Made my first best electronics purchace

[maxdrive]

I just made my first purchace to best electronics. I bought one of the gold Atari 5200 controllers can not wait till I can try that puppy out.

[nick3092]

I traded in 2 of my 5 oem controllers about a year ago for some rebuilt gold ones. They work a lot better that the oem ones I took apart and cleaned, thats for sure. The font on the keypads is slightly different. But unless you have an oem one sitting right next to it, you probably wont notice.

[Swami]

Is it sacrilege to superglue a ping pong ball to the top of the stick on one of these? I tried a foosball once, which seemed a little top-heavy, but it keep my hand from slipping off. I figure you can always replace the boot.

[nick3092]

Is it sacrilege to superglue a ping pong ball to the top of the stick on one of these? I tried a foosball once, which seemed a little top-heavy, but it keep my hand from slipping off. I figure you can always replace the boot.

I personally wouldnt. How about a clown nose? You dont have to glue that, it just slips on. I think there is Red Nose Day coming up in May where you can buy one for $1 at Walgreens.

[SINGLE TOOTH]

I bought some parts to restore the controller last year. I picked them up just now and they worked great.

[Jim Pez]

How long do these gold controllers last ? I have never used one but i would buy one if i ever get a 5200.

[SINGLE TOOTH]

Best advertises them as lifetime controllers. Not sure how he defines lifetime. Seems to last longer than the stocks. I remember my dad always cleaning them in the 80s

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've heard reports of people with the gold upgrade kits or actual refurbed controllers from Best with the gold kits, still having to clean them every few years. That is still way better than every few weeks but I would have thought that gold on gold wouldn't need this at all.

[jaybird3rd]

I've had mine for about two years, and although I've used them only intermittently (since my 5200s are not set up all the time), I've never had to open them for any reason; all the cleaning I've had to do has been external.

[reklen]

I got two refurbished controllers from BEST, both worked good for about two years, then on one of them the number two button quit working. So far the other controller is still working. You can't open them up without voiding your warranty. Two years isn't lifetime to me. I wouldn't have bought them, but everyone here was so ecstatic. I'm hoping someone in the future will just make controllers that work, like Eladdin.

 

 

I

[Maxwell Zorin]

No complaints here about my refurbished controller 6 months in. I thought I remembered Edladdin was considering making 5200 controllers. I wonder if he still has one in the works- here's hoping.

[zylon]

I've used them and they didn't hold up to real heavy play. A couple other players in the 5200 HSC also found this over the years. The gold flexis last far longer with using the regular carbon contacts instead. Then again, some play heavier than others. I have seen where a gold contact rebuilt controller was untouched for 4 years and worked perfectly on picking it up. The old ones would never do that.

Edited March 26, 2018 by zylon

[jaybird3rd]

I'm toying with the idea of making my own two-player controller adapter, so I can use 2600 joysticks as well as arcade controllers like the X-Arcade (great for Robotron!).

 

I was looking for a distraction from work this evening, so I just played a round of The Last Starfighter. That's a game that really taxes the CX-52 joystick, but my refurbished gold controller from Best held up beautifully. (Apologies for the crappy CRT picture; the bars aren't really there.)

 

[BIGHMW]

I have a Best-modded 5200 controller, believe me as an Atarian, I would recommend nothing but Best Eectronics if you like the feel of either an OEM CX52, a CX24 or CX40 joystick.

 

Although there are a few here who would use like one of my Wico self-centering analog joysticks for the 5200 along with those touch-tone telephone-quality keypads that some came with,(I own two such keypads) and I also own a couple of Wico ball-handle joysticks for the 2600/7800 I use with my Redemption 5200 7800 stick adapters Albert used to sell right here at AtariAge a few years back (I own both 2600 and 7800 adapters!!!)

 

To each his own, but I'm more leaning towards the Atari CX52 and CX24 hooked up to a Redemption 5200 adapter, you can't beat the ergonomics of these two much-maligned controllers (players used to call the ProLine Series of controllers the "Pain-Line Series") but in my 35 years of playing 5200 games I never had any complaints about their feel, although the carbon contacts on the CX52 sticks are a bit suspect as well as notorious for failing, and thank goodness for Best Electronics and also all of the homebrewers out there to keep my (our) systems relevant, I also plan on getting a pair of Best-modded CX24 sticks as well as another Best-modded CX52, and, maybe even a pair of Best-modded CX40s as well. The guys at Best will be getting a call real soon with my order, as I will place my order and send in all of my non-modded controllers as cores.

 

Now I sure hope they can make a gold kit for (my 2) the CX53 Trak-ball controllers, as they too, have the carbon contacts on the buttons and the bubble contacts on the fire buttons have all failed on them, I hope they can do something with them so I can use them again, and, for a "lifetime" at that!!!

[SINGLE TOOTH]

 

 

Now I sure hope they can make a gold kit for (my 2) the CX53 Trak-ball controllers, as they too, have the carbon contacts on the buttons and the bubble contacts on the fire buttons have all failed on them, I hope they can do something with them so I can use them again, and, for a "lifetime" at that!!!

 

You can use the gold plated rubber Aux pad button and the gold plated number pads on the CX53, they are the same parts. Also I replaced my switches on mine with these dome replacements from console5 (awesome seller)

 

https://console5.com/store/self-adhesive-dome-switches-10mm-quad-4-leg.html

[mparrish11]

I made my first purchase too. A couple years back I purchased a 4-port with 36 games and 6 controllers from a lady on Craigslist for $40. She had no idea what she had, she just wanted to get rid of it. Since then I've purchased a 2-port which I like much better, and it came with 2 controllers. Then I bought 2 more controllers locally--which were mis-advertised as having been rebuilt with gold parts. They weren't--they were terrible controllers.

 

I sent 9 controllers (I kept the only one I had working) to Best Electronics and got a nice credit. No sense hoarding non-functional controllers when they can be refurbished for the rest of y'all to enjoy! I Bought 2 gold-plated contact rebuilt controllers and a vinyl 5200 system cover. They came on Friday and I've been playing with them--and in absolute awe about how good they are. These are the controllers I remember as a kid!

 

Now I have to teach myself how to play the games again, since the slightest movements are now detected! No more extreme controller movements and literally SMASHING the buttons!!

 

Next up--get the 2-port modded for composite output and ditch the RF cable. :-)

[spacecadet]

You can't open them up without voiding your warranty.

US government says otherwise: https://lifehacker.com/ftc-says-you-can-repair-your-own-electronics-without-vo-1825174202

 

Then again, I probably wouldn't test BEST by threatening them with that... he'd probably just shut down production rather than agreeing to those terms. (Then again, it is the law.)