I'm thinking of taking advantage of black friday and buying a new controller for PC gaming, but my budget is a bit short (i buy it From Amazon USA or Aliexpress). Basically I'm looking for:

• Budget: $20 to $50

• Wireless or Bluetooth

• Hall Efect

• Steam Compatible

• Ergonomic if possible.

I currently play with a Logitech F310, so it would be my first wireless gamepad.

The Xinput controller I've been using since I got my first PC (~5 years ago now) has started to develop issues, primarily with the joysticks having deadzone issues and stick drift (I have already tried various fixes for this such as deep cleaning the controller to very little effect). I want to get a new controller, but I am debating on what to get.

Hall effect joysticks are something I've seen talked about quite a bit in the past few months. It feels like all I hear about them can be summed up with "These are objectively better than the joysticks the three major companies use (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft). They refuse to use them purely so they can have planned obsolescence." I'd rather not get a controller with any planned obsolescence, but at the same time, Xinput has the greatest compatibility with practically everything on Windows. And there's also the thing of whenever I see an opinion become popular on Reddit I always believe the polar opposite of it and 99% of the time I am correct, and given how "too good to be true" these joysticks sound I am inclined to further not believe in them, but could this be the rare instance of Redditors being right about something?

So what about it? Should I stick with an Xbox controller or go get something that perhaps won't be as compatible with everything I want it to be, but will be reliable for years into the future? And if it's the latter, what would you recommend?

The only things I really use a controller for are emulators. In the past half-decade I have probably played only three or four non-emulator games with a controller.

Edit: Posting this after I decided on buying a controller (Crush Defender TMR from PB Tails). Turns out there's some new funky joystick tech that's better (marginally) than Hall Effect called TMR. Hopefully I didn't just waste any money on this.

Also for future reference for whoever finds this post: XInput is practically a universal standard for PC controllers. I was under the impression that Microsoft had a patent or something on XInput, but turns out that is not the case and a lot of companies make XInput controllers.

Hi, I'm in the market for a PC controller that features Hall effect technology. One of the main reasons I'm interested in Hall effect sensors is their durability; I've had drift issues with scuff and Xbox Elite controllers in the past within few months of using it.

So far, I've come across a few options:

1. RAZER WOLVERINE V3 TOURNAMENT EDITION

2. 8BitDo Ultimate 2.4G or 2C

3. FLYDIGI Vader 4 Pro

I'm aiming to spend around USD 100 (I am in US) at most. Which of these would you choose? Do you have any other in mind?

Thanks!

I've seen a lot of people still recommending the Gulikit King Kong 2 Pro as the ultimate controller with hall effect joysticks, this is incredibly misleading, I'll explain in the following post of why you should never choose any hall effect controller that's released before April 2023.

First of all, there are currently two major types of hall effect joystick modules in the market.

The Gulikit Hall effect module (also called JH13)

https://i.imgur.com/f19XmfD.png

The K-Silver JH16 Hall effect module

https://i.imgur.com/OkUEOl3.png

There are also three minor types of hall effect joysticks that aren't widely used.

The JH19 and JH16 modules by K Silver

https://i.imgur.com/lbOFuK0.png

(However these are not traditional joysticks, they are joycon like smaller modules, currently, as far as from what I've seen, they may be used on some handhelds, but no controller has ever used them,)

The Marius Heier Joystick module

https://i.imgur.com/ys1cvNS.png

(This is a custom DIY joystick module for PS4 controller ONLY, it uses a round magnet instead a square magnet used by K-Silver and Gulikit. It should provide an even smoother experience, however, no controller uses it as for the time being)

________________________________

What's the difference between the Gulikit hall effect module and the K-silver JH16?

The JH16 hall effect module is BETTER than the Gulikit One in EVERY SINGLE WAY.

the hall effect sensors on JH16 are fully integrated into the module, this means it allows for user hot collaboration, better configuration and way less interference.

It also has better battery performance and most importantly centering performance.

________________________________

What's "centering performance"?

