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[El Muerto]

Electronics repair youtuber Tronicsfix is voicing his opinion about the use of the standard joysticks in controllers, causing controllers to fail prematurely. For about the same cost manufacturers could use Hall Effect or TMR joysticks which will provide better reliability and last longer. Instead the big 3 use standard joysticks that are known to fail to get people to buy more. He makes several great points in the video.

Few things that arent covered in the video. Controllers never go down in price. Every gen the price of the licensed controller stays the same but now we're seeing increased prices. Also, PS and Xbox do not allow 3rd party wireless controllers unless the 3rd party manufacturer gets a license from them. I dont believe they're getting rich off selling extra controllers like what he says in the video, but do think they do this to offset the loss on each console sold. Each console has bluetooth, you can connect bluetooth headphones, so there's no excuse why we cannot connect a bluetooth controller. Or use a controller with a 2.4g dongle(MS banned these on their consoles)

Looking at what other companies offer. 8bitdo makes some of the best 3rd party controllers. This controller is about half the cost of an Xbox controller and it has a better polling rate, hall triggers and sticks, and 2 extra buttons.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB4LXDP7?th=1

There's also Gamesir, this controller has hall sticks with BT/2.4ghz connectivity for $25.

GameSir Nova Lite Multiplatform Controller

GameSir Nova Lite equips Hall Effect sticks, ensuring a long lifespan of the controller, say goodbye to stick drift. Featuring analog triggers, 20Hz Turbo function,

gamesir.com

Not saying the big three should list their controllers for $30, but for what they are charging they should be at least better than 3rd party controllers. Up until last gen first party controllers were the way to go. Now we're seeing 3rd party controllers exceeding the quality of first party controllers.

 

[Gonzito]

I cant speak for Xbox but the quality of the controllers for Playstation 5 sucks. I am actually on my third Dualsense, its ridiculous

 

[poppabk]

My series controller developed stick drift. My dualsense is fine, but it rarely gets used. My wired 360 controller was still fine last I used it, but they have all been replaced with 8bitdo ultimate and 2C controllers.

 

[IAmRei]

never meet any, sometimes, I wonder how hard people playing with their controllers?

 

[Minari]

Got ps5 DE since 2 years and i pretty much game daily and have yet to get stick drift.
Very happy with the Dualsense.

3 of 4 of my dualshocks have stick drift.

When i had a series X i had a broken r1 button back to back on the original controller and the one i got replaced.(Elden Ring)

Amazon actually send me a completely new console where i had just to swap out the controller both times.

 

[Aenima]

Only controller i have with drift is the Dualsense that came with the console at launch, got drift in both thumbsticks after 2 years of use. The 2nd Dualsense i bought, also at launch, is still fine. Already had to replace the battery for a new one cuz of heavy use since launch, but still no signs of drift in this one.

 

[acm2000]

ive been gaming for nearly 40 years and have never once had stick drift.

 

[blacktout]

To address the poll: I haven't technically replaced any, but I have sent joy-cons off to Nintendo for repairs on at least three occasions, so I voted 3 - 4.

I've never had a standard controller start to drift though. My Switch Pro Controller has held up to eight years of abuse without drifting.

 

[Moses85]

never meet any, sometimes, I wonder how hard people playing with their controllers?

 

[Cert.in.Death]

This started in earnest with the Switch+PS4 controllers (less pronounced on the later), but it carried over to DualSense, to the point I've purchased 4+ PS5 controllers since 2020.

 

[LordCBH]

The corpos will never fix the issue because they LOVE that people have to replace the controller.

 

[reinking]

Just me. 1 Switch joy-con but counting my daughter and granddaughter we would fall in the 3-4 range due to joy-cons (one of these was a Switch lite oof) I have never had to replace any other controller due to stick drift. That is why they have no desire to get a Switch 2. They moved on from Nintendo not just because of the stick drift, but the draconian way Nintendo handles save data for some games caused my daughter to lose her Animal Crossing on the Switch lite during a transfer due to the joy-con replacement.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Joycons are my biggest complaint. Unreasonable life span.
I feel the Microsoft and Sony have been reasonable.
I have 2 Series Elite 2's I've been using for years, with no issues.
I remember needing to replace a PS4 controller for battery going bad rather than the sticks.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

I cant speak for Xbox but the quality of the controllers for Playstation 5 sucks. I am actually on my third Dualsense, its ridiculous

The rubber on the sticks is also garbage.

 

[Ebrietas]

Original dualsense developed drift (left stick). Bought a second one in midnight black. Also developed drift (right stick).

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

Yeah, I've suffered the abismal quality of the Dual Sense and its drift. It's unacceptable really.

