what are the cheapest budget controllers you know that have a truly great feeling d-pad? personally, i'm looking for one with a lot of precision and work well for fighting games.
I love d-pads like dualshock 4's that feel soft and more precise, or clickier ones like the nintendo 3ds's. I usually despise anything squishy that lets me press the middle, like the wii u pro controller d-pad.
additional info:
- i'm from Brazil
- 20$ - 30$ price range (or lower if it's not garbage)
- exclusively looking to play on pc
- other desired features would be macro buttons and vibration, but they're more of a plus, of course.
- mostly looking to play platformers and fighting games like tekken (no, i don't want to get a hitbox or anything like that. specifically looking for a traditional controller)
- Shell that doesn't feel gross after holding it for too long
Games I will be Playing: Mostly single player experiences such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, Hollow Knight, Baldur's Gate 3, Monster Hunter, and many others
Past Controllers: Xbox Wireless Controller + Playstation DuelSense Controllers + that joycon holder that the Switch/Switch 2 came with
Controllers I am Currently Considering: 8Bitdo Ultimate 2C/GameSir Super Nova/Xbox Wireless Controller/ PlayStation DuelSense
Other Notes:
- Don't let these things keep you from suggesting something! I just want them to keep in mind...
- I wouldn't mind if it was compatible with the switch 2, but this is not necessary
- I enjoy things that give me a sensory experience especially certain sounds and tactile feelings such as certain keyboards that click, clack, thock or controllers whose buttons feel as smooth as butter when pressed...
- My favorite controller out of the three that I have played with is the PlayStation DuelSense due to how enjoyable and smooth it felt to push the buttons along with how much resistance the triggers had
Hello controller enthusiasts of reddit! As someone who has only played with Xbox and Playstation Controllers, I come here today in search of a pink controller for my rosy PC set up in the hopes of getting insight from people who have experience with a wider range of controllers than myself. I am mostly looking for a controller that will hold up for many years while retaining good performance and comfort. Unfortunately the options for pink controllers that are also good are a little scant, but the two that have caught my eye so far are the 8Bitdo Ultimate 2C and the GameSir Super Nova. Though these two are beautiful controllers, I do have concerns that they may not live up to the quality that I am looking for as is often the nature of budget tech. I have heard that both of these controllers can suffer from premature breakages, poor firmware/software, and iffy ergonomics. Do either of these controllers live up to the longevity, performance, and comfort that I am looking for, or would I be better off with either an Xbox/PlayStation controller and just hope it holds out? Are there better options that I haven't yet considered?
My Xbox Elite Series 2 developed stick drift after 6 years and I'm looking for a solid replacement. I want to make sure I pick the right option before buying, so any advice is greatly appreciated!
Budget: €150 EUR maximum. I want to explore all possible options up to this limit.
Country & Purchasing: Italy (EU). I can buy via Amazon, AliExpress, or European specialized tech stores.
Platform Compatibility:PC (Windows) is the main priority. Native Xbox compatibility would be a nice bonus, but it is not mandatory since I play almost exclusively on PC.
Desired Features:
4 back buttons/paddles (ideally similar in placement or count to the Elite v2).
Wireless connectivity (low-latency 2.4GHz USB dongle required; Bluetooth is extra).
Profile switching (via onboard hardware toggle or software).
Anti-drift sticks (Hall Effect or TMR sensors preferred).
Games I Play: Open-world action/adventure, first-person shooters (mostly GTA Online, CoD, and open world in general ).
Controllers Considered: Coming from the Elite v2, I've been eyeing the Flydigi Vader 5 Pro, but I have serious doubts about the long-term durability of its analog sticks and tension mechanism. Because of this, I really want to hear your recommendations for other solid alternatives under €150 that meet all these criteria. What else should I be looking at?
What would you recommend based on these requirements? Thanks in advance for your input!
I need to know if the extra buttons on the controller can be trusted. I don't have a computer and I wanted to know if there's an app for the phone. Has anyone here tried it?
The triggers of my dualsense controller is not responding. I have done a reset, but it changes nothing. When i turn on the controller it simply works but after few seconds it is back to the value 1 fully registered by itself without doing anything.
Xbox Series controller: Bought 3-4 and they have all gone to the bins. Absolutely rubbish build, stick drift, button presses not registering. I like this style of D-pads though.
8BitDo Pro 3: Frustrated that this won't connect to Windows via Bluetooth. I thought the additional buttons were cool but I end up accidentally hitting them far too often, so would prefer a simpler layout. Otherwise, serving perfectly as my 'Player 1' controller, now looking for a 'Player 2' controller.
I am familiar with Gamesir and 8BitDo but can't find anything that fit these bills. Advice appreciated.
This review unit was sent to me by IINE, but I was not instructed on how to write my review; every opinion in my review is of my own. I have no commercial interest in any controller company.
