PowerA Enhanced Wired Gaming Controller for Xbox Series X/S, Pink (Officially Licensed)

My official Xbox One controller lasted me about 4 years, then developed a bad drift issue. I tried giving the internals a deep clean, but no luck.

In the market for a replacement, at first I looked at controllers with Hall Effect sensors, which are supposedly immune to stick drift caused by potentiometer wear. Unfortunately, the most popular models I could find run about $70 and have mixed reviews. A lot of complaints about the feel of the buttons being stiffer than official controllers. It sounded like they were still making periodic revisions, so I didn’t want to drop $70 until they get their build quality down.

Looking at cheaper alternatives, a few friends recommended this PowerA controller. One of them swore by it, while a few others said they were good controllers but had short lifespans. Amazon reviews seemed to say the same. People like it, but in some cases they don’t last very long. That said, the particular one I bought only cost $26 on Amazon, so I figured I would give it a shot, hoping it lasts long enough until a quality Hall Effect controller is available.

Fast forward, I got my controller on March 23rd. At the time of this writting, it’s now June 18th, so I’ve had it just slightly under 3 months now.

Out of the box, the controller seemed great. Yes, it’s wired, but for $26 it has a similar feel to the official Xbox controllers. The controller as a whole feels right in terms of form factor and grip, and the joysticks and buttons have a good tactile feel. It has two extra buttons on the back side that can be easily programmed to act like any of the main buttons, which is pretty nice to have. Compared to the official Xbox One controller, there are exposed screw holes on the back side, but they’re cleverly positioned so that I never feel them while properly holding the controller. If the controller lasts more than a year without issues, I’d be pretty happy with it.

Unfortunately, the controller has developed two problems with it. First off, the D-pad sometimes double-fires when I press on the right direction. I kind of suspect it was always like this out of the box and I just didn’t notice it. Most of the games I was playing don’t make heavy use of the D-pad. However it became pretty obvious when I started playing a game that made use of the D-pad for menu navigation. For the games I’m playing it’s not a huge problem so long as I’m paying attention, but still a bit annoying.

The second problem is that I’ve noticed the paint finish on the D-pad is ready starting to wear off. I’ve attached a picture where you can see the discoloration caused by the finish wearing off. So far it doesn’t really change how the controller feels, but kind of disappointing to be happening already with less than 3 months of use.

For the price, I’m still happy with the purchase thus far. I guess it’s true you pay for what you get, and for only $26, as long as it lasts another 9 months before developing any other issues that require a replacement, I’ll consider it money well spent.

It is a nice product from the seller

cumpre o que promete! Ótimo custo beneficio!!

Simply amazing,feels just like xbox controller. Go for it if you’re on budget. Just the quality of the headphone jack is questionable 😅

Bought this for my girlfriend, she loves it.
Sticks feel really, really good. The triggers and bumpers feel very plasticy, but not bad in any way.
All the buttons feel fine.
For the price, great controller. No complaints.
The color is exactly what is pictured and exactly what she wanted.
The grips on the back feel good. The front feels good and smooth.

i’m someone who plays a LOT of videogames (20+ hours a week). mostly fps titles like call of duty and battlefield, but the occasional racing game and platformer too. this review is after 6 months of extensive usage.
the controller feels pretty solid. it’s slightly smaller than microsoft’s official controllers but the difference is negligible. the face buttons feel decently tactile and the controller is recognised out of the box by windows as a series x peripheral. the 2 additional buttons work as advertised and i’ve gotten quite a bit of use out of them.

that’s about where the good things end. the vibration worked properly for the first 3 months and then it died out. it keeps cutting in and out every now and again but it beats the point of having a vibration feature in the first place. the sticks have developed drifting and the right stick feels incredibly loose. absolutely unacceptable for any sort of competitive shooter title. the triggers don’t fare much better either. pressing the left trigger actuates the right trigger as well. the right trigger when pressed down sometimes needs to be pressed again to register that i’ve taken my finger off of it. the headphone jack on the controller is a mess. my regular earphones plugged straight into the computer sounds crisp whereas through the controller there’s a constant hissing sound.

overall, only get this controller if you’re not going to be gaming for more than a couple hours a week. any more than that and the stick drift and the garbage triggers will cause more misery than is worth it.