IPD software, or . . .

[GroovyTuesdaY]

And it's badly out of date . . .  The MK series are no longer available, and I haven't picked up the KeyWiz Max 1.5 or the new mini-pac options or the Ultimarc IPD software, or . . .

What are you thinking man!!! Get to it and review them !! LOL j/k hehehe
So many encoders so little money. hehe

[Stingray]

At least it's IN THE COUNTRY! YAY!   lol

At least it's actually showing up on the tracking site. Mine finally showed up on the DHL tracking site AFTER they had delivered it.       I just placed an order with Slikstik and found out after it shipped that they use DHL too. Here we go again.

-S

[nipsmg]

At least it's IN THE COUNTRY! YAY!   lol

At least it's actually showing up on the tracking site. Mine finally showed up on the DHL tracking site AFTER they had delivered it.       I just placed an order with Slikstik and found out after it shipped that they use DHL too. Here we go again.

-S

DHL     It didn't ship yesterday. :-/  Although I called and the "clearing process complete" means that it got through customs, and i was assured by someone personally at DHL that the package would be delivered between 12:00PM and 5:00PM today.   Funny how the site hasn't changed to show "out for delivery".. since it's coming from NYC (which is over 1.5 hours away), they better get a move on getting it on a friggin truck.  I don't know why they allow you to track your shipments, but don't aggressively update their tracking information.. Makes it kind of a moot point, doesn't it?

DHL, by far, is the most unreliable, irresponsible shipping service available.  I've shipped (and received shipments) internationally from Fed-Ex Numerous times and never had a problem.. (Unless it was caused by customs).  If Fed-Ex says it'll be there tomorrow, IT'LL BE THERE TOMORROW.  If DHL says it'll be there tomorrow, I'd bet on a few days from tomorrow.. just so you don't get your hopes up.  I continually have problems with DHL, and apparently so does everyone else. I never hear these complaints about ANY other shipping companies.. EVER.  It's amazing they're still in business.

grr..

--NipsMG

[Stingray]

I don't know why they allow you to track your shipments, but don't aggressively update their tracking information.. Makes it kind of a moot point, doesn't it?

Well, oddly enough, my spinner was delivered today. The tracking site still says it's going to be delivered Friday. Very wierd.

-S