A lot of people see that their stick does not sit exactly at 0.000 and immediately assume the controller has stick drift. In practice, one number alone usually does not tell you much.

Here is the basic process I use when testing a controller.

First, place the controller on a flat surface and leave the sticks untouched for around 10–20 seconds. Small movements near the center can be normal. What matters more is whether the input stays consistently pulled in one direction.

Next, move each stick slowly through its full range, including the diagonals. Watch for sudden jumps, flat spots, uneven range, or one direction failing to reach as far as the others.

Then test the return-to-center behavior. Push the stick in several directions and let it return by itself without guiding it back with your thumb. A worn stick may return normally from one direction but remain slightly offset after being released from another.

For triggers, press them slowly from rest to fully pressed. The value should increase smoothly, reach its full range, and return properly after release. Buttons should also be pressed several times to check for missed inputs or accidental double presses.

One important limitation is that browser-based tools do not always show completely raw hardware data. Results can be affected by firmware, operating system, browser support, controller mode, dead zones, and whether the connection is wired or wireless.

Because of that, I would not use a browser test as the only evidence that a controller is defective. It is more useful as a first diagnostic step, especially when combined with manufacturer software, Steam settings, or testing inside a game.

I built a free browser-based tool for these checks:

https://controllertestonline.com/

Disclosure: I am the founder and developer of the site, so this is a directly affiliated project rather than an independent recommendation.

Generative AI was used to assist with parts of the code and some of the written content. I reviewed, edited, and tested the final implementation and this post.

No open-source repositories or other people’s codebases were incorporated into the development of the tool.

I would be interested to hear how other people test for stick drift, trigger problems, or inconsistent inputs, and whether there are any measurements you think a controller testing tool should include.

Max budget: $200
USA Florida/ Would like it delivered
Xbox Series S

I was wondering if a controller existed for xbox that had Hall Effect sticks and a PlayStation styled d-pad. Something with individual buttons. I play a lot of Outlast Trials, and you can use the D-pad to peek left or right. But there is a option to press both at the same time to peek up. I can't do that with a cross d-pad. I also find that I misclick or lockup the d-pad if I try to do too much at much at once. I think I'd play better if I had a second set of buttons on the Series S controller instead of the cross. Does such a controller exist? If it comes down to it, I don't really need hall effect. I'd like it as well, but it's not necessary.

I bought a Vader 5 Pro, and it works fine in games via Steam or Xbox app however, I'm trying to use the new Xbox mode/Xbox App, and the app itself does not register any inputs except the middle guide button. Meaning, I have to start every Xbox game via keyboard and mouse and then use the controller. All buttons such as DPad, joystick, A/B/X/Y buttons do not register in the Xbox app. I'm using a wired connection, and the controller shows up as a single Xbox 360 controller in device manager. Any ideas what could be causing the issue?

Hello, I don't use my controller that much. But I was using it the other day, and I had it charging while I was using it. I need help because, out of the blue, the controller just turned itself off, but the orange light is still on. Normally, if I press any of the abxy buttons, it would turn on automatically; however, for this one, it won't turn on at all. It's just that orange light. I did try to leave it for a couple of hours, thinking that it's just drained/low batt, I tried opening it again; it just won't open anymore...

I did try to troubleshoot by doing a hard reset by pressing the button at the back, but nothing happens. I tried doing this while plugged in and unplugged; still nothing.. I attempted to open and check its internals; probably the battery had ballooned up, but it looks normal.

Have you guys experienced this? I would take any resolutions on this. Thanks!

So, after some fifa some months ago and some COD this week, my R2 popped off. The thing is, the button works if i put the loose R2 in it, i found the broken parts and i want to know if gluing is an option and if so how to do it. My biggest problem is finding parts for the BDM-060 and the fact that besides the midframe only the gear that goes through the trigger broke, and correct me if wrong but i think i cant find only this specific gear. It would help if anyone knew if the midframe of the BDM-050 works with the BDM-060. I have some knowledge on maintenance, already took to a repair shop but they said the same thing about parts availability for BDM-060's.

