WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.480 The Steam Controller just came out and our biggest hang-up was the price. 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:07.920 So we're looking at a controller that sneaks in quite a bit under 00:00:07.920 --> 00:00:13.440 and if you're only looking for that gamepad functionality, none of that trackpad or nonsense, 00:00:13.440 --> 00:00:20.320 the Vader 5 Pro from Frye Digi might be a very interesting option for you and for me. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:25.840 I'm at the point with my Cyclone 2 where I'm maybe considering a replacement 00:00:25.840 --> 00:00:29.600 and this is at the top of my list for a number of reasons. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:33.840 The top of them being these adjustable tension joysticks. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:40.560 As we explored with the four era of Flye Digi's product in our 16-way controller roundup, 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:44.960 these adjustable joystick tension thingies are friggin sweet. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:50.080 Whether you like really light 40 gram force or 100 grams of force, 00:00:50.080 --> 00:00:55.120 you can kind of lock in the tension you want and with the latest version of the Vader 5S Pro, 00:00:55.120 --> 00:00:59.680 these are actually ratcheting, so it's less likely for them to slip as you play in the tension 00:00:59.680 --> 00:01:03.120 to switch. Good sticks are important, but what about the rest of the controller? 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:06.880 On the top we have our Flye Digi button that is actually a button this time, 00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:12.640 not just a logo. We have our start select, they're not called that anymore, menu options. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.280 We call it overlapping squares and three dots. 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:22.240 On the top we have our joysticks, we have our floating D-pad that is clicky and will 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:27.440 do a fine job getting you through your menus. If you're planning on using this D-pad for 00:01:27.440 --> 00:01:33.040 precision controls, stop planning that immediately. This is not what that is designed for. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:39.680 Over here we have four clicky mechanical buttons, which I have grown to really like clicky buttons 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:44.560 on my controllers, as well as two extra buttons. So if you're playing them Sega games or Xbox 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:49.680 original games, you got actual face buttons. The click on these is actually quite different. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.880 It's substantially less satisfying. You can even hear it. 00:01:56.320 --> 00:02:00.080 But that's fine. These are things you can assign to extra controls. I don't think 00:02:00.080 --> 00:02:03.600 they're going to be primary inputs. So just having the extra options is nice, 00:02:03.600 --> 00:02:08.400 especially when you go to the top, there's extra little option bumpers here. Like the 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.480 8-Bit Doe 2C, we have three shoulder buttons on each side. We have our regular 00:02:13.440 --> 00:02:18.560 big boy bumpers with a textured plastic, and then we have our triggers that have a ton of 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.160 features hidden inside. We'll get to shortly. And then we got these little clicky bumpers. 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:27.040 I think just like the 2C, they're a little bit far of a reach that I probably wouldn't use too, 00:02:27.040 --> 00:02:31.040 too often. But in games where I'm like, I really wish I could assign one extra control, 00:02:31.040 --> 00:02:38.480 that is nice. And they feel pretty good as do the bumpers. They don't feel even across the button. 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:44.880 Over here, it's a much more satisfying click. Over here, I can feel the plastic doing sort of a 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:50.160 lever thing before the mechanism actually activates. Still pretty good though, would have no problems, 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:54.560 especially the way I hold it. Like most of my fingers on it anyway, just like the triggers. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:59.120 And similar to other Flydigy products, we actually have mechanical stops to make them 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:06.560 the competitive style little hair triggers. And these are really satisfying. You hear that sound? 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.240 Also on the top of note is our Type-C charging port. You can also use this controller via wire. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:18.400 In terms of connectivity, there is a 2.4 GHz dongle included. You can use Bluetooth on the back. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.840 We got the trigger stops back here. We have pre-installed paddle buttons that are built into 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.320 the controller. We have our two slots to add extra paddle buttons with attachments that are in the 00:03:28.320 --> 00:03:34.000 box. We'll actually do the real unboxing later. And then the two little buttons actually for the 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:40.480 extra back paddles as well. And then we have our mode toggle. So we have dongle, Bluetooth, 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:45.040 Nintendo Switch mode. It's important to note, this won't work out of the box with a PlayStation 00:03:45.040 --> 00:03:50.320 or Xbox console. You can get adapters that do work with that. But by the time you buy those adapters, 00:03:50.320 --> 00:03:55.360 the value proposition of this controller is severely weakened. It's time to go out to our field 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:00.880 reporter to find out if this controller connected to a Switch 2 can turn it on just using the button. 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:04.960 Switching this into Nintendo Switch mode, holding the button. 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:12.480 You're gonna need to be hitting the bumpers. Oh, nope. There we go. It's connected. 00:04:13.920 --> 00:04:21.600 Takes you back home, but it will not wake the console. Wow, incredible. On the bottom, 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.600 we have our function and turbo buttons. That's not stuff I'm in the habit of using, but I know 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:30.480 some people are very passionate about those. So power to you. We also have our LED strip that 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:35.280 will light up in desperate search of a dongle that is not plugged in right now. Of note, 00:04:35.280 --> 00:04:39.360 just like the Steam controller, there is no headphone jack, which may or may not be a deal 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.960 breaker for you. But features are what features are, baby. Let's see how this feels in the hand. 00:04:44.960 --> 00:04:52.400 It feels like I'm holding a really much improved Xbox controller. It's got a similar grip style you 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:56.800 can kind of see in terms of the angle, but it has a more rubberized plastic sort of like the elite. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:00.960 I think people are going to be a little bit mixed on this. I don't like rubber 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:07.120 on my controllers because that puts a counter down for when this controller will be absolutely 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:12.800 disgusting and oily. That being said, today, it feels really nice and really premium. We got 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.920 the textured back, the textured bumpers and triggers. There's a different type of plastic here 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:22.000 that has little speckles in it. So I think that's a neat touch, although I don't think they go quite 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:26.640 far enough to make it super two-toned. When it catch the light, it feels more different than it 00:05:26.640 --> 00:05:32.080 looks. In person, it kind of just looks like dark gray and dark gray with flex in it. I wish this 00:05:32.080 --> 00:05:37.520 had more contrast. I think that would make it pop more. That being said, that's as nitpicky as 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:41.440 nitpicky gets, baby. I actually got too excited about this controller. We need to see what else is 00:05:41.440 --> 00:05:47.520 in the box. So you get a nice little thick manual in many languages. You also get ads for other 00:05:47.520 --> 00:05:52.400 via Digi controllers from the Doom Fox all the way to the Apex 5. I want to cover both of those. 00:05:52.400 --> 00:05:56.400 Let us know in the comments which one you're more interested in me covering. We also have other 00:05:56.400 --> 00:06:03.520 products like a phone cooler and a laptop cooling pad. Also in the box is a 150 centimeter cable 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:11.200 that's just under five feet. It's not the cheapest cable I've ever felt. It's great for USB 3, 00:06:11.200 --> 00:06:18.160 which is nice. Pretty good housing. We'll do the job. We also have our dongle. Regular ass dongle 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.680 is definitely not as cool as the steam controller one, and it doesn't have the functionality of 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:27.760 plugging into your cable or charging your controller, but that's fine. Last thing inside of this 00:06:27.760 --> 00:06:35.120 plastic is our extra rear paddles. They slide into the back here with a little satisfying click. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:41.280 And if you've been paying close attention to Fly Digi's latest controllers, you'll know that some 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:46.160 of the early ones had a really bad back paddles where they would break really bad. And you'll be 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:51.440 glad to know that this is actually the V2 of the Vader 5 Pro, and they fixed the part inside the 00:06:51.440 --> 00:06:56.000 controller that was just a little plastic loop that was breaking. So it should be more reliable. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.800 Although I do have comments about the fact that there's a V2 that it's hard to know about. We'll 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:07.360 get to that later. Wow, that's actually surprisingly seamless. I was expecting it to feel like the 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:13.280 difference in back paddle would be quite drastic, but they feel very connected to each other. Like 00:07:13.280 --> 00:07:19.520 there's a little bit of flex on the levered ones, but I'm getting a satisfying click. And if I needed 00:07:19.520 --> 00:07:23.920 four back paddles, this would be certainly adequate, although I would like that plastic a little stiffer. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:29.040 One thing that is slightly painfully missing when you compare it to something like the Cyclone 2 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:35.760 is there's no included dock. Not the end of the world if it keeps the pricing more accessible. 00:07:35.760 --> 00:07:42.560 And the fact that there is an optional dock for $25 is pretty nice. Let's see how this thing is. 00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:51.680 White. White. The dock is very premium feeling compared to the pack in one on this, 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:56.160 the Cyclone 2. I start to understand why they're charging more for it. It's got good weight, 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.520 which is actually nice because the controller is going to sit nice and it's not really going 00:07:59.520 --> 00:08:06.160 to be in danger of falling over or disconnecting. There is no magnetic click, but the pins go in 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:11.440 quite nicely. On the front, we have RGB array for cool RGB stuff. We have our charging pins and the 00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:15.680 controller mount. On the bottom, we have rubber feet so it doesn't slide as much. And then we get 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:22.800 to the good stuff. We have our dongle USB slot. It's the right size for this so that you can 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:28.080 actually use these ones, just like a USB dock. This type C goes to your computer, 00:08:28.080 --> 00:08:33.760 so you actually get two extra USB ports if you use this dock. I actually am more considering 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:38.000 this dock than I thought I was going to at the beginning of this video. Just like I'm really 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:44.560 considering the upgrade to this Goku edition Vader 5 Pro. Yes, you heard that right. This 00:08:45.280 --> 00:08:52.640 Vader 5 has fricking Dragon Ball Z branding all over it. Over here, we have this sort of silk 00:08:52.640 --> 00:08:58.640 screen outline of Super Saiyan Goku and then Super Saiyan in Japanese as well as more flames. 00:08:58.640 --> 00:09:02.800 These orange transparent triggers are really nice and they can let you see a little bit of the 00:09:02.800 --> 00:09:10.080 mechanism of the rumble triggers of the Vader 5 Pro. Very similar feel outside of the front plate. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:15.280 This feels really nice, premium. This feels sticky and cheap. It's actually cheap enough 00:09:15.280 --> 00:09:19.040 feeling that even though I really like some of the aesthetic choices on this, I think I'm going 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:23.840 to stick with my base model. Let's plug it in and find out how it performs after I tell you about 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:28.800 our sponsor. We have our controllers plugged in via the dock. There's a lot of RGB going on. 00:09:28.800 --> 00:09:33.840 I don't know how I feel about that. Let's open up the Fly Digi software and see how it goes. Oh boy, 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:39.520 we got some Chinese characters. That's not going to work for me. Okay, I can infer that this is 00:09:39.520 --> 00:09:44.160 profile 1234. That's fine. We can set up more configurations if we want. I really only need 00:09:44.160 --> 00:09:49.680 the one. First off, we can reassign all our mappings. That's pretty cool, especially for the back 00:09:49.680 --> 00:09:54.320 buttons where games might not have the ability to map that directly. You can kind of assign a 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:59.840 specific input or a macro or something special. Next, we have our common settings, which include 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:06.160 the light, dynamic glow, breathing, gradient, and we're not going to go through all these. We're 00:10:06.160 --> 00:10:11.360 going to turn it off for battery life. That is quite bright. It might not seem like it in a well 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:17.760 lit room, but that actually would need to go off for me because I don't want to be made aware of 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.800 all of this when I'm playing games. You know, I want to be sucked into the screen. I play video games 00:10:22.800 --> 00:10:27.440 like it's the never ending story. I also want to extend my battery life. This comes with a 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:33.200 1000 milliamp hour battery, which Fly Digi says is good for about 15 hours of game. But of course, 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:38.320 if you're using tons of haptics or lights and stuff that will go down slightly, 15 hours is okay. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:43.600 No, not great. Steam controller did like 37. So, and that was like full tilt haptics going all the 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:48.400 time. It's okay. Next, we have our vibration. We can turn on or off vibration as well as the 00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:53.920 intensity. I want my fingers to tingle. That is a rumble motor that is not haptics. That's not 00:10:53.920 --> 00:11:00.960 advanced stuff. That's fine. I think most people prefer the haptics, but this would be sufficient. 