Whats your experience with wireless controllers (3rd party)?

[neorichieb1971]

I keep having bad luck with 8bitdo and other controllers.

They last a year or two then just stop pairing. My SN30 had a blip or some sort so I charged it, but it doesn't want to pair anymore. Support is rubbish saying download latest firmware etc. But honestly if it worked out of the box and now doesn't, I'm sure firmware has nothing to do with it.

Would you say 2 years is a reasonable amount of lifespan for a controller like this? It looks brand new.

For now i've decided to go back to my 30 year old SFC controllers with extension leads.

I also had an issue with my evercade and another controller that was wireless. Again doesn't pair.
I bought another about a year ago it didn't pair straight out of the box.

Am I alone in this bad luck story or do others have the same experiences?

Thanks.

[ryu]

My 8bitdo refused to pair with my Switch a while back. No idea what the problem was. When I tried it again months later is miraculously worked again. :/

[neorichieb1971]

My 8bitdo refused to pair with my Switch a while back. No idea what the problem was. When I tried it again months later is miraculously worked again. :/

Yeah I've experienced this as well. But its not great is it when you need it and it doesn't work.
I find it quite incredible that these things have Firmware updates at all.

I'll try the SN30 again maybe tomorrow and see if any improvement. But right now i'm put off buying more wireless controllers as I have no belief in them anymore.

[Lord of Pirates]

I had a similar problem with one of their SNES controllers, if I remember right, where I couldn't get it to work right except with some forced mode or Linux (too many years to remember). I sent it off to a friend and they had no problems with it. Stick with the wired controllers unless you really want wireless, less batteries and less hassle.

[Gara]

My experience has been pretty good. I find that people tend to overrate a lot of wireless controllers and I don't think many of these releases would get such glowing reviews if they were wired.

What SN30 are you having trouble with? There are like 10 variants under that branding. I've been using the 2.4ghz SN30 controllers pretty regularly the past few years with the SNES and on the MiSTer with a SNES to USB adapter and they have been reliable. I remember the Bluetooth variants being a lot more fussy about pairing.

[Steven]

M30 2.4g for the real Mega Drive/Genesis is awesome. I imagine the other M30 variants are pretty much the same. The rest of 8BitDo's stuff either is unusable trash or okay at best, and I also had extreme difficulty getting the Switch to register their wireless controllers and eventually gave up. I've been too lazy to throw them in the garbage where they belong. The Neo Geo CD controller is not terrible, but the deadzone is way bigger than on my real Neo Geo CD controller and I don't like it.

Retro-Bit makes some decent controllers as well, but some of their controllers have d-pads that break. This only seems to affect some of them and not others.

[Johnpv]

Are you using the blutooth varieties or the 2.4ghz ones?

I have quite a few of their controllers but all but one of them are the 2.4ghz ones. Most of them are probably a mix of 2 to 5+ years old now. I don't have any issues with connectivity. I turn on my console and hit the appropriate button on the controller and they connect instantly. Now the one blutooth pad I have which I was using with my PC for a bit, and then tried to use with one of their SNES retro receivers would never connect. I sent back 2 or 3 to Amazon and never got one it would connect to, so I just returned the last retro receiver and never tried again. All of their 2.4ghz stuff has all worked just fine for me.

I have 2 of the retrobit saturn 2.4ghz pads, and have had no problems with them either. I got one of them like as soon as they came out, and the other later down the line to get the white Japanese coloring. I know some others had issues with sticking triggers or similar problems, but both of mine have performed really well. Also quite a few years old now and still connect instantly when I use them. I also have two of their N64 2.4ghz wireless pads. Those are OK. I also have one of the retrofighters N64 2.4ghz pads, and didn't really like the feel of it. I think the retrobit ones are better but still not quite right for the console, though no connectivity issues.

The only other 3rd party wireless pads I have are for Switch. One of the 8bitdo Ultimate Switch controllers or something, its the first model that did 2.4gh and blutooth. It's alright, I think its a bit better than the first party pro controller. The one I REALLY liked that became my daily driver on Switch was the Gulikit KK2 Pro. That thing was great, the only reason I don't use it any more is cause it slipped off a counter and broke the usb port one it. I use magnetic cables for my wireless pads so I can just easily attach them to charge, and it landed like flat right on the magnetic adapter snapping the charge port. I haven't replaced it cause it just happened and I'm waiting to see what does and doesn't work with the Switch 2.