3rd Party Switch Pro Controller Recommendations

RedMogg · 9 Mar 2024 at 14:22

We have two Official Switch Pro Controllers, bought in 2018. One has recently developed an issue where the internal battery won't keep charge, the other has noticeable Stick Drift. I'm not too sad: 6 years of regular abuse, so a pretty decent innings.

Would appreciate suggestions for cheaper replacements than the Original Switch Pro controllers: don't need any bells & whistles like NFC or Turbo/Extra buttons, but USB-C recharging, hall-effect thumb sticks would be a "nice-to-haves"...

...well, basically identical to the Pro controller, just not at £50 a pop.

I've looked to see what Bezos is selling, but 3rd party gear for consoles seems a bit of an "Insert Unknown Chinese Gobbledegook Brand Name" minefield.

ZXSpectrum · 11 Mar 2024 at 13:09

I have the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth & 2.4g Controller with Charging Dock for Switch and Windows - White. It currently is £59 but i bought mine for £35 when it was on a deal. Its fantastic. Hall effect sticks, nice grippy texture and power on the switch from the controller works fine.

ZXSpectrum · 11 Mar 2024 at 13:14

Make sure you get the one with BT otherwise it wont do the power on from the controller.

kakarott · 12 Mar 2024 at 22:25

There a new controller from gamesir which should work called Nova Lite

mattpj · 13 Mar 2024 at 13:43

I came in to recommend the 8bitdo Ultimate too.

RedMogg · 17 Mar 2024 at 03:45

kakarott said:
There a new controller from gamesir which should work called Nova Lite

That looks like exactly what I'm after. Even available from Shein, so the Mrs can feel involved in the process.

Many thanks!

kakarott · 17 Mar 2024 at 05:18

RedMogg said:
That looks like exactly what I'm after. Even available from Shein, so the Mrs can feel involved in the process.

Many thanks!

How much on shein? It's £30 on Amazon

RedMogg · 18 Mar 2024 at 12:11

kakarott said:
How much on shein? It's £30 on Amazon

Currently £20.15, with 15% off orders over £20.
I've grabbed four for £68 - couldn't say no at that price.

RedMogg · 4 Apr 2024 at 15:24

RedMogg said:
Currently £20.15, with 15% off orders over £20.
I've grabbed four for £68 - couldn't say no at that price.

All four arrived today (17 days, no import fees) and connected to the Switch, once I'd checked the online instructions.
Really nice feel: slightly smaller and a fair bit lighter than the Switch Pro, but tactile and responsive. ABXY buttons are reversed (like the Xbox controller), but should be easy enough to either remap or adjust play style.
Vibration isn't quite as intense as Pro.
Hall Effect triggers & thumb sticks are great, albeit a little sensitive.
Hard shell carry case/dust cover was a welcome bonus (I may cut a little slot to poke a usb-c cable through, like the Xbox Elite 2, but this is a minor niggle).

For the money, I'm really impressed. I could have got them much faster via Prime, for a 50% premium, but for under £20 each it was definitely worth the wait.

BananaDunka · 5 Apr 2024 at 22:11

kakarott said:
There a new controller from gamesir which should work called Nova Lite

Nova, not Nova Liite, the Lite does not have the gyros and also isn't directly replicating Switch Pro controller, inc the Z triggers, the Lite has analogue Z triggers.

I have both and both are excellent but the non-Lite is just better although the vibration intensity of the Lite is much better and how you'd expect a controller. The non-Lite vibration feels like a buzz rather than a rumble. Might be an issue for some but as I have both I'm gonna swap the motors over hah.

Oh and the ABXY buttons are correctly laid out on the non-Lite although you can remap them directly on both controllers.

Btw if you find the sticks sensitive you can enable the deadzone mode by holding M+either stick's click button for a few secs.

These feel better constructed than the 8BitDo controllers which creak and feel cheaper in the hands, especially the underside grippy texture.

I'm using these mostly on PC btw, Steam Input supports the gyros out of the box over Bluetooth and I found that the Nova is 250Hz polling rate over Bluetooth which is madness because my 8BitDo Ultimate is 125Hz only in Switch Input mode and that's even via the dedicated 2.4GHz adapter too. The mind boggles.

Gray2233 · 5 Apr 2024 at 22:15

ZXSpectrum said:
I have the 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth & 2.4g Controller with Charging Dock for Switch and Windows - White. It currently is £59 but i bought mine for £35 when it was on a deal. Its fantastic. Hall effect sticks, nice grippy texture and power on the switch from the controller works fine.

I bought one myself and it was 100% worth every penny, I think it cost me a little over £30 on sale just before Christmas.

The hall sticks were the major selling point, but the fact you get a dock with it was wonderful. Prior to that I snubbed them as a silly superfluous expense, now I doubt I'll ever run a controller without one ever again.

