Qanba Carbon and Drone Arcade Stick, Guardian Bag Thread

Tech Talk
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Eightarc has recently released two new, budget, arcade sticks into the market: The Qanba Carbon and the Qanba Drone for $69.99 and $89.99 respectively. The Qanba Drone is the first officially licensed arcade stick by Sony for PS3 and PS4, along with PC support (Dinput or Xinput is unknown ATM). The Qanba Carbon looks like a reskinned Qanba Q1 exclusively for PC and Android via Xinput and Dinput.

NOTE: THESE STICKS ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE XBOX 360 OR XBOX ONE SUPPORT, just to clear that up. I know it should be common sense, but not everyone has common sense.

Qanba Drone (PS3/PS4/PC) Information:
The Qanba Drone has the dimensions of 14 x 6 x 9.5 inches with the joystick, weighing 3lbs total. The Drone is officially licensed by Sony for both PS3 and PS4, this means there won’t be an 8 minute timeout. The stick also comes with Qanba OEM parts, but it is expected that the arcade stick will accept Sanwa and Seimitsu parts, along with Hori as well knowing Qanba’s track record on this. The stick uses a Vewlix styled layout, it also has L3, R3, Home, Options, Share, Tournament Lock, and Turbo above all the buttons. This stick will not have the touchpad unlike the HRAP4 or TES+/TE2+.

Pros:
-No 8 minute timeout
-230cm/7.7ft USB cable according to their Facebook page
-Anti-slip bottom pad
-Tournament Lock Switch
-L3 and R3 buttons are pretty cool, especially since this is the only budget stick with them.

Neutral:
-Vewlix Layout (why can’t we have more Noir options for retail sticks?)
-It is pretty small, but it’s larger than the MadCatz Fight Stick Alpha and Hori Fighting Stick Mini
-3 pounds (I’d throw a few rolls of pennies and tape them in or something tbh to make it heavier)

Cons:
-No metal bottom panel?
-No actual USB compartment storage?
-Qanba OEM buttons, but this was to be expected

Unconfirmed:
-Common Ground PCB?
-Plexi option in the future? Hope there is, since that art isn’t really my style tbh.
-Xinput support?
-Can it be easily swapped with Sanwa and Seimitsu buttons?
-Buttons and Joystick uses QDs and Joystick 5-pin harness?
-Table clamp attachment from Qanba Carbon/Q1 compatible?

Qanba Carbon (PC and Android) Information:
WIP section, but mostly, AFAIK, a reskinned Qanba Q1.

Pros:
-Easily drops in Sanwa and Seimitsu parts
-Metal top panel iirc
-Removable Table Clamps
-USB compartment
-Anti slip bottom
-Tournament Lock Switch

Neutral:
-Vewlix Layout
-WIP

Cons:
-Qanba OEM parts by default, but again to be expected
-No metal bottom panel iirc

Well I’ll update this thread when more info is released from people who opens up the stick and observes everything. For now this is all the info we got I think, so it’s not complete and I’ll update it as time passes by and when people drops new info here. If you have any questions regarding the sticks, then ask here. Any other questions then go to the sticky [here](Absolute Question and Answer Thread v.3 (ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!) Criticism towards how I made my thread, please PM me here on SRK and I’ll gladly take constructive criticism.

The links to the two stick’s store page: Drone and Carbon

The Guardian Bag (info copied from Eightarc’s website for now, hopefully I can expand this section with real info later):
-Fits most modern joystick models up to 19 inches long
-Hemp-style durable fabric
-Dual snap-buckles for easy access
-Triple auxiliary zipper pockets
-Dual water bottle stretch pockets
-25 x 15 x 8 inches
-Extra pockets
-Double zippers
-MSRP is $89.99
Link to the bag on Eightarc’s website

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Placeholder

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the Drone looks like a remold of this
https://www.amazon.com/QANBA-BLACK-Arcade-Joystick-fightstick/dp/B00L1XVVCQ

knowing qanba it probably has similar mounting methods (not top panel, but bottom) with an all abs shell.

if you look at this image

that gap in the front are is the so-called “cable compartment”, pretty simplistic, its just an empty area, no door or anything.

edit - compatible with the Q1 table mounts it seems.

4

Yea I looked at the pics again, it doesn’t look like there’s an actual USB compartment like the TEs and the HRAPs. I’ll add the table clamps to the unconfirmed section for now, but it does look like they’re compatible.

