Standard xbox controllers have sticks that are soldered on in about 10 places each side. They are a total pain to replace, and the PCB will fail after 2 or 3 replacements.
At least the switch uses ZIF connectors. They tiny and fiddly, but it’s way better than an hour wielding a soldering iron.
Ooh my Xbox one controller started joystick drifting. Got a 8bitdo instead
8bitdo are fantastic. I have a whole bunch of different devices from them
I have one of their SNES style pads, SN30 Pro I think, I’d absolutely love it for retro gaming if the D-Pad wasn’t so scuffed right out of the box. It’s way too stiff with edges that aren’t rounded enough, so my thumb always starts hurting and getting tired from how hard I have to push down on it. It also doesn’t do diagonals well. I played Earthbound for like 2 hours before I realized you could move diagonally.
Been meaning to take it apart, see if I can soften the rubber under the D-Pad somehow, just need to get the right screwdriver first, maybe just an iFixit kit finally.
Ooh my Xbox one controller started joystick drifting. Got a 8bitdo instead
Right direction but wtf?! 35$ for the joystick PCB… nah thanks I gonna go and buy a whole hall effect controller for this price…
I’m sure they are good (they don’t drift), but we’ve all grown up with “regular” joysticks and they were fine. Now all of a sudden, hall effects is the latest gaming buzzword that all gamers apparently need to get. Not saying that hall effects don’t have positives, but I do find it funny that all of a sudden its a big deal in the industry.
Hall effect has been the norm in all but the cheapest sim gear (sticks, throttles, etc) for a very long time now.
Hall effect gimbals on radio control/drone controllers have been pretty common for some time, too.
It’s mostly that this is a solved problem that more general purpose controllers are just now catching up to after the problem’s been exacerbated by the smaller gimbals used in modern controllers.
“GameSir G7 SE” is pretty new on the market. The SE version has hall effect joysticks but lacks the mechanical buttons from the previous G7 model. Both of them are wired. Looked up reviews of them and they seem to be pretty solid for this price range. Can’t tell anything about quality myself since mine hasn’t arrived yet. When ordering, put it in your cart and fill out your adress and email but dont pay/checkout. After some time you will get an email with 10% off, later another one with 15^^
Noted a disproportionate number of complaints about the Elite controller. Is it a case of perception (expensive controller so any faults are amplified), or the customer base that buys them (hardcore gamers who thus put more hours into the controller and work them harder), or both? I have the basic Xbox One controller as well as the newer one, and I’ve no complaints. As a PC gamer they aren’t my main controllers so they don’t get to see that much use, probably about 100 hours a year at most.
I can only speak anecdotally, but I have used my elite controller 1 way less than other controllers in my life. The metal piece in the base of the joystick cracked after less than a year of owning the controller. Now the left stick is extremely loose. The right bumper hardly works, and the plastic is failing and is all sticky now. Those last two seemed to fail after years of not using the controller somehow.
Only issue i had with mine is that it doesn’t tend to like charging from the contacts on the back, not a huge deal when i can just use usb C anyways. But yeah, it’s super luck of the draw. I love the controller to death though so i can’t blame people for continually coming back for more. The playstation alternative isn’t exactly as good on PC feature wise and has less paddles too.
I own 2 elites and have never had a problem with them. Anecdotally, a lot of the time that I see complaints about controllers, people seem to say they have the same issue over and over again and I just assume they’re hard on hardware and can’t accept responsibility.
I own a bunch of the normal Xbox One controllers and haven’t had any issues with them with the exception of wear and tear on the shoulders (too much Rocket League).
I got the Elite Series 2 and immediately noticed two defects out of the box (face buttons registering phantom presses or they simply don’t register presses at all). Sent to Microsoft to be repaired, got it back and it seemed better but they somehow broke the tension lock on the right joystick, so I sent it in for repair again. Got it back and it seemed alright, but then noticed the original problems with the face buttons within about a day, while not to the same degree, still unreliable.
What the hell, third time’s a charm, right? No dice. Got it back seemingly in the exact same condition. As far as I can tell, there’s something seriously wrong with the Series 2. My friend has no such issues with his, but I read about similar horror stories of people experiencing the same problem I’m having. I just stopped sending the controller in for repair when it seemed like it was a pointless endeavor.
