Kinda disappointed with the MAG-Stik Plus(8-way)

[rtkiii]

Hello all,

Finally got a chance to really play with my 2 MAG Stick Plus joysticks I bought from another member here as my brother-in-law came over to play some MK2.  It was a blast regardless but we really started to notice the flaws with these joysticks on 8-way mode.  In short they are just to touchy.  If I feel like I am pulling down on the stick it goes Left+down or Right+down.  Try to push up to jump and he goes Right +up.  I tried adjusting little bars on the bottom of the joystick to no avail.  If I play in 4-way mode they work really good.  I know this because without me knowing I was running in 4-way for the first week I was testing.  Went through the menus of GameEx without any issues(you know going UP and DOWN through the menus)  Well I knew I had someone coming over last night and wanted to just test everything hen I noticed my #2 was in 8-way and my 1st Player was in 4-way.  I change it to 8-way and I have a very hard time even getting through the menu on GameEx.  If I compare the bottom to a $9 joy I bought before I got the "deal" from the person on here I can see the $9 one just has so much more room between the switches and the handle/rod which makes them less touchy(just a guess as I have not connected it up)...than the MAG Stik PLus.  After we were done remember MK I changed #1 back to 4-way and it seems fine(touchy at spots)...but this really hurts my Fighting/Sport games. 
Anything I can do to fix this?   
Are these joysticks not as "new" as the seller proclaimed? 
Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,
Rich

[Richie_jones]

I have the j sticks from ultimarc, I don't like them either.  Far to much travel between switches and hit and miss when asking for corner inputs...it's a shame but to change them I'd need to redo my cp art as I've covered the screws over..

[chopperthedog]

Sounds like you two should trade stiks

Imo using the magstik on fighters is like driving with racing slicks in the snow. I Just started using a pair of magstiks (with ball tops) on a multiwilliams type panel and I have no complaints with 8 way mode on games like smashTV, robotron, 1944 and others since they are replicating the short throw of a wico. But I also know that I would never take out the pair of happ competitions out of my fighter cab and replace those with magstiks. The magstiks are a great piece of hardware when used with the right games.


good day.

[rtkiii]

So this is more of a preference thing than a defect with the joysticks?

[Drnick]

Unfortunately yes,  I had zippy's in my control panel originally and they were OK for the classic 4 ways and they were pretty good for fighters, but for SHMUPS they just didn't cut the mustard.  I figured that fighters were the least played of all types so I swapped them out for Magstick Plus.

[Endprodukt]

I love zippys for shmups. With a little modding to the spring and actuator it's a good all round joystick

[j2obin]

I love zippys for shmups. With a little modding to the spring and actuator it's a good all round joystick

What mods do you do?  I am having some problems with spring binding and popping that makes them annoying to use.

Hoping to cure this.


For the OP about mag sticks.  I don't have anything to suggest for fighters.  I use them on my sit down cocktail for classic games and shooters and I really like them for that application.  I use Happ sticks for fighters.  Thinking of using Seimitsu in the bartop kit I ordered from HaRuMaN.

[Endprodukt]

I bend the spring to give it  a better tension. I used three layers of heat shrink tubing around the thin side of the actuator to give it a smaller throw and used 4 layers of electric tape around the thick side of the actuator so the switches get activated much faster.

[rtkiii]

I ended up throwing in the $9 Super Joystick I bought and it seems to respond so much better to MK and whatnot in early testing.  Sometimes more expensive is not better.

[Endprodukt]

For mk I'm all over competition sticks.

[Gray_Area]

For mk I'm all over competition sticks.

That hasn't changed since their inception. That's about all they're good for. Come to think of it, they games were probably designed to respond to them.

[Endprodukt]

Probably, but I got really good with them and after years and years I was so used to them I could barely use other sticks. I still can't get used to my servo sticks but feel like I have to as they're not that cheap

[rtkiii]

I actually found a setting in GameEx that fixes the menu issue I was having with the 8-way MAG Plus.  Still a little loose in MK but I can at least manuever the menus