BananaDunka · 5 Apr 2024 at 22:19

Problem with the 8BitDo sticks is that they have no anti-friction rings surrounding the circle frame so you feel all the rough edge of the frame as you circle around with the sticks. The Gamesir and others do have the rings and it's completely smooth to circle as a result. I think for the 8BitDo price you are paying the extra solely for the name popularity, the creaking is a big negative from my experience and that's after having the controller for 3-4 weeks only.

Gray2233 · 5 Apr 2024 at 23:11

mrk said:
Problem with the 8BitDo sticks is that they have no anti-friction rings surrounding the circle frame so you feel all the rough edge of the frame as you circle around with the sticks. The Gamesir and others do have the rings and it's completely smooth to circle as a result. I think for the 8BitDo price you are paying the extra solely for the name popularity, the creaking is a big negative from my experience and that's after having the controller for 3-4 weeks only.

Admittedly, I only really use pads for slower paced games such as turn based RPG's. It's a couch gaming/relaxed thing for me, my draw to the hall sticks was more out of a desire to avoid drift issues than a need for greater accuracy of use.

BananaDunka · 6 Apr 2024 at 03:35

Check this out, 8BitDo Ultimate vs the GameSir, it's unreal how well calibrated the Novas are:

Nova:

Nova Lite:

8BitDo Ultimate:

kakarott · 6 Apr 2024 at 13:56

mrk said:
Check this out, 8BitDo Ultimate vs the GameSir, it's unreal how well calibrated the Novas are:

Nova:

Nova Lite:

8BitDo Ultimate:

Is this dead zone calibration and where are you testing it, windows?

BananaDunka · 6 Apr 2024 at 14:09

It's to test th accuracy tolerance of the sticks, I use Xinput tester and gamepadla on windows to test the rest like latency, outliers polling rate etc

It's on the gamepad tester website: https://hardwaretester.com/gamepad

I have the GameSirs Cyclone Pro coming tonight as really like the specs and it had trigger vibration motors too which I like the sound off and you can use the windows app to manage it.

Timber · 7 Apr 2024 at 12:50

GameSir seem to have very well calibration sticks out of the box. Similar things were said in the reviews for the G7 SEs when they hit last year.

I've personally been running 4 controllers including the official Switch Pro controller and all work well enough. But of the third-party offerings:

8bitdo Pro 2 - I love this for certain 2D games. New hall effect version coming soon. Whilst prefer asymmetrical layout there is something about this one.
8bitdo Ultimate - I have this docked with my PC and use it between PC and Switch. Generally no complaints on this. Sticks are better than the Pro 2/Switch Pro.
Gulikit KK3 Max - Might be my new favourite. Like the screenshots above posted 0.8% on the circular error test. Essentially a much better Xbox controller. Not a fan of the paddles though. Triggers are very good though. Better than the others. Get a lot of connectivity options.

Haven't tried the Vader, Nova (mentioned above) or the T4 Cyclone Pro which is also well thought of.

One of the things I love about the Switch is the fact such decent third-party controllers are readily available, particularly with hall effect sensors and they don't gimp third-party controllers the way MS & Sony do. Long may that continue and Switch 2 is the same.

BananaDunka · 7 Apr 2024 at 19:33

I actually got the T4 Cyclone Pro yesterday and been using it throughout, Again works with Switch out of the box and you can remap the ABXY layout to be Nintendo style without software.

Thing I like about it most is that all of the face buttons are micro switches which feel so good to use and have a satisfying click with less key travel than membrane. I returned the 8BitDo because after 3-4 weeks it started creaking which was really puzzling as the price is higher than the Gamesir. The T4 Cyclone Pro also has trigger motors and hall effect triggers as well as a bunch more features which are quite useful. No dock sadly but I'll buy a controller stand for a few quid and just connect the USB-C cable I have on the desktop anyway if it needs charging.

The one thing the Nova has that no other controller has though is that it has HD rumble, it is basically the exact same haptics as the Switch Pro controller, it feels awesome, exactly as you would expect from the Switch Pro official controller. This may seal the deal for many, it's actually also higher quality feeling than the Switch pro controller and offers hall effect sticks whereas the official one does not.

They also use BT LE, so will wake the Switch by pressing the home button just like the official pads.

Timber · 7 Apr 2024 at 19:59

mrk said:
I actually got the T4 Cyclone Pro yesterday and been using it throughout, Again works with Switch out of the box and you can remap the ABXY layout to be Nintendo style without software.

Sounds good.

RE: the HD rumble, good point. I suppose there is also NFC and gyro which may be another point if you use those (something I don't so don't really think about).

The Gulikit KK3 Max has 3 levels of sensitivity with their 'maglev' rumble, which was noisy for me on the highest one out of the box. Probably would put some people off. Very noticeable as well - probably one of the most powerful rumbles I can remember.

BananaDunka · 7 Apr 2024 at 20:47

You have 5 levels for primary motors and trigger motors on the Cyclone Pro, or 5 levels n the Nova btw, no nfc but that's only if you use the amiiibo stuff which I don't really bother with anyway!