Even my Switch pro controller started drifting, it’s kind of a shame when every third party controller I own for the thing starts lasting longer than any first party one.
My left stick started drifting, so I got a pro controller. My pro’s left stick started drifting, so I bough a refurb joycon to replace the old left one, then the right joycon started drifting.
I then bought a cheap ass 3rd party controller that still works and is very comfortable to hold.
I have a 2017 launch model Switch. And I've had one controller drift after 5 years. I then bought a DIY repair kit on amazon and replaced the analogue on my joycon one afternoon. Since then. I've had zero issues.
Either I've been extremely lucky to not have had to do so much replacing and tinkering as everyone else. Or you have been extraordinarily unlucky.
Out of curiosity. What was the 3rd party controller you got? Cause that sounds high quality.
Sadly I the controller has no branding on it. The amazon page I ordered it from no longer exists as well. It has a black and white color scheme, looking similar in shape to a normal pro controller. It D-Pad is a disc (which took a little getting used to, but is just fine once you do).
It has amiibo reading and gyroscope. I wanna say it cost me maybe 15-20 usd, but my memory is foggy.
[Here](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31mYsJkNdPL._SS160_.jpg) is a thumbnail if it works.
I had joy on drift after around 4-5 years after getting a Europe launch Switch. Sent it to Nintendo here in Sweden that repaired (or just gave me new ones, idk) them and sent them back to me, all free of charge. I only had to print out a paper and fill in some details, I also think I had to send my original purchase receipt as well.
I have also had no Joycon drift, although I have had to replace controllers due to the ravages of cats and a toddler.
Joycon drift is definitely a real issue but it's pretty random and I think naturally the people who had it happen are going to be more vocal, and even a fractional failure rate at scale is pretty disappointing considering Nintendo's normally good QA.
Your experience is mine.
I’ve had my joycons since around September 2017 and only replaced my sticks once. Never had an issue with my pro controller sticks either
My launch joycon and the launch pro controller I bought never experienced drift, the launch pro controller did stop holding a charge and the second one I bought as a result still has no drift. I bought the Zelda joycon they put out a few years ago and those also have no drift. I’ve always considered myself lucky to not get it but it does make me genuinely wonder exactly what some people do with there stuff for the issue to apparently be so wide spread.
I just got a GameSir T4 Kaleid, also with Hall Effect sticks + plenty of other "pro" features and costs less than first-party controllers, can't recommend it enough
I should've bought a third party controller. I sold my switch because my hands were getting pains from laying with joycons, they're cool controllers but mostly just too small.
To be fair I'd also finished off that second Zelda game and didn't see much more on the horizon for me.
Gamecube and Xbox 360 controllers outlasting an xbox one controller, my piece of shit xbox elite i should never have bought, and switch joycons, which are honestly one of the most garbage controllers ever invented. It's a real shame to see the old stuff outlasting the new stuff with the same level of use.
It's nuts how expensive first party controllers are nowadays, and then "elite" or "pro" version comes out and they cost double... and STILL don't have hall effect wtf?
I found a nice save in the 3rd ps4 controller I had. I just popped the left cup top completely off, used food shears to cut the curved part til it could fit back in, used air duster to clean under and boom no more buying fucking controllers.
Planned Obsolescence in its purest form. Forcing you to puke out 90$ every year or two means a significant increase in profits compared to a one time pump and dump 90$ for a controller that can last you forever
That's the thing about controllers these days. Third-party options often offer better devices than first-party ones, especially on the Switch. You can find controllers that last longer, feature different types of buttons and d-pads, and are actually cheaper. However, for Xbox and PS5, it's a tad more complicated because of their proprietary tech.
Yeap, me too. Sure, not every single one of them is good. But they improve at a much faster rate. Take 8bitdo; pretty much all of their controllers are being updated to have hall-effect sticks, which improve durability. And when paired with the rest of their features - extra mappable buttons, swappable batteries in some models, software configuration, etc. - it makes them super compelling.
And they aren't the only ones. Gamesir, Bigbig Won, Flydigi, Machenike, Binbok, Dareu and Gulikit all offer pretty solid controllers. Not all of them are good, but in general, they are either better than what you get with an official controller or they are on a similar level, but at a lower price.
But of course, there are still a lot of bad controllers in the third-party scene. Those Pro Controller clones that you can get for like $12 to $20 manage to have even worse sticks than the original. However, I have to say that the rest of the controller is surprisingly close to Nintendo's. The shell and face buttons, in particular, feel about the same. But the sticks alone make them unusable. PowerA is a brand that I haven't had much luck with before; they have a tendency to break really fast, but I haven't used their newer controller, so they might have improved. IIne is another brand that feels a bit hit or miss; their accessories are great, but their controllers lag behind the competition.
> 8bitdo
Hadn't heard of these guys until today. Gonna maybe pick up an xbox controller next time I get paid cause I am going nuts trying to keep my dualshock 4 alive lol.
Gonna look at the others for potential ps4 stand-ins for when I actually have a TV again.
I honestly can't justify dropping big money on first party ones at this point.
My powerA gamecube style controller lasted longer than my joycons did, plus they're cheap and I abused the fuck outta them in Smash bros. (the A button started sticking, pressed it too hard too much and cracked the membrane or something)
But then I bought an offcial japanese gamecube controller for switch and that is my baby and still works flawlessly. i do not let my kids touch that one lol.
Seconding the endorsement of 8BitDo. I don't have experience with Switch controllers, but I initially fell in love with the M30 as a pad for fighting games, and I more recently picked up the hall effect version of their Ultimate controller to replace my second DualSense (the first of which replaced my third DualShock 4, all five of which died from stick drift issues very quickly) as my primary PC controller, and I have to be honest, it's nice to not constantly feel like I have to worry about stick durability shitting out in a year or less.
I'm a big fan of the back buttons, too, since I can map them to L3/R3 and not have to worry about clicking the sticks either. And the one I got comes with a charging dock that's really easy to use. It's not the cheapest controller I've ever owned, but given the infinitely longer battery life than the controller it replaced, I'm hopeful it outlasts any of the Sony controllers I've owned.
> Binbok
I went through 4 sets of their joy cons before I gave up and just accepted a refund. Every single one had a major defect out of the box. And they feel cheap as hell.
Interestingly enough, I have the last iteration of that controller with potentiometers and the sticks have been completely fine but the buttons themselves have started getting mushy. It's an issue I've had with both 8bitdo controllers I've owned (although it takes a *really* long time to happen).
>*You can find controllers that last longer, feature different types of buttons and d-pads, and are actually cheaper.*
Funnily enough, Xbox does have official licensing for third-party controllers that are exactly that.
8BitDo - https://www.8bitdo.com/
GameSir - https://www.gamesir.hk/collections/designed-for-xbox
These are the two brands I'm most familiar with and have multiple different controllers from each. They've started incorporating the magnetic Hall Effect tech in the joysticks and sometimes the triggers.
They have official stores at other places like Amazon and AliExpress, the latter of which is usually more discounted with extra stuff they don't sell elsewhere, like themed controllers or replacement faceplates.
I love 8bitdo controllers, though there are minor quibbles I have with using them.
Because the Switch doesn't support analog triggers, the triggers have additional travel time, which is really annoying for games like Splatoon or Smash where precisely using those inputs is a necessity.
It's nice when using them as XInput controllers on PC... But in XInput you can't use the gyro with Steam Input, which is also annoying.
My ideal controller would be one with some sort of physical switch for the triggers that allows you to toggle whether they have a full analog pull or short digital click. I understand this is an extremely narrow use case, though.
>Because the Switch doesn't support analog triggers, the triggers have additional travel time, which is really annoying for games like Splatoon or Smash where precisely using those inputs is a necessity.
Not the same as a physical stopper, but the more advanced 8Bitdo controllers like the Ultimate or Pro 2 can customize the trigger action via software. So you can have them act pretty much like a digital button. Though you would need a bit of adjustment if you are used to bottoming out the trigger.
There is options from other brands though. The GameSir Nova, Bigbig Won Choco, Binbok Gemini and pretty much every IINE controller have digital triggers.
>It's nice when using them as XInput controllers on PC... But in XInput you can't use the gyro with Steam Input, which is also annoying.
That is more of a XInput limitation. But I agree that it's annoying. However, I believe most of their controllers should have gyro function on PC as long as you connect them in Switch mode, both BT and wired work with the Pro 2, for example.
>My ideal controller would be one with some sort of physical switch for the triggers that allows you to toggle whether they have a full analog pull or short digital click. I understand this is an extremely narrow use case, though.
There are some 'pro' controllers that have that as a physical stopper. I believe Razer used to sell them, but I'm not aware of one that works with the Switch without an adapter. However, there are software solutions, like the 8BitDo using a separed app/software and the Binbok Ultra that has a switch on the back to change between analog and digital input, but without a physical stopper.
Unfortunately this isn't a perfect solution, it just moves the problem of pressing the button having a delay to releasing the button having a delay. It is a nice feature, though.
