Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2

The official XBOX Elite controller Series 2 is a high-quality, top-tier controller. Aimed at the hardcore gamer, it actually is also very handy solution for gamers (such as myself) with limited hand mobility or other hand issues, thanks to its back paddles. The controller is heavier than the default XBOX controllers and has a more sturdy construction including metal back plate and triggers and special rubber grips. Unlike the standard controller it is supplied with the controller itself, a built-in battery and charging dock, a lovely solid hard transport case, four metal back paddles, six stick options , and thumbstick adjustment tool, two D-pad options and a USB-C charging cable. The sticks, paddles and D-pad are attached magnetically and are simple to swap out. The sticks offer a choice of lengths and grip textures. Please note the standard controller and set is black as pictured on the product images; my photos are of my custom XBOX Design Lab Series 2 Elite controller which was the only one I have to hand right now. The back paddles offer all sorts of options to you as they can be assigned in the XBOX Accessory settings dashboard to duplicate any of the other functions of the controller, and can also be given a second "shift" function. They sit exactly where you need them to be, and are easily accessible. Personally I set them as the A. B, X and Y buttons so that I can do whatever the buttons are set to do in the game without taking my hands off the thumbstick - great for fast twitch-shooters! The other advantage to having paddles replace the face buttons, I found, is that it means I can continue to play games despite finding using the face buttons difficult. I can suffer severe pain when repeatedly pressing the face buttons in long gameplay sessions, and this was making gaming almost impossible for me. Now, being able to easily access A. B, X and Y on the paddles means I can enjoy my Xbox again with no pain or discomfort. I would suggest this may be helpful for many gamers who find the face buttons tricky to easily use but can comfortably grip the controller as designed. You can of course assign pretty much ANY function to the paddles. The adjustment tool allows you to tighten or loosen the sticks very simply, just how you like. The charger dock can be used from within the case through the hole on the back of the case, or can be used outside of the case. It can be hooked up to your console or any device with a powered USB slot. It is optional; the controller can also be directly connected to your XBOX without the dock. The controller offers massive flexibility so that you can set it up just as you like. Not only can you choose the hardware and adjust stick tension, you can also use the small switches on the back to adjust the trigger pull distance. You will also find great in-depth settings within the Accessories option in the XBOX settings, where you can set button assignments, dead zones, stick adjustments and more. Lastly, you can also use the controller settings on your XBOX to save up to three different profiles, which can be swapped between with the button below the guide button on the controller. This allows you to save specific button layouts and settings for individual games or types of game and switch on the fly. I have used a number of Series 2 Elites for several years each now and at no time have encountered stick drift, sticky buttons, peeling grips or any other issue that the older Series 1 controllers were prone to. They all still work perfectly and I find them much more durable, more comfortable overall than the standard controllers, with a nice heft and feel of quality, and I find the paddles indispensable to the point that I cannot now use a controller without them. The only negative I can think of is that cleaning the inevitable hand-jam off the textured rubber grips is a massive pain in the rear because BOY does that crissy-crossy texture refuse to give it up without a fight. And don't doubt that no matter how fastidious you are keeping your hands clean, you'll need to do it eventually! These are not cheap; but are by far the best controller you will ever use, IMHO.

I needed to get one of these plastic toy things for my PC because I was playtesting a game that demanded a controller. I hate controllers. They're an awful way to play games. The thumbsticks are horribly imprecise, and your shoulders are all hunched up, so you get back ache. Give me a mouse and a keyboard ANY day. However, I have had a few controllers over the years, mainly because I feel I have to have one to be "a gamer"... But I don't tend to use them. I've had a logitech wingman, a SNES-shaped one, a Logitech F-170 which was utter garbage (a shame), a Retrobit Legacy 16 and an XBox controller. Plus, of course, the controllers with the SNES, Atari 2600 and PS1 and PS2. So, although I hate the blasted things, at least I've had some experience with them. The Xbox controller was the most recent addition. I got it for my son to play GRIP Racing on his laptop. He kinda likes it, but he's got used to WASD+Mouse too, so finds the controller a bit restrictive. So I ended up playing with his XBox controller. I quite liked it. It had a weight to it, and the buttons had a positivity to them. So, when I had to get one for my laptop for this plaaytesting I thought I'd try to go "top of the line" and get an Elite 2. Well, I can confirm, it feels pretty darn good. although it's the same hand-crampy shape and size of a usual controller, it's really hefty. It feels solid, not plasticcy at all. The grips are grippy, and the magnetic snap-on thumbsticks and d-pad are lush to look at. Being able to adjust the force of the buttons is a lovely feature. I've set them to "middle" which feels good for me. The Core edition doesn't come with the back-paddles, but they can be bought separately for £9 (get the metallic ones!). I have to admit I'm very impressed with it. Aiming is still an absolute shambles, but that's a problem with trying to use a thumbstick. The buttons and controls otherwise feel really solid. It screams quality. I can see why it's more expensive than the standard controller. Given the magnets and snap-on configurability of it, I can see why it's as expensive as it is. It's a nice piece of well-engineered kit. It'll never replace a Kbd+Mouse for me, but if I have to play a game with a controller, I'm playing it with this! Nothing else comes close!

