just got my 8bitdo ultimate bluetooth today, been using it this morning. i swear i almost had a heart attack when it wasn't recognized by ReWASD, but after a reboot it did. initial impressions are strong: joysticks are amazing, using them in "no deadzone" mode and they feel fantastic. both are centered to 0.00002 on gamepad-tester and i've enver seen that before. The d-pad feels good, face buttons are a bit soft but still preferable to the mushy and hollow-feeling ones on regular xbox one controllers; though of course not as satisfying as the mechanical ones in a Razer.
the only downside so far are the bumpers which are indeed "weak" feeling. However, on the upside the triggers feel great to press and use, and are more comfortable than either the stock xbox one triggers or the razer wolverine triggers. As for the back buttons... it's gonna take me some getting used to them. I gotta say i simply grew too used to the centered back buttons on the Razer wolverine controllers. idk, the in-line back buttons on the palm grips aren't as immediately comfortable for me, the way i hold the controller my fingers naturally rest on the center portion of the controller's backplate, where the razer back-buttons were, but i'm sure i'll get used to it.
In addition to that, some details:
1. the back buttons won't be enabled in the default profile, you have to go into the 8bitdo software and enable your Profile (you have up to 3), and assign them there, then press the Profile button on the controller. Had to google this as I initially thought they didn't work on Windows. They do, just not by default.
2. yeah, like I said in the screenshot the bumpers feel kind of weak but the triggers really feel good to use, and are more ergonomic to the finger than the regular xbox one triggers or the razer triggers. Much easier to keep, say, Left Trigger held down for long periods on this 8bitdo than on the other controllers I've tried.
3. minor but I also found that the LS/RS click-in buttons are very easy to use. Much easier to press than on the razer or the regular xbox controllers. Of course I usually re-assign those to the back buttons anyway, but it's nice to have this comfort.
4. As an aside it feels quite nice to use a wireless controller again, haven't used one in many years. Oh, and the accuracy of the analog sticks in gamepad-tester was an average of 6% error rate on the left stick, and 5% error rate on the right stick. This is very good, default xbox controllers average around 12% error rate, and my razer wolverine had 14% error rates. So it's actually a marked improvement. Probably the best score I've ever seen.
Need some more time to break the controller in but so far initial impressions are quite good. For a $70 dollar controller this thing is PACKED with features:
- charging dock, 2 different modes of wireless connectivity + includes the USB dongle, comes with custom software that has rudimentary button rebinding and deadzone customization (it's no ReWASD but it's more than fine), Hall Effect analog joysticks with excellent accuracy, extra buttons in the back, an IMO more ergonomic-feeling set of triggers. D-pad is very good as well.
Seriously, it's kind of crazy you get all this for $70 bucks.
EDIT: another detail after some more use is that the thumbstick tension is slightly higher on these joysticks than on the stock xbox one controller or on the Razer wolverine ultimate. This may or may not be to your liking. For me, it is, it feels better that they have slightly higher spring tension. It may be that it's not to your liking. Seems like it's going to be a very subjective thing. It's a subtle thing and most people probably wouldn't even notice to begin with, but it's definitely there.
