Every Elite 2 controller I’ve owned was defective

Giallo Corsa said:
Are they though my good man ? I'm on my 5th XSX controller.
The problems are pretty much the same :
- Face buttons not registering properly.
- Bumper buttons breaking/stop working (most common one - it was the same on the XONE joypads)
- Analogue stick drift.
- Triggers breaking.
- Triggers getting stuck due to the el-cheapo's rubber stop glue coming off (i.e : there's a small rubber stop behind the triggers that's very cheaply glued to the controller's chassis).
- Rumble motors/impulse trigger motors out of position resulting in a terrible, plasticky buzzing sound each time the joypad vibrates.

These new controllers are absolutely shit, meanwhile, my X360 controller still work after 15+ years, those things were built like tanks, new ones ? Not so much.
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I have the 20th annic series controller.
I've not used it much but it seems very robust. No squeaking and tight tolerances.
I am not a fan of clicky shoulder buttons and dpad but everything seems to work very good.

The triggers rubber was true on ONE controller... I had to go in there and remove the stupid sticky rubber. And I had sticky shoulder buttons which are not a problem on series yet
 
The build quality on all controllers seems to have taken a serious nosedive, i've had 2 ps5 controllers have some part fail on them, and it was about a month after the warrenty expired on both of them
 
RPS37 said:
One had stick drift, 4 others had face buttons that didn't work some of the time.
is there a third party alternative that has a built in battery?
Thats honestly mostly the reason i keep getting them replaced.
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The face button thing is inherent to the design. For some damn stupid reason, they made the holes ever so slightly too big for the buttons, enabling one to only push the side of the button down (keeping the switch from being activated). In my case, it is not an issue because I started pushing the buttons harder (without consciously thinking about it). Still, it's ridiculous. I will never understand how MS made such an awesome, yet expensive, controller while ALLOWING THIS ISSUE TO GET PAST QA!!!!
 
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STARSBarry said:
Had 3 elite one controllers, eventually just gave up and used a regular xbox one controller which had zero issues right up until i replaced it with a regular Xbox series controller... I saw reports about the elite 2 and was like "yeah not this shit again"
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This is a bit strange, the standard xbox controllers seem to have less issues than those so called "Elite" that cost too much. Honestly speaking, I would love an Elite DualSense, which is already impressive but to have a more "premium" feel of rubberize grips etc. Although DS are perfect to me as they are.
 
Bo_Hazem said:
This is a bit strange, the standard xbox controllers seem to have less issues than those so called "Elite" that cost too much. Honestly speaking, I would love an Elite DualSense, which is already impressive but to have a more "premium" feel of rubberize grips etc. Although DS are perfect to me as they are.
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Honestly I have no idea why, once I heard they where making a second one I naturally assumed they would make sure the quality would last this time around, but I was hesitant to buy due my prior experience. It's not like the one controller was particularly bad (I had complaints about the shoulder buttons being a glossy plastic instead of matt, made them prone to slipping). I am glad I waited because it sounds like once again despite being the price Nintendo used to sell an entire handheld console for, they still can't get these right.
 
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I've only owned one Elite Series 2 and I never had any issues with it. Works as advertised, but I have friends that have experience issues.
 
Tams said:
They almost certainly won't as any new controller is going to not have the full life of the console to get developers to use any new features.

The time to add new features was at launch and have every console come with at least one controller with the features. That ship has sailed. And history shows the later controller add-on features rarely get used.

Sony are struggling at bit with the DualShock getting developers to support the extra features as it is.
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It wouldn't be unprecedented. The Genesis launched with a 3 button controller and later switched to 6 buttons. The PS1 added analog sticks midway into the generation. The PS3 added rumble later on after launch.
 
my elite 1 has had a multitude of problems. but i've found that with a $17 kit i bought off ebay....i've managed to frankenstein this thing and bring it back to life everytime. Everytime i've thought this is it, its done.....it comes back to life good as new again within a couple days
 
It's funny but since I replied in this thread a couple of days ago the right bumper button my E2 replaced in September last year gave up.. I guess I'll go replace it again since it should be within warranty.. Good thing I anticipated it and have a brand new E2 I can use while this is being sorted out, lol.