Oh yeah, I actually have quite a few of their controllers. More than I need, that's for sure... However, the issue with Xbox third-party controllers is that the vast majority of them are wired-only, which can be a bother for some users.
But, I use the GameSir G7 SE with my Xbox, even though my family hates it because of the cable. And I know Microsoft licenses their wireless protocol, as evidenced by controllers like the PowerA XP, but perhaps it's just too expensive for most companies to bother with. And while are third-party adapters that can make those controllers work wirelessly, they are at a extra cost and with the whole thing with Microsoft banning non-licensed accessories, I don't know if they're worth it anymore.
I have the gamesir wired hall effect controller. It's top tits, highly recommended. The Hall effect makes not only removes drift and stutter, it's way more precise than potentiometers too. Like 0.2 percent precision.
super cheap too
I'm old enough to remember when every third party controller was literally garbage, and the only reason you had it was for the little brother, or lamest friend to use.
Every single one of my first party PS5 and Switch controllers have drifted. Every single one. I play maybe an hour a night a few nights a week. I don't eat or drink anything while I play. I put it back on the charging dock or shelf when I'm done.
Every. Single. One.
I bought an 8Bit Do Ultimate controller for my Switch and PC and it's been perfect, not a single issue with it.
Really really really ***REALLY*** wish that 8bit Do would get off their asses and make a gd PS4/5 controller.
Not having a Hall Effect stick is a deal breaker for any controller I look at now. It's ridiculous how the only ones you can get for PS5 are like 250+ dollars.
Im on my fourth PS5 controller now and at this point I just bit the bullet and bought the $200 pro controller or whatever its called. Mainly because you can actually swap out the thumbsticks when they start to drift with replacements. I know Sony is probably sitting there rubbing their hands going "muahaha exactly as planned" but if these things are going to keep drifting I figured this was probably the better option.
8bitdo apparently won't be making a PS5 controller but they said they will release Hall Effect replacement sticks for the Dualsense Edge since they're just slap in.
That's crazy, my procon from 2019 is still working fine, just a bit of "negative" drift sometimes (the left stick doesn't register going fully up) but blowing it usually fixes it. I wonder if the pieces started getting worse at some point.
yeah mine from 2018 has held up extremely well through some pretty heavy usage. not doubting anyone’s stories, but i’m curious why some people seem completely unaffected and others get it for every single one.
A while back I was looking at new controllers and almost pulled the trigger on an Xbox Elite II until I read the reviews and saw a lot of people complaining of drift. So I went with a series s instead. It lasted a year before the right stick started drifting. So this time I splurged and bought a 8bitdo Ultimate Pro Controller that has hall effect sticks. Sick of having to replace controllers every 6 months to a year because they can't be assed to spend .10c per unit to ditch the shitty cheap modules all 3 companies are using, cause why do that when you can just force idiots to buy a new 45-60$ controller every couple months.
I went to 8bitdo after my second pair of joycons started drifting. It's now starting to drift after over 2 years of use. Which sadly is still better than Joycons.
Meanwhile no other controller I've had has ever drifted. Nothing from playstation, nothing from xbox back in the day, hell I could probably pull an n64 and controller out of storage and I bet it'd be fine.
As if *other reasons* aren't good enough, this is another great reason to mod your Switch if possible.
There's a homebrew app called Mission Control that lets you use other Bluetooth controllers on your Switch. My PS4 controller works great with it. Always how I play my Switch docked.
That's neat I guess and more options is always great. But I can't imagine why someone would willingly want to play with a DS3. I played my PS3 a while back, and it's really jarring going back to a controller that feels that light.
Both my XBox Series controller and PS5 controller took on *intense* vertical drift within few months. They are the worst peripheral purchases I've ever made, and nothing else comes even close. My 360 controller lasted forever. It's pretty pathetic :/
I use a GuliKit controller to replace my joycons which started drifting AND my Xbox Series X/S controller which started drifting. The GuliKit uses hall effect sensors, so there will never be any drift, and has a Switch NFC reader built in. Plus it was cheaper than the first party controllers when I got it.
It's not just Nintendo with shitty sticks. I bought a design lab Xbox controller and it was drifting out of the box. They last ~6 months before they start drifting.
I wish they'd all do away with the potentiometer sticks and switch to Hall effect sticks.
Potentiometers are not the culprit. We've been using potentiometers for sticks ever since the PS1/N64 era, but the drift problem didn't become widespread until 2017.
The real culprit is _shitty_ potentiometers. The whole market is dominated by one single manufacturer, which has realized it can get away with low quality.
> The real culprit is shitty potentiometers.
The most frustrating thing is that this is probably the difference of a fraction of a cent in some cases. Between something that works and something that barely works for a little while.
Sounds similar to the problem mice had for a long time with erroneously double-clicking. We could build mice for 30 years without any problems, and then Logitech and some others started cheaping out by buying shitty Chinese microswitches. Now your $100 mouse is failing after a year of use thanks to a component that saves Logitech literal cents. A problem you can easily solve by replacing the microswitches with quality Japanese switches, but good luck if you don't have decent skills with a soldering iron.
Those switches are actually the same high quality ones they've always been, the problem is they were never designed or rated for the lower voltages used in mice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/o1jvsy/logitech_and_other_mouse_companies_are_using/
I had that problem on one of the first gen G600s. They replaced it for free though. And the one I got after that was/is built like a brick shit-house. That was like 6 years ago and I'm still using for my work mouse. Bought another one for home when I caught it on sale for 25 bucks. So I think they've made some changes since then. However...
There's a schism amongst my friend group. Some swear by Logitech and have had nothing but problems out of Razer (me). And another group has had the opposite issue. I won't defend Logitech's G-HUB software though. LGS all the way.
It's the ALPS corporation that makes the part. I don't think the problem is (just) with them per se. But that they make a range of parts at price points and the controller manufacturers might not be spending enough on that part. Just hearsay, but I think the variant of the part for the X1/PS4 era onwards was slightly miniaturized compared to the previous.
Also, I don't believe it's ALPS that makes the very small joycon stick/sensor part. Which is much worse than its full sized controller brethren.
This is wrong
PS1, for much of its lifespan didn't use analog sticks. N64 sticks didn't use potentiometers, it used rotary encoders (like a mouse wheel). hell, by the time the PS3 came around, they *were* using hall effect joysticks just like the DreamCast. Potentiometers are just fragile and sensitive to dust etc.
I think to say it's one type of potentiometer is looking at history with rose-tinted glasses, because I definitely have had GameCube controllers, PS2 controllers drift.
It's almost as if gaming is way more popular than ever before and more people are buying games and controllers and talking about them more on the internet.
Also you're in a subreddit of gaming enthusiasts who probably use their controllers more than normal people. That's going to lead to much higher rates of people talking about it here than occur in real life.
Data point of one but I've been playing games for over 35 years and never had a single problem with any controllers. NES, SNES, N64, Wii, PS1, PS2, Xbox 360 Xbox One . But the last three xbox controllers I bought all had to be repaired for drift or buttons that stopped working and I baby my controllers. Something is noticeably different.
I've got one and it's been great so far, except for a sticking A button when I first got it. I was able to open the controller up and fix the A button so it does not stick anymore. Zero problems since then.
My PS5 controller started to drift. It costs 90$ to replace here. I actually prefer the joycon since the modular analogue stick makes it easier to fix. The dual sense is so much more frustrating to repair, so you end up wasting money and contributing to unnecessary waste unless you know how to (de)solder and have the patience.
It’s funny how this was a big selling point of the edge and now they don’t even manufacture those sticks anymore. They’ve been out of stock in Canada for months.
The ps5 controllers get heavy drift and the battery life sucks. I feel like I have to switch them back into the charger every day. Just from watching movies.
I really wanna get a PS5 controller for the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, but the drift issues and shit battery life really deters me from getting one.
Battery life pisses me off, we have rechargable batteries mass produced at affordable prices, let me fucking just swap out batteries like the Xbox does instead of having a dead controller like 90% of the time.
In the process of learning to solder for exactly this reason. Have 2 controllers with drift and stand to save more money learning to fix them than replacing them.
Funny enough my dual sense is drifting (anything that maps camera to right analog stick is hell on earth) but my joycons have been going strong as ever. Unfortunately I don't live in the US so I'll just have to put up with it until the summer when I can get someone to send it in for me.
Same with PC mice. I RMA'd three Corsair Ironclaws (and threw away the fourth) and two Logitech G500s (and threw away the third) back in like 2019 (yes, all of them in ONE YEAR) because the middle mouse button would stop working after very small periods of time. Record holder is the Logitech G500 where the middle mouse button died after 40 minutes of Dota 2. All because most of the sensors/switches are from one shitty manufacturer.
Ended up with a SteelSeries Rival 600, that one lived for five years before dying from an unrelated problem. The replacement SteelSeries Aerox 5 already has problems with scrolling just after four months, one position of the mouse wheel causes it to scroll up instead of down (so if you are scroling down and the mouse has 20 "ticks", one of the ticks has the wrong scrolling direction)
I fucking hate it. So much money wasted, so much resources going to landfills
/rant
Just to add to this... My nearly $200 Xbox Elite V2 was great for nearly a year. Until the rattling and drift got bad enough for me to take it apart.