Following images show the parts and where whey broke from.

Hi there!

I'm a new mum who has just discovered the best way for me to play when baby is contact napping is on switch as the joycons are in separate hands. I'm wondering where I can find a split controller that works with steam deck, or if this even exists? Google searches are just throwing up joycon and switch controller replacements.

I am based in the UK and willing to spend up to £100. I dont want the layout of a switch controller, just the split pad mechanics.

Thank you so much in advance 🥰

Hello, Ive been using a xbox one controller for my pc for 1 year and a half now and recently it sometime disconnect to its usb wire. I changed it to a ps5 usb and some other usb but it still doesn’t work if i move the controller too long or too fast, we even bought the rechargeable battery for xbox but when i remove the battery the usb still won’t work when i plug it in my controller. Its my only way to play since even with battery it sometime disconnect from bluetooth, i want to know if i have to buy a switch usb wire or if the problem is the controller itself.
I even updated the controller to my pc but its not solving the problem. Thank you !

Hi guys and gals, this will be long...

This is a PC-oriented community, so tinkering should be appreciated, which is why I am sharing my project.

I created a custom fork of the brilliant DS5 dongle firmware by awalol (which allows you to connect wirelessly a dualsense controller with full functionality, meaning haptics, to PC).

Specifically mine is focused on auto-haptics, trigger modification and automation.You can also use integration scripts for Playnite for custom profile loading and DS4windows is also supported, so that your game sees and sends xb360/ds4 vibrations.

In other words, for non-native games you can get haptics+vibration+ game-driven custom trigger effects+ gyro + filtered game sounds ( getting you as close as possible to a native dualsense imho).

You still need to buy a pico 2W to use it obviously.

https://github.com/artzox/DS5Dongle

What this allows you if you choose to use it (now in detail):

\- Set up an infinite amount of custom game profiles via launchable html files.

\- If you want however to quickly or automatically switch you also have 16 save slots in the portal.

\- In playnite you can make it so that each game loads a custom profile on launch and another one on exit. You have multiple ways of doing this - from htmls, via script and slots, globally or individually per game.

Set up a custom native/non-native games list for the slot automation and launching.

What you can set up with all these profiles:

1) Native game settings ( full haptics and triggers support as is per the source project) but you have an additional aliasing filter which can mitigate issues with jittery and harsh native haptics.

2) Auto-haptics for non-native games with flexible controls for frequencies to help you boost and lower up to two base frequency spectrums.You can mix (fully or percentage controlled) with in-game rumble or substitute fully.

This is achieved with a PY script which clones audio signal from your main audio card.

3) Audio-Leak, allows you to flexibly decide what audio to leak through the controller speaker, e.g you hear bullets through the controller speaker ( up to a degree, no magic). Very important is to set your audio card to 48000hz to not have crackles due to resampling.

4) Gate trigger resistance/pushback, e.g. R2 pushback gated by L2/L1. Very versatile and takes actual in game vibrations, not generated frequencies. This means that you can achieve click action when firing a gun, another specific action when mag is empty, etc.

5) R2/L2 vibration and/or auto-haptics-controlled ( always or only on push). Again game-generated. As an example - in Control when you fire the with zoom (L2) you feel the click on R2 and vibration on L2 (you hold the weapon with two hands).

6) Gyro- controlled aiming (always on/off/gated/ratcheted) if that's your thing, you have it and being gated means you can use it only when using iron sights or zoom.

7) Wake your PC from sleep ( as per the main project, but does not break speaker audio in native games, e.g. Ratchet and Clank, because you can auto-select native profile for these games to stop wake and then on game exit you go back to wake). Needs S3 state sleep.

