Rubber: How long will it last?

[MotherGunner]

Hey Guys, first off yes, it's been a while, been busy with work (from home) and just came out of a lower back injury that has me in physical therapy for a couple more months.  Definitely good to see so many new faces!

Anyways, I just sent a fellow obeyer some spare parts for his controller and it got me thinking:

How long will the rubber button pads in our controllers actually last?  I am sure as the years go by, kitbashing other controllers for parts will get harder and harder.

There is definitely a market in these little pads for just about any game system that uses them.  On a side note, I just saw the new flash card tech coming out and that is great, but I wish a company actually created NEW hardware altogether.

Anyways, would love to hear what you guys think.  Good to be back.

[vestcoat]

The most important thing is to store controllers without any weight on the buttons. Whenever I've seen a controller come out of the bottom of a box after three years with a bunch of shit on top of it, the buttons are always very spongy and it's basically ruined. NEC pads seem to be holding up fairly well, but I've seen a lot of bad Genesis and SMS controllers.

[RegalSin]

Varibles of lastablity is

Being exposed to

oxygan
Sunlight
Damp atmosphere
Hot atmosphere ( like the summer heat )
Dirt sticking to joints
The sweat from a persons hand.
Mold is another horrorstory.

The flat fact is their are many things that could ware out the
rubber, but in most instances, the "rubber" might have something
inside of it, that is keeping it together.

[GohanX]

TG-16 controllers are tough and cheap, I think I have enough new ones to last me until the end times.