Deal or Dud? GearBest Xbox One and Wii U Pro Controllers Reviewed (& Giveaway!) - Article
by Brandon J. Wysocki , posted on 12 February 2017 / 11,355 Views
Note: These products have been provided by GearBest.com for review. We have not been compensated in any way for our coverage, and while links to the products will be provided, we have opted to not participate in their affiliate program where we would have received a percentage of sales derived from our articles.
Every once in a while, we are approached, usually by publishers or PR companies, to review their games. Recently, I was approached by GearBest.com, an online electronics retailer, to review some of the products they carry. While they have a wide range of electronics, we’re keeping it gaming related here; so the first two products they sent for review were a Pro controller for the Wii U and a controller for the Xbox One. I’ve also made arrangements for a giveaway, the details of which you can find towards the end of this article.
I’m no stranger to generic controllers and accessories, particularly for Nintendo consoles, but I’ve always had mixed results at best. However, I’ve also had problems with official products, most notably the Xbox Elite Wireless controller. My Elite controller has been replaced once, repaired once, and still has some idiosyncrasies that are a cause for concern. Additionally, the D-Pad on multiple other controllers exhibit sketchy behavior, and in times past I’ve had buttons lose some, or all, responsiveness. Bottom line is, nothing is perfect, but generic offerings have often fared worse.
First up was the Wii U Pro controller. As I mentioned, I have developed a bit of a habit of trying generic products for Nintendo consoles, primarily because for the last 2-3 console iterations, their systems have only served as supplements for my (and my family’s) gaming.
It’s bad enough I drop hundreds of dollars on a console to only ever play a few, albeit great, games. I don’t want to spend nearly as much on controllers as I have on the console itself to be able to share wonderful games such as Mario Kart with family and friends, but sharing those games is one of the biggest reasons why I buy them.
Fittingly, as of late, we’ve been short one standard controller for our Mario Kart sessions, resulting in one of the four members of my household having to use a Wii Remote (which all four of us agree is less ideal and comfortable). Once out of the rather plain box, the controller (which included a USB charging cable) synced up easily and performed flawlessly for Mario Kart. But I’m a skeptic, so I continued to use and test the controller.
After a couple of weeks of use across games such as Super Mario 3D World, Monster Hunter, both Zelda titles, Hyrule Warriors, and a few virtual console games, the controller performed nearly flawlessly. The only hitch was that while I was playing Twilight Princess the controller twice disconnected. This is something that I’ve had happen sparingly with other controllers for my Wii U. In hours of use, this is the only time it happened, and the disconnections occurred in fairly close proximity, making me think the charge had finally run out on the built-in rechargeable battery.
The Xbox One controller I received unfortunately didn’t perform quite as well. I will say that I have concerns about the specific controller I received. The first thing I noticed was that it was missing the battery cover, even though I have confirmed that it should have been included. After putting in some batteries and borrowing a battery cover from another controller, this generic controller started off well enough.
As mentioned before, and similar to the Wii U Pro controller, it felt and looked like a standard controller. In using it to move through the menus of the Xbox One, the only thing I noticed was that the shoulder bumper buttons were a little stiffer and louder than those on my other Xbox controllers.
The game I felt was perfect to really test the Xbox controller was Rainbow Six: Siege. I’ve sunk so many hours into it, and know how it feels to play the game so well, that it provided the perfect first test. Right out of the gate, the game revealed a problem with the controller that I did not expect, that being that the headset jack (the original proprietary Xbox One headset input) was not functional on my controller.
In game, the performance and functionality of the controller seemed quite similar to my other controllers, save for a slight but perceivable increase in sensitivity on the thumbsticks. It wasn’t until I died and was spectating from a teammate’s drone camera that another issue surfaced. I wasn’t really paying much attention because the drone was not in a useful position, but my son brought the fact that the camera view was slowly but surely drifting off to the side to my attention.
The last issue this controller had was a tendency to lose connection to the Xbox. This problem occurs way more often than I’d like it to with seemingly every controller I use on the Xbox in this room (the same room that has the Wii U that also, albeit less often, does the same thing. I’m beginning to suspect this room was built over an alien artefact). That said, while this problem comes and goes for all controllers, there were times when the GearBest.com controller did it more often than was the norm.
It’s worth noting that when I tried using the controller on consoles set up in different rooms (where this strange and annoying phenomenon hasn’t been a problem), the disconnecting problem stopped. So while it is clear that interference caused by the alien artefact beneath my back room is the cause of the problem, it did affect the GearBest controller more often than any other controller.