Anyway, again, it's not just the E2, it's basically all controllers. It just hurts more with the E2 considering how expensive they are. From some breakdowns I've seen, most controllers, both Xbox and Playstation are for some reason using the same off the shelves parts for potentiometers (used for the sticks) and buttons, hence why they seem to have the same issues relative to type and time of usage, and Rnd.
 
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RPS37 said:
One had stick drift, 4 others had face buttons that didn't work some of the time.
is there a third party alternative that has a built in battery?
Thats honestly mostly the reason i keep getting them replaced.
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Stop buying them then you dingus
 
RPS37 said:
In my defense, I wasn't repurchasing them.
They kept ending up defective and I was having MS send me more defective ones.
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For some reason this appears to be Microsoft's strategy. Just keep sending out random broken controllers that other people sent in that Microsoft at best wiped with a wet nap before tossing in the UPS box. Rinse and repeat until customer gives up / kills self.
 
i was think about buying the elite 2 but also might wait to see if a elite 3 is announced soon but if nothing comes then i may just go with the scuf controller. they look pretty good just have no idea about the build quality of them https://scufgaming.com/uk/xbox-instinct-pro-controller

edit: just had another look at them and you only get 6 month warranty which isn't enough for a £200 device. guess i'll just stick with regular controllers :lollipop_pensive:
 
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Have not owned a elite 2 just the first. Super comfortable but my experince was that it was lacking in build quality. I used the pedals but the tactile click stoped working after a while and it dident feel good using them any more and after a while the rubber gripps peeld of. That made me sceptical of buying gen 2.
 
Giallo Corsa said:
Are they though my good man ? I'm on my 5th XSX controller.
The problems are pretty much the same :
- Face buttons not registering properly.
- Bumper buttons breaking/stop working (most common one - it was the same on the XONE joypads)
- Analogue stick drift.
- Triggers breaking.
- Triggers getting stuck due to the el-cheapo's rubber stop glue coming off (i.e : there's a small rubber stop behind the triggers that's very cheaply glued to the controller's chassis).
- Rumble motors/impulse trigger motors out of position resulting in a terrible, plasticky buzzing sound each time the joypad vibrates.

These new controllers are absolutely shit, meanwhile, my X360 controller still work after 15+ years, those things were built like tanks, new ones ? Not so much.
Click to expand...
My wired 360 controller is still going strong, shame the d-pad was designed broken out of the box.
 
Rossco666 said:
i was think about buying the elite 2 but also might wait to see if a elite 3 is announced soon but if nothing comes then i may just go with the scuf controller. they look pretty good just have no idea about the build quality of them https://scufgaming.com/uk/xbox-instinct-pro-controller

edit: just had another look at them and you only get 6 month warranty which isn't enough for a £200 device. guess i'll just stick with regular controllers :lollipop_pensive:
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Check aim controllers. They have a good warranty on their components but sadly not on things like stick drift.
 
Guess I'm just lucky. I have a day one Elite 1 that is still like brand new, and it has thousands of hours on it. I have an Elite 2, also with thousands of hours, and it's still like new as well. I'm actually considering buying a second because Target has them for $139.

As for alternatives I have a PowerA FUSION Pro2 and it has paddles, is well built, even has better bumpers...but it has a cord. If you want a cheap alternative to the Elite and don't care about wireless, it's like $60.

Darth_Ghandi said:
Check aim controllers. They have a good warranty on their components but sadly not on things like stick drift.
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I just bought an AIM Dualsense for $200 and it seems pretty great, except the paddles are plastic so I'm worried about longevity. I wanted the SCUF but it's not even available and no clue when it will be.
 
I've only ever had one defective controller and that was my Uncharted 4 special edition dual shock. My first gen elite still works flawlessly.
 
