November 11, 2017 Mishkin37

Xbox Elite Controller Review

Go ahead. Don’t be shy. Touch it. Touch the Elite. You know you want to…

I bought an Elite in February ’16, so it’s almost 2 years old now. With that said, I have had zero issues with it. I highly recommend one, if you play FPS games regularly.

Here are some thoughts before I get into Pros and Cons:

– I estimate that I have about 1000 hours of use. At $150, it has cost me about $ .15 per hour. What else can you get for 15 cents per hour?!?

– I put the Elite in its case after every use. I know; it’s neurotic, but that’s probably why I’ve been so lucky with it. People have complained about the LB and RB bumpers popping off. I don’t want that to happen, so I house the sucker after I’m done gaming.

– I only use it for FPS and racing games. When I’m playing Diablo 3, XCOM 2, or other non-FPS games, I use the standard controller to reduce wear and tear on the Elite.

– Much to my wife’s dismay, I don’t have overly-large hands. I mean, don’t get me wrong…I do aight! Pffff. I ain’t got small hands like a carny or nothin’, I’m just sayin’. Ya know what I mean, bro? Bro?

…anyway, I don’t know if the Elite would be a problem for people with huge hands or tiny hands, but it works perfectly for me.

PROS:
– I like to ability to map my controller layout. This way every FPS has similar controls, and I don’t have to learn a new layout when I switch between games (e.g. I always map CROUCH to the R-click and MELEE to B).

– The paddles on the back allow me to map buttons, so I don’t have to take my right thumb off of the stick, which could affect my aim (e.g. Even though I have MELEE mapped to B, but I don’t ever use the B-button; I map B to a paddle).

– Some people map JUMP, RELOAD, MELEE, BOWEL MOVEMENT, etc. to their paddles, so their right thumb never, ever leaves the Right stick, and their lust for headshots and blood never ceases. These people are FPS freaks. They fantasize about digital murder. Their KDR is 14.6. I am not one of these people, but with the Elite, I could aspire to be.

– You can adjust the sensitivity of your Right and Left sticks. If you want the sticks to be more/less aggressive, you can actually configure them to accelerate more quickly or slowly. I think there are like 5 different stick settings that can be tuned independently.

– There are clickable trigger stops; if you want a shorter trigger motion, just click the trigger stop, and now you only have to push in the trigger halfway to fire your weapon. This allows you to conceivably shoot twice as fast, I guess (other controllers require you to take part of the controller apart to adjust your trigger stops; you just have to click the Elite stops to engage/disengage).

– I use the trigger stops for FPS games and disengage them for racing games, when I need to have a greater range of motion.

– You can adjust the level of controller vibration to your personal specifications. What you do with that level of vibration of is your personal business.

– You can brighten/dim the Home button on the face of the controller (okay, some functions are not as impressive as others).

– The rubberized texture feels nice…”reeeeeealll nice, Clark” * spoken by Cousin Eddie

– The are different sizes of thumbsticks, so you can configure them to a comfortable height.

– The thumbsticks magnetize to the controller! Therefore, there is no wear and tear when you swap them in and out frequently.

– There are 2 different D-pads.

– It comes with a sweet carrying case that houses the Elite and all components. It’s rigid, sleek and very sturdy.

CONS:
– It costs $150.

– You will have to come to grips with the fact that you are an adult human, who has just spent $150 on a video game controller. I find it easier to justify this transaction by reflecting upon the hundreds of $$$ I spent in my 20s, trying to swoon bar creatures, before I met my beautiful wife.

If you play FPS games regularly, you will not be disappointed with an Elite. I can’t go back to a standard controller for FPS games now that I’ve been spoiled by the Elite; it feels like switching from an Xbox controller to a Playstation Dual Shock…ugh…the horror!

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