Again, the best thing is that you can set up a profile, load it with a certain game and exit it when the game closes, have DS4Windows map a xbox360 controller, get native rumble, mix it up with audio generated haptics, set up gyro aiming for iron sights, but not always, a lot of flexibility.

I have also added some profiles for you to test, I recommend Control, Dead Space and Stray just as a start to build your own really show what is possible.

I have joy-cons from both the Switch and Switch 2, but neither of them can connect to my PC through Bluetooth. If anything, my PC reads them or one of them as an "unknown device" and when I try to connect them again - it tells me to retry again and again. Both of them are fully charged and my PC is a Windows 11, if it matters. Also, I checked for any updates on my PC and I think I installed them all. Any way to fix this?

Is it possible to connect Thrustmaster Heart controller to PS5? If so, what adapter should I use, has anyone done this before?
Thanks in advance

It's a NPLAY Skill 11.0. I bought it at Worten in Norte Shopping, Porto, Portugal.

It doesn't say anything on the instructions' manual... I tried pressing combinations of the buttons or holding both M1 and M2 and all it does is making the buttons activate randomly and behave weirdly on the PS4. I tried it in Silksong and holding both M1 and M2 together for a while made the Silk Gauge shake constantly forever until I turned off the controller.

I searched info but most posts talk about bluetooth controllers. My pc doesn't have a bluetooth antenna, so that's not an option, unless I buy one, but I would prefer a solution that doesn't require that. I tried using DS4Windows emulator and it works fine with other games, but when using it with this game it-s like the anticheat detects it and closes the game.

Is your rumble super weak? I’ve used the macro to increase rumble to its max, and the rumble motor itself feels strong when it is activated, but when A/B testing with every other controller I own across multiple games, the Hunter 360 gives by far the weakest rumble of all of them. It feels like it is interpreting the signal from the game differently than every other controller. There will be times where the controller just won’t vibrate at all, whereas with any other pad I get tons of feedback. It is very bizarre.

To fulfill the sub’s troubleshooting requirement:

I‘m on PC, but this issue is also present on Xbox 360

I am using stock firmware and it doesn’t appear Retro Fighter has put out any updates?

Where can i find some good quality 060 replacement shells on aliexpress? I'm new on the controller mod scene

I just bought a ps5 slim and i hate the black and white color scheme, I'm looking for full white/black or translucent models but i dont find any 060 compatible models.

1. max INR 3000

2. India - Mumbai. online availability preferable

3. Going to pair it to iPad to play cod mobile

4. decent button tactile feedback, no lag and decent feel. dont need pro level, just for recreation

5. Cod mobile and maybe fifa too

6. have no knowledge of any controllers yet.

Hey everyone! After dealing with annoying bugs where the controller loses its vibration and back buttons—and the Flydigi Space app refuses to show advanced options from a distance—I finally found a reliable, quick workaround with a ~90% success rate.

If you play from your bed or couch (away from your PC) and run into this, here is the easiest way to fix it in seconds:

🛠️ The Quick Fix Steps:

Plug the controller into a wall charger for a quick second to force a connection state.

Turn on the controller and open Flydigi Space on your PC.

Go to 3rd-Party Mode, disable it, and enable it again.

Boom! Your vibration and back buttons will instantly start working again, and all advanced options will unlock right away.

Hope this helps anyone dealing with the same headache! Let me know if it works for you.

My fiance is currently going through some medical problems and is dealing with some cabin fever and im looking for a controller that can fit her needs. Her hands are small as is and the PS5 is just too big and cumbersome for her in addition to the medical problems.

A good size that she enjoyed was the Duelshock 4 and ive been looking for some 3rd party Controllers closer to that design but pickings are pretty slim. Looking for this stuff isnt really my forte so I figured I would ask you lovely people if there are any reccomendations you would be willing to give.

She plays For Honor, Overwatch, Horizon Zero Dawn, and other games of that ilk.

We are located in the US and are not looking for any particular bells and whistles but are not opposed to controllers of that ilk.