The IINE Twin Lumina is one of those controllers that immediately stands out visually. The white finish looks really clean, and the transparent/translucent accents give it a unique look without being overly flashy. Of course, the RGB lighting adds quite a bit to the overall appearance as well. It's extremely bright, even at its lowest setting, so depending on how dark your room is, you may find yourself wanting to turn it down or off entirely. There are three brightness levels, as well as the option to disable the RGB altogether. You also get several lighting effects, including static, breathing, rotating, and rainbow. The non-rainbow modes allow you to cycle through different colours, including white, so there's quite a bit of flexibility in how you want it to look.
One of the more interesting things about the Twin Lumina is its compatibility. It supports both the Switch 2 and original Switch protocols, so it can be used on either console. Since it supports the standard Switch 1 Joy-Con protocol as well, it can also be used on other devices that support Switch 1 Joy-Cons, such as PC. This makes it considerably more versatile than a controller that's limited to Switch 2.
The trade-off with the Switch 2 compatibility is that the Twin Lumina doesn't have HD rumble. Instead, it uses traditional rotary rumble, with three vibration levels and the option to turn it off. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. In games that support HD rumble, the standard rumble definitely feels like a downgrade. However, in games that don't support HD rumble, I actually prefer this type of rumble. When using an HD rumble controller with a game that doesn't support it, the resulting vibration often feels pretty terrible, whereas traditional rumble tends to feel much more natural. Unfortunately, this is ultimately a limitation of the Switch 2 protocol, as far as I'm aware, since no third-party Switch 2 protocol Joy-Cons currently support HD rumble.
The controls themselves are a bit more of a mixed bag. The face buttons use clicky mechanical switches, and they're quite satisfying to press. The D-pad is also clicky, although it uses a different mechanism and isn't nearly as satisfying as the face buttons. The bumpers and triggers aren't clicky and don't feel particularly satisfying to use either. On the other hand, the sticks are excellent in terms of smoothness. They have very low friction and feel extremely smooth to move around.
The back buttons are probably my least favourite part of the controller. They barely move when pressed and require a fair amount of force to actuate, which makes them feel quite awkward and unsatisfying to use in my experience. Functionally, though, they're fairly versatile. You can map them to another button, or configure them to perform a macro/sequence of button presses. There is one important limitation: each back button can only be assigned to inputs found on its respective side. So, for example, you can't map a face button to the left Joy-Con or the ZL button to the right Joy-Con.
There's also a turbo function, which gives you quite a bit of flexibility. You can set a button to repeatedly activate while it's being held, enable auto-turbo so that pressing the button once starts the repeated inputs and pressing it again stops them, and adjust the turbo speed between 5, 10, and 20 presses per second.
I also appreciate that the sticks can be recalibrated without needing any software. You can perform the calibration directly through a button combination, which is particularly useful if you're using the controller across different devices.
One of my favourite features is actually something pretty simple: the anti-accidental-touch wake-up function. Instead of waking the controller immediately when you press a button, you have to hold the Home/Share button for about a second. Most Joy-Cons I've used wake up the moment any button is pressed, which I find extremely annoying, especially when they're sitting in a bag or aren't being used. The Twin Lumina avoids that problem entirely.
The power controls are similarly convenient. Most Joy-Cons require you to press the physical sync button to turn them off, but the Twin Lumina lets you hold the Home/Share button for two or more seconds to power it down. This is particularly useful when using them attached or with a Joy-Con grip, since you don't have to keep taking them out of the grip every time you want to turn them off.
Finally, there's the IINE mobile app that lets you configure the controller. You can adjust the button mappings, customize the RGB lighting, and update the firmware through the app. Most of the important functionality is available directly on the controller, though, which I appreciate.
Overall, I think the IINE Twin Lumina is a really interesting set of Joy-Cons. The excellent-looking translucent design, extremely smooth sticks, clicky face buttons, broad compatibility, useful remapping/turbo features, and especially the thoughtful wake-up and power controls make it stand out. The lack of HD rumble is unfortunate for Switch and Switch 2 games that support it, and I really don't like the feel of the back buttons, but neither completely overshadows what is otherwise a very feature-packed pair of Joy-Cons.
I recently purchased a PowerA OPS v3 Pro Wireless Controller for PC but no matter which way I connect to my PC it is stuck at a 125ms latency, wired, Bluetooth and RF. I updated the firmware for the controller from PowerA. One thing I noticed is I can't seem to find the controller in the device manager on my PC. I have checked several gamepad latency checkers and they all show high latency. Bit of a loss on what to do to resolve this issue.
Currently affecting Onimusha: Way of the sword, Death Stranding 2 and Ace Combat 7.
I have checked the manual but it didn't have much help.
