When I had some control issues with both the LS-32 and JLF, I did some seriously high tension mods on both joysticks. (This was with doubling springs… around 4-5 years ago… well before customized, higher-tension springs hit market and the only way you could do spring mods was shopping at Lowes, Home Depot, or doubling up on JLF and LS-32 springs…) In the end, I dropped the JLF (too many issues including recentering which was the killer for me!) and opted to keep the LS-32 closer to stock tension with a minor tweak. Likewise with the Hayabusa.
I just found that with much higher-tension I felt like I was weight-lifting instead of actually getting the joystick to hit the corners better. Higher-tension ratcheting will NOT fix recentering issues if the joystick has them; never worked on the JLF for me! Practice, practice fixes most of the issues people have with joysticks unless the joysticks-in-question have inborne design issues and bad microswitches. That’s why I find the aftermarket for JLF mod parts to be amusing – for me it confirms that the JLF is far from perfect and has significant flaws. Some people love that… I didn’t in particular. I’ve never had as many issues with the LS-32 as I did the JLF, though. Very solid joystick for the most part… It does have its ‘personality quirks,’ though, and some people never get over those. For the most part, LS-32 users deal with and overcome those issues and stay with the design.
I prefer the longer throw’s on the LS-32 and Hayabusa as opposed to the other LS-joysticks; I hit the microswitches more consistently and have less of an issue with “overcontrol”. It helps to have a lighter touch on the other LS-joysticks. It’s very hard to overcontrol on the LS-32 or the Hayabusa.
Whether the JLF has less throw on it than the Hayabusa I don’t know; I’ll repeat myself and say that in all sincerity I’ll take other people’s word for it that the H-stick has longer thrown than the JLF – it’s been too long since I used a JLF for much more than a paperweight. I’m comfortable with the Hayabusa as-is and haven’t had an issue switching back-and-forth with the LS-32 despite the slight difference in throw. I still think the Hayabusa is engineered a bit better and hits the microswitches more consistently. The H-stick is the joystick to play classic CPS-1/-2 Street Fighter on! ( => at least for me…!)
I’d say that there’s no point in throwing away LS-32’s if you prefer the Hayabusa. They’re mostly comparable IMHO. The stock condition H-stick otherwise feels like a refined LS-32. Like I’ve said for over a month now, my inclination is to buy the H-stick from here on out as the main replacement lever for future joysticks and possible re-equips on favorite joysticks like the VLX, a classic HRAP or two, and maybe at least one Mad Catz Round 1/2 TE.
I’m more likely to sell JLF’s in new-buy joystick cases and sell off an LS-40 or two and my LS-58 than part with any of my LS-32’s. The Hayabusa is my favorite now but I won’t getting ridding of favored, older “children”, either! LOL
I don’t think we’re going to see a price-cut on the Hayabusa which is fine by me. $5 more than the JLF or LS-32 won’t kill me. $30 is fair for what the H-stick is. (Pray that Hori doesn’t go cheap and try to make future Hayabusa runs with lower-quality parts!) The news that PAS may be carrying it in the future is very, very good. The part’s main problem is distribution and lack of alternate, non-Hori US/JP retail sites to buy it from.
And yeah, diagrams aside, a lot of the Hori description about the Hayabusa pivot housing sounds like Sega’s “blast processing” blurbs on the old Sega Genesis ads…
I, for one, don’t have to completely understand why the Hayabusa handles better for me. It’s enough for me that it’s more comfortable and consistent with control response. That said, I agree that the performance comes from a combination of better build materials AND microswitch staggering/arrangement. I was surprised that I got better performance from non-gated tab switches!
I wouldn’t expect to convert people from the JLF who just don’t like the Seimitsu joysticks (if they’ve ever seriously tried playing with them for more than 3 minutes)… it’s still all personal preference. SlagCoin diagrams and charts all aside, people STILL have to test out arcade parts to see what’s comfortable for their use! I’m not a fan of iL/Happ joysticks or the JLF (most overrated joystick on-market IMHO) but I’m not about to call other people idiots for enjoying parts that feel more comfortable in their personal use – THAT’S dumb!
I have to repeat my original response from over a month ago–
I wasn’t initially sold on the Hayabusa until I played with it over an extended period of time. When I noticed I wasn’t dropping control inputs as much after a half-hour, 45 minutes as I would be on an LS-32 WHILE PLAYING classic SF2, that’s when I was really impressed by the Hayabusa because otherwise it really felt like an LS-32 clone that happened to be made with JLF clone parts!