Brilliant controller which is well made and has lots of customizable options. Whether it's the look of the controller itself or to assign buttons to different uses using the 4 paddle buttons. The Xbox accessories app offers other options like adjusting your triggers dead zones to make them more responsive, left and right anolog sticks, vibration strength on the main part and triggers. You can also change the colour and brightness of the Xbox controller button. You can also adjust the tension of the analog sticks using the adjustable tool which is included. You can create lots of different profiles for multiple different games but can only have 3 active at one time on the quick profile switch button. I owned my previous one for around 6 years and have bought this one as a replacement. You definitely get value for money, when using normal controllers I would be spending £50-£60 every 6 months due to stick drift. This controller is amazing!

The good This is a really nicely built controller, made of high quality materials. Nice travel case with an excellent charging stand (alone or in the case) - heavy and magnetised. Feels very much like a typical Xbox One controller in hand, but with a higher quality feel. Finally a lithium ion battery was included. Better bluetooth than previous controller versions. The not so good This controller is plagued by a few issues: 1. It requires a cabled update out of the box. On first use the A button would activate the Xbox menu while gaming. Updating with Xbox accessories app resolves this. Not a great FTUE though. 2. When clicked, the right stick would turn the controller off. Only connecting to USB cable would wake it up afterwards. This makes the controller binable in my opinion. I read online that this defect was happening to a few people, though in true corp fashion, no resolution was offered other than textbook replies. So I ordered a replacement and no longer have this issue, so it must have been hardware related. HOW TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE A DEFECTIVE BATCH I noticed that the original and replacement controllers had two different box designs. Ref my attached pics. Things to look out for are; - The functioning controller is packaged with an additional design detail: a small, yellow, skewed rectangle below the logo, amongst other typographic and layout/design differences. - Lot numbers differed. The defective version was lot 2127, the functioning one was Lot 2136, so I'm assuming it’s a newer build. 3. Connectivity is slightly problematic with PC/Windows 10. Once connected to bluetooth things seem fine, but if then connected to the USB cable, this will break the bluetooth connection and it will not restore automatically after disconnecting the cable - you’ll have to reconnect manually. Using the wireless charger luckily does not break the bluetooth connection. So this issue can be circumvented. Conclusion I wouldn’t expect these kind of deal-breaker hardware issues from a Microsoft/Xbox product. But I did buy this controller with the understanding that my previous versions had some of the worst bluetooth implementations of any controller and would get constant dropouts. The Elite 2 seems to have sorted this issue with much better bluetooth connectivity. Swapping out paddles and sticks seems somewhat unnecessary and more like a marketing gimmick, but there are more comfortable stick combos to be had from the options. I removed the extra set of back paddles underneath as they are just far too easy to press while resting your hands, but I do appreciate these extra button options. The ability to shorten the trigger distance physically is a also a nice touch to speed up reaction times. Overall it’s a nice update to controller family. Just keep an eye on your batch number if you run into the same right stick issue that I had.

