Do not buy the Competition Pro Retro Joystick by Individual Computers

[Everblue]

Seriously, don't waste money. The first one I got broke after 1 hour of use (and I am particularly careful) - the microswitch on the left button broke. Now I bought another one - only to find that (again the same microswitch) one of the buttons does not work (yes, dead on arrival).

Will have to send back to Vesalia, and most probably incur more charges!

On a side note, anyone knows if these can be easily modded with Sanwa or Seimitsu parts?

[runequester]

Seriously, don't waste money. The first one I got broke after 1 hour of use (and I am particularly careful) - the microswitch on the left button broke. Now I bought another one - only to find that (again the same microswitch) one of the buttons does not work (yes, dead on arrival).
 
Will have to send back to Vesalia, and most probably incur more charges!
 
On a side note, anyone knows if these can be easily modded with Sanwa or Seimitsu parts?

Hate to be the dissenting opinion but mine has been rock solid. So either you were unlucky or I was lucky
 
Buying joystick is always a frustration for me, as most you can get on ebay are knackered and will barely work, after the seller dug them out of a garage box.

[Darrin]

I've got three of them that still work perfectly.  My only issue with them is the overall design - they just don't fit my hands and I cant get a good grip on them.  I prefer "fighter pilot" style joysticks with 2 buttons on the stick and industrial type suction cups that remove the varnish from your table top when they break loose.  Unfortunately nobody seems to be selling them.

[Krischan76]

Both of mine work. So folks, go buy those joysticks!

[Everblue]

Guess I'm just being unlucky then

[runequester]

I've got three of them that still work perfectly. My only issue with them is the overall design - they just don't fit my hands and I cant get a good grip on them. I prefer "fighter pilot" style joysticks with 2 buttons on the stick and industrial type suction cups that remove the varnish from your table top when they break loose. Unfortunately nobody seems to be selling them.

yeah, they arent overly comfortable.
 
I was disappointed in all the buttons being wired the same too, though apparently its easy to rewire.

[x303]

Yeah, with the new style competition pro's you have to be very carefully. So don't play any games like speedball2 or so.:smack:
My old one (which survived every game) without microswitches is much better than the new one. Also feels much lighter and doesn't have this annoying hard clicking sound.

[Mr_DBUG]

I have to agree with the OP, these sticks are not very good .. Nowhere NEAR as good as the original .. Particularily as to the durability ..

[save2600]

The two I have seem fine so far. But then again, they're mostly for my GF to use as she's quite hard on joysticks.  

@x303: when you say you have to be careful with them and don't play Speedball 2, what do you mean? Is the two button config shorting out circuitry in the Amiga's? Or are you saying the joystick doesn't lend itself well to the game?

@Runequester: I thought the switch on 'em chooses between all the buttons wired as one or two discrete, with the triangular button being the second button? I was trying to play Super Street Fighter 2 the other night though and my computer only recognizes the one button mode. When I flipped the switch, the triangular buttons no longer worked.

I must have a bad CIA or something in that system.  

[ChaosLord]

I would have bought 4 of these joysticks a long time ago but since one of the buttons is broken/miswired on every one that was manufactured, they are completely useless to me.   Having a 2-button joystick that can't actually work with any of the Amiga's 2-button games is useless to me.

[x303]

@x303: when you say you have to be careful with them and don't play Speedball 2, what do you mean? Is the two button config shorting out circuitry in the Amiga's? Or are you saying the joystick doesn't lend itself well to the game?

With speedball 2 (and others) you use the button quite hard else you don't get to win the game. :hammer:  You can use the little triangle button too, but that doesn't do the job. I modified the button, so now it works again, but i'm not using it anymore for these type of games. Think I'm gonna buy a USB->Joystick adapter for my old one, which works great after using it for more than 10 years or so.

[lsmart]

I own two of those. Mine are of much better quality than many recent controllers, but are really more easy to break than the original Competition Pro 5000s. I had to repair mine three times in just a few years. But usually the repair is not a big deal: reposition, tighten screws, done.

The discussion about the fire-buttons is interesting. Maybe I should try to modify mine to have the two big fire buttons to be "button 1" and turn off the top two buttons. Ideally I could use the rapid-fire switch to switch between my and the default button configuration.

Then again, I am not much of a gamer. The work probably wouldn´t pay off.

[bbond007]

Seriously, don't waste money. The first one I got broke after 1 hour of use (and I am particularly careful) - the microswitch on the left button broke. Now I bought another one - only to find that (again the same microswitch) one of the buttons does not work (yes, dead on arrival).

Will have to send back to Vesalia, and most probably incur more charges!

On a side note, anyone knows if these can be easily modded with Sanwa or Seimitsu parts?

I bought one too and while mine has never broken I do think that the type of plastic it is made out of just feels flimsy and squeaky and I really overall underwhelmed with the build quality when  it arrived.

I got a used konix epyx 500 from ebay shipped for $15 or so that I like much better. Seems like lately I been using a CD32 Gamepad more than anything.

[runequester]

I have a comp pro CD32 pad.. one of the old ones.. which would be amazing but its pretty worn out.
 
I normally use the amiga version of the Gravis gamepad which is outstanding

[NovaCoder]

I use a wireless PS2 controller with my 1200, works great