Quality difference of Sanwa and Seimitsu parts?

I want to mod my Dreamcast Agetec stick and looked up the needed parts. Here are the results:

Seimitsu LS-32-01 Stick = 1300 Yen
PS-14-G Buttons = 150 Yen x 6 = 900 Yen
Total = 2200 Yen (might have to add 5% tax to that = 2310 Yen)

Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y Stick = 1995 Yen
OBSF-30RG Buttons = 504 Yen (!) x 6 = 3024 Yen
Total = 5019 Yen (incl. tax)

As you can see the Sanwa buttons cost more than 3 times the price of the Seimitsu ones. Are they worth it? And what exactly is the difference?

 

quality is pretty much the same, on the whole pretty high.

the huge difference is in the feel of the sticks.

ed: for the sticks!, i find both sanwa and seimitsu buttons to be of rather poor design and quality.

 

There isn't a great deal of difference between the buttons but the Sanwa buttons have a much lighter switch action, so you don't have to press much to make contact. The switches are fairly similar, the Seimitsu using the same switches as Hori use in their sticks. The Sanwa one are better quality but again a tiny difference that you will not notice.

There isn't a great deal of difference between the two joysticks, I have both and the differences are..

The Seimitsu LS-32 uses standard microswitches and these can be replaced quite easly by taking a few screws off, the Sanwa joystick you would have to first buy the right microswitch and then solder it into the joystick or you would buy another Sanwa joystick as it would be easier.

The LS-32 has a 2, 4 and 8 way restrictor plate so useful for games that only need specific directions, if you're playing Pacman then it's great... the sanwa only can be used as an 8 way joystick.

The LS-32 has standard 4mm blade connectors so it's easier to replace most joysticks, the Sanwa uses a 5 pin molex connector so you will need to solder on or buy a molex connector to use it.

The LS-32 has a slighter wider field of play to move the joystick left to right, but it's a tiny difference and useless you have both joysticks you would not notice...

The Sanwa stick has a much smaller mounting plate then the LS-32 so you will have to take that into consideration.

 

Thanks a lot for the answers! I'll give Seimitsu a try then.

According to Sanwa the stick has a switch for 4 or 8-way.

 

I'll give it another look but I didn't see a way to make it a 4 way joystick.

 

I only use Sanwa parts, as that is the most common type in Japanese arcades. If I want to recreate the experience I may as well do it as accurately as possible.

But if you just want a top shelf stick, both will do nicely.

 

These are the 'RG' Buttons, the normal are cheaper

Check also the PS-15 series from Seimitsu, which is almost the same as the Sanwa.

Original poster listed the LS 32-01 as his choiche, so the above points are wrong since that Joystick has the microswitches soldered on a PCB as the Sanwa.

 

Buy the LS-32 it's better.

 

More fighting games = more Sanwa. I like Seimitsu better, actually. For both buttons and sticks.

 

8 to 4 way on the LS32 - Remove two screws, rotate plate, screw back in.

8 to 4 way on the JLF-TP-8Y - Gentlely remove the transparent plate at the back, you need to push back plastic clips and try to take it off flat. Push hard from below on the centre and rotate the plate using two small plastic tabs. It's a lot harder. >_<

I tried the LS-32 and JLF-TP-8Y in a pacman machine and I can't really tell much difference, except in the price and when I need to replace the microswitches.

 

Yeah, the JLF definitely has 4 or 8 way. I can't find the right mounting plate to get these in my Astro, but they are nice sticks, imo.

 

I didn't know they made Sanwa sticks in China.... (That's Chinese text rather then Japanese as there isnt any hiragana which you would expect from anything that isn't a haiku or a classical poem...).

 

The writing on the side of the actual box is in Japanese/English and says:

Sanwa Denshi Co., Ltd.
58-5, Nakamaru-Cho, Itabashi-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
Phone: 03-3959-6611 Fax: 03-395509208

I'm guessing they just came from a chinese supplier. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

 

As long as when you remove the clear plastic plate the microswitches say Omrom and Made in Japan.

I have seen Chinese copies of the Sanwa stick in Coin Op Express of all places... accurate to everything except the microswitches are non branded saturday night specials and probably won't last that long...

 

Switches are made in japan and the base and plastic circle say "sanwa" on them. I was just not sure why the Chinese sticker is on there. These came from lizard lick amusement, so I am guessing they just bought in bulk from a chinese supplier. I am surprised at Coinopexpress selling copies. I've never had problems ordering anything from them.

 

You need a 2-pixel hit box. Then you can tell the difference.

 

I think a proverb about Workman and tools is one worth quoting here.

 

After noticing they also had "normal" (non RG) buttons - thanks barakka! - I went for Sanwa and got the stick and buttons today. It doesn't really pay to buy just one set as shipping plus payment-on-delivery fee alone adds another +1000 Yen to the total but I didn't feel like ordering more to get free shipping this time.

Anyway I hope I have time this weekend to mod the stick. The parts look great!

 

I wouldn't say there's a difference in quality as much as there's a difference.. Seimitsu sticks has a shorter engage (the distance it needs to travel before it hits the switches) than Sanwa sticks, in the end it all comes down to preference.

You can see a table of differences between the sticks here:

http://static.pici.se/pictures/YgwFHeAVR.gif

 

nice! Thanks for the link. Bookmarked.