Xbox Elite Controller Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,515 words · ~7 min read
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the Xbox One Elite controller what makes it Elite well has a ton of pretty wicked
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features and almost as much modularity as your buddy's 1990 Civic hatchback but
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unfortunately costs almost the same as well what are those features how does it
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feel how does it perform let's find
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out the master case 5 by Cooler Master gives you the freedom to truly make your
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midtower PC case your own with a variety of modular parts and accessories check
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the link in the video description to learn more the truly badass features
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start with the magnetized interchangeable thumb sticks the default
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one is the Xbox 1es concave thumb stick
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and then you have a more PlayStation style domed top or last but not least
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you have the tall concave thumb sticks which are great for precision but do
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feel a bit weird being so tall and make pressing other buttons a little bit more
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difficult but if that's your thing go for gold following that we have the
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swappable d-pad the default one is this kind of satellite dish style thing which
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I personally felt was kind of weird in many situations I found myself
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misclicking on it fairly often and if I was playing a game where I had to
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quickly slam a direction on the d-pad it does have the ability to lift off due to
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the magnetic nature of its Mount but that's not to say it doesn't have its
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rightly place this is hands down the best d-pad I've personally ever used if
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I was looking to to play a fighting game not only is it lightning fast to use but
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doing moves where you have to roll your thumb around the d-pad becomes a breeze
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and hey if you don't like it the other d-pad is super standard and to be honest
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I even kind of liked using the d-pad raw without any of the magnetized features
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on top of it which actually worked surprisingly well the last feature in
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the modular category are the paddles on the back of the controller they can help
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improve your gameplay in almost any game that would benefit from you being able
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to press buttons while both your thumbs are on the thumbsticks which is almost
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every game that I know of but they can also be kind of annoying because it's
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kind of where you grip your controller and that can cause accidental inputs
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which are frustrating as hell but it's
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cool just take some of them or all of them off it's super easy to do just
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rotate them out of their little magnetic sockets my favorite configuration is
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with the small paddles in the upper positions and no paddles in the bottom
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positions this allows my pinky and ring finger to just grip the controller while
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my middle finger pointer finger and thumb do all the actual input work the
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triggers however are undeniably way better they come with trigger stop
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switches on the back of the controller which are awesome personally if I'm not
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playing a racing game I find the long travel time and soft ending of the
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normal Xbox One controller trigger pull to be very unsatisfactory engaging the
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trigger stops will result in a shorter travel distance and sharper stops which
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feels way better in anything that isn't a racing game to be
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honest the inclusion of trigger stops alone if it was a unique feature would
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have sold me on this controller let's take a little break with the hardware to
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cover some software which is available through the Xbox store on both your PC
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and Xbox under the name Xbox accessories
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fair warning going to get a little bit angry here but first off the good stuff
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you can change a ton of things like mapping any button to any other button
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which is pretty damn cool and I'm sure very helpful for disabled Gam or just
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those who love customization you can change the brightness of an LED or even
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the sensitivity of either of the thumb sticks or triggers you might be
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wondering how this possibly made me angry well Microsoft apparently decided
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that the PC version of this app just didn't need graphs labeled why I don't
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know the console version has the labels my guess is that it was probably a
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complete afterthought yep you click on the hardware settings button then on to
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left right stick or triggers and Bam a
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bunch of random slidy bars that change some random stuff or buttons that add
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dotted lines to your graph I mean I know they're for sensitivity but I'm
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reviewing the product I knew these were going to be in the menus before I even
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open up the software also an afterthought was that the default
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predone configs were for console games yet still shown on the PC version does
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this mean we're eventually going to get more of them than just Gears of War
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hopefully but I doubt it I'm tired of the PC afterthought this may not seem
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seem like a big deal but it feels more like another minor slap in the face and
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a tease from Microsoft I mean come on guys you show these games off on PCS at
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shows anyways just give them to us and at least give us software that has some
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freaking labels on it okay rant over
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back to Hardware yes there is also the included 3.5 mm Jack but that's not
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actually a uniquely Elite controller feature and before you go run and check
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your current xbone controller this is a relatively new thing but it is included
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in their newer standard controllers as well to cap things off with the Fairly
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obvious yes this is a wireless controller as you've probably seen by
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now it does come with two ablea Duracell batteries in the box so it is ready to
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rock right away and if you're a PC person no it won't automatically connect
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to your computer you do need the Microsoft Windows 10 Xbox controller
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dongle which is about $25 or if you want to bypass all of that
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because honestly screw batteries they include a pretty nicely braided standard
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length 9t micro USB cable which in my opinion could actually be a little bit
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longer because I know a few buddies that have setups that have the couch further
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than 9 ft away from their home theater but there are always USB extensions now
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I'm seeing loads of early reviews harking about how this thing is so
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expensive and they're correct I'm not saying it's cheap of course not but
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let's not ignore the fact that scuff exists a ton of the features on this
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controller were already available in some way shape or form form whether you
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think it's better or worse that's up to you on a scaf controller and this is how
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Gamers have been getting these features for a long time so yes in conclusion it
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costs a load but it's a relatively similar price to a medium kit scuf
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controller and I don't find that the least bit surprising what I also don't
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find surprising is that it has already sold out practically everywhere people
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love their peripherals I mean look at mechanical keyboards I've definitely
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purchased a few overpriced versions of those so pick your poison if if it's too
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much for you move on if you're looking for a premium controller this might be
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one to pay attention to get razors and other bathroom supplies like Dr Carver's
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shave butter and one wipe Charlie shipped directly to your door for only a
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few bucks a month with Dollar Shave Club they're even high quality razors going
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all the way up to their six blade executive model that doesn't bother with
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the frilly crap like vibrating handles or rotating heads because honestly who
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needs that so if you're lazy like me and also want to have a good experience head
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over to dollarshaveclub.com and sign up to have
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all of that stuff delivered to your door in the US Canada or
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Australia thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do
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but if it was awesome get subscribed hit the like button or even consider
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supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon buying
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a cool t-shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through the
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Forum now that you're done doing all that kind of stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click
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the button in the top leftand corner or right hand corner sorry got that right
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this time to check out my old review on the Sabertooth Xbox 360 controller h