Customer Reviews
a good layout, but not without it's problems 
2008-07-03
This controller has an excellent control layout. However, the analog controls have fairly large deadzones, and the cord is particularly short. The dpad does feel really cheap, but works fine. Unfortunately, there isn't really any other controllers out there right now with a layout like this. It works great for numerous games, from shooters like Goldeneye to platformers. However, one thing this controller is NOT good for is fighting games.
Solid pad with room for improvement. 2008-06-16
I got this pad to play games on my PC (obviously) and love the six face button, four shoulder trigger, two clickable analog stick layout. It's really nice. Unfortunately, the controller isn't the most comfortable thing in the world to hold. It feels a bit bulky and a bit cheaply made, though I haven't had any problems with it. The middle FPS button is nice, as I've found it just swaps the (kinda crappy) D-Pad with the left joystick, but I haven't used the button on the right yet. Finally, there's no start or select buttons! Such a natural pair of buttons to add to any controller and they've been neglected here. Not a huge problem but it just feels weird not having them there.
Anyway, this controller's layout is almost perfect. I think a few people here complained about drivers, but it's worked flawlessly through plug 'n play. Zero configuration and it's been great.
Great until it breaks. 
2008-05-05
My cousin and I both bought one of these several months back. The controller was the best I'd seen. The problem lies in a design flaw that you don't find until after several months of use. I was talking to my cousin and he told me his directional pad had broken off. I thought it was just a flue and that he'd been rough with his, but the same thing happened to mine about a month later. Apparently, the d-pad is held in place by thin plastic that gives way after awhile. Sad, considering it was such a great controller and now I'm limited to using the analog.
Meh 
2008-04-22
Amazon sent it, I ordered new but got used, the boxes where taped up in a sloppy manner with no instructions or drivers with visible oily fingerprints on the controller. They sent it a week late, presumably I got someone else's returned product since it was out of stock. No big deal though since it had no scratches or visible issues, I downloaded the drivers from the manufacturers website. I wanted the gamepad because it said it had programmable buttons which turns out to be pretty disgusting to manage. The software to program the keys comes separate from the drivers. The manufacturer makes you download a 20mb installer (which extracts who knows how many mb's) which lets you set a lot of different controls for each button, but the UI is a total mess and it comes with the drop down list of all their keyboards / gamepads / mouse products. It also installs a bunch of drivers to software you DONT HAVE like the saitek keyboard. There's no way to selectively install just your gamepad software.
It's a friggin controller. It shouldn't be eating tons of disk space. The profile editor also eats 23mb of ram. Not much, but ram you could have used instead towards improving rendering on your game.
The blue strip in the middle of the controller, which I thought was plastic or metallic by the pic, is actually a bright LED with no way to turn it off. I'd like my controller to be simple and efficient, not energy wasting and distracting at the same time. It helps kill my laptop faster on long trips. The $30 list price is just plain wrong too just so it looks like it's always discounted. It's really really hard to find it over $30.
Not so good 2008-04-15
The buttons and things are ok, but the most important part, the directional pad is awful.
Not as good as the last one, but... 2008-02-25
Instantly configure your pad's controls to the perfect set-up for First Person Shooter games with a single button press. The ergonomic controls with soft touch handles increase grip and comfort during hours of gameplay. Advanced programming is provided by Saitek Smart Technology (SST) software. System Requirement: Windows XP & XP64
Solid control but poor programming software 
2007-11-18
Overall i am pleased with this gamepad. It works great as long as the game itself has a good control setup of its own as i found the downloadable programming software to be somewhat frustrating. it really isn't very user friendly or pretty(just a minor grip). for some reason assigned buttons just randomly won't do what they are supposed to and have to be reassigned and then still might not work. it shouldn't be difficult or take this much effort to program a controller. however once setup it is very nice.
Purchased two and love them 
2007-10-09
Product arrived earlier than expected. High quality product, great for use with emulators and many games. The programmable features make them perfect for almost any game, though I still prefer my mouse and keyboard for RTS and FPS games.
Great controller 2007-09-27
What can I say - it's a great controller with 2 smooth analog sticks and plenty of buttons - including 4 on top. Haven't figured out what the FPS button is for but I'm sure that will be fun.
It fits comfortably in the hand, and is lightweight without feeling cheap. With so many out there I wasn't sure which one to get, but I researched this one and I'm glad I chose it. 5 stars.
One of the worst game controllers I have ever seen 2007-08-20
I bought this controller at Circuit City about a year ago and decided to try it. It was fairly cheap, so I thought, I'll give a shot. After using it, I have to say this is an awful controller. Here's why.
I grew up playing video games, so I was expecting it to be very similar to some of the console's controllers. I found the controller to be VERY unresponsive and lackluster. I tested it with several games and RPG's seem to be the best for the controller, even though the silver directional pad would mysteriously have you go south when you want to go east. Action/adventure games do the worst with this controller.
The only positives I can say is the analog sticks sometimes offer decent responsiveness and the shoulder buttons are very responsive. The six buttons to the right of the analog sticks vary from responsive (in RPG's, action RPG's and the like) to frustrating (in action oriented games).
I do not recommend this product at all. If you do get it, don't try to play action oriented games because it will frustrated you to the point of nearly destroying your controller. My failure is either because I just suck at the game or it's something else. Most people who do need to realize this is a cheaply made controller and there are better PC game controllers out there.