00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:05.600 Next, we have our buttons, which is just another way to remap. Then we have our joystick. We can 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:11.520 change our sensitivity curve. We can change our circularity algorithm. If we want to have it be 00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:17.120 a rectangle where it's basically more forgiving about slightly being off axis, where you're trying 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:23.440 to go forward or perfect circle. If you're using Hall Effect or TMR sticks, usually you want the 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:27.760 precision of the circle. But that being said, we haven't even talked about what technologies 00:11:27.760 --> 00:11:33.360 actually in these sticks. These are Hall Effect sticks as well as Hall Effect triggers. Now, 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:38.080 Hall Effect technology is better than Potentiometer based sticks like you have in all three of the 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:43.280 first party controllers. However, we have entered the golden age of the tunnel magneto resistance 00:11:43.280 --> 00:11:50.160 sticks, which basically has the precision and long life of Hall Effect with lower power draws. 00:11:50.160 --> 00:11:54.400 That might actually be part of why this has a pretty okay battery life is these Hall Effect sticks 00:11:54.400 --> 00:11:59.360 while precise and should have a long life other than the centering spring may be dying out or 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:06.000 giving out on you. It's a shame that they haven't upgraded to TMR sticks in an era where they are 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:11.600 getting cheaper and cheaper. Go back to our software. We can basically have our dead zone 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:15.760 or offset. We are going to leave things at default. Then we have our gyro sensors. I also 00:12:15.760 --> 00:12:20.880 haven't talked about the freaking gyro in this. It's got six axis baby. Yeah, more features than 00:12:20.880 --> 00:12:25.680 you can freaking handle. I know not everyone's super into gyro aiming, but I am definitely 00:12:25.680 --> 00:12:30.080 coming around to it in the right games. Basically, what that means is you can still aim with the 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:34.320 right stick to your big macro movements and then little micro adjustments with the gyro gives you 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:38.560 extra precision. Pretty freaking sweet. Next, we have our trigger settings and we can change these 00:12:38.560 --> 00:12:42.240 independently of the trigger, which is nice because sometimes you want one to be really, 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:46.720 really quick and so you want to optimize for around quickness and speed and the other you want to be 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:52.000 a little more immersive or you can have them be the same. We can turn on and off the vibration of 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.240 the triggers. Next, we can change the stroke setting, which basically means that like it'll 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:01.200 get a positive press faster, the more sensitive you set it. Then you can change your vibration 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.120 intensity. I don't think there's a vibration test, which is fine, but I'm going to put my 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:09.680 vibration intensity to 100. Next, we have our trigger amplitude, which seems to set the minimum 00:13:09.680 --> 00:13:14.080 maximum range for the trigger vibration intensity as well as our vibration shielding value, which 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:18.000 basically is like a dead zone for activating the trigger depending on the game. We're going to 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:24.160 leave these at default and see how our games do starting with Forza Horizon 5. Let's actually 00:13:24.160 --> 00:13:29.440 switch back to wireless mode so we can comment on that wireless latency. Oh, I also need to 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.520 turn off the lights on the dock. What are our dock settings? Light mode, diagonal flow. It's 00:13:35.520 --> 00:13:40.560 kind of nice to get a little preview on the screen. Okay, I'm a little more into this. Custom. Okay, 00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:46.960 yeah, you can put like videos in. It doesn't look, you can upload videos. See how this works? 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:52.240 Plot of the device. The amount of RGBs is great for a controller dock, but it's not quite enough 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:59.600 to have like a full on story told through this thing. Right now, it's just like a beige to green. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:05.040 You can kind of tell mic, but you can't really tell Linus. That's okay. We're just going to go with 00:14:05.040 --> 00:14:12.160 something I like to call off. In the software, we have four other options. One is intelligence 00:14:12.160 --> 00:14:16.560 start, which basically knows that the controller is plugged in and will turn off the animation and 00:14:16.560 --> 00:14:22.240 show charging. We have lighting sync, which will keep the RGB of the dock and the controller connected. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:26.960 You can have it close when shut down, which basically turns off the RGB when the computer's off, 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.120 as well as you can change it to be a power display. So it'll show you 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.520 how much the controller is charging with this cool little animation. I got to say for 25 bucks, 00:14:37.520 --> 00:14:43.840 this dock is a pretty decent value if you're getting this controller. I'm turning my RGB off 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:51.360 and I'm turning my gamer fingers on. Let's freaking play, boys. These rumble triggers really do rumble. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:56.800 And the way that the trigger meets the plastic housing here, I find actually vibrates kind of 00:14:56.800 --> 00:15:00.880 uncomfortably. Like it does kind of give me that tingly feeling because I'm half my fingers on the 00:15:00.880 --> 00:15:05.600 stationary plastic and the other pieces on the rumbly piece. I actually wish that the trigger 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:10.720 didn't go as far down into the body because then I wouldn't have that problem. It's not a big deal. 00:15:11.680 --> 00:15:15.680 And I think I would just adjust my grip slightly, but it's enough that I want to continue turning 00:15:15.680 --> 00:15:20.720 down my trigger vibration. I've turned it down to 25% and this feels much more comfortable for me. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:25.520 It's still quite immersive on both triggers. The resistance also feels very, very good. In this 00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:30.400 kind of game, I'm not going to use the competitive triggers, but the action feels good. The resistance 00:15:30.400 --> 00:15:34.560 is good. And then the trigger's just that extra little bit of immersion. Okay, we're going to play 00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:40.560 some cascading to test out this D-pad. The verdict is in. D-pad, not so great for retro games. I think 00:15:40.560 --> 00:15:45.760 this kind of game is the best use of this kind of controller because then you can set the competitive 00:15:45.760 --> 00:15:51.280 trigger so you can get the faster response. I still prefer doing the competitive trigger for aim 00:15:51.280 --> 00:15:54.880 down the sights and then full trigger for the guns. Yeah, these sticks feel really good, really 00:15:54.880 --> 00:15:59.680 responsive. They're whipping around pretty fast. I like my tension set to maximum. I like the weight 00:15:59.760 --> 00:16:04.560 of the sticks. The back paddles feel really good. And that was wrong. I actually think that these top 00:16:04.560 --> 00:16:11.520 bumper buttons are not as inaccessible as I first thought. I really like the Vader 5 Pro. I think 00:16:11.520 --> 00:16:16.080 it's even better than I expected. I think they've done a lot of improvements since their last 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:22.960 generation of products. And the MSRP is 80 US dollars. And you can often find it for around 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:35.200 like 65, 63 US dollars. That is a really good deal. Here comes the asterisk. This is the V2 of the 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:40.080 5 Pro. The V1 doesn't have the ratcheting tension so that it can slip in the middle of the game. You 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:45.440 don't have the metal innards on the back paddle. So those have been known to break. And the centering 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:51.360 spring on the joysticks is not quite as good. And it's not really easy to identify online which 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:58.400 version you're buying. If you look at the box, the model number here is GPC F50301. If you have 00:16:58.400 --> 00:17:04.720 50101, that's a version 1. 301 is the second version. That's the one you want. And I know that 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:09.520 there's a lot of the original ones out there. It's still going to be a good controller. But 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:15.040 it makes me really hesitant to buy one online, especially if I'm buying it from a marketplace. 00:17:15.120 --> 00:17:22.240 It's a little bit harder to return. That being said, it's hard to beat the value of 60 US dollars. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:28.160 Even with this $25 add-on, that's a pretty frigging sweet ecosystem. And this is a really 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:33.600 nice controller. I think if you are really interested in just the joypad functionality, 00:17:33.600 --> 00:17:36.880 this is an excellent option for the price. I think it has the features that you need for 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:41.680 competitive gaming for more immersive stuff. And I don't think that it's necessarily worth the price 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:46.640 up to the Apex. It's nearly double the sale price of this. And then you get the more adaptive 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:52.000 triggers. You get bigger battery. You get a screen on your controller. Do you guys even want that? 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:57.040 So I think that the Vader 5 Pro sits at the sweet spot of exactly the controller I want 00:17:57.040 --> 00:18:01.280 if you can get the exact one that you want. Just like I'm telling you exactly 00:18:01.280 --> 00:18:04.880 the next video you should watch. You should watch our unboxing of the Steam Controller video. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:10.640 Ploof did a really good job. He had a lot of the same thoughts that I did, but better.