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8bitdo pro 3 costed me 52€ and it's the most premium shit I've enjoyed. TMR joysticks, charging base, comfy grip, USB-C+BT+2.4GHz...
Oh nice that's what I was considering. With a coupon for signing up for the retailer selling them I can easily get one of those or even the ultimate 2 on a gift card from my parents with change, I like the look of the pro 3 because I am a long time PlayStation player. I see complaints about the comfort of using the sticks but mainly from people with small hands (not an issue for me), and about how noisy/cheap feeling the face buttons are, which is the one issue that might bother me, I have a cheap crappy controller that has such uncomfortable, cheap-feeling, face buttons I don't even use it. What are the face buttons like, do they also feel good to use? And the triggers? Nice joysticks is the top concern of course, but I do play some action games so I want something that feels good to use.
Also I just want a decent controller that doesn't use USB-micro, currently using a ds4 and though the controller isostly great, you really chew through cables, it sucks big time! I've found USB-C way more durable and reliable.
The buttons feel great to me, they're normal except for the DPad which is clicky! If you don't like clicky on your dpad, don't get this!
The triggers are great, they have a switch in the back that lets you select either full analog motion or clicky short digital motion, extremely cool (you can use the trigger full motion analogy for, say, gas pedal on a racing game, and switch it to clicky digital for trigger in a shooter). When configured as analog, they're hall effect.
The buttons faces can be swapped as they're held there magnetically, either to swap the ABXY locations or to change them completely to just coloured button faces.
Nothing about the controller feels cheap to me, I suspect that has more to do with peoples' brainworms against stuff designed in china than against actual feel of the thing. I'm no expert but it feels great to me and, like, they didn't cheap out on anything else, why would they cheap out there??
Came here to recommend this
Probably a great controller, but if OP was complaining about other controllers being too small, this isn't necessarily the best since it's an SNES controller with extra grips. The stick and D-pad are also in a different place compared to Xbox style controllers, if that matters.
I wasn't complaining about the controllers being too small, I said my hands are too small. I got these dainty ass afab hands.
Oh, OK. I have one of the controllers that use the same layout, the SN30 Pro+ or something like that, and IMO it's too cramped, specifically around the right analog stick and face buttons.
8bitdo has a variety of shapes with hall effect (immune to normal causes of stick drift) sensors. I personally use an SN30 Pro+ as my main controller, though I understand that it has been discontinued.
I'll mention that all the brands people have mentioned: 8bitdo, Gamesir, even ones not mentioned like Guilikit, are all on Aliexpress and much cheaper than local retailers. Look there and get yourself a deal instead of going through JB or somewhere similar
It's not ”premium”, but if you ask me the 8bitdo Ultimate 2C controller is the best deal on the market. It's about $20 or something and has Hall effect sticks which all the multibillion dollar corporations can't figure out how to put on their controllers that cost over twice as much.
Idk if these are going to be to your preference as far as shape and I've never used one, but I always see 8Bit Do controllers recommended as alternatives to Xbox, etc.
I bought a machenike controller it's really good, with hall effect joysticks, trigger vibration and lots of things and good compatibility with everything, just works
I'm not sure where you can find their products, but look around in AliExpress or alibaba or some of those Chinese marketplaces, I got mine for, hmm, this is going to be probably higher than you'll pay, probably, but I spent around 70$ with taxes and shipping and everything, maybe you can find it for cheaper?
millionthing 8bitdo. Any form factor and button layout is available, good driver support, most controllers can switch how they present themselves at a driver level.
8bitdo kinda ass. I have a gamesir cyclone 2 with dingle dongle (it has bluetooth but trust the dingle makes all the difference) and i love it. Only downside is battery goes flat relatively fast but otherwise its a stellar controller and the hall effect sticks changed everything for me. Potentiometers IN THE BIN. It also looks cool and is cheap.
I have basically every controller at this point and its by far my favourite and I don’t say that lightly.
With the dingle and software you can rebind buttons to keyboard keys which is something i have wanted natively in controller software for literally ever. I have the middle screenshot button bound to… screenshots. Finally console superiority on pc
stadia was shit but their controllers were banging, i got one for free and its still what i use. if you can find one second hand i 1000% recommend
Did you have to do the firmware update? I remember that being a requirement for PC use
I adore my gamesir cyclone 2. Only downside is the dpad is kinda mediocre for old school emulation. Everything else works and feels great.
I rock a PS5 controller on PC personally, but if that's not your bag, I'll chime in with the bandwagon and recommend looking into whatever 8bitdo has these days. They're reputable, even among neckbeards and uber-nerds.
what puts you off the big 3? i don't really know of any reputable alternatives honestly. i have always been a fan of the xbox controllers
I find them all uncomfortable. My hands are kinda little. For Sony and Switch it's because the buttons don't fit PC UIs (yeah I know you can change the button mapping but still)
And also because I'm stubborn and my brain is like "My computer isn't an Xbox! They don't match!"
If you've got little hands then you probably dodged a bullet by missing out on a steam controller.
could take a look at 8bitdo actually? they have some neat mini models and i think their standard style ones are at least a little smaller than the xbox model. yeah i understand the button mapping/UI gripes i was just an xbox kid so the xbox layout is deeply deeply ingrained for me and feels very natural
The steam controller would be way worse for little hands.
Tbh PlayStation controllers are generally the smaller option. I'm not sure what's available that's smaller. Theyre also well in your price range
What do you want to play with it. I think the steam controller is good for different games than most other controllers. For games that aren't made with gamepads in mind there are few if any alternatives, for games with gamepads in mind other controllers might just be better anyway.
That's hard to answer because I play a wide variety of things
8bitdo Ultimate
Thank you so much everyone!
JB hi-fi has a $10- off coupon for signing up for a membership if you don't already have one, and they also have some specials on 8bitdo controllers at the moment! I'm very close to pulling the trigger on the pro 3 (on special for AUD$79-, styled after a SNES controller but tbh looks more like a PlayStation one) BUT! One of the complaints I have been seeing is that the stick layout is bad for people with small hands. If I go ahead I can take some photos with size references after it arrives if you like?
I've already been looking at them so no need to send pictures (though I greatly appreciate it). They look great! I actually prefer controllers that have the dpad closer to the top left like that (part of why I like how Steam does it on the Steam Deck, which sadly I'll be selling soon), a lot of modern controllers stick the dpad too low or too far in the middle IMO. Although like you say I worry about the joystick placement but the controller looks small enough that it won't matter.
gamesir will sell you one that doesn't have the xbox chip in it, if you're really into BDS
this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2026
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