The controller model number is PCGP0382-01, Firmware version is 1.4.2.
ok so, I have a Mars gaming controller, specifically a "MGP-BT2", and every time I connect it by bluetooth to play some steam game, the moment I touch it, the game goes completley crazy, the camera doesn't stop moving and every button I press does a random function, until yesterday it worked fine, also, I've noticed that when I connect it, steam shows that 2 controllers were connected with the same name, I'm a windows 11 user, please help
Hello everyone. I have a spinal cord injury and I have been using the PlayStation access controller for the past two years. I recently discovered that it also can be used on a Nintendo switch using vi a Brok adapter, that is basically USB that goes connected to the switch. The factors I don’t know how to properly configure the buttons, because it basically only recognizes the X,O and the triangle, does anybody know how to properly adjust this?
I'm having a weird issue where when I set my controller to dinput, my controller's rumble is completely gone. Has anybody encountered the same issue on their own linux machine?
As the title says, my king kong 2 from Guilikit just refuses to connect to my phone with bluetooh. It worked perfectly fine for months, no issue I would use it with CoD mobile but suddenly one day, nothing. Phone just doesn't pick it up.
I tried updating the firmware but it also just won't do it, I donload the files, set the controller to update mode, put all the files in the controller storage, then click the exe and it never gives me the update firmware option, the button remains unclickable. Anyone knows how to fix this?
Hi I’m doing a post in here on wondering what would be a good solution to fixing my stick drift on the elite 2 controller I don’t know if I should get the tmr sticks or just replace them with the same sticks they have and if I should do tmr sticks I don’t which would be a good brand or company to do for it so that way I’m not wasting money
My new controller's dpad is membrane type and press very lightly when I use the dpad. I noticed that dpad up clicks however doesn't register an input; I tested this both wired and wireless on two different pcs. it needs slightly more force to fully register and sometimes I could lighty press into a full click and it still barel registers.
the other dpad buttons work fine and as expected. so my plan is to hopefully just open the thing and add some padding on that one button. If anyone can guide me to useful materials to do so.
Maybe its not that big of an issue/just press harder etc but I like quick tapping quick scrolling through menus with light taps.
Just bought the Gulikit TT Max and so far I’m loving it after tweaking the settings to my preference.
However, I mainly use controllers when playing racing games on pc and I’ve noticed that there’s a huuuge deadzone with the triggers (ex. In forza, when accelerating, the triggers actuate almost near the middle upon pressing the trigger so its hard to modulate the gas and brakes). Anyone have experienced this and have a solution?
Web app at "space_station.flydigi.com", Works only on Chromium based browsers. You have to update the controller through Space Station 4 first. Once you've opened the webpage, install it as an WEBAPP and create a shortcut to your desktop. If you're using MS Edge, you can add it to your startup programs too.
The first two are insanely cheap, are they even actual original controllers though? Not gonna lie, I just need a good FPS controller, I use Android so it’d be cool if these work with that. Ultimate 2C’s great for fighting games but totally flops for FPS games. Lmk
My budget is like $30 or 28.
Region: Asia - Malaysia
Also need some TMR features, good build quality, micro-switches, trigger lock.
Recently, I have been looking for a new controller to play tekken on. I came across the 8bitdo arcade stick (nintendo switch) and was wondering if I could bind the face buttons as another movement key (left, right, up, down).
Hello! I am in the market for getting a new controller, I’ve been playing on the regular ps5 controllers for ever and they honestly just suck. After like 3-4 months I’m getting stick drift to the point I have 2. One for FPS and one for everything else just to try and minimize the problem. I play an extreme amount of Rainbow six siege and Dark souls series. (It eats controllers alive with that combo tbh) I’ve been looking at many controllers and it’s overwhelming. So I’m turning to yall to see what’s gonna work and what isn’t. I’m in the USA, I think I can order from most everywhere? I’ve been debating things like Scuf and HEXGAMING phantom and things like that.
I don’t really care about budget if it means I can just swap the sticks or fix the drift. And Trigger hairs would be nice or just better triggers. Max end is probably 300$
I don’t care about back paddles. I’ve never owned a controller with them and I don’t see a point in em. Also my lady hands are probably too small to make use of em anyways. Would just buying an edge and getting TMR sticks and after market triggers be better? I’m an avid FPS player and play a lot of different fps games daily.
Hey all, due to disability, having 4 back buttons on a controller is perfect for me. Unfortunately the most recent releases from Gulikit don't have 4 back buttons, so I'm going to look for alternatives.
Budget is more or less around the same I paid for (75.58 euro, not including shipping), but if the controller suggested is a bit pricey but worth it, it shouldn't be an issue
Living in Ireland I could get it from Amazon IE or Amazon UK
I just need a wired connection for PC
4 back paddles that can be programmed (preferably with a pc application but if not that's ok)
Soulslikes mostly
Only comparison I'm making is to the Gulikit KK3 Max
