Tonestarr are you talking about the SF4 MadCatz Fighting Stick. Only the 150 dollar stick uses Sanwa parts the 80 dollar stick does not. Now both sticks use a square gate which means that the joystick can only be moved in a square. That is actually not a bad thing though, a square shape actually allows you to feel corners better and has less deadzone (you can see via pictures). However you will need a little bit of time to get used to a square gate if you've been playing on octagonal or round gates.
Now in terms of button layout, for my hands and for the majority of people's hands I would have to definitely give the edge to the HRAP3. The button spacing is much better and more arced. If you have large hands I would suggest the MadCatz a bit more if you have medium size/small hands I believe the HRAP3 is the way to go. The HRAP3 uses Hori buttons which aren't anything to scream about but the 80 dollar fightstick doesn't exactly have stellar buttons either.
From my personal experience I've only used the 80 dollar Madcatz stick it's a decent stick, but keep in mind that your fightstick will go through wear and tear like any fightstick. My friend's Madcatz he got on the day of SF4 is already wearing down. I'm not too sure about Madcatz sticks but I know HRAP3 sticks have always been mod friendly so if anything should happen to your button or joystick it'd be easy to replace with another. Personally if I were you I'd shell out the extra money for the HRAP3, do a small amount of research on button modding should you ever need to replace anything (you will eventually) And here's a good site for research should you ever get into repairing your stick.
http://slagcoin.com/joystick/introduction.html
I also prefer the HRAP3 because of the lack of artwork on the stick box would allow me to paint something on it myself.
