Irritated with Groovy Gear cheaping out on actuators!

Tighe

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Irritated with Groovy Gear cheaping out on actuators!

So back a few weeks ago I started a thread about which HAPP joystick to get.

Now it was suggested that I order the HAPP competition sticks from Groovy Gear. I ordered to red ones for my MVS and they turned out to be awesome. It was great that groovy gear sold the sticks with the white nylon actuators and pivot cylinders.

So fast-forward 2 weeks to Monday, I needed to new sticks for my Marvel Vs. Capcom, so I go to Groovy Gear's Web site and order two Competition sticks in green. They came yesterday I open the package and they have the black plastic actuators! I had read here that HAPP switched to these and that they are subpar, but I couldn't really see the difference, until I installed them.

Now if I had never used competitions with the white actuators I wouldn't know what I would be missing, those black actuators SUCK!

I went back to Groovy Gear's site and noticed that they had removed the text that stated that the competition sticks they sell include the white actuators.

I wrote an e-mail to them and asked them to send me the white actuators. I haven't heard back yet, but for now my advice for now is to NOT buy the competition sticks from Groovy Gear for now and instead get them from Lizard Lick who will sell you the white actuator and pivot cylinder for $.50 and $.40 additional.

http://www.lizardlick.com/pages/joysticks.shtml
 
Just get the real thing from Lizard Lick, rather than trying to upgrade a new Chinese Happ. The real thing, i.e., the real Happ Competition is the iL Eurojoystick (old Happ Competitions were rebranded iL Eurojoysticks).
 
Just get the real thing from Lizard Lick, rather than trying to upgrade a new Chinese Happ. The real thing, i.e., the real Happ Competition is the iL Eurojoystick (old Happ Competitions were rebranded iL Eurojoysticks).

That is that my MVC had in it, diagonals were impossible to press.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=864572&postcount=29
It is funny that you said that. I recently picked up a Marvel Vs Capcom and it had what I thought where Happ Comps in it. I was ordering new sticks for my MVS and choose to not get new ones from my MVC cause they looked in good shape. At the time the board was bad so I couldn't test the sticks.

I got a new board and whodoggy are they bad! Even in test mode I cannot activate a diagonal press! It was like the stick was a 4 way! I took the sticks out and cleaned them and replaced the switches, and still 4 way! When I took them apart I saw the IL logo on the inside and I realized that these are not Happs. I know people say the ILs and Happs are the same, but they are not, infact the distance from the stick shaft to the switches is slightly further on the ILs I have, and the actuator cannot activate two switches at once because of this distance.

I say get the comps from groovy gear, they come with white actuators and stay away from the ILs!

As for supers, they are just so flakey and you have to bend the levers in a slight s shape in order to get them to work right. why bother when you can just get a Comp for a dollar more?
 
So back a few weeks ago I started a thread about which HAPP joystick to get.

Now it was suggested that I order the HAPP competition sticks from Groovy Gear. I ordered to red ones for my MVS and they turned out to be awesome. It was great that groovy gear sold the sticks with the white nylon actuators and pivot cylinders.

So fast-forward 2 weeks to Monday, I needed to new sticks for my Marvel Vs. Capcom, so I go to Groovy Gear's Web site and order two Competition sticks in green. They came yesterday I open the package and they have the black plastic actuators! I had read here that HAPP switched to these and that they are subpar, but I couldn't really see the difference, until I installed them.

Now if I had never used competitions with the white actuators I wouldn't know what I would be missing, those black actuators SUCK!

I went back to Groovy Gear's site and noticed that they had removed the text that stated that the competition sticks they sell include the white actuators.

I wrote an e-mail to them and asked them to send me the white actuators. I haven't heard back yet, but for now my advice for now is to NOT buy the competition sticks from Groovy Gear for now and instead get them from Lizard Lick who will sell you the white actuator and pivot cylinder for $.50 and $.40 additional.

http://www.lizardlick.com/pages/joysticks.shtml

Or just buy the original stick that was the Competition before they switched to Chinese junk... the original IL EUROJOYSTICK..

il_eurojoystick_b.jpg


http://www.lizardlick.com/pages/joysticks.shtml

I just bought 2 about 10 minutes ago from there...
 
Or just buy the original stick that was the Competition before they switched to Chinese junk... the original IL EUROJOYSTICK..

http://www.lizardlick.com/pages/joysticks.shtml

I just bought 2 about 10 minutes ago from there...