Lastly, contrary to information I found on the product page for the Xbox controller on GearBest, it functions like any other Xbox controller does on a PC, at least when connected with a USB cable (I don’t have the wireless adapter).
So, after weeks with these controllers, do I feel they’re worth it? I don’t often, if ever, believe in one size fits all solutions or generalizations, but if either of them qualifies as such, it’d be the Wii U Pro controller. The issues with the Xbox controller aren’t necessarily a deal breaker for me, and I have this nagging curiosity of whether the controller was known to be defective and/or used, which might also help explain the missing battery cover.
Regardless, if this is how all of them perform, I might consider it if I had a need for another Xbox controller (which I don’t). But the aforementioned “need” has some parameters in my case. With the quirks that this controller had, I would never suggest it as a primary controller. However, as a controller for friends, children, grandchildren, etc., especially those who don’t game often, this might be a great solution, and one I’d definitely consider.
As for the Wii U Pro controller - I’ve been so pleased by it, that I’m ordering another one. For me, it’s a perfect solution for my gaming setup and habits. Assuming I end up getting a Switch, I hope they will offer a Pro controller like this for it, or that Nintendo will make Wii U Pro controllers backwards compatible. It’s proven to be reliable, and the price is more than reasonable, so I’m looking forward to using it to likely replace one of the Wii Remote with plugged in Pro Controller combo we often use for multiplayer.
So what are your thoughts? Would you try these? What kind of experiences have you had with generic controllers in the past? Leave a comment below for a chance to win your choice of one of these controllers. A comment will be chosen at random, and I will contact you via PM for your details.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and I’d like for us to do more articles like this. To that end, just days ago, I received the GPD Win Gamepad from GearBest to review.
Brandon J. Wysocki is a writer for VGChartz. He is also the writer of the science fiction story Space Legend: Resistance. Click through to find links to download parts of the story for free from multiple providers. You're invited to comment on his articles or contact him on VGChartz via private message (username SpaceLegends) to give him the attention he desperately seeks.More Articles
I have never used generic controllers before. I pretty much always buy the console brand controller. Except back during the SNES days when I bought some wireless controllers that were completely awful and pretty much pushed me to always buying the name brand controllers.
Both controllers look great and hopefully the troubles you faced with the XBOX One controller were more freak accidents. That WIi U Pro controller looks sweet so it was awesome to read that it works well to compliment its aesthetics.
Always used official controllers, and avoided clones. WiiU Pro controllers are still being sold in the 40-50 range , but this one is cheap! I wonder if the quality is that good. Still quite a markup, eh Nintendo?
I buy official controllers because once i had a third party one for the xbox 360 and it broke n 2 monhs so i just use officials ones now.
Never saw a generic controller have such good reception. Might pick this up and try it out one day.
Nintendo has already announced an even better pro controller for Switch.
I know about the official Pro controller for the Switch, but I'd almost definitely opt to use one of these, or its Switch equivalent, if that was an option.
Im really looking forward to read your thoughts on the GPD Win. Im really intrigued by that device.
I was, and remain intrigued by it. I haven't been much of a PC gamer for a while, with emulators beings the biggest exception. And So far I've been very pleased with playing emulators on it. What I'm struggling with a bit is the (potentially) greater hassle of running PC games on it, not because of the specs, but things such as some games not natively supporting controllers, conflicts or problems seemingly caused by them running on Windows 10, etc. I'm used to inserting or downloading a game and
playing, not troubleshooting problems and learning workarounds. I'm working through these things, and have some games up and running, but it's very different from console gaming.
Yep, from what I've seen so far this device is for people who like to mess around with settings and tuning things, so I can see why console players might be turned off by it. But the ability to play pretty much all the emulators available open the doors to a HUGE catalog of games (you can have pretty much all gaming history at your disposal and in your pocket).
That alone is awesome! RetroArch does wonders for the experience, and now I see they are close to bringing Dolphin to RetroArch, which should only make both of those better. Recently I had read that Steam had somehow achieved partial controller compatibility with all games, but apparently that is only in beta (or I'm simply overlooking the feature). That would be great for this device.
The X1 controller is cheaply priced. The drifting issues are usually originated from high pressure placed on thumb-sticks (like a fall or weight on controller). The bumper "issue" you described is kinda annoying and it might result in sticky or broken bumper. Thanks for the heads up on these new gears.
