HRAP 1 & 2 - Where can they be sourced in the USA?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:02 am

There was a thread with a link to a site that sells HRAP 1 & 2 joysticks.

I can't find it. I would appreciate it if someone could put a linky here

I'm talking about a USA based website. Not play-asia, i'm trying to avoid the $50 shipping

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:44 am

http://www.vgonetwork.com/article.aspx?id=181

They're currently out of both sticks but are ordering more, which I assume should arrive in at most a couple of months, judging from experience.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:54 am

I'm talking about a USA based website. Not play-asia, i'm trying to avoid the $50 shipping

Somehow or another, the user pays for the shipping from Asia. There is no way around it.... damn big Earth.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 4:38 am

I understand that. But P-A are charging something like $80 for the joystick and $50 for the shipping (according to forums where people have bought one).

This site sells for about $112.. not much a saving tbh. I never thought i'd see the day i'd pay $112 for a joystick

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:18 am

Is the Tekken 5 joystick in the bundle based on a HRAP? Have to do some parts swapping though.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:27 am

No its not.

Besides I don't buy joysticks with graphics on them. I have messed with a T5 though and it felt pretty good.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:23 am

Well, it's a great stick, and would cost you more probably to have one custom made w/ the same parts.

DC906270 · Post by **DC906270** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 6:38 pm

i got mine from NCSX, it worked out cheaper from there than from playasia with shipping costs added. probably sold out now though i fear.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:37 pm

I got my HRAP2 from VGO for $92 shipped just last year. You pay the extra $20 extra for not getting in when there was low demand.

Daigohji · Post by **Daigohji** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:47 pm

The HRAP has been out of stock at NCSX for a while, but it's back in now.

http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/HP2-134.html

Back when I was shopping for one I was going to order from Lik-Sang, since they have a nice VAT-dodging clearing house in the EU. Obviously they stopped stocking it a few hours before I planned to place the order

so I ended up ordering from Play-Asia.

It's a great piece of hardware, but damn, I feel ill when I think about how much it ended up costing me. HRAP1 + UPS shipping + VAT + UPS clearing charges = UK£130 (approx US$245). That's more than a PS2 costs these days.

Paik4Life · Post by **Paik4Life** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:17 pm

HRAPs are way overrated in my book. I mean you're paying around $100 or more for a stick that's basically a T5 stick with a JLF and QDs. You're still going to want to mod out the buttons with Sanwa/Seimitsu which will cost you around $2-$3 per button depending on where you buy and also shipping. If you mod out all 10 buttons (8 action and 2 start/select), that's another $20-$30 plus shipping. That's $120-$130+ for a stick that's very bulky, very heavy, and altogether not even interesting looking. You can't put your own artwork on it without cutting a piece of plexi or lexan (added cost).

Personally, I'd shell out the extra to get someone to make me a custom stick (well I wouldn't do that because I actually build my own sticks but you know what I mean). I think you get a better value for your money and it's more personal.

If you really like the HRAP look/size, mod a T5 yourself. The only difference is the button layout after you mod it. Here's a pic of the one I did a while back after I starting building my own sticks. I put a plexi layer on top so that I could cover up the buttons that I didn't want (L1 and L2) and so I could put artwork on it in the future (never feel like doing it since I never use this stick anyway). I moved the start and select to the sides and repainted the whole thing white.

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a141/Paik4Life/Mods/

Feel free to check out my custom jobs here just for kicks:

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a141/Paik4Life/

~Paik

tekneekz · Post by **tekneekz** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:05 pm

tekken sticks may be cheaper but their buttons are soldered on unlike the hraps quick disconnect making modding much easier. its better in the long run after u go through couple sets of buttons.

Paik4Life · Post by **Paik4Life** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:35 pm

Well, when you mod the stick the first time you solder wires to the PCB and then have QDs at the end of the wires and those QDs go to the buttons. That's what most people would do. At least that's what I did. : )

~Paik

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:13 am

The lightning T5 stick from Japan is almost a HRAP in disguise. It uses the Sanwa stick with hori buttons.

I believe the T5 stick in the USA uses all Hori parts.

tekneekz · Post by **tekneekz** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:29 am

Ganelon wrote:I got my HRAP2 from VGO for $92 shipped just last year. You pay the extra $20 extra for not getting in when there was low demand.

man i didnt know they had hrap 2 for 92$ shipped.. i bought an hrap 1 from them for 99 bucks shipped and my hrap 2 first batch from them was 121$, 22 bucks shipping.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:47 pm

The JP T5 stick IS an HRAP. However, the buttons are glued on, which may make modding a bit annoying the first time.

And yeah, $92 was VGO's initial w/shipping price for the HRAP2 when they first started selling the sticks; waited a few months for them to get the shipment and mail it to me though.