The RB button on mine is sticky and sometimes does not register a press. I kinda stopped using it after that happened a few times — another thing that happens on Xbox is the frequent disconnects likely/hopefully to due to interference but still annoying.

The default Xbox controller works fine (and my custom one for the most part — currently troubleshooting something → it doesn't seem to hold a charge but I need to further test it, already tried to switch out batteries so not sure what is up).
 
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RafterXL said:
Guess I'm just lucky. I have a day one Elite 1 that is still like brand new, and it has thousands of hours on it. I have an Elite 2, also with thousands of hours, and it's still like new as well. I'm actually considering buying a second because Target has them for $139.

As for alternatives I have a PowerA FUSION Pro2 and it has paddles, is well built, even has better bumpers...but it has a cord. If you want a cheap alternative to the Elite and don't care about wireless, it's like $60.




I just bought an AIM Dualsense for $200 and it seems pretty great, except the paddles are plastic so I'm worried about longevity. I wanted the SCUF but it's not even available and no clue when it will be.
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The paddles Jane a stupid amount of warranty time :)
 
I bought one at launch in Nov 2019, held up very well playing MW then Warzone every night other than L3 became mushy from jamming it in for sprint in cod. Sent it in for warranty near the end of a year and they sent me a new one. Over a year on the new one and no stick drift. I switch to auto tac sprint so no issues with L3. Happy with my purchase.

I will 100% buy another one or the V3 version if it comes out once this one dies.
 
I have hundreds of hours on my Series 2 and the only issue I've noticed is that the B button doesn't act properly every once in a while.

For instance, in Elden Ring I would hold the B to run, but it would do a roll instead.
 
It's goddamn heart breaking to know that the greatest controller ever made (Elite V1) is no longer available, and that one day, my elite will die and I will be thrust from Joypad heaven, back to the land of normies.

Why Microsoft? Why give me the best then ruin it? Why hast thou forsaken my fingers?
 
My solution has been to replace them with a design labs controller.


congrats, MS. You found a sucker.
 
Diseased Yak said:
Thanks for posting this, I pre-ordered the white one. I hate that it's wired, but I'm willing to give it a shot.
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Ordered mine yesterday (black)

Currently rocking a Powera wired white. But B button gets sticky... Still relatively okay controller seeing it has back buttons and goes for 30€
 
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Stick drift after my 2 yr warranty expired on my first

Left bumper on my second after the warranty had expired

Right stick drift on my third. I received my new replacement yesterday.

Great controller let down by shoddy build quality
 
Ive had a series s controller since october, surprisingly havnt had any issues while had a switch pro controller and got drift within a month, can see why your angry op those elite controllers are mad expensive, hopefully ms can repair the issue?
 
Despiralman69 said:
Ive had a series s controller since october, surprisingly havnt had any issues while had a switch pro controller and got drift within a month, can see why your angry op those elite controllers are mad expensive, hopefully ms can repair the issue?
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If I had the funds I'd buy one but I prefer buttons instead of peddles. Anyways it's only for Halo play. Hope that 8bitdo is awesome
 
As much as I love my Elite 1 controller that I had never any issues with, I never dared to buy Elite 2 after all the problems people had with them.
 
lem0n said:
My Elite 2 has a barely functioning B, an RB that registers 2 clicks every 5 or so clicks, beginnings of peeling rubber grips on both sides, and a loose screw that moves around the controller as it likes and gets stuck in the rumble function and under the left thumbstick. It's a monumental pile of shit. I just shelved it and use my Horizon 5 controller now.
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I had the exact same problem with the RB not registering clicks until a LOT of force being applies. Ended up taking it apart and plying the RB cage upwards closer to the physical button and that has it fixed.
Just very annoyed at the low-quality QC of such an expensive product. But that controller feels unlike anything else in the market. :<
 
Honestly? Mine lasted two years (buyed day one from MS store) of intensive use before showing more or less the same defect as its predecessor, i.e. first the swelling and then the detachment of the lateral rubber parts. Never had any key issues or drift whatsoever.
 
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