are there any actual advantages between a $160 stick and a $60 stick? I've considered getting something for my 360, so at least when I suck at SC4 its not entirely because of the xbox controller.
There are indeed great differences. I couldn't believe it myself in the beginning, but...
Let me explain:
I started with the "Hori EX 2 Fighting Stick" for the Xbox, which has all Hori-Parts build into it.
I then constructed and build my
own Joystick with all Sanwa original Arcadeparts, and the difference... it really showed... Comparing the two sticks, I noticed the following:
The joystick itself is much more precise, it has a "stronger" feel to it and the movements are much smoother.
The buttons... Sanwa buttons are much better than the stock hori buttons... They are much more sensitive and also... more precise. With the standard hori buttons, after some heavy usage, it happened, that they had some kind of "delay", e.g.: if I was pressing the buttons, sometimes they reacted, sometimes they didn't and sometimes they reacted kinda late... That's why I decided to swap the buttons in my hori stick. It went from this:
To this:
So yes, there is quite a difference between a cheap and a more expensive stick.
Btw, here's a pic from my self-build stick:
It's for xbox 360...
At the moment, I'm at this project for PS3, but haven't wired it yet:
Edit: And yes, I was the guy building those sticks.