So I have decided I would like a fightstick theses days and I’m trying to decide which one. I have very little failth in MadCatz ability to produce and support a quality product given their financial troubles these days so I don’t want a TE2+. This has left me with three major choices: Qanba Obsidian, Hori RAP4, and Razer Panthera.
I’m not big o the form factor for the RAP4 but I’ve generally been happy with Hori products in the past so it’s always an option. The Obsidian looks amazing and is getting incredible reviews, but is out of stock everywhere and who knows when they will catch production up to demand. That brings us to the Panthera and my question. I like the feature list and it looks like it would be comfortable in my lap, but there aren’t really a lot of reviews out there for it. I checked YouTube and the only non unboxing video was some guy endlessly complaining about getting windows to recognize it. Pretty useless as a review of the stick itself.
I’m wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with Razer products in general and if they know much about them? Do they generally produce good stuff? Or are they proveyors of cheap plastic crap?
Thanks for any any help here, I realized I basically have no clue about Razer stuff and these sticks are a bit expensive.
Yeah, Razer has issues. A while ago I had Razer headphones that fell apart very quickly. Turns out that I wasn’t the only one that had this happen. Never bought a Razer product since then.
I’ve also had issues with Razer mice. I love that they came up with the Naga and I’ll likely never go back to a regular mouse after that, but mine fell apart and I’ve been using a Logitech ever since. I’ve probably had it for 5+ years now and it’s still going strong.
Well…that’s pretty conclusive polling. Thanks folks. Since the RAP4 just looks too small for man paws I think I might have to wait for the Qanba. Bummer, since I’d like a stick sooner than later.
@jpinard, never tried to fly a plane with dragon punches, but based on the absurd Street Fighter lore I wouldn’t put it past em.
If you’re handy at all, potential issues with a Mad Catz stick can be easily serviced in most cases – one of the major reasons the Mad Catz sticks are so popular is that they use standard arcade parts and are easy to tear open which set them apart quality-wise when they got into the market. They’re generally well-built though and I wouldn’t go in expecting a problem.
As a counterpoint, I use Razer products (keyboards and mice) and never had a problem at all. I love my Black Widow keyboard. So I guess your mileage can vary?
Mark me down as dubious on Madcatz, though perhaps they’re better now, and not a fan of Razor. Logitech, however, I’ve been a long time customer due to having always been satisfied with their quality.
Whenever I’ve ever been tempted to stray from Logitech over the last 20 years, I’ve always regretted it. I’ve dallied with weird Microsoft and Razer mice and keyboards and from Other Vendors, but Logitech has never let me down. As I’m writing, I have a modern G910 keyboard and the frankly offensive Proteus mouse and they’re both amazing. I’ve also been using my Logitech Z680 5.1 speaker system from 2002 every day since then. No joke.
I’ve been very happy with my MadCatz stick, granted the first thing I did when I got it was replace all the button switches with custom. Was easier than I could have imagined though. They built it specifically for ease of modification and the insides look superb