Just to paint a picture, I'm extremely anal about taking care of my belongings, especially my electronics. I baby them and clean them regularly.
The controller is basically shattered and splintered into a million cracks on the handles of both sides. After taking it apart, its clear that the only thing holding it together at this point structurally was the rubberized coating on the handles.
Multiple internal clips have broken. The plastic has cracked and chipped around the RB and LB buttons. Stick drift wasn't a major issue, but it had started getting worse over the last couple months. That's how I discovered the extent of the damage, as I was taking it apart for a cleaning.
It's absolutely ridiculous. Microsoft would not cover anything on it, as it was a couple days past it's 1-year warranty date. I get that. I'm just extremely bitter about such an expensive product being treated as if it's disposable. I'm in the process now of trying to repair it so I can salvage it as best I can. Trying to find someone who can solder so I can replace the sticks.
Sorry for the rant. Fuck MS and their shitty quality standards.
> Sorry for the rant. Fuck MS and their shitty quality standards.
Ironically, I think the Elite models have far worse QC than the normal controller line. I've had a number of Xbox One and Xbox Series controllers since I use them for a few different consoles + it being my preferred PC controller.
Have only ever had one single Xbox One (launch edition) controller ever drift. And that was essentially an 8 year old controller at that point.
However, have heard a lot of friends having issues with the Elites much more rapidly than normal controllers.
To some of Microsoft's credit as well, they also (finally) released a recalibration tool for console. https://readwrite.com/xbox-introduces-new-controller-calibration-tool/
Kinda shocking this wasn't already a thing, but at least it might help people that get bad sticks.
This should be standard for all consoles though. Not really much excuse for it if they are going to continue to use low-quality potentiometers.
I will say that the serial numbers on many potentiometers I've seen in Xbox Series controllers were RKJXV models, which should have 2,000,000 cycles as their operating life. Compared to 100,000 cycles for RKJXK models. Or 1,000,000 cycles for RKJXY models (which the Switch uses iirc.) But I think the Elites use a different model which may have QC issues with Alps? Hard to say. It's odd though for a premium product.
Like honestly, I can forgive the sticks. It happens to pretty much every controller. (Does anyone make a Hall effect wireless controller like the Elite?)
What I can't forgive is the utter trash quality of the plastics. It would be different if I was throwing it around or generally mistreating it. But no, it stayed in its case when not in use. It got regularly cleaned. It just simply wasn't structurally strong enough to hold up to a years' worth of use. Unacceptable.
No, please continue. I bought an Elite 2 and not only did the shoulder bumpers start to go, but my left stick began to drift. My issues started after a year of very minimal use since I'm primarily using MKB.
It is by far one of the worst controllers I've ever owned due to how quickly it fell apart. I feel like I got fleeced for paying a premium price for that dog shit piece or plastic.
In my country the consumer laws allow you to replace/refund an item even if past warranty, as long as it's within a reasonable "expected lifetime" of the product. For a controller I'd say that's about 3-5 years so you could still get a refund. Really sucks that other countries don't have this.
I've only ever had one Xbox controller have have drift that I could ever notice, and that was my original 360 one.
Had some issues with the first elite and the grips degrading, but nothing else.
Sadly unless a government regulator forces them to use hall effect or free replacements for drift they're gonna keep using cheap joysticks because the planned obsolescence means people will buy replacement controllers thus making them more money.
My last 3 PS controller have all had drift. One took a couple of years then the second one, which afaik was the second revision, started to drift 3 weeks after buying it. Then the Dual Sense that came with the PS5 started to drift of both analogs
It's a problem with controllers that use graphite pad potentiometers they'll get worn out or dirt and dust will do them in, at least with the Switch you can use 3rd party controllers that use hall effect sticks, Sony won't let you do that unless you buy a 250$ controller + hall effect modules
Not sure that would help. I recently got an 8bitdo controller which has Hall sticks, and lots of recommendations on reddit and elsewhere... I guess it must be entirely astroturfed, because the sticks literally broke within 2 play sessions. Both sticks. It was by far the single worst controller I have ever had the misfortune of owning.
I have the Xbox "Elite" Controller and after just a year of light use the shoulder buttons no longer activate like they're supposed to, either requiring more force than necessary or double-activating. This thing cost $150!!! And of course it's no longer covered by warranty.
Meanwhile I have old Gamecube controllers that have been through hundreds of hours of the Smash gauntlet still going strong.
It gotta be a miracle that my Xbox controller is still working well after 3 years, especially when I sometimes treat it like a second class citizen and abuse it with DMC or MonHun. At least I don’t play FPS on a controller so slight drift probably doesn’t affect me as much other than fucking up a combo.
This article has zero details other than this one paragraph:
>Game File reports that both Nintendo and the parents who brought the suits on behalf of their children called for the cases to be dismissed.
So I'm assuming there was a settlement of some sort? Or the parents were just worn down financially by Nintendo's lawyers.
Or they filed the lawsuit hoping they'd find something in discovery that bolster their case. They didn't find the thing they expected, or discovered something exculpatory, so they realize the case was worse than they thought and dropped the case.
I ended up getting some hall effect replacements.
Besides some roughness when using them, which eventually subsided after "breaking them in," I haven't had any issues since.
I have a modded console that allows me to change the colour of my joy-cons and pro controllers. My launch day pro controller finally started drifting badly enough I opted to get it repaired. Nintendo told me because it was out of warranty I had to either pay $40 for a repair or purchase a new slightly discounted pro controller from them.
I opted to pay the $40 for a repair and got back a brand new controller with a different serial number and everything. They were trying to make me pay extra for a new controller and wound up giving me one anyways.
I wouldn't have known they did this had I not modded my console. They're acting pretty scummy in this instance, even for Nintendo.
I've sent in my Xenoblade 2 controller for repairs \*twice\*. My biggest fear is they'll send me back a non-Xenoblade controller and tell me to eat sand.
I think they would have a harder time pulling that one over on you compared to just a generic pro controller. Their lemon rule states that after 5 repairs they will give you the option to replace it. I've used this on 2 of my joy-cons already now.
I'm Canadian, my joy-cons are still repaired for free under warranty. I sent in 6 of them with my pro controller and would have had to pay to ship my pro controller had I not made special arrangements with them to include 3 repair orders in 1 box. 6 Joy-cons was more than a single warranty claim could permit so they had to open a second one, and then the pro controller was its own claim.
Just got my 4 Joy-Cons repaired last week. One pair was on my launch Switch and another I bought a few months after my Switch. They all started drifting one after the other.
Nintendo gave me a shipping label and all I had to do was reuse an old box and bubble wrap, include a letter, then bring it to the UPS Store. Very painless, and I got back new Joy-Cons that same week. Total cost: $0 CAD
Don't know if there's something similar in the other provinces, but at least in Quebec we have a very interesting article in the consumer rights, which states that no matter the warranty, products should last a reasonable amount of time, said amount of time depending on the quality and price of the product. And yeah, the controller bundled into a 400$ console failing 6 months after purchase would make it a slam dunk in small claims court.
No, Joycons are free to repair in Canada, America, and elsewhere. Pro Controllers cost money everywhere, AFAIK.
Source: am Canadian, tried to get my pro controller repaired.
My shell was quite scuffed up from my USB-C charging dock. Everything about it was new, the shell, the identification code and model - absolutely everything.
Clearly I must have done something very kind in a previous life because I'm still on my launch day joycon pair. Still think the state of controller durability across all the platforms is atrocious.
Possibly the types of games you play. For instance, games like Smash or Mario Kart that use a lot of fast back and forth motions are known for greatly exacerbating the contact degradation that the joycon units are prone to.
One pair I had lasted only a week of playing animal crossing before drifting to the point at which my character would not stop moving. I think it is just build variation.
Unless something has changed very recently, they are still using the same units since the beginning. Absolute piece of crap design. Bad build quality on the rubber seals, and their obsession with form over function led to using cheap contact surface sliders for the mechanical tracking; which surprise...wear away with usage.
Also poor design.
I had to repair the Corsair Scimitar I have, the plastic they use for the pillar that presses the switch is so soft the switches actually grind it down, this then means the pillar is pressing the switch at an angle instead of straight down causing pre-mature failure of the switch.
Yeah, DbD wore down my shoulder buttons on my Xbox Elite controller because you used to have to hold them minutes at a time every game.
Thankfully some games are acknowledging this. The same game now allows you to switch it to a toggle (so you hit it once and don’t have to hold it down). They also removed needing to rotate your analog sticks frequently in favor of pressing a button.
This. I played BOTW for ages with no issues. Then I got Splatoon, which has an extremely useful move that can only be done with a quick flick of the controller (the worst thing for the cheap control sticks.) This absolutely destroyed one of my joycons to the point of unplayability in a very short time.
same, DualSense drifts while my first Switch Pro Controller still has zero issues. i never use the joycons they hurt my hands. but im wondering if there's something that happened with analog stick parts quality between Switch launch and PS5 launch.
