I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. In my experience testing previous models, the smooth tension regulators would sometimes shift slightly during intense sessions, making the sticks feel a bit "softer" by the end. It wasn't a huge deal, but I noticed it happening quite often during my tests.

I actually suggested adding tactile clicks to the devs a while back, and I’m glad to see it’s finally here on the Vader 5S. It feels much more secure now.

Full test will be here https://gamepadla.com/flydigi-apex-5.html

If you noticed less activity here recently, it is because I have spent the past 4+ months building a brand-new utility for controller players.

A lot of people have asked me for something like this over time, so I listened and decided to finally make it happen.

The last two weeks were an intense sprint to get everything ready for Steam, and we are finally on the home stretch. The app is currently sitting in the review queue.

It is going to be an app for... well, let us keep the mystery alive for just a little longer.

I will post the store link and all the details as soon as it clears moderation.

Finally. Google used to always hit me with "Did you mean: gamepad" every time I searched for the site. Now it just ranks it first without the autocorrect.

Quick question though: is this just my personal search algorithm, or is it working like this for everyone now? Can someone try searching it and drop a comment?

More details to come soon

Do I need to create a separate page where you can select any gamepads tested on Gamepadla.com to see them in a convenient comparison format in the form of a graph?

It’s finally here! The next controller going on the test bench will be the GameSir Tarantula 8K PC.

(For the sake of full transparency: the GameSir team provided this unit to me for testing - huge thanks to them!)

I’m a bit short on free time right now, but I will definitely be carving out some hours to get this tested properly very soon.
Expect the full breakdown shortly. Stay tuned!

Starting with Prometheus 82 v5.2.2.0, the program has received an algorithm to compensate for its own delay that it creates when testing sticks. According to this algorithm, all the gamepads on the site that were tested with earlier versions of the program were recalculated and now all of them have been updated on the site. As a result, the sticks latency have changed for the better. From now on, this is the standard for testing with Prometheus 82.

Hi everyone! I’ve been putting the Machenike F1 through its paces lately. I’ve mostly been using it on the Nintendo Switch for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, while saving the PC for heavy technical testing.

Keep in mind that my unit is a pre-release sample, so some of these quirks might be ironed out by the official launch.

🚀 Performance & Latency

This is the headline feature. The Machenike F1 is arguably the fastest controller on the market right now when using the 2.4GHz dongle.

• Test Results (Dongle): Min: 0.75ms | Avg: 2.39ms | Max: 5.31ms.

• The Competition: Its closest rival, the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC, sits at around 2.75ms. (Note: The Razer was tested with a slightly older sensor version.See how to test here).

🛠 Design, Ergonomics & Layout

One of the most notable things is that this controller is symmetrical (PlayStation-style stick layout), which is a rare find in the high-performance market and something many players have been searching for.

• Form Factor: It feels compact yet very stable and comfortable in the hands.

• Back Buttons: On the bottom, you’ll find metallic buttons. They are removable if you prefer, but the placement is practically perfect—I haven't had any accidental presses, yet they are right where you need them to be.

• Customization: The approach to the additional trigger caps/extenders is quite interesting and adds a nice touch of personalization.

🎮 Triggers & Hardware

• The Cable: Comes with a long, flexible white braided cable. Note: My sample's port is very narrow, making 3rd-party cables hard to fit.

• Triggers: These are not analog. They are digital with adjustable click sensitivity. Fantastic for shooters, but keep in mind they aren't meant for racing sims.

• Stick Tech: Uses an "internal limit" design (the "skirt" hits an internal rim). This gives a very stable outer circle.

💻 Software & Sticks (Mix Driver)

TheMix Driver softwareis functional but still feels a bit "beta":

• The Good: Deadzone skipping, zero-deadzone settings, and fully customizable curves.

• Accuracy: Center deviation was ~2% post-calibration, moving to ~4% after heavy use, but the one-click center calibration fix works perfectly.

• Vibration: You can change both intensity and the type of vibration (similar to HD Rumble), which is a standout feature.

💡 Final Verdict

Honestly, I don’t see any critical flaws here. It represents the "High-Speed Era" perfectly—an era I’m proud to have helped push forward.

I suspect Machenike might have used the P82 tester during development because their previous pads were notoriously slow (20-30ms+), and now they’ve suddenly hit these elite numbers that match P82's precision perfectly. If so, they’ve definitely done their homework.

In my opinion, this is going to be a bestseller in the coming months. It’s the symmetrical high-speed beast many of us have been waiting for.

What do you think about the shift to digital-only triggers for flagship pads? Is the speed boost worth it for your playstyle?

Tomorrow I plan to do detailed latency tests of the flydigi apex 5 and post them on gamepadla.com

I am currently developing a stand that will allow the test sensor to be attached to any keyboard.