What I am saying is that my MVC had the IL EUROJOYSTICK in it (original equipment) in my Semco/PVG made Capcom JAMMA cabinet. The sticks sucked, even after I disassembled and replaced switches and cleaned. I measured the area the actuator moves around in and it is larger in the EUROJOYSTICK than the Competition. HAPP has tweaked the design slightly and it makes a huge difference, as long as you have the white actuators.
 
Groovy Gear Responded

Here is what Groovy Gear responded to me with:

"The black actuators you have perform exactly equal to the white ones. HAPP has corrected the issue they had prior, and no longer supply the white actuators to us because of this. There is now no other difference other than the color, and I have personally verified this. The problem before was that the actuators were not free moving, and would wedge onto the shaft sleeve. If you look at the sticks you have, you would see that they now move very freely, just like the white ones do. There were never any other differences."
 
What I am saying is that my MVC had the IL EUROJOYSTICK in it (original equipment) in my Semco/PVG made Capcom JAMMA cabinet. The sticks sucked, even after I disassembled and replaced switches and cleaned. I measured the area the actuator moves around in and it is larger in the EUROJOYSTICK than the Competition. HAPP has tweaked the design slightly and it makes a huge difference, as long as you have the white actuators.


My guess is that your old EUROJOYSTICK's were wore down or something because the current EUROJOYSTICK is the very same HAPP Comp from just about a year ago BEFORE they moved to the Chinese manufacturer. The Eurojoysticks design is usually preferred over the current Happ design. Personally, I couldn't give much a squat one way or another, I am not a huge fighter fan, so i went with the Eurojoystick as it was recommended.
 
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That is that my MVC had in it, diagonals were impossible to press.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=864572&postcount=29

It sounds like you had some worn out sticks. Judging from your post that you quoted, you are saying that they were literally 4-way, and if that was the case, then obviously something was wrong. You should try new iL joysticks before making any claims about them.

I have some old SNK LS-30 rotary joysticks that won't hit diagonals anymore. That doesn't mean that new ones won't (I know, because I have some new ones too).
 
It sounds like you had some worn out sticks. Judging from your post that you quoted, you are saying that they were literally 4-way, and if that was the case, then obviously something was wrong. You should try new iL joysticks before making any claims about them.

I have some old SNK LS-30 rotary joysticks that won't hit diagonals anymore. That doesn't mean that new ones won't (I know, because I have some new ones too).

There was no visible signs of wear, I will post a video later so you can see how how diagonals do not work.
 
tighe hit up that black acutator with some electrical tape, you probably can add like a little less than a mm and its gonna be mint
 
There was no visible signs of wear, I will post a video later so you can see how how diagonals do not work.

The wear that matters happens internally, deeper than they are meant to disassemble. Do you really think iL and any of their retailers such as Lizard Lick could get away with selling 4-way joysticks labeled as 8-way joysticks for long?

Order a new one and see what you think. It only costs $10 and I'm sure Lizard Lick will take it back if it only works in 4-way mode.
 
tighe hit up that black acutator with some electrical tape, you probably can add like a little less than a mm and its gonna be mint

I figure I will either order the white actuators from Lizard Lick, or take the white actuators off the old ILs and put them on the new comps.
 
i just got my most recent order today and inded they are the black ones now form gg
but as randy stated in his reply to you the problem has been fixed
for some time the happs comps that had the black actuators wuld not spin on the joystick shaft due to the mold being worn out and not set to the right size
i see with my new comps that it is indeed fixed the acuator does spin free on the shaft and they seem to hav the same feel and peformance as the ones with the white acuator

the thing that is pissing me off is now haps as gone from the nice cherry micro switches to some knock off brand called an e switch
randy says he has tested these new switches and finds them to be as high of quality as the cherru switches but im more concerned of the life span of the switch
 
I might order one of these "new" comp sticks to see what the differences are. The Happ comp sticks that replaced IL had oversized square actuators that wedged onto the shaft. This wouldn't allow the actuator to rotate on the shaft making the movements feel stiff and jerky. The oversized actuator actually makes for more precise inputs though. I would sand the inside and apply a bit of silicone grease to make it better. The IL actuators as good as they worked also had their issues at times. The actuators were made of a softer plastic causing them to bend and sometimes get caught on the switch themselves. I wrote up a pretty detailed comparison on Shoryuken.com.
 
the thing that is pissing me off is now haps as gone from the nice cherry micro switches to some knock off brand called an e switch
randy says he has tested these new switches and finds them to be as high of quality as the cherru switches but im more concerned of the life span of the switch
Damn now this sucks.
 
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