IMO, this is pretty decent bang for your buck.
I respectfully disagree. I'll take you point by point as to why.
I've written to several places and they have all quoted me $100 for each stick, shipping not included. That's at least $200 for the sticks alone
The sanwa company, Japan based, like HORI, has the sticks listed at about 8500 yen, roughly $85 or so, give or take due to conversion rates. Considering shipping isn't a factor in this case, your looking at about $170. However I imagine a company like HORI gets discounts for ordering in bulk, it would make no sense to do otherwise...but thats purely speculation.
Add in the PCB
Here's an interesting point. A Mad Catz PCB goes for about $25 in america. A microsoft official controller $30. Wired by the way. I assume however that production and cost to the company is much less than that. HORI makes it's stuff in house, so a personal estimate is maybe $15 per pcb in parts and assembly...this is just a personal guess mind you.
buttons, wiring
We have 6 buttons, they look simetsu though they may be modded sanwa or in-house made by HORI. If they are made by Hori than this point is moot, but lets assume that since they used sanwa joysticks they didn't cheap out on the buttons. Thats maybe $2 per button on the high end. So $12 or so for the buttons? The only thing i'm not sure of is the guide button assembly...maybe another $1 or $2, depending on where the materials are sourced from. Wiring is reletively cheap, though I imagine the actuall wiring could be used to factor in labor costs...
or get a custom fabricated one, you're looking at potentially another $130.
A bare custom container will cost anywhere from $50 upwards, and thats basically what HORI used in this twinstick, nothing very special about it, it's plastic, and metal, like everything else in HORI's lineup...
It would be hard to build one on your own of comparable quality for less than $350, unless you happen to already have a woodshop or metalshop set up in your garage.
Or your mentholmoose, who has litterally arcade quality twinsticks for, if i'm not mistaken, about $200+? Actually, I built my twinsticks for about $35, but I got a lot for free, or I had some things lying around already. Quality can come into question but still...
for $300, I would like something that feels extra hefty. I've never held an HRAP before, but I imagine it's plastic and doesn't feel as heavy.
If it's anything like the Tekken 5 HORI (which I own) than it's a heavy-ish plastic base, possably a metal top plate (the t5 stick has a plastic top-plate if i'm not mistaken), and a heavy-er metal bottom plate, very sturdy, stable, definitly has weight to it. There where plenty of warnings on the box about the weight.
My major gripe, is for $300, I want it to look like I paid $300 for it. It has the aesthetic appeal of this thing:
http://store.videogamecentral.com/peuncorearco.html
Thats the Pelican Real arcade pro, for $50. It looks like it's worth $50. And so does the HORI VO stick. It looks like someone took my T5 hori stick, swapped the top panel, and spraypainted everything, even the red triggers/buttons on the sticks themselves, with a few matte-black spray-cans. For $300 it should have an aesthetic value to it. The $50 Saturn sticks had aesthetic value, the $50-$70 Dreamcast sticks had a stylish charm that matched the Dreamcast itself. This has the aesthetic charm of a $50 wood case with black contact paper on it.
It's embarrassing. I guess HORI's concern was function before fashion, even so, for $300 was it too much to ask to at least add a VO logo somewhere to it? The Tangram Eye to add some color? You couldn't screenprint the BUNNY fei-yen/angelin picture on to the top plate for lols and "kawaii"'s? Seriously? Something? Nothing? For $300? Comeon...
Even Mad-Catz can do better than that, and thats saying something I think...
Personally, I could probably do something comparable for cheaper, if not by too much, maybe around $250 or so. Having said all that, HORI is a company, so making a profit is foremost in the company's mind. Still, I hope the pre-order limit number is small, otherwise HORI will be making no money from this, thats just my opinion anyway.