Edit: I’m actually going to expand this with the Guardian Bag as well. I may use this post as a placeholder as well. :stuck_out_tongue:

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New to this company, few questions:

how important is the lack of touchpad on ps4?
I read xinput is required to play SFV on PC, true?
what kind of quality buttons/joystick parts is it most similar in line out of all the stuff in the market and are the buttons noisy? (never used an eightarc/qanba stick)
pcb performance track record solid on input lag performance, reliability, whole nine yards?

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You should highlight that the guardian bag doubles as a backpack, as some bags may not have backpack straps. That’s a definite plus for people want to use these on bicycles.
That’s a pretty nice looking backpack too. Looks like it will contain gaming laptops with ease (needs securing). Although I do have a very itchy feeling that it’s a rebrand of a cheaper backpack and relabeled by Qanba, unless Qanba contacted a manufacturer to make a separate product line for them.

Fabric looks nice. Wonder if it’s waterproof?
I’d be all over it if I didn’t get my Bago duffle bag for $65.

7

Really depends on which games need TPKey support, but SFV doesn’t need it as much anymore iirc. Xinput is needed to play SFV on PC sadly.
Qanba’s OEM aren’t completely unplayable for me, but I’d swap with OBS-MX buttons and an Seimitsu LS-40 any day and yea they’re noisy. Lag don’t worry, no PCB should give noticeable amounts of it this gen. PCB, I heard there were some issues, but I can’t say for sure personally. Since this is officially licensed, we might see a more improved PCB, but we can’t be for sure until someone opens this up.

Will do, kinda need a new backpack someday myself tbh. But mines currently fits my Panzer just fine still. xD

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[quote=“sasquach, post:7, topic:180203”]

I just put a panzer together and was looking at this bag specifically because it won’t fit in my bag. Which back pack are you using?

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It’s a Tumi backpack for school actually, I can’t remember the model mainly because my parents bought it for my start of college and I never chose the backpack. So it wasn’t even made for arcade sticks. It just conveniently fit my Panzer in there. I just want to get another backpack now, since I would prefer some more space to fit more things in there. I can only fit a keyboard, tablet, Panzer, and a Sega Dreamcast in there along with cables. It can’t fit a TE actually. I have the Panzer OG BTW.

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What’s a panzer?

This is the backpack I bought a few weeks ago. I’m not sure if it will fit the Hori VLX for instance, but it will be very close for sure.
It measures 13W" x 23L" x 11H" inches.
What do you think?
(it says the VLX measures W 22.44 in x L 10.24 in x H 5.51 in on arcadeshock).

https://www.amazon.com/Travel-Duffel-Backpack-Large-Military/dp/B018UJX61C/ref=lp_9503679011_1_10?srs=9503679011&ie=UTF8&qid=1467077927&sr=8-10
Sorry for thread hijacking :frowning:

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A Panzer is Jasen Hick’s custom arcade stick case. There’s the Panzer OG and there’s the Panzer 2 which has more functions, very modular, and built in LEDs for the buttons when/if you want to get a Kaimana with it. Made of 14 gauge cold rolled steel, a true beauty really. I mean for backpacks, just get ones with inner paddings, durable fabric, and fits your needs in terms of size. Yea don’t derail this too far, but just as long as it doesn’t completely change the topic, it’s fine. I consider backpacks to be in the gray area, since the Guardian is a backpack or bag. I’d go for slightly larger to be safe if you got a VLX, but it might work.

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Panzer is a German WWII Tank, its also the name of @“Jasen Hicks” Metal construction Arcade sticks.
They are big, heavy, made of 16 gauge steel, I own two of them.

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Got it. So VLX is A Tier and Panzer is S Tier?
Thank you :slight_smile:

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Copyarc with that HRAP.V lookalike.

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I’m suspicious of the quality of the clamps on the “carbon” Qanba. Reminds me of the plastic clamps on some budget racing wheels. Anyone tried it?

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Thx, looks like I will wait for reviews. A sub $100 multi-platform stick definitely piques my interest.

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There’s already a Qanba thread but whatevs.

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It’s not “multi-platform” though at least not like older Qanbas.

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Drone prototype before they settled on the lackluster design that they did…

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a189/gumbyslide/Arcade%20Sticks/Screenshot_20160702-150710.png

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I would have so bought that stick if it had that design.
I mean wtf were they thinking when they discarded that?