After having owned a cheap arcade stick for some time now, I have concluded that their only real use is for modding. Really, if you're scared of modding, just bite the bullet and pay a bit more. Or, mod. No one says you have to do it immediately, you can taste the annoyance of a crappy stick first (like mine; balltop tries to unscrew constantly, I'd glue it but I need to be able to get it loose when I mod it).