X360 Crossfire Wireless Gaming Receiver - Mini Review!

Sumanji · 16 Feb 2007 at 13:27

Hey,

Just got mine in the post this morning, so I thought I'd do a mini review for you all.

Cost me £12.99 delivered which isn't bad at all. The receiver itself is tiny (approx. 8cm x 4cm x 2cm). Average build quality; plastic and not very heavy at all. Comes packed with a driver CD and some manuals:

The software is not bloated at all. Just seemed to install some drivers and a tiny applet as far as I can tell. It starts up one new service (XboxStat.exe) which uses up a constant 10MB of RAM. I can confirm that it DOES work on Windows XP x64, which is ace! Once it's installed you can plug your Receiver in to a free USB slot and the green light should ping on:

Connection is pretty straightforward; turn on your controller with the "X" button, press the button on the Receiver, then press the connect button on your controller. After they sync, you can press the "X" button to bring up a tiny little status app that shows the controller's status:

Sumanji · 16 Feb 2007 at 13:27

Some screenshots of the software application and other stuff:

A summary of things I've noticed so far:

PROS
~ Great range & reception (worked from 10m away through a couple walls!).
~ No wireless lag that I could notice.
~ Ridiculously easy to set up.
~ Can be used in an XP x64 environment! (not tested on Vista x64)
~ Compatible with ALL Xbox 360 wireless accessories (though I have only tested control pads).
~ Headset can be configured with Voice chat programs like TeamSpeak (see House's post).

CONS
~ Force Feedback does not work (as of the latest driver/program release).
~ Possible problems with some button assignments (see kidkhaos' post). Although I have not had any such issues.

ISSUES
~ Have to resycn controller to X360/PC every time you swap between them (i.e. control pad can only be linked with one device at a time).
~ No way to manually power off control pads (have to physically detach battery, or wait 10 minutes for auto shut-off).
~ Need to unplug your Xbox at the mains everytime you re-sync to your PC, otherwise pressing the Guide button will turn your X360 on

~ USB sync issues, rather annoying! Detailed thread here. My personal experience is detailed here.

Will keep this updated with any other bits I discover... hope it is useful to everyone

Cheers,

Suman

Jeeva · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:00

Awesome, meant to order mine a few weeks ago, never got round to it. Can't wait, saves me cash on a new decent mic etc. Not sure how much I'll use the pad, but emulators and such will be awe inspiring.

Huzzah!

eekfek · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:02

excellent work fella, tis good to see the pics and stuff , i think my cc will be getting flexed next week , cheers

Things change I've changed · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:10

*** !!!!!!, is this out then ?

Sleepery · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:24

Excellent post, ta very much for that. Interested to see how it does with the wireless headset myself.

Sumanji · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:24

lowrider007 said:
*** !!!!!!, is this out then ?

lol, yes it's out mate. Can't say where from though obviously

Does anyone know any good demos I can download (sports or racing)? I was gonna try out CMR2005 and Xpand Rally which I have full copies of, but just remembered they use Starforce which I refuse to install :mad:

unless anyone knows how to get round it

Cheers,

Suman

House · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:24

Got mine as well.

It works fine after some messing around I have got Teamspeak sound on my headset and game sounds coming through speakers. a freind of mine is coming on soon so we are goignt o test how the mic handles noise reduction and the like.

The pad seems ok and works fine in games ive tried so far (Race Driver 3).

One question, How do i turn the pad off?

Sumanji · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:26

House said:
One question, How do i turn the pad off?

lol I've been trying to figure this out too, but I can only see two ways:

1) Wait for the auto shut-off to kick in, which happens if you leave the pads idle for about 10 minutes.

2) Disconnect the battery pack

Things change I've changed · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:44

just orderd mine online (£11.99

), can you use the wireless steering wheel with this also ?

kidkhaos · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:45

the second analogue stick doesnt seem to register in san andreas

Sleepery · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:45

House said:
Got mine as well.

It works fine after some messing around I have got Teamspeak sound on my headset and game sounds coming through speakers.

Cool! This is exactly what I'm looking for

Nismo · 16 Feb 2007 at 14:57

House said:
One question, How do i turn the pad off?

Can you not hold it down for several seconds like on the 360?

kidkhaos · 16 Feb 2007 at 15:19

after having a mess around i have to say this is a really carp controller i much rather use my ps2 adapter then this.

it has 2 huge problems:

1. the second analogue stick is carp, and some games like san andreas doesnt even register it.

2. the trigger buttons aren't mapped as buttons but as if both buttons form one axis, thus you cant assign them as buttons in some games...

very poor job microsoft, i will put this away till a better update comes out.

.:MBK:. · 16 Feb 2007 at 15:24

does this controller work with the XBCD drivers which are still far supperior to the default as it it allows button mapping and dead zoning

Sumanji · 16 Feb 2007 at 15:38

Just had a quick blast on the Pro Evo 6 Demo, and it works a treat. No wireless lag that I could feel, and the range is pretty awesome too (about 10m through a couple of brick walls!).

Not having much luck with game installs though

CMR2005 - Starforce (Boo!)
Xpand Rally - Starforce (Boo!)
Trackmania Sunrise Demo - Starforce on a demo?!
Xpand Rally Xtreme Demo - As above
Freakout Xtreme Freeride - Crashes on startup
RACE Demo - Crashes at beginning of install

PES6 is the first game I've actually been able to get in to

.:MBK:. said:
does this controller work with the XBCD drivers which are still far supperior to the default as it it allows button mapping and dead zoning

Not sure mate... never heard of these XBCD drivers.

Wyrdo · 16 Feb 2007 at 15:40

Mine was meant to turn up today and now it's been put on backorder /sigh

Fireskull · 16 Feb 2007 at 15:56

Just read sumit on the XBCD forums and they are working on the driver for wireless, so at present no you cant use the better drivers, (which may i add fixes all the problems people r having here with it lol)

Sumanji · 16 Feb 2007 at 19:10

Ooh cool, these XBCD drivers are popular then?

.:MBK:. · 16 Feb 2007 at 19:13

for anyone who uses the x360 controller on windows properly...yes, they are essential, the standard ones are beyond useless