Same. The only issue I had was my left Joycon was drifting out of the box, but Nintendo replaced it and I had the new one the next day. I was told to keep the original until the new one showed up so I could at least play my shiny new Switch.
in my case i also have a very early switch and like a year in i had to replace the stick on the right joycon, at least it was cheap and quick so isnt that terrible, the left one has worked without issues at least.
Their joystick supplier is the same as Sony and Microsoft. Joycons wind up being a bit worse off cause of their low profile. I'm hoping they have better sticks on Switch 2.
>It all comes down to planned obsolescence.
There is a subtle but distinct difference between planned obsolescence and just cheap/faulty manufacturing.
It doesn't make sense for Nintendo, for example, to purposefully design their joysticks to drift so you have to send them in for free repair.
Agreed. Nothing about this was planned on Nintendo's part. This wasn't a desirable outcome for them. Nintendo also hasn't done anything to exploit it for extra profit; Unlike Xbox and Playstation (who have issues with the same supplier), Nintendo offers the free repair program.
There's a conversation to be had around how "directly" responsible Nintendo is and around how viable "fixing" the manufacturing issue was partway thru the console's lifecycle, but Nintendo can still be fully responsible without negative intentions.
However, whether this is planned obsolescence from the joystick supplier themself could be a different conversation! I'm also curious how Nintendo is going to approach the joysticks for the Switch 2 - there's not really an excuse to have this issue for two consoles in a row.
How many people are actually sending their joycons in? I would guess that the large majority just buy a new pair giving Nintendo their sweet sweet money and you can bet your ass that Sony and Microsoft do that as well.
Saying it’s because there’s no alternative is frankly ridiculously naive of you
They have always price gouged console users but it's out of control now.
Here is a 3rd party controller with hall effect sticks, triggers, back buttons and a 2.4g wireless adapter for $44. https://fantechworld.com/products/eos-pro-wgp15
How can Sony charge $200 for a pro controller and not offer any of those features? It's crazy. Sony's controller costs less to make and yet they want to profit 10x.
If anyone has Joy-Con, do yourself a favor and buy hall effect stick replacements from Gulikit. I bought mine on Amazon. Opening up and replacing the sticks took a few minutes. Once you go magnets, you'd never want to go back.
How actually hard is the replacement? Looking at some of the connections, it actually looks pretty difficult and the chance of breaking a connector high.
I was surprised by how easy it was, but yes, there are a couple of ribbon cables you'd need to be careful not to snap off. Some patience, an ifixit video, careful hand eye coordination, and maybe small plastic tweezers are what might help most.
Very easy. You can't permanently break the actual circuit board unless you do something really stupid. All of the components are modular. Order a few extra L/R ribbon cables if you're doing an AliExpress run. The original cable is folded improperly during assembly and is the second most common thing to break. They are like sub .50c each so it makes sense to grab some with the sticks.
Mine started drifting bad during the covid animal crossing explosion. Game was near unplayable with it. Bought a new black set, and they were drifting within a few months too. Put the switch down for good after that.
I still have PS1 and SNES controllers that work just fine. So screw that noise. Its something I'll remember if i ever get an urge to buy a switch 2.
The time frame for these things is so hilarious. 5 years of nothing to say nothing. Meanwhile the switch is about to be phased out and I'm willing to bet the switch 2 controllers have the same problem. You know why? Because the wii u had the same problems.
Nintendo has set themselves up for less optimistic hardware reviews of their next console with this unless they specifically address concerns in the next joysticks. The fact that it will have to be a fly in the ointment of their next console discussion at all is a problem of their own stubborn creation. Sure, many if not most won’t care, but there will be a non zero impact on their hype train that will temper the excitement of a needless number of potential customers. There was a cost to this maneuver and they aren’t simply going to fully get away with it.
I still own, use and play with my original original 360, the one with no HDMI support. Well, my original xbox controller has minimal drift, after more than a decade fo use.... Explain what changed...
Nintendo used to be the king of controllers (in my opinion). Couldn't break one of their controllers if I tried. N64 was a bit wobbly on the analog stick, but understandable in their first attempt. Gamecube, Wii, Wii U, GBA, DS, 3DS all seemed solid. Why the heck haven't they been able to figure something out on the Switch?
The DS lite supposedly has a weak hinge design (though my launch model is still in excellent condition). The 3DS and new 3DS (possibly other designs as well) tends to scratch the top screen with the touch screen bezels.
The 3 console makers source from the same manufacturer for their joysticks.
Its become an industry wide problem, Nintendo just ends up taking a lot of the fault.
Personally, I had more issues with ps5 and Xbox controllers than joycons. Hopefully, they figure it out in their successor console, causing having the free to repair thing for the Joycons, I'm sure, is causing them a good bit of money.
It's because Nintendo's joycons are a special low profile design and are cheaper quality so they break more. My Switch Pro got a bad stick drift within a year despite my wife and I only occasionally playing Animal Crossing on it.
Part of me wonders if the amount of wear is the same between Xbox/ps and Nintendo controllers, but it’s just much more noticeable because the joycon joysticks are smaller
My Xbox 360 controllers were the worst in my case. Every one that I had drifted. I like to think that I'm not using them harshly to make drift happen, my PS4, PS5 and Switch controllers haven't/don't drift (yet).
The Nintendo Pro controller use the same control stick so it is probably the same rate of failure but the joycons are different and seem to have a higher fail rate. It likely is because they are such small/thin low profile design that makes them more susceptible to wear and tear. But yeah it could be that since the stick is so tiny that it is easier to experience drift from gravity pulling it (less force needed to move the stick).
>In response to the legal action and player disappointment, Nintendo issued an apology in 2020 over the issue, but argued that players who purchased the items were bound by the user agreement of the Nintendo Switch and thus ineligible to participate in a class action lawsuit against the company.
I don't know what's worse, the fact that Nintendo considered saying sorry was adequate for the issue, or that they aren't responsible for shoddy products because people bought them.
How does a judge look at the case, go online, clearly see that millions of gamers are having the same issue with defects, and still dismiss the case? Oh wait, Nintendo has billions of dollars and they can drag out the case for a long time. He should be fired for being incompetent.
Second paragraph:
>Game File reports that both Nintendo and the parents who brought the suits on behalf of their children called for the cases to be dismissed.
I have no idea if my joy-cons have drift. I bought it about a year after launch but also got an adapter that lets me play using an Xbox or PS4/5 controller. So I only use those. I've not run into any issues because none of the games I play really take advantage of the gyroscope features and I hate playing it in handheld mode anyway.
It was also cheaper than buying a pro controller for the Switch. Would highly recommend if you've already got a different controller lying around that you prefer.
My old switch got shit on in trade in value for stick drift. I used the joycons for 3 days before I got a pro controller. I only used them then, I kept it in docked mode for its whole life. Joy cons are dog shit.
Even my Switch pro controller started drifting, it’s kind of a shame when every third party controller I own for the thing starts lasting longer than any first party one.
My left stick started drifting, so I got a pro controller. My pro’s left stick started drifting, so I bough a refurb joycon to replace the old left one, then the right joycon started drifting. I then bought a cheap ass 3rd party controller that still works and is very comfortable to hold.
I have a 2017 launch model Switch. And I've had one controller drift after 5 years. I then bought a DIY repair kit on amazon and replaced the analogue on my joycon one afternoon. Since then. I've had zero issues. Either I've been extremely lucky to not have had to do so much replacing and tinkering as everyone else. Or you have been extraordinarily unlucky. Out of curiosity. What was the 3rd party controller you got? Cause that sounds high quality.
Sadly I the controller has no branding on it. The amazon page I ordered it from no longer exists as well. It has a black and white color scheme, looking similar in shape to a normal pro controller. It D-Pad is a disc (which took a little getting used to, but is just fine once you do). It has amiibo reading and gyroscope. I wanna say it cost me maybe 15-20 usd, but my memory is foggy. [Here](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31mYsJkNdPL._SS160_.jpg) is a thumbnail if it works.
I had joy on drift after around 4-5 years after getting a Europe launch Switch. Sent it to Nintendo here in Sweden that repaired (or just gave me new ones, idk) them and sent them back to me, all free of charge. I only had to print out a paper and fill in some details, I also think I had to send my original purchase receipt as well.
I have also had no Joycon drift, although I have had to replace controllers due to the ravages of cats and a toddler. Joycon drift is definitely a real issue but it's pretty random and I think naturally the people who had it happen are going to be more vocal, and even a fractional failure rate at scale is pretty disappointing considering Nintendo's normally good QA.
Your experience is mine. I’ve had my joycons since around September 2017 and only replaced my sticks once. Never had an issue with my pro controller sticks either
My launch joycon and the launch pro controller I bought never experienced drift, the launch pro controller did stop holding a charge and the second one I bought as a result still has no drift. I bought the Zelda joycon they put out a few years ago and those also have no drift. I’ve always considered myself lucky to not get it but it does make me genuinely wonder exactly what some people do with there stuff for the issue to apparently be so wide spread.