 

[wipeout364]

I have never noticed drift on my Xbox controllers. I have had many PlayStation controller failures though for different reasons. Sony's quality control seems like garbage when it comes to their controllers.

 

[Diseased Yak]

It really is a scam. But I suggest everyone do like I do: Get into collecting controllers. I have over 150+ now, and have never suffered stick drift because I never use a single controller for very long!

 

[ReBurn]

I've had one Series and one Dualsense that have stick drift. When I get some free time I'm going to try a DIY hall effect replacement on them. So it will probably never happen.

 

[ReyBrujo]

I got a Pro Controller for my Switch back in November 2023, unboxed it like 2 months after to play The Coma for the first time on screen (been playing on handheld) and got drift on the second day. Had to send it back to the shop to have it fixed, hasn't drifted again. Bought another second hand Pro Controller six months ago and hasn't drifted at all.

Has anyone replaced the Switch 2 joysticks with hall effect joysticks to see if the magnets interfere with them?

 

[Garibaldi]

Got 5 dual sense controllers (4 sense and an edge), countless Xbox pads, 4 switch joycons, pro controller, index controllers every previous gen console's pads multiple times including handhelds going back to the N64 and PS analog.

Never had stick drift. I'm gentle with my tool(s).

 

[poppabk]

I've had one Series and one Dualsense that have stick drift. When I get some free time I'm going to try a DIY hall effect replacement on them. So it will probably never happen.

You can't on the series controller without some modification due to the magnets on the triggers or so I have heard.

 

[Fake]

I cant speak for Xbox but the quality of the controllers for Playstation 5 sucks. I am actually on my third Dualsense, its ridiculous

Not only Dualsense, but Dualshock 4 too. Those piece of garbage break so easily. Lost the count of how many time I replace my Dualshock.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Controllers were at a reasonable price a decade or two ago when they were around 30 dollars. Now its like 50 dollars or more which is a huge rip off/scam.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

I've really had basically no mechanical problems at all with controllers. I still have my launch Nintendo 64 controller and it works great, much less Switch or recent Playstation consoles. Not saying that means it doesn't exist or anything.

 

[Skifi28]

never meet any, sometimes, I wonder how hard people playing with their controllers?

It has nothing to do with how you use them or how clean you keep them or if you kiss them goodnight and tuck them to bed. They all have the exact same components prone to failure. Occasionally you will find that one controller that refuses to drift even after years of heavy use, but it's the exception.

 

[Certinty]

Dualsense is horrific. Already had two broken ones with stick and trigger issues.

The last time I experienced a controller this bad was the Sixaxis on the PS3.

All my Xbox controllers from the original console onwards have been perfect.

 

[Rockondevil]

In all my decades not once have I had to. And I game a LOT.

I have however had to replace sticks plenty due to the rubber wearing off.

 

[Dacvak]

I've had 2, maybe 3, joycons drift. Nintendo is still repairing them for free, which is nice I guess. But the problem is still super annoying. I'm gonna be mad if it starts happening with the switch 2 joycons, cause I actually enjoy using those somewhat.

Definitely ruined a bunch of Xbox controllers (mostly shoulder buttons, but a few sticks) with the hundreds of hours of rocket league I used to play.

PS5 controllers have been fine, but I barely play my PS5.

 

[chilichote]

The controller that came with my PS4 at launch still works perfectly. The second controller, which I bought years later, started experiencing stick drift after nine months.

 

[bender]

The 360 controllers are the only ones I've ever had consistent problems with as every one I owned started to stick drift in a matter of days to months.

 

[BennyBlanco]

It's absurd that they refuse to use hall effect sticks. Even in their extra expensive controllers. It has to be planned obsolescence.

Meanwhile 8bitdo and others have went beyond hall effect to TMR and are still cheaper than regular 1st party controllers.

BeardSpike and Astray and myself are putting together a thread about how good 3rd party controllers have become.

 

[ReasonBeing]

Just me. 1 Switch joy-con but counting my daughter and granddaughter we would fall in the 3-4 range due to joy-cons (one of these was a Switch lite oof) I have never had to replace any other controller due to stick drift. That is why they have no desire to get a Switch 2. They moved on from Nintendo not just because of the stick drift, but the draconian way Nintendo handles save data for some games caused my daughter to lose her Animal Crossing on the Switch lite during a transfer due to the joy-con replacement.

This is exactly why I would never buy a Switch Lite. I love the idea of it, I love the size of it, I could have bought one for $130, but I have had too many issue with my Joy Cons to buy a product that has them integrated into the system.

 

[StereoVsn]

Had a set of joycons, a PS4 controller, Xbone (used on PC) had issues and one of my dual sense controllers has a bit of a drift now.