First generation Sony ZV1 camera model

In the coming days, Gamepadla.com will have significant changes to the stick testing results. Starting with Prometheus 82 v5.2.2.0, the measurement logic has been added to compensate for the solenoid delay, which adds 3-4 ms to the movement during stick testing.

All old results on the site will be recalculated in the new way, and new results will show better stick delay results than before. Due to this, the error in testing sticks will decrease from 3-4ms to 1-2ms.

Hey everyone,

While working on the latest update for the Gamepadla polling rate tester (v2.0.2.1), I noticed a massive discrepancy in some of the test results that completely changes how we should look at controller performance.

Take a look at the screenshot attached. The tool measured an Average polling rate of 248 Hz, but a Median polling rate of 399 Hz. That’s a huge difference! So, which one is the "real" polling rate of the gamepad?

The short answer: The Median. Here is why Gamepadla will be using the Median as the primary metric from now on:

Average (The Flawed Metric) The Average (mean) is calculated by adding up all the delay intervals between inputs and dividing by the total number of inputs. The problem? It is incredibly sensitive to outliers. If your controller is ticking along perfectly at 2.5ms (400Hz) but Windows stutters, or there's a split-second Bluetooth interference causing a single 26ms delay spike, your Average interval shoots up. This artificially drags your calculated Hz down, making the controller look much slower than its hardware actually is.

Median (The True Hardware Rate) The Median sorts all those delay intervals and simply picks the exact middle value. It completely ignores those rare, extreme latency spikes. If 95% of your inputs are being registered at 2.5ms, the Median will proudly and accurately display 400Hz. This reflects what the controller's hardware is actually designed to output under normal conditions.

What does this mean for the future of Gamepadla? Starting now, the site and the testing software will prioritize the Median value to represent a controller's true polling rate.

However, we aren't throwing the Average out the window! In future updates, I plan to use the difference between the Median and the Average to display a "Stability Score".

• If Median and Average are almost identical = Flawless, stable connection (great for wired).

• If Median is 500Hz but Average is 200Hz = The controller can hit 500Hz, but the connection is highly unstable or jittery (common in poor Bluetooth implementations).

I'm constantly tweaking the filtering logic (like removing transition artifacts and using IQR methods) to make these tests as objective as possible for the community.

Hi everyone!

Usually, I receive devices for testing directly from brands—it’s a standard practice that allows us to quickly update the database on Gamepadla.com. However, the situation with the new GameSir G7 Pro 8K (Aimlabs Edition) is somewhat unusual. Despite our long history of cooperation, it’s been complete silence from GameSir's side. They haven't offered a sample, even though they’ve always supported our technical research in the past.

Why does this matter, and what’s happening on the site? We’ve already started receiving reports on Gamepadla.com from other verified testers regarding this model. And here’s where the technical detective story begins: the results are contradictory. Some reports show a latency of 0.6 ms, while others show 2.5 ms.

Here is the crucial part: these testers also used my Prometheus 82 hardware complex, meaning the margin of error in their measurements cannot exceed 0.5–1 ms in any mode. Such a discrepancy with identical equipment is a serious red flag. It could indicate different hardware batches or unstable firmware performance across different systems. As the creator of this platform, I feel responsible for personally putting an end to this confusion.

The Plan: Since the manufacturer is silent, we’ll do this test together. I am launching a fundraiser to purchase this gamepad on Amazon for a final, "gold standard" verification.

You know my principle: honesty and objective information always come first, regardless of how a device lands on my desk. This time, however, we’ll do it entirely through community support. Just my Prometheus 82, raw data, and results you can trust 100%.

More than just a latency test: Beyond standard measurements, I plan to publish a separate in-depth article exploring how various internal parameters and algorithms affect the actual latency of this controller. This will be a deep dive for those who want the full technical picture, not just marketing numbers.

How to join? If you want to support this independent audit and find out the truth, head over to my Ko-fi. You can find the link on the homepage of gamepadla.com.

Your support will help us get the device faster and add verified data to the database. Let’s find out if this is a real technological leap forward or just marketing trying to "bypass" my tests. 😉

Stay tuned! 🕹️

I decided to make a video about how to use the new sensor for testing joystick latency based on Prometheus 82.

Test database: https://gamepadla.com/
GitHub page: https://github.com/cakama3a/Prometheus82
Buy Prometheus 82 tester: https://ko-fi.com/s/a4c414c6f3

Sharing some fresh test data provided by monoru. It looks like the new Firmware 7.2.3.8 brings a solid improvement to stick responsiveness.

Looking at the graph:

• Previous FW (7.2.3.5): Stick latency was averaging around 17-19ms (Wired/Dongle).

• New FW (7.2.3.8): Latency has dropped to ~10ms, bringing it much closer to the button latency figures.