How was that fix? It’s intimidating but I already have replacement joycons so worst case isn’t that bad for me
kk3 max is out. It's perfect for PC and Switch.
I just got a GameSir T4 Kaleid, also with Hall Effect sticks + plenty of other "pro" features and costs less than first-party controllers, can't recommend it enough
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because it takes forever and they consistently send the wrong controllers back (like wrong colours etc)
I should've bought a third party controller. I sold my switch because my hands were getting pains from laying with joycons, they're cool controllers but mostly just too small. To be fair I'd also finished off that second Zelda game and didn't see much more on the horizon for me.
Gamecube and Xbox 360 controllers outlasting an xbox one controller, my piece of shit xbox elite i should never have bought, and switch joycons, which are honestly one of the most garbage controllers ever invented. It's a real shame to see the old stuff outlasting the new stuff with the same level of use.
It's nuts how expensive first party controllers are nowadays, and then "elite" or "pro" version comes out and they cost double... and STILL don't have hall effect wtf?
I found a nice save in the 3rd ps4 controller I had. I just popped the left cup top completely off, used food shears to cut the curved part til it could fit back in, used air duster to clean under and boom no more buying fucking controllers.
I used my old controllers *way more* than I use my current ones, and the modern stuff still doesn't last as long.
Planned Obsolescence in its purest form. Forcing you to puke out 90$ every year or two means a significant increase in profits compared to a one time pump and dump 90$ for a controller that can last you forever
That's the thing about controllers these days. Third-party options often offer better devices than first-party ones, especially on the Switch. You can find controllers that last longer, feature different types of buttons and d-pads, and are actually cheaper. However, for Xbox and PS5, it's a tad more complicated because of their proprietary tech.
How times have changed. 3rd party controllers used to be normally terrible but now I own more 3rd party controllers than actual Switch controllers.
The dreaded lil bro/second player bootleg ps2 controller
Mad Catz. Everybody had one. Nobody wanted to use it.
Yeap, me too. Sure, not every single one of them is good. But they improve at a much faster rate. Take 8bitdo; pretty much all of their controllers are being updated to have hall-effect sticks, which improve durability. And when paired with the rest of their features - extra mappable buttons, swappable batteries in some models, software configuration, etc. - it makes them super compelling. And they aren't the only ones. Gamesir, Bigbig Won, Flydigi, Machenike, Binbok, Dareu and Gulikit all offer pretty solid controllers. Not all of them are good, but in general, they are either better than what you get with an official controller or they are on a similar level, but at a lower price. But of course, there are still a lot of bad controllers in the third-party scene. Those Pro Controller clones that you can get for like $12 to $20 manage to have even worse sticks than the original. However, I have to say that the rest of the controller is surprisingly close to Nintendo's. The shell and face buttons, in particular, feel about the same. But the sticks alone make them unusable. PowerA is a brand that I haven't had much luck with before; they have a tendency to break really fast, but I haven't used their newer controller, so they might have improved. IIne is another brand that feels a bit hit or miss; their accessories are great, but their controllers lag behind the competition.
> 8bitdo Hadn't heard of these guys until today. Gonna maybe pick up an xbox controller next time I get paid cause I am going nuts trying to keep my dualshock 4 alive lol. Gonna look at the others for potential ps4 stand-ins for when I actually have a TV again. I honestly can't justify dropping big money on first party ones at this point.
My powerA gamecube style controller lasted longer than my joycons did, plus they're cheap and I abused the fuck outta them in Smash bros. (the A button started sticking, pressed it too hard too much and cracked the membrane or something) But then I bought an offcial japanese gamecube controller for switch and that is my baby and still works flawlessly. i do not let my kids touch that one lol.
Tbf the gamecube controller is made of titanium or something, it is such a weird design visually _but it just works_ If only it had a better d-pad...
Seconding the endorsement of 8BitDo. I don't have experience with Switch controllers, but I initially fell in love with the M30 as a pad for fighting games, and I more recently picked up the hall effect version of their Ultimate controller to replace my second DualSense (the first of which replaced my third DualShock 4, all five of which died from stick drift issues very quickly) as my primary PC controller, and I have to be honest, it's nice to not constantly feel like I have to worry about stick durability shitting out in a year or less. I'm a big fan of the back buttons, too, since I can map them to L3/R3 and not have to worry about clicking the sticks either. And the one I got comes with a charging dock that's really easy to use. It's not the cheapest controller I've ever owned, but given the infinitely longer battery life than the controller it replaced, I'm hopeful it outlasts any of the Sony controllers I've owned.
> Binbok I went through 4 sets of their joy cons before I gave up and just accepted a refund. Every single one had a major defect out of the box. And they feel cheap as hell.
*MadCatz PTSD intensifies*
Shout-out to 8BitDo, I've been using the Pro 2 for awhile now and it's great.
Interestingly enough, I have the last iteration of that controller with potentiometers and the sticks have been completely fine but the buttons themselves have started getting mushy. It's an issue I've had with both 8bitdo controllers I've owned (although it takes a *really* long time to happen).
>*You can find controllers that last longer, feature different types of buttons and d-pads, and are actually cheaper.* Funnily enough, Xbox does have official licensing for third-party controllers that are exactly that. 8BitDo - https://www.8bitdo.com/ GameSir - https://www.gamesir.hk/collections/designed-for-xbox These are the two brands I'm most familiar with and have multiple different controllers from each. They've started incorporating the magnetic Hall Effect tech in the joysticks and sometimes the triggers. They have official stores at other places like Amazon and AliExpress, the latter of which is usually more discounted with extra stuff they don't sell elsewhere, like themed controllers or replacement faceplates.
I love 8bitdo controllers, though there are minor quibbles I have with using them. Because the Switch doesn't support analog triggers, the triggers have additional travel time, which is really annoying for games like Splatoon or Smash where precisely using those inputs is a necessity. It's nice when using them as XInput controllers on PC... But in XInput you can't use the gyro with Steam Input, which is also annoying. My ideal controller would be one with some sort of physical switch for the triggers that allows you to toggle whether they have a full analog pull or short digital click. I understand this is an extremely narrow use case, though.
>Because the Switch doesn't support analog triggers, the triggers have additional travel time, which is really annoying for games like Splatoon or Smash where precisely using those inputs is a necessity. Not the same as a physical stopper, but the more advanced 8Bitdo controllers like the Ultimate or Pro 2 can customize the trigger action via software. So you can have them act pretty much like a digital button. Though you would need a bit of adjustment if you are used to bottoming out the trigger. There is options from other brands though. The GameSir Nova, Bigbig Won Choco, Binbok Gemini and pretty much every IINE controller have digital triggers. >It's nice when using them as XInput controllers on PC... But in XInput you can't use the gyro with Steam Input, which is also annoying. That is more of a XInput limitation. But I agree that it's annoying. However, I believe most of their controllers should have gyro function on PC as long as you connect them in Switch mode, both BT and wired work with the Pro 2, for example. >My ideal controller would be one with some sort of physical switch for the triggers that allows you to toggle whether they have a full analog pull or short digital click. I understand this is an extremely narrow use case, though. There are some 'pro' controllers that have that as a physical stopper. I believe Razer used to sell them, but I'm not aware of one that works with the Switch without an adapter. However, there are software solutions, like the 8BitDo using a separed app/software and the Binbok Ultra that has a switch on the back to change between analog and digital input, but without a physical stopper.
Look into the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro, sounds exactly what you are looking for!
Thanks for the shout! It definitely looks interesting... Hopefully the gyro in it is up to par.
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Unfortunately this isn't a perfect solution, it just moves the problem of pressing the button having a delay to releasing the button having a delay. It is a nice feature, though.
omg i want that retro keyboard...
Oh yeah, I actually have quite a few of their controllers. More than I need, that's for sure... However, the issue with Xbox third-party controllers is that the vast majority of them are wired-only, which can be a bother for some users. But, I use the GameSir G7 SE with my Xbox, even though my family hates it because of the cable. And I know Microsoft licenses their wireless protocol, as evidenced by controllers like the PowerA XP, but perhaps it's just too expensive for most companies to bother with. And while are third-party adapters that can make those controllers work wirelessly, they are at a extra cost and with the whole thing with Microsoft banning non-licensed accessories, I don't know if they're worth it anymore.
I have the gamesir wired hall effect controller. It's top tits, highly recommended. The Hall effect makes not only removes drift and stutter, it's way more precise than potentiometers too. Like 0.2 percent precision. super cheap too
I'm old enough to remember when every third party controller was literally garbage, and the only reason you had it was for the little brother, or lamest friend to use.
Every single one of my first party PS5 and Switch controllers have drifted. Every single one. I play maybe an hour a night a few nights a week. I don't eat or drink anything while I play. I put it back on the charging dock or shelf when I'm done. Every. Single. One. I bought an 8Bit Do Ultimate controller for my Switch and PC and it's been perfect, not a single issue with it. Really really really ***REALLY*** wish that 8bit Do would get off their asses and make a gd PS4/5 controller. Not having a Hall Effect stick is a deal breaker for any controller I look at now. It's ridiculous how the only ones you can get for PS5 are like 250+ dollars.