Right now the main ive been looking at is the IWGAME CM048 Black as that seems to be the closest that i can find but I really have very little knowledge on this side of gaming and would appreciate some wisdom

Dualshock to Dual Analog swap success 😁

Idk if the tag is right. So, yesterday my controller broke and now it connects and disconnects repeatedly, I tried to rapir it but one of the screws broke and I can’t take it out. Now I need a new controller and I was thinking on getting one wireless with the charge base (idk if I called it right) and with the layout like the old one (The more customizable is the better it is) . Any suggestions? (I play a lot TBOI and Hollow Knight on PC). I live in Italy but the controller I wanna get it online bc I live in Sardinia where the tech shops doesn’t offer a lot of controllers for PC

i bought my controller around a year ago and i havent used it much (maybe around 5 hours) i decided i wanted to use it again but i am unable to connect.

after turning on my controller and connecting it to my laptop it instantly disconnects and my controller turns off straight away.

also when i try to connect my controller via usb c to my laptop it doesnt one flash off orange and stops and when i try to turn it on no lights show.

when the controller is not plugged into anything the lights are able to show and i can connect to my laptop (it instantly disconnects).

i have also tried to connect the controller to my phone but the device does not show up on my phone.

when i plug the controller in to charge it doesnt do any flashes or anything to show it is charging. i am using my phones usb c charger.

Can't decide if I like them over the black ones I had. It kinda just looks like 💩 now but I'm thinking I could either name it my "shitty" controller or call it the chocolat special. Wish they had some with a wood grain but this is the best I could do lol.

I discovered this after the mute button on my modified DualSense Edge became physically stuck down after putting the controller back together.

With the mute button continuously held, opening Control Centre causes the D-pad and stick inputs to move both the Control Centre selection and the PS5 Home/game tiles underneath it simultaneously.

I reproduced it using a completely standard, working DualSense by manually holding its mute button down, so it isn't specific to my modified controller. Releasing the mute button immediately restores normal behaviour. Video attached.

I can't find any other references to this anywhere, Has anyone else noticed this?

Tl;dr: As long as the third-party mapping toggle is active, the controller ONLY works with steam, nothing else (non-steam games, emulators, etc.). Is there a fix for that?

I recently bought a Vader 5 pro and the controller itself is great, but I do have one big issue with it:

When I first connected it, I installed the software, updated it and the controllers firmware.

Generally it worked great, apart from that steam always shows 2 controllers connected, but I thought that's not that big of an issue as long as everything works.

But also none of those allow steam-input mapping of the extra buttons the controller have "out of the box".

So I turned on "Allow third-party apps to take over mappings" in the Space station software.

Now the controller shows up 3 times in steam, one of which CAN be fully customized, so at least that works.

But now to the big issue:

As long as that toggle is enabled, the controller is not recognized by ANYTHING ELSE that isn't directly connected to steam! Non-steam games can't be played, the gamepad tester website doesn't see it and emulators can't be used with it!

I mean worst case, I'll have to disable the third-party setting and only map via the 4 profiles in the software, but that's also not great, especially if I want to map on a game by game basis...

Is there any way to fix this and enable steam input while also allow other programs to "see" the controller?

Things I've tried so far without fixing it:

- enabling the toggle and fully uninstalling the flydigi software
- disabling and/or uninstalling the "360 controller" that shows up in device manager
- enabling/disabling "xbox extended feature support" in steam controller settings (if enabled makes it so that now 3 controllers show up in steam, same problems tho)

I'm still on Windows 10 if that makes a difference, but if you are using W11 or Linux tell me if you have the same issue, had it and fixed it or if it just worked out of the box for you.

Thanks

DISCLAIMER: Dune 8K was sent by EasySMX for free for review purposes. All the thoughts and opinions are mine only. No early preview was provided by any way.

Pretty wild controller look-wise, but is it even good for 99$ they ask for it?

Any questions left - feel free to ask.