To start on the good side, the controller is a piece of art on the outside. It comes with a brilliant case, the customisation options and the grip are just perfect. Once in your hands you get that feeling of a premium product. Sadly, soon you realize that this feeling is a fake one. While MS have spent some time to design a brilliant outside, the controller fails miserably on performance and defects. In addition, the more you use it, the more problems you get. I have owned the product for less than 6 months. However, I'm more of a weekend gamer and I am sure the problems would arise quicker if I was using it daily. After this short period of use, the issue list is growing, including: -random disconnects The first problem I will list is the most damaging one - the controller disconnects randomly from it's bluetooth network all the time. I have bought the recommended MS wireless adapter, it does not help. I have tried on 3 different PCs to the same effect, the controller just disconnects constantly, which, of course, is highly annoying when you play online. Especially as it happens every 10-15 minutes. The problem is well documented and MS know about it, however they are not doing anything to fix it. There are many hot fixes posted by users in the official forum (and not a word from MS which speaks volumes), however, the only truly working solution is to use the controller wired. -the left analogue stick gets stuck After some period of use, you will notice that the left stick is not calibrated anymore and this affects your performance while playing. While you can force calibration, this does not fix the issue completely either, as the analogue stick will revert to its default position from time to time. Then you will be off calibration again. -the triggers double-click on a single click Sometimes when you press LB or RB the controller will send double input. For some games it will not be that big of a problem usually, however, this is not the case all of the time. -the grip is peeling off Another well documented issue from the first Elite controller. After some time of use, you will start noticing small bubbles under the grip. The more you use it, the bigger they get, leading to the point of the rubber part peeling off. The built-in battery is annoying as well, as I would rather prefer the previous design. However, when I'm literally forced to use my £150 wireless controller only in wired mode it is not that big of issue as the controller is always charged. Overall, you can tell that the product is not made from quality and lasting materials. Quickly you realize that the only effort spent is on the looks and the marketing. Because MS does not give any warranty (at this point probably you can guess why), you cannot do anything after the 1-month Amazon return window. Honestly, after so much struggles with their products, this is the last MS hardware item I ever buy.

First thing I noticed about this controller is that on first impressions the rubber grips are very very slippy, the complete opposite of what I expected and I hated them.... But, after using the controller for a day and getting a feel for it I realised that they actually become very very grippy. But then the next day they felt slippy again almost like trying to hold a bar of soap. But what I figured out is that whilst the rubber is cold it's very slippy, but once you've held the controller for 5 minutes it becomes grippy. The only problem is if you stop holding the controller for 5 minutes it becomes slippy again. It's really quite strange. The grip isn't even the reason I bought the controller I've never really struggled with grip on a controller before, but it's the first thing I noticed about it and initially I thought it was a bad thing. Now I'm just used to it and don't mind it at all. You can easily map the controls to do what you like and set 3 profiles to have different paddles do a different action and different games without having to make a new profile every time you switch games. The best thing about the controller is the thumb sticks. They are next level you can't feel any friction whatsoever against the out outside ring it's amazing. The changeable llsrucksbthatbcomebwith it I have trued but I've just stuck with the standard sticks. The buttons on the back are really nice a super premium feel to them too. I started with all 4 on there hover a finger over each paddle but it was really awkward to hold the controller that way. Basically only leaving your pinky finger to grip on. Now I just use 2 paddles on the back. I've move the 2 smaller ones to the lower pisituon and use my middle fingers to press them and that's a much more natural feeling. The adjustable triggers a good feature also. The overall feel of the controller is very premium. And I'm glas I have it. Its very expensive for what it is though so I'm not 100% sure it's worth the money. I just had some burning a hole on my pocket. The only cons I can think of is that there is no share button like on the series x/s controller, though you can actually completely remap all the buttons and turn one of the paddles into this button if you wanted. I also prefer the D pad on the series x/s controller. The big dish thing tgat comes with this is too flat for me and I have opted for the old school + shaped D pad instead. I hope the bring out a series x/s one out for this it wouldn't be hard to do as its all swappable parts. And finally the center part of the controller has a kind of silicone covering or something. It's feels really nice and premium but it leaves grease marks.

Best controller I’ve ever used, good weight and highly configurable

Great controller, love the handle grips and ability to customise the trigger depth. However, the paddles do not have their own mapping and are merely shortcuts for other buttons that can be mapped on the xbox with the middle button on the controller being used to switch between mapping profiles. The case is great for portability however the extra thumbsticks are overshadowed by products like Kontrol Freeks that are just better than swapping out the default sticks. I do not know what other reviewers are saying about the controller breaking, I do assume they are getting too competitive in a game and.. well you know. It’s a great controller however not much of an upgrade to using a normal controller and not really worth spending the extra money