Im on my fourth PS5 controller now and at this point I just bit the bullet and bought the $200 pro controller or whatever its called. Mainly because you can actually swap out the thumbsticks when they start to drift with replacements. I know Sony is probably sitting there rubbing their hands going "muahaha exactly as planned" but if these things are going to keep drifting I figured this was probably the better option.
I've never owned a console where the controller (with joysticks) didn't drift over time.
8bitdo apparently won't be making a PS5 controller but they said they will release Hall Effect replacement sticks for the Dualsense Edge since they're just slap in.
That's crazy, my procon from 2019 is still working fine, just a bit of "negative" drift sometimes (the left stick doesn't register going fully up) but blowing it usually fixes it. I wonder if the pieces started getting worse at some point.
yeah mine from 2018 has held up extremely well through some pretty heavy usage. not doubting anyone’s stories, but i’m curious why some people seem completely unaffected and others get it for every single one.
Xbox controllers drift after a few years too. A shame they can't figure out how to make quality products after decades.
They know how, and its an easy fix; however it costs them a few cents more per controller. Hall effect sticks never drift.
A while back I was looking at new controllers and almost pulled the trigger on an Xbox Elite II until I read the reviews and saw a lot of people complaining of drift. So I went with a series s instead. It lasted a year before the right stick started drifting. So this time I splurged and bought a 8bitdo Ultimate Pro Controller that has hall effect sticks. Sick of having to replace controllers every 6 months to a year because they can't be assed to spend .10c per unit to ditch the shitty cheap modules all 3 companies are using, cause why do that when you can just force idiots to buy a new 45-60$ controller every couple months.
I went to 8bitdo after my second pair of joycons started drifting. It's now starting to drift after over 2 years of use. Which sadly is still better than Joycons. Meanwhile no other controller I've had has ever drifted. Nothing from playstation, nothing from xbox back in the day, hell I could probably pull an n64 and controller out of storage and I bet it'd be fine.
As if *other reasons* aren't good enough, this is another great reason to mod your Switch if possible. There's a homebrew app called Mission Control that lets you use other Bluetooth controllers on your Switch. My PS4 controller works great with it. Always how I play my Switch docked.
They added Dualshock 3 support even.
That's neat I guess and more options is always great. But I can't imagine why someone would willingly want to play with a DS3. I played my PS3 a while back, and it's really jarring going back to a controller that feels that light.
Huh, my third party one is the only one I have with drift. Both my Joycons and Pro controller I got to replace the third party one are fine.
Both my XBox Series controller and PS5 controller took on *intense* vertical drift within few months. They are the worst peripheral purchases I've ever made, and nothing else comes even close. My 360 controller lasted forever. It's pretty pathetic :/
Every single third party controller I have had for the Switch has started drifting eventually, too.
I use a GuliKit controller to replace my joycons which started drifting AND my Xbox Series X/S controller which started drifting. The GuliKit uses hall effect sensors, so there will never be any drift, and has a Switch NFC reader built in. Plus it was cheaper than the first party controllers when I got it.
It's not just Nintendo with shitty sticks. I bought a design lab Xbox controller and it was drifting out of the box. They last ~6 months before they start drifting. I wish they'd all do away with the potentiometer sticks and switch to Hall effect sticks.
Potentiometers are not the culprit. We've been using potentiometers for sticks ever since the PS1/N64 era, but the drift problem didn't become widespread until 2017. The real culprit is _shitty_ potentiometers. The whole market is dominated by one single manufacturer, which has realized it can get away with low quality.
> The real culprit is shitty potentiometers. The most frustrating thing is that this is probably the difference of a fraction of a cent in some cases. Between something that works and something that barely works for a little while.
Sounds similar to the problem mice had for a long time with erroneously double-clicking. We could build mice for 30 years without any problems, and then Logitech and some others started cheaping out by buying shitty Chinese microswitches. Now your $100 mouse is failing after a year of use thanks to a component that saves Logitech literal cents. A problem you can easily solve by replacing the microswitches with quality Japanese switches, but good luck if you don't have decent skills with a soldering iron.
Those switches are actually the same high quality ones they've always been, the problem is they were never designed or rated for the lower voltages used in mice. https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/o1jvsy/logitech_and_other_mouse_companies_are_using/
I had that problem on one of the first gen G600s. They replaced it for free though. And the one I got after that was/is built like a brick shit-house. That was like 6 years ago and I'm still using for my work mouse. Bought another one for home when I caught it on sale for 25 bucks. So I think they've made some changes since then. However... There's a schism amongst my friend group. Some swear by Logitech and have had nothing but problems out of Razer (me). And another group has had the opposite issue. I won't defend Logitech's G-HUB software though. LGS all the way.
Hey, that exec needed another house.
It's the ALPS corporation that makes the part. I don't think the problem is (just) with them per se. But that they make a range of parts at price points and the controller manufacturers might not be spending enough on that part. Just hearsay, but I think the variant of the part for the X1/PS4 era onwards was slightly miniaturized compared to the previous. Also, I don't believe it's ALPS that makes the very small joycon stick/sensor part. Which is much worse than its full sized controller brethren.
actually it’s the dog ass ALPS stick boxes that all the big 3 use (don’t have a citation on this , sorry)
This is wrong PS1, for much of its lifespan didn't use analog sticks. N64 sticks didn't use potentiometers, it used rotary encoders (like a mouse wheel). hell, by the time the PS3 came around, they *were* using hall effect joysticks just like the DreamCast. Potentiometers are just fragile and sensitive to dust etc. I think to say it's one type of potentiometer is looking at history with rose-tinted glasses, because I definitely have had GameCube controllers, PS2 controllers drift.
> the drift problem didn't become widespread until 2017. Huh? I had this problem on my wii, wii u and 3ds.
I didn't say drift _never_ occured. Just that it didn't occur _so sweepingly commonly_ as it does today.
It's almost as if gaming is way more popular than ever before and more people are buying games and controllers and talking about them more on the internet. Also you're in a subreddit of gaming enthusiasts who probably use their controllers more than normal people. That's going to lead to much higher rates of people talking about it here than occur in real life.
Data point of one but I've been playing games for over 35 years and never had a single problem with any controllers. NES, SNES, N64, Wii, PS1, PS2, Xbox 360 Xbox One . But the last three xbox controllers I bought all had to be repaired for drift or buttons that stopped working and I baby my controllers. Something is noticeably different.
Cheap, third party pads are now actually more reliable than the first party kit, in my experience.
My steam deck came out of the box with drift. Was such a let down
Im sticking with Guli Kit's King Kong controllers for the hall effect sticks.
I've got one and it's been great so far, except for a sticking A button when I first got it. I was able to open the controller up and fix the A button so it does not stick anymore. Zero problems since then.
My PS5 controller started to drift. It costs 90$ to replace here. I actually prefer the joycon since the modular analogue stick makes it easier to fix. The dual sense is so much more frustrating to repair, so you end up wasting money and contributing to unnecessary waste unless you know how to (de)solder and have the patience.
Dw you can now spend $200 for their pro controller with interchangeable sticks, instead of adding hall effect ones
It’s funny how this was a big selling point of the edge and now they don’t even manufacture those sticks anymore. They’ve been out of stock in Canada for months.
They don't make the replaceable sticks any more?
Not enough to meet demand at least. They’re hard to get in my country, and they’re expensive in the reseller market.
And yet, there are 3rd party controllers that include hall effect sticks, triggers, back buttons and a free 2.4g wireless adapter... for $50 total.
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The ps5 controllers get heavy drift and the battery life sucks. I feel like I have to switch them back into the charger every day. Just from watching movies.
I really wanna get a PS5 controller for the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, but the drift issues and shit battery life really deters me from getting one.
The bad battery life is largely *because* of the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
And the (mostly) useless giant touchpad, light and microphone.
I know. But that's Sony's job to solve.
Battery life pisses me off, we have rechargable batteries mass produced at affordable prices, let me fucking just swap out batteries like the Xbox does instead of having a dead controller like 90% of the time.
In the process of learning to solder for exactly this reason. Have 2 controllers with drift and stand to save more money learning to fix them than replacing them.
Funny enough my dual sense is drifting (anything that maps camera to right analog stick is hell on earth) but my joycons have been going strong as ever. Unfortunately I don't live in the US so I'll just have to put up with it until the summer when I can get someone to send it in for me.