Hall effect joysticks unlike the traditional potentiometer joysticks, they have no material to rub on when the joystick returns to the center. This creates an issue where joysticks can drift in the center, as the only thing that keeps the joystick in the center is the spring. Usually manufactures would configure a 3 - 7% center dead zone (JH16 should have 3-5% center deadzone, the old gulikit oone has around 5- 7% )when using hall effect joysticks as recommended by K-silver and gulikit.

________________________________

How do I know what controllers use JH16 and which use the outdated Gulikit one?

Usually, controller companies would advertise that their controller uses JH16 module as one of the major selling points, however a general good rule to know is that, the JH16 released in April 2023, so anything released before that obviously won't use it.

________________________________

Okay, after having that out of the way, here's the purchasing guide.

First , let's talk about what hall effect controller you should avoid

All of the ones below have the outdated Gulikit hall effect modules.

Gulikit King Kong 2 Pro

8bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth Edition

SteelSeries Stratus+ Wireless

ZD-O (this one has a second shoulder button)

ZD-O+ a fully modular controller)

ZD Hall effect replacement modules (also outdated)

So what hall effect controller should I buy?

It depends

For console players:

If you are playing on the Nintendo Switch:

Get the Mobapad Chitu HD, it's pretty much a Nintendo Switch Controller with hall effect joysticks, it has HD rumble, NFC, Switch BAYX layout and digital triggers. There are also two back buttons.

If you are playing on the Xbox:

Gamesir G7 SE is pretty much the only option, it is a licensed Xbox controller with hall effect joysticks, it has trigger vibration, Xbox layout, two rear buttons and surprisingly rear button locks (not trigger locks, read buttons locks), however due to fact that Microsoft doesn't allow third party using Xbox wireless technology, this is a wired controller, unfortunately.

If you are playing on the Play Station:

Unfortunately, no hall effect controller currently exists for this platform, the only way to get hall effect joysticks on here, is through the DIY method. You can purchase two JH16 modules from K-silver and install them yourself, since JH16 supports user calibration, you can calibrate them to work on the Play station. If you only play on the PS4, then Marius Heier's hall effect joystick modules are also fine.If you don't wanna DIY anything, then the best way is to just wait, there is a rumor that Flydigi is going to collaborate with Sony soon. The word came from one of the engineers in the flydigi community tester group. He also said that their Apex 3 controller will receive a testing firmware update to support PS5 protocol in July this year, however this is only a rumor for the time being.

For PC players:

Depends on your budget and whether you would need some additional features.

The cheapest one is the Gamesir T4KAt around 40USD,You get a wired controller with very nice hall effect joysticks, mechanical ABXY face buttons with Xbox layout, gyro control and two rear buttons.Since this is a wired controller, the polling rate is an impressive 1000 hz(on the latest firmware).

If you wanna spend a bit more, then the 55 USD Machenike G5 Pro is also a good option

It has both wireless and wired mode, the polling rate is around 250hz with the 2.4ghz mode, the bluetooth mode is ummmm... pretty bad. It has two very hard to press rear buttons , mechanical face buttons, gyro, and very good hall effect joysticks. Currently the software is not released yet, they should release it soon at the end of this month.

For 80 bucks, you should get the Beitong Asura 2 Pro+ (make sure it is the Pro+ version)

It supports both wired and wireless, the 2.4ghz wireless supports 250 hz polling rate, the bluetooth mode is also pretty okay, however, a big caveat with this controller is that, it does not support Switch mode on PC, which means you can't play any yuzu emulator with this controller(weirdly enough the controller supports Switch natively... but Beitong just blocked that feature on PC). The software is pretty solid. It has the regular mechanical face buttons, gyro control, hall effect joysticks and two rear buttons. There's a few more tricks, this controller supports macro with any buttons, and it also has turbo keys.

For the Ultimate Hall effect controller, let me present you, The Flydigi Vader 3 Pro, priced at 100 USD.

I have a full review of this controller here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Controller/comments/14gqrxo/flydigi_vader_3_pro_review/

Overall, it's the only hall effect controller on the market that has C and Z buttons, trigger locks and a whopping 500 Hz wireless polling rate with their flysync tech.The only issue rn is the software, and I hope flydigi can fix that soon. A must buy, if you are into premium controllers.

That's all, thanks for reading