It's kind of BS that these big companies can't be bothered to use a more reliable tech to push more accessory sales on people.

 

[Fbh]

I've been pretty lucky with this.
My launch Joy cons drift but they are still usable and I never bothered getting new ones because I don't use my Switch very frequently.

The DualSense I got with my PS5 still works completely fine 3 years later.

But yeah it's still ridiculous how companies like 8bitdo have higher quality controllers that are also like 30-40% cheaper.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

Got the ps3 in 2009, and sold it the same month the ps4 came out. Zero drift. Got the PS4 on day one, sold it about six months before the ps5 came out. Zero dfift. Got the PS5 on day one, got my first drift within a month and a half. From that day until mid 2024, the same controller got the drift between 11-13 times. Opened it up every god damn time to clean the bitch. Was so sick of it that i replaced the whole stick modules, and since i did it mid 2024, i have had no drift. The dualsense is comfy, but the sticks quality is beyond unacceptable.

 

[Robb]

I'm fortunate enough to answer the first option. I even bought a Switch (1) on launch day and the sticks never failed. I've never encountered it on any system.

Hopefully my luck continues.

That said I've had a lot of other issues, like disc drive failures and yellow lights of death etc. etc.

 

[Sardaukarama]

A friend I once knew in another country with a wooden leg and parrot on his shoulder would just get another one from the store and then return the drifter back as broke ,Yes he is going to Hell for these crimes
As for me I'm 8BITDo for life .....for the moment

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Great video, and just one of many aspects to modern console gaming where if you're among the payslaves customers, you get f indefinitely by your captors platform holders.

 

[BeardSpike]

It's absurd that they refuse to use hall effect sticks. Even in their extra expensive controllers. It has to be planned obsolescence.

Meanwhile 8bitdo and others have went beyond hall effect to TMR and are still cheaper than regular 1st party controllers.

BeardSpike and Astray and myself are putting together a thread about how good 3rd party controllers have become.

Yeah... Can't wait till we put that thread together .

I actually managed to snag - as Astray and you already know:



It has Capacitive Joysticks - if it will be better tech than TMR, remains to be seen.

Can't wait to test it.

 

[reinking]

This is exactly why I would never buy a Switch Lite. I love the idea of it, I love the size of it, I could have bought one for $130, but I have had too many issue with my Joy Cons to buy a product that has them integrated into the system.

Thanks to the heads up from Lokaum D+ I am picking up the Gamesir G8+ controller for my Switch 2 when it arrives next week. It is less expensive than the Switch 2/pro controllers and has better features.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

I was born in the 80s and have been gaming my entire life

I've owned ps1-4, xsx and every single Nintendo console

I've encountered stick drift exactly once, and it was on a n64 controller. Fwiw n64 is by far the console I've used the longest because whenever I have friends come over they love playing smash or Mario kart 64.

I'm either extremely lucky or the whole stick drift issue is greatly over exaggerated

 

[Kataploom]

So far in past 5 years I've gotten drift in:

• 1 Xbox controller, fixed
• 1 joycon, replaced but it's gone for some time cleaning it
• 1 Pro Controller, took it to service but they just cleaned it, was cheaper and fixed it
• 1 Chinese Ipega controller, I gave it to someone else that didn't mind

Controllers quality has been very bad, I spent like 10 years with a PS3 controller for my PC and it never drifted, nor did any other controller I've had so far...

 

[Arsic]

Never had it until ps5 and sharing the console with my son. I assume this goblin is doing it.

 

[Gp1]

The 360 controllers are the only ones I've ever had consistent problems with as every one I owned started to stick drift in a matter of days to months.

Here i still have a wired 360 for PC sporting almost 15+ years of usage.

 

[bender]

Here i still have a wired 360 for PC sporting almost 20 years of usage.

It's weird luck of the draw for sure. I probably went through 10+ of that controller and every time I'd get stick drift. The Xbox controllers since then have bee fine though the rubber grip on my white Elite Controller did start to peel.

 

[poppabk]

Here i still have a wired 360 for PC sporting almost 15+ years of usage.

Same. Its still there for emergencies but it finally got retired from being the 4th controller for local MP a month or so ago.

 

[Exede]

Everybody and their moms talked about Switch stick drift but im now on controller 4 of my PS5 couse of horrible stick drift

 

[Deerock71]

I replace them when I feel them getting...rickety, for lack of a better word. Not even necessarily drifting sometimes.

 

[PlayStaytion]

The careless person usually play on PC and doesn't want to deal with the bs nonsense. You don't have to understand the logic, I could be wrong but rich people don't want to deal with tiny stressors.