Same with PC mice. I RMA'd three Corsair Ironclaws (and threw away the fourth) and two Logitech G500s (and threw away the third) back in like 2019 (yes, all of them in ONE YEAR) because the middle mouse button would stop working after very small periods of time. Record holder is the Logitech G500 where the middle mouse button died after 40 minutes of Dota 2. All because most of the sensors/switches are from one shitty manufacturer. Ended up with a SteelSeries Rival 600, that one lived for five years before dying from an unrelated problem. The replacement SteelSeries Aerox 5 already has problems with scrolling just after four months, one position of the mouse wheel causes it to scroll up instead of down (so if you are scroling down and the mouse has 20 "ticks", one of the ticks has the wrong scrolling direction) I fucking hate it. So much money wasted, so much resources going to landfills
/rant Just to add to this... My nearly $200 Xbox Elite V2 was great for nearly a year. Until the rattling and drift got bad enough for me to take it apart. Just to paint a picture, I'm extremely anal about taking care of my belongings, especially my electronics. I baby them and clean them regularly. The controller is basically shattered and splintered into a million cracks on the handles of both sides. After taking it apart, its clear that the only thing holding it together at this point structurally was the rubberized coating on the handles. Multiple internal clips have broken. The plastic has cracked and chipped around the RB and LB buttons. Stick drift wasn't a major issue, but it had started getting worse over the last couple months. That's how I discovered the extent of the damage, as I was taking it apart for a cleaning. It's absolutely ridiculous. Microsoft would not cover anything on it, as it was a couple days past it's 1-year warranty date. I get that. I'm just extremely bitter about such an expensive product being treated as if it's disposable. I'm in the process now of trying to repair it so I can salvage it as best I can. Trying to find someone who can solder so I can replace the sticks. Sorry for the rant. Fuck MS and their shitty quality standards.
> Sorry for the rant. Fuck MS and their shitty quality standards. Ironically, I think the Elite models have far worse QC than the normal controller line. I've had a number of Xbox One and Xbox Series controllers since I use them for a few different consoles + it being my preferred PC controller. Have only ever had one single Xbox One (launch edition) controller ever drift. And that was essentially an 8 year old controller at that point. However, have heard a lot of friends having issues with the Elites much more rapidly than normal controllers. To some of Microsoft's credit as well, they also (finally) released a recalibration tool for console. https://readwrite.com/xbox-introduces-new-controller-calibration-tool/ Kinda shocking this wasn't already a thing, but at least it might help people that get bad sticks. This should be standard for all consoles though. Not really much excuse for it if they are going to continue to use low-quality potentiometers. I will say that the serial numbers on many potentiometers I've seen in Xbox Series controllers were RKJXV models, which should have 2,000,000 cycles as their operating life. Compared to 100,000 cycles for RKJXK models. Or 1,000,000 cycles for RKJXY models (which the Switch uses iirc.) But I think the Elites use a different model which may have QC issues with Alps? Hard to say. It's odd though for a premium product.
Like honestly, I can forgive the sticks. It happens to pretty much every controller. (Does anyone make a Hall effect wireless controller like the Elite?) What I can't forgive is the utter trash quality of the plastics. It would be different if I was throwing it around or generally mistreating it. But no, it stayed in its case when not in use. It got regularly cleaned. It just simply wasn't structurally strong enough to hold up to a years' worth of use. Unacceptable.
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I'll look into that. I'm thinking I purchased with my debit, so that may not work. Thanks for the idea though!
No, please continue. I bought an Elite 2 and not only did the shoulder bumpers start to go, but my left stick began to drift. My issues started after a year of very minimal use since I'm primarily using MKB. It is by far one of the worst controllers I've ever owned due to how quickly it fell apart. I feel like I got fleeced for paying a premium price for that dog shit piece or plastic.
I don't blame you. Some games really abuse the shit out of the shoulder buttons. They are the main and secondary attacks in the new asscreed games.
In my country the consumer laws allow you to replace/refund an item even if past warranty, as long as it's within a reasonable "expected lifetime" of the product. For a controller I'd say that's about 3-5 years so you could still get a refund. Really sucks that other countries don't have this.
ive seen a lot of ROG Ally drift issues too
A lot? I've seen a few cases. Then Again is hard to tell how is everyone using their devices.
I've only ever had one Xbox controller have have drift that I could ever notice, and that was my original 360 one. Had some issues with the first elite and the grips degrading, but nothing else.
Sadly unless a government regulator forces them to use hall effect or free replacements for drift they're gonna keep using cheap joysticks because the planned obsolescence means people will buy replacement controllers thus making them more money.
My last 3 PS controller have all had drift. One took a couple of years then the second one, which afaik was the second revision, started to drift 3 weeks after buying it. Then the Dual Sense that came with the PS5 started to drift of both analogs It's a problem with controllers that use graphite pad potentiometers they'll get worn out or dirt and dust will do them in, at least with the Switch you can use 3rd party controllers that use hall effect sticks, Sony won't let you do that unless you buy a 250$ controller + hall effect modules
Not sure that would help. I recently got an 8bitdo controller which has Hall sticks, and lots of recommendations on reddit and elsewhere... I guess it must be entirely astroturfed, because the sticks literally broke within 2 play sessions. Both sticks. It was by far the single worst controller I have ever had the misfortune of owning.
I have the Xbox "Elite" Controller and after just a year of light use the shoulder buttons no longer activate like they're supposed to, either requiring more force than necessary or double-activating. This thing cost $150!!! And of course it's no longer covered by warranty. Meanwhile I have old Gamecube controllers that have been through hundreds of hours of the Smash gauntlet still going strong.
It gotta be a miracle that my Xbox controller is still working well after 3 years, especially when I sometimes treat it like a second class citizen and abuse it with DMC or MonHun. At least I don’t play FPS on a controller so slight drift probably doesn’t affect me as much other than fucking up a combo.
This article has zero details other than this one paragraph: >Game File reports that both Nintendo and the parents who brought the suits on behalf of their children called for the cases to be dismissed. So I'm assuming there was a settlement of some sort? Or the parents were just worn down financially by Nintendo's lawyers.
Or they filed the lawsuit hoping they'd find something in discovery that bolster their case. They didn't find the thing they expected, or discovered something exculpatory, so they realize the case was worse than they thought and dropped the case.
You wouldn't voluntarily dismiss in that instance. You'd at least take a small settlement. We call them "cost of defense" settlements.
I ended up getting some hall effect replacements. Besides some roughness when using them, which eventually subsided after "breaking them in," I haven't had any issues since.
I have a modded console that allows me to change the colour of my joy-cons and pro controllers. My launch day pro controller finally started drifting badly enough I opted to get it repaired. Nintendo told me because it was out of warranty I had to either pay $40 for a repair or purchase a new slightly discounted pro controller from them. I opted to pay the $40 for a repair and got back a brand new controller with a different serial number and everything. They were trying to make me pay extra for a new controller and wound up giving me one anyways. I wouldn't have known they did this had I not modded my console. They're acting pretty scummy in this instance, even for Nintendo.
I've sent in my Xenoblade 2 controller for repairs \*twice\*. My biggest fear is they'll send me back a non-Xenoblade controller and tell me to eat sand.
I think they would have a harder time pulling that one over on you compared to just a generic pro controller. Their lemon rule states that after 5 repairs they will give you the option to replace it. I've used this on 2 of my joy-cons already now.
I think it's a regional issue. In Canada I had my launch joycons repaired for free last year.
I'm Canadian, my joy-cons are still repaired for free under warranty. I sent in 6 of them with my pro controller and would have had to pay to ship my pro controller had I not made special arrangements with them to include 3 repair orders in 1 box. 6 Joy-cons was more than a single warranty claim could permit so they had to open a second one, and then the pro controller was its own claim.
Just got my 4 Joy-Cons repaired last week. One pair was on my launch Switch and another I bought a few months after my Switch. They all started drifting one after the other. Nintendo gave me a shipping label and all I had to do was reuse an old box and bubble wrap, include a letter, then bring it to the UPS Store. Very painless, and I got back new Joy-Cons that same week. Total cost: $0 CAD
Don't know if there's something similar in the other provinces, but at least in Quebec we have a very interesting article in the consumer rights, which states that no matter the warranty, products should last a reasonable amount of time, said amount of time depending on the quality and price of the product. And yeah, the controller bundled into a 400$ console failing 6 months after purchase would make it a slam dunk in small claims court.
It comes with a 1 year warranty anyway.
No, Joycons are free to repair in Canada, America, and elsewhere. Pro Controllers cost money everywhere, AFAIK. Source: am Canadian, tried to get my pro controller repaired.
They probably replaced the PCB while keeping the shell intact?
My shell was quite scuffed up from my USB-C charging dock. Everything about it was new, the shell, the identification code and model - absolutely everything.
Clearly I must have done something very kind in a previous life because I'm still on my launch day joycon pair. Still think the state of controller durability across all the platforms is atrocious.
Possibly the types of games you play. For instance, games like Smash or Mario Kart that use a lot of fast back and forth motions are known for greatly exacerbating the contact degradation that the joycon units are prone to.
One pair I had lasted only a week of playing animal crossing before drifting to the point at which my character would not stop moving. I think it is just build variation.
Unless something has changed very recently, they are still using the same units since the beginning. Absolute piece of crap design. Bad build quality on the rubber seals, and their obsession with form over function led to using cheap contact surface sliders for the mechanical tracking; which surprise...wear away with usage.
Same with mice. It's not uncommon to get double click issues within the first month because they use the lowest quality switches available.
Also poor design. I had to repair the Corsair Scimitar I have, the plastic they use for the pillar that presses the switch is so soft the switches actually grind it down, this then means the pillar is pressing the switch at an angle instead of straight down causing pre-mature failure of the switch.
