Cordless Joystick reviews, opinions from owners.

[RamrodHare]

I'm thinking about buying a set of either the Atari or Game Mate cordless joysticks, but I haven't been able to find much as far as reviews go.

 

What I'm wondering about most is reliability, responsiveness and battery life. There are a lot of them on eBay, either non-working or untested, that I can get for a good price and repair, if needed. I just don't want to waste my time and money if these are just a novelty. Thanks in advance for any info!

[+sramirez2008]

I find them to be more of a novelty. They are big and bulky, so I never really used them for more than a few games. I take them out to show someone whenever their noticed. I honestly don't use mine.

 

If you do buy a set, one thing to look out for is the plastic surrounding the antennae of the receiver. The receiver’s plastic is thin and brittle, especially around the antennae and tends to break easily from normal use (e.g. extending the antennae).

 

 

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

If you do buy a set, one thing to look out for is the plastic surrounding the antennae of the receiver. The receiver’s plastic is thin and brittle, especially around the antennae and tends to break easily from normal use (e.g. extending the antennae).

 

Brittle? I have 2 sets of these and they both have rubberized antenna? They bend about pretty easily?

[+sramirez2008]

 

Brittle? I have 2 sets of these and they both have rubberized antenna? They bend about pretty easily?

 

I wasn't referring to the joystick antenna, but the metal antenna attached to the square receiver. The receivers casing is thinner than that of the joysticks and easily cracks around the metal antenna.

[RamrodHare]

 

If you do buy a set, one thing to look out for is the plastic surrounding the antennae of the receiver. The receiver’s plastic is thin and brittle, especially around the antennae and tends to break easily from normal use (e.g. extending the antennae).

 

I've noticed that on a few of the ones for sale. I'm pretty good at patching and repairing, but I was going to steer clear of ones with visible broken parts.

I've been thinking a lot about it and I still have to keep the console within reach to use reset, select, power and pause, Of course the kid in me says that joysticks without cords are cool, but the adult reminds me that if I don't use them, I'm wasting money that could go toward useful things.

 

I've been modding all sorts of gamepads for the 2600 and 7800, but I've actually had more fun using the cx40 joysticks! So I don't know if I'll be modding any other gamepads for myself. I'm thinking that my money might be better spent on some of the Best Electronics upgraded CX40 Joysticks. Decisions Decisions....

[+sramirez2008]

I have a pair of the Best Electronics CX40 upgraded joysticks and they are great. They almost feel like a pair of CX10s.

 

Here's a link to a prior thread that discussed them: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/239188-best-reproduction-of-atari-2600-cx40-controller/?p=3253411

[AtariBrian]

The Best gold kits are awesome !

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The Best gold kits are awesome !

I'm still waiting on a redesign of the inner ring that actually presses down on the dome switches that doesn't break! Where is that upgrade?

[RamrodHare]

I'm still waiting on a redesign of the inner ring that actually presses down on the dome switches that doesn't break! Where is that upgrade?

That's a good point. You would think that would have been developed by now. I KNOW plastics have made big advancements over the last 30 years. I guess as long as there is a decent supply of originals, maybe it's not that high on Bradley's list of things to have reproduced. I wonder if anyone has mentioned it to him? I know I've never opened up a CX40 that didn't at least have some stress marks on the bottom of the white handle piece. (For all I know, Someone has already made new version that are awesome and I'm just so out of touch that I don't know about it yet.)