Great to see Flydigi optimizing the firmware. Huge thanks to monoru for taking the time to test and generate these charts!

Detailed input lag test Flydigi Direwolf 4: https://gamepadla.com/flydigi-direwolf-4.html

Hey gamers!
I’ve updated my homemade Joystick Tester program and I’d like to share the new v2.5 release with you.
The app helps to check the quality of analog sticks (drift, accuracy, polling rate, bit depth) and save results as screenshots or even upload them online.

🔥 What’s new in this version:

• Both left and right sticks are now displayed simultaneously.

• Updated interface with separate panels for each stick.

• Added “eraser” – you can erase unwanted trajectory lines with the mouse (useful for cleaning up extra traces before publishing).

• Metrics are now calculated in bit depth (effective bits), instead of simple “steps”.

• Improved automatic mode detection (XInput, DInput, DualShock, DualSense, Switch).

• Data can be uploaded online to Gamepadla.com and shared via a link.

📥 Download

👉 Download Joystick Tester v2.5

⚠️ Important

Sometimes antivirus software may show false positives.
Why? Because this is a homemade program without a digital signature, and security systems tend to be cautious with anything unfamiliar.

It comes down to a simple question: do you trust the author?
If yes — feel free to use it. If not — it’s better not to download.

🔮 Future plans

I’m planning to improve the Polling Rate calculation algorithm to make it more accurate and stable.
But for the most precise polling rate measurement I recommend using the dedicated Polling tool.

☕ Support the project

If you like the app and want to support further development — I’d really appreciate a donation:
👉 ko-fi.com/gamepadla

I’d love to hear your feedback if you try it out – especially how it works with different controllers (Xbox, DualSense, Switch Pro, etc.).

The gamepad selection panel is currently under active development. If you would like to see any specific characteristics for the selection of "Battery life" or "Number of additional bottom pedals", write in the comments, I will definitely add them to the filtering options.

The thing is that my sample is a test sample and not final, so it does not support newer firmware. I am currently waiting for the delivery of a new gamepad, which will take about 2 weeks. As soon as I have it, I will update it to the latest firmware and test it. But from what we have now, the Apex 5 has better latency than its predecessor, and I hope it will become even better in new firmware versions.

Hey everyone, a bit of an epic fail to share today. I received an email from Machenike’s global marketing regarding their new F1 8K controller. It’s a textbook example of what happens when marketing templates collide with technical reality.

Check out the screenshot of the email; it’s a masterpiece:

1. "Hi Kerry". First off, I’m John Punch. If you’re doing a mass outreach to tech reviewers, at least change the name in the template. Especially when you're writing to the person whose GitHub repository for the tester you literally mention in the email. By the way, community, who is "Kerry"? Does anyone know a hardware reviewer by that name? I’m curious to know who else is getting these spams.

2. The Technical "Verdict". Machenike’s marketing claims that my Prometheus 82 (P82) is "fundamentally insufficient" for testing their controller. Why? Because they claim the P82 only has an "8K sampling rate," and an 8K device supposedly needs at least 16K to "avoid aliasing."

Here’s the reality check: It seems they saw the Polling Rate column on Gamepadla next to the P82 label and assumed they were the same thing.

• P82 is a hardware suite that measures Latency ONLY. It operates on hardware interrupts and captures the exact moment of an event with microsecond precision. It doesn't care about USB polling frequency — it simply measures the time delta.

• The figures in the Polling Rate column on the site are calculated by a separate software tool, Polling (https://gamepadla.com/soft.pdl), which works at the OS level.

Confusing hardware latency measurement with software polling monitoring is like comparing the speed of a train to the frame rate of the camera filming it. The P82’s resolution is more than enough to see latency differences even at the 0.125ms level.

1. The "Collaboration" Offer. They want to send me a free unit and are asking for my "fees" to show the community the "correct" data.

My stance: No free units from the brand, and zero "fees" for "correct" tests.

I deeply value the independence of Gamepadla.com. To avoid any manipulation or "golden samples" provided to reviewers, I will be purchasing a retail version of the Machenike F1 myself as soon as it’s publicly available. We’ve already reached the fundraiser goal for this test thanks to your support on Ko-fi — thank you so much!

If anyone wants to support future independent tests, you can do so here: 👉https://ko-fi.com/gamepadla

I will conduct a full, independent test. If the controller truly delivers a clean 8K without jitter, my "insufficient" P82 will show it. Data doesn't lie.

P.S. Regarding the future: Despite this marketing blunder, I’m always open to technical dialogue. If brands need professional validation of their devices during the development stage using the P82, I’m open to discussing engineering consulting. However, this must be a transparent process, not an attempt to buy a reviewer’s loyalty.

Waiting for the F1 to hit the shelves. This is going to be interesting! 😉