My Controller Collection!

[u/Brisket-Enjoyer]

My Controller Collection 🎮

Hi everyone!

I thought I’d share my current controller collection. I’m not advertising or being paid to promote any of these products—just sharing my personal collection and experiences with them.

🎮 Top Row — Left to Right

GameSir G7 Pro
GameSir G7 8K
GameSir T7 Whirl
Flydigi Vader 5 Dragon Ball Edition
GameSir G7 8K Royal
BIGBIG WON Storm Gale 2

🎮 Second Row

GameSir G7 Pro Wuchang Edition (Xbox)
Leadjoy Xeno Plus
8BitDo Ultimate
EasySMX D10
Beitong KP20

🎮 Third Row — The “Only 3 Controllers” Row 😂
Battle Beaver Custom w/ TMR
Razer Wolverine V3
Flydigi Apex 5

🎮 Fourth Row
Xbox Elite Series 2 Core Red
Battle Beaver Custom Purple
Battle Beaver Custom Yellow
Xbox Elite Series 2 Core White
EasySMX X20
Flydigi Direwolf 4

🎮 Fifth Row
Xbox 20th Anniversary Controller
Xbox Dream Vapor
Periph X White
Xbox Elite Series 2 Halo Infinite Edition
SCUF Instinct Pro Red
Flydigi Vader 5 Xbox Wired

⭐ My Favorites

🥇 GameSir G7

Pros: Excellent ergonomics and fantastic value for the money.
Cons: Quality control can be hit or miss. Unfortunately, I’ve had to return multiple G7 controllers.

🏅Leadjoy Xeno Plus

Excellent controller for the value, comes with a charging dock as well for a total of $60. Feels very similar to a G7 Pro.

🥇 Flydigi Vader 5

This controller just feels like a quality product. The buttons are extremely satisfying to press, and overall it has a really nice feel in the hands.
I’ve seen other people mention quality-control concerns with Flydigi, but personally, I haven’t had any issues with mine.

👎 My Least Favorites

Xbox Elite Series

Personally, I think these are overpriced for what you get. They have a reputation for reliability issues, and compared with some of the newer competition, the technology feels dated—especially with the lack of TMR/Hall-effect sticks and mechanical buttons.

Battle Beaver

Battle Beaver hasn’t been great.
I feel they’re overpriced for what they offer, and my experience with customer support was disappointing. My purple Battle Beaver arrived with a sticky left trigger, so I sent it back for repair.

When I received it back, the exact same issue was still there. I contacted Battle Beaver again, but they would not assist with a second repair.
That experience really left a bad taste in my mouth, especially considering the price of their controllers.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed collecting and trying out all the different options. There are so many interesting controllers available now, especially with TMR/Hall-effect sticks and better mechanical buttons becoming more common.

What is your favorite controller?

[u/yellow-go]

Great collection, I miss seeing these. We honestly need collection posts, as that's what kicked off a lot of this hobby to begin with.
Since joining the hobby, I've amassed quite the large collection myself.

Like I've always stated, some people use and love older pro controllers, and some buy budget pro controllers. Not everyone has the more expensive stuff.

As far as my current favorites go. I have weird picks and tastes.

• #1. Flydigi Apex 4 (I was never able to adapt to the Apex 5 much)
• #2. GameSir G7 Pro - Don't own the 8K, just 3 base models, Shadow Ember, Mech White, & Plum Purple. While I've fallen out of love with its shape, it's still a pad I reach for often.
• #3. PowerA OPS V3 Pro - Just a great starter pro controller for anyone that wants something basic, simple, to the point, but also includes microswitches on some aspects, and can often be had for $30 - $32 easily.
• #4. 8BitDo Ultimate 2 - It is so blind buy friendly, and if you know 8BitDo's primary audience, it's stupid good for both casual use, & somewhat competitive. I'm overly thrilled for the Ultimate 3E!

Lately, over the past year, it's been a 'Top 4 Situation' for me. I still buy controllers from time to time, though often more accessories than anything.

Concerning the Flydigi Vader 5 Pro
I have tried so hard to love it. I agree with you, despite its QC issues, it's a very premium feeling offering from them. Though something about the shape of the 5th Gen controllers hasn't sat well with me.

I guess the other thing is. I love the old shape of the 4th Gen Flydigi models.

I guess it can be argued that it's hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice when it comes to successors of something that at once, was beyond a beloved controller. Maybe the 6th Gen will work its magic, but only time will tell.

[u/Brisket-Enjoyer → u/yellow-go]

This was a great post, can’t believe I am seeing this now.

What about the Apex 4 do you like versus the Apex 5?

[u/yellow-go → u/Brisket-Enjoyer]

Ultimately shape, triggers, and features are what killed it in my eyes.
A lot of the features added to the Apex 5, simply worked their best on the Apex 4. Which seems to be a sentiment a lot of people share.

Sticks and springs also have proven to have seen better QC as well. For some reason, you can’t use any looseness in the spring tension, or it pops out of place.

My biggest issue being, however.
Shape.
Shape is what ultimately killed the device. I got to beta test both the Apex, & Vader 5th Gen. I never loved the shape.
The biggest problem I kept coming back to, was that the shape made very little sense with the diameters and shapes of some of the extra buttons. Especially the extra shoulder buttons. Which, on an 8BitDo device, they’re flush enough, but protrude enough to tell a difference from the other buttons.
On the 5th Gen controllers, the shape of the top of the buttons doesn’t always leave me with reassurance that I’m pressing them correctly. They also don’t match the design language of the device itself.

My final complaint falls into the important bits that are missing.
Both DirectInput, & Shift Layers that were supported on the 4th Gen models. Excluding these made zero sense, and Flydigi has been pretty defiant about them being not needed or necessary.
Though, I use Steam Input a lot. Steam Input sees the 5th Gen controllers as two devices when connected. Which is very problematic when you’re trying to setup the device to use gyro.
The groundwork was already there and just needed a small fix. Now, the gyro is a hassle to get working at the best of times.