From the feel of it, it didn't elicit those kinds of concerns, and they feel solid, maybe too solid. But you could be right. I intend to keep using these things, because holding up as they have thus far is all fine and well, but they are the newest controllers I have, and save for the Elite controller, most of these issues have come from time and use.
Good Review! Seems like the Wii U one is a good replacement!
I bought one that looked like this years ago and it stopped working 2 weeks after. I'm not sure if it's made by the same people or not.
One thing I noticed about the Xbox One controller that i'm very displeased with is the fact that the abxy and shoulder buttons are "Clicky". Meaning when you tap them they make a Loud Hard Click. Xbox 360, PS4, and Gamepad controllers have a soft gel inside them, so button presses are cushioned, resulting in soft & noiseless contact. I've never used a Wii U Pro controller and almost bought a 3rd party type which looks identical. Now a days, these parallels are pretty indistinguishable and am willing to bet they are just as good as the Official Nintendo Brand. I may buy a Gearbest Wii U controller so I can recommend to friends. But I'm selling my xbox one because of the poor design of it's controllers.
So you have the Xbox One controller from GearBest and the face buttons are clicky? Only the shoulder buttons on mine are as you described. I found the face buttons to have no noticeable difference from my other controllers.
Oooh, I'd love to win a WiiU pro controller! I have yet to get one of those! Neat review btw. I didnt know these existed before now!
Good review.
If there´s one thing I really love about the WiiU Pro Controller is its battery life: it lasts a long, long time. If I´m not mistaken, about 70 hours. I rarely need to charge it.
I get this controller signal dropping issue with my Xbox controller all the time when I use rechargeable packs. Even when holding a full charge, they'll disconnect during certain games. The Wii u controller seems reasonable but the Xbox one might not work well for me
So we have been using rechargeable AA batteries for years now, as they've been the most economic way to be able to keep a variety of controllers in play. Are you saying that if you use standard NiCad batteries, the problem improves? It still wouldn't (in my simple brain) explain why the problem seems to only occur in the back room of my house.
Always buy official, or a licenced company like Hori
sounds biased
I'm a skeptic, so I totally understand and respect your concern. I certainly did my best to not sound, and most importantly, not be, biased. Humans are inherently bias, and I believe we do well to keep that in mind as we consider ideas and take actions.
In everything we do here, some bias can, and probably does, slip in. In this case, I was given discretion on accepting money in one way or another, with the rule, understandably and agreeably, that we disclose any such arrangements. Feeling as I do about ethics and bias, the easy decision to me was to keep money out of the equation.
But there are other things in this equation that could incline me to be biased, such as personal gain in being showered with neat gadgets. So, just as with the money, rather than expose myself to the temptation and then have to fight it, I tried to avoid it altogether.
When GearBest approached me, they offered a VR headset that required a stronger PC than I have. From there, we worked to tried to find something that I could actually use and review. I found the GPD Win, which I was immediately captivated by. But it's been out of stock for at least a month, and isn't cheap. They wanted to get going asap while waiting for the GPD to be in stock, and considering whether they would provide one to us, so I suggested these controllers.
Long story made slightly less long, I purposefully spent some extra time with the controllers before submitting my article, not just to try to be thorough, but to make sure that I didn't let the prospect/potential of the GPD Win actually being provided influence my coverage, namely in me giving unearned, favorable feedback to help maintain good standing with them while waiting for it to even become available again.
So I waited until after the GPD Win was in the mail for me before finishing my review. I did my final take/edit before submission after I had the GPD Win in hand. Now sure, there are other gadgets there that I'd love to have, but many are not gaming related. Moreover, I made it clear to GearBest that in the future, if this arrangement continues, I'd like some of our other writers, who were initially (and may remain) not interested or able to be involved with this (as in none of them wanted to or could test the VR headset), to be involved in the future.
So the point is, I have very little to gain in being biased, or allowing my bias to influence my coverage. I deliberately did all that I could to eliminate any temptations or incentives for doing so because I take pride in what I do and how I do it. I know this may not convince you or anyone who feels the same way, and I'm okay with that. This was a new experience for me, and your comment gave me an opportunity to elaborate on the concerns that I, like you, had, and how I tried to address those.
Thank you! As I said, my experience with their Wii U Pro controller was such that I ordered another one. I went with the white one for variety, and because it was a $1 cheaper (it was just over $13). If you end up getting one, maybe drop me a message and let me know how it works out for you.