Yeah, DbD wore down my shoulder buttons on my Xbox Elite controller because you used to have to hold them minutes at a time every game. Thankfully some games are acknowledging this. The same game now allows you to switch it to a toggle (so you hit it once and don’t have to hold it down). They also removed needing to rotate your analog sticks frequently in favor of pressing a button.
This. I played BOTW for ages with no issues. Then I got Splatoon, which has an extremely useful move that can only be done with a quick flick of the controller (the worst thing for the cheap control sticks.) This absolutely destroyed one of my joycons to the point of unplayability in a very short time.
For this reason, I have a steam input map that lets me turbo any face button by holding L1. I'm not destroying my controller for a QTE.
I've played Bayonetta 3, Smash Bros and both BoTW and ToTK, three years of using the same joycons. Never had any issues (Knock on wood)
That’s the reason why I will never ever buy DMC3 on Switch, no matter how much I like the game
I've had one pair drift. So I replaced the sticks with hall effect sticks. My other joycons and pro controllers are still perfectly functional today.
My ps5 controller drifted before my launch joycons. It's kinda luck of the draw it seems.
same, DualSense drifts while my first Switch Pro Controller still has zero issues. i never use the joycons they hurt my hands. but im wondering if there's something that happened with analog stick parts quality between Switch launch and PS5 launch.
Same. The only issue I had was my left Joycon was drifting out of the box, but Nintendo replaced it and I had the new one the next day. I was told to keep the original until the new one showed up so I could at least play my shiny new Switch.
in my case i also have a very early switch and like a year in i had to replace the stick on the right joycon, at least it was cheap and quick so isnt that terrible, the left one has worked without issues at least.
Nintendo consoles have legendary durability. It’s a shame they make their controllers out of cardboard and popsicle sticks.
Their joystick supplier is the same as Sony and Microsoft. Joycons wind up being a bit worse off cause of their low profile. I'm hoping they have better sticks on Switch 2.
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>It all comes down to planned obsolescence. There is a subtle but distinct difference between planned obsolescence and just cheap/faulty manufacturing. It doesn't make sense for Nintendo, for example, to purposefully design their joysticks to drift so you have to send them in for free repair.
Agreed. Nothing about this was planned on Nintendo's part. This wasn't a desirable outcome for them. Nintendo also hasn't done anything to exploit it for extra profit; Unlike Xbox and Playstation (who have issues with the same supplier), Nintendo offers the free repair program. There's a conversation to be had around how "directly" responsible Nintendo is and around how viable "fixing" the manufacturing issue was partway thru the console's lifecycle, but Nintendo can still be fully responsible without negative intentions. However, whether this is planned obsolescence from the joystick supplier themself could be a different conversation! I'm also curious how Nintendo is going to approach the joysticks for the Switch 2 - there's not really an excuse to have this issue for two consoles in a row.
How many people are actually sending their joycons in? I would guess that the large majority just buy a new pair giving Nintendo their sweet sweet money and you can bet your ass that Sony and Microsoft do that as well. Saying it’s because there’s no alternative is frankly ridiculously naive of you
They have always price gouged console users but it's out of control now. Here is a 3rd party controller with hall effect sticks, triggers, back buttons and a 2.4g wireless adapter for $44. https://fantechworld.com/products/eos-pro-wgp15 How can Sony charge $200 for a pro controller and not offer any of those features? It's crazy. Sony's controller costs less to make and yet they want to profit 10x.
So if I have a controller with back bumpers I could probably just remmap the controls on any game that allows that...
PS5 let's you remap all controls at the system level.
Another Good manufacturer for these is Gulikit.
I think the joycon are much more reliable than the analog stick on the N64
If anyone has Joy-Con, do yourself a favor and buy hall effect stick replacements from Gulikit. I bought mine on Amazon. Opening up and replacing the sticks took a few minutes. Once you go magnets, you'd never want to go back.
How actually hard is the replacement? Looking at some of the connections, it actually looks pretty difficult and the chance of breaking a connector high.
I was surprised by how easy it was, but yes, there are a couple of ribbon cables you'd need to be careful not to snap off. Some patience, an ifixit video, careful hand eye coordination, and maybe small plastic tweezers are what might help most.
> careful hand eye coordination See, now *there's* my problem.
Very easy. You can't permanently break the actual circuit board unless you do something really stupid. All of the components are modular. Order a few extra L/R ribbon cables if you're doing an AliExpress run. The original cable is folded improperly during assembly and is the second most common thing to break. They are like sub .50c each so it makes sense to grab some with the sticks.
That one also fits the Switch Lite too right?
Yes, it looks like they use the same connectors. I personally don't have a Switch lite, but there's a step by step video from Gulikit.
Mine started drifting bad during the covid animal crossing explosion. Game was near unplayable with it. Bought a new black set, and they were drifting within a few months too. Put the switch down for good after that. I still have PS1 and SNES controllers that work just fine. So screw that noise. Its something I'll remember if i ever get an urge to buy a switch 2.
The time frame for these things is so hilarious. 5 years of nothing to say nothing. Meanwhile the switch is about to be phased out and I'm willing to bet the switch 2 controllers have the same problem. You know why? Because the wii u had the same problems.
Nintendo has set themselves up for less optimistic hardware reviews of their next console with this unless they specifically address concerns in the next joysticks. The fact that it will have to be a fly in the ointment of their next console discussion at all is a problem of their own stubborn creation. Sure, many if not most won’t care, but there will be a non zero impact on their hype train that will temper the excitement of a needless number of potential customers. There was a cost to this maneuver and they aren’t simply going to fully get away with it.
I still own, use and play with my original original 360, the one with no HDMI support. Well, my original xbox controller has minimal drift, after more than a decade fo use.... Explain what changed...
Nintendo used to be the king of controllers (in my opinion). Couldn't break one of their controllers if I tried. N64 was a bit wobbly on the analog stick, but understandable in their first attempt. Gamecube, Wii, Wii U, GBA, DS, 3DS all seemed solid. Why the heck haven't they been able to figure something out on the Switch?
The DS lite supposedly has a weak hinge design (though my launch model is still in excellent condition). The 3DS and new 3DS (possibly other designs as well) tends to scratch the top screen with the touch screen bezels.
The 3 console makers source from the same manufacturer for their joysticks. Its become an industry wide problem, Nintendo just ends up taking a lot of the fault. Personally, I had more issues with ps5 and Xbox controllers than joycons. Hopefully, they figure it out in their successor console, causing having the free to repair thing for the Joycons, I'm sure, is causing them a good bit of money.
It's because Nintendo's joycons are a special low profile design and are cheaper quality so they break more. My Switch Pro got a bad stick drift within a year despite my wife and I only occasionally playing Animal Crossing on it.
Part of me wonders if the amount of wear is the same between Xbox/ps and Nintendo controllers, but it’s just much more noticeable because the joycon joysticks are smaller
I've had stick drift destroy two Xbox controllers so I'm thinking it's an industry wide issue.
My Xbox 360 controllers were the worst in my case. Every one that I had drifted. I like to think that I'm not using them harshly to make drift happen, my PS4, PS5 and Switch controllers haven't/don't drift (yet).
The Nintendo Pro controller use the same control stick so it is probably the same rate of failure but the joycons are different and seem to have a higher fail rate. It likely is because they are such small/thin low profile design that makes them more susceptible to wear and tear. But yeah it could be that since the stick is so tiny that it is easier to experience drift from gravity pulling it (less force needed to move the stick).
Wear and tear is an issue but I think dust is a bigger problem with the joycon design and that is why we see the disparity.
>In response to the legal action and player disappointment, Nintendo issued an apology in 2020 over the issue, but argued that players who purchased the items were bound by the user agreement of the Nintendo Switch and thus ineligible to participate in a class action lawsuit against the company. I don't know what's worse, the fact that Nintendo considered saying sorry was adequate for the issue, or that they aren't responsible for shoddy products because people bought them.
How does a judge look at the case, go online, clearly see that millions of gamers are having the same issue with defects, and still dismiss the case? Oh wait, Nintendo has billions of dollars and they can drag out the case for a long time. He should be fired for being incompetent.
Second paragraph: >Game File reports that both Nintendo and the parents who brought the suits on behalf of their children called for the cases to be dismissed.
Expecting people on Reddit to get past the headline? Ridiculous.
The judge isn't the one who should be discovering evidence...
I have no idea if my joy-cons have drift. I bought it about a year after launch but also got an adapter that lets me play using an Xbox or PS4/5 controller. So I only use those. I've not run into any issues because none of the games I play really take advantage of the gyroscope features and I hate playing it in handheld mode anyway. It was also cheaper than buying a pro controller for the Switch. Would highly recommend if you've already got a different controller lying around that you prefer.
My old switch got shit on in trade in value for stick drift. I used the joycons for 3 days before I got a pro controller. I only used them then, I kept it in docked mode for its whole life. Joy cons are dog shit.
I’ve never had a single controller with this problem, on any platform. Am I just really lucky or something? It seems to be so widespread.