PC Cordless Rumble Pad 2 Controller

I was very skeptical about these at first. They looked cheap and I was not sure how long it was going to last. Let me tell you, they are great!

I purchased two of them to play the new Lego Star Wars with my son and I am utterly blown-away as to how much more relaxed we are when we play. No more cords!!!! Its been over 9+ weeks of use at nearly every day and neither sets of batteries has died yet, and thats using the cheap-O's included with the pads!

I did get hung-up trying to configure them at first. PLease understand that their software works great and you need it for the rumble effect, *HOWEVER* the software was designed with the assumption that you only have ONE gamepad. It is next to impossible to configure two gamepads using their software. I finally figured it out by uninstalling their software and simply letting Windows XP discover the devices and going to the game(s) and configuring the pads there. Most games allow you to do this by simply changing the keyboard layout from a certain set of keys to whatever you input. So if a game is set to use "W" as its up key, simply press enter and the game waits for you to press any key that will represent the new layout. So go to your gamepad and press the UP stick. Windows will auto-populate the field with the proper settings. Very nice!

I highly recommend this device. Its VERY durable and cleans well (sticky fingers) not to mention it is GREAT to play a two player game from over 10 feet away in bean-bags as opposed to stiff chairs bound by cords! Buy this product now!

Update: 9/2008 : It's been 2 years since I've had these. Well: I STILL HAVE THEM! Did I mention I have TWO boys? They work these things HARD and they still operate as expected. Logitech made a VERY reliable controller. They still sell em so it's a good thing. YAY!

I had this unit for about a month, used it to play Half Life, and Need for Speed 2 Underground. Outstanding performance in both cases. I'm running a dell p4 2.GHz 512mb WinXP Pro SP2. Easy installation, no problems of any kind so far. The original batteries are still going strong. Hope this review is helpful.

Aside from the convenience of cordless (I'm now trying to kick the habit of constantly moving the now non-existent cord out of the way), there are other reasons to like this controller. Some complain about the weight, but it doesn't seem too heavy to me. With the batteries installed, it has just the right amount of heft, making it feel solid and well-built. The controls are smooth, accurate, and well-placed for my thumbs (I have somewhat large hands). There is no cheap plastic feel, and the slightly textured plastic case is pleasing to the touch. The rubbery tops of the thumbsticks provide a secure grip for your thumbs.

With wireless, I was worried about lag, but there is none perceivable. Action games play fine where timing is critical. A nice touch is the ability to quickly swap the D-pad and left analog stick via a toggle button right between them (with corresponding indicator light). That makes it easy to go exactly straight forward when you need to. Because although there are slight centering guides to keep the thumbsticks centered horizontally and vertically, it is still very easy to move off to the side. That's not a complaint, as I think analog controls should allow you to move in any direction easily.

Only two complaints:
1. When releasing the thumbstick quickly, its self-centering action will often overshoot to the opposite direction for a split second before settling in the center. It is enough to turn the game character around. I've had to get used to releasing the stick more gently to avoid this.

2. Macintosh software is not included nor available from Logitech's web site for customizing buttons. The included software is Windows-only. I was disappointed when the D-pad was not automatically recognized in certain games. I figured I could just configure the game's controls to perform the appropriate actions, but the D-pad is not treated as buttons and not recognized at all. However, I was able to solve this by using the shareware "GamePad Companion" to assign keystrokes to the D-pad.

Pros:
Solid feel
Smooth action
Wireless
Analog <-> D-pad toggle
Thumbsticks act as two more buttons
Excellent battery life (seems to be true to the advertising claim of 100 hours with vibration off)

Cons:
Thumbstick overshoot
No Mac software