replacement XB360 controllers for PC suggestions

TMCM

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My 360 controllers are getting tired and it's about time to replace them. I have the xbox wireless dongle hooked up to my PC. Are the newer XB1 controllers compatible with the dongle? Are the rechargeable batteries I have for my 360 controllers compatible with XB1 controllers?

give me some recommendations on what to do. Pretty much only use the controllers when playing lego games with the wife so I want to stay under $100 for a pair of controllers.
 
My 360 controllers are getting tired and it's about time to replace them. I have the xbox wireless dongle hooked up to my PC. Are the newer XB1 controllers compatible with the dongle? Are the rechargeable batteries I have for my 360 controllers compatible with XB1 controllers?

give me some recommendations on what to do. Pretty much only use the controllers when playing lego games with the wife so I want to stay under $100 for a pair of controllers.
nope and nope. when my receiver died I upgraded to xb1 controllers and receiver. if you want to keep your receiver and batteries you should just get new 360 controllers or update to xb1 for $120, $100 without the batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wi...Z8MRW413PPM&psc=1&refRID=C8SZNNQPZZ8MRW413PPM
https://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Wireless-Controller-Black-one/dp/B01LPZM7VI?th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Controller-A...C0JBXM2TK5T&psc=1&refRID=1VNJBHCTDC0JBXM2TK5T
 
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You'll need a Xbox One compatible receiver if you want to use the Xbox One controllers wirelessly but I think it's worth it. I switched from the 360 controller to Xbox One and haven't looked back. If you don't want to use the receiver you can just micro usb cables and not worry about charging batteries (as mentioned above).
 
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I beleive the new Xbox One controllers work through bluetooth on your PC, if you have it, so you don't even need the dongle.

Best PC controller is easily a wireless Xbox One controller with Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable batteries.
 
Unless you need something specialized (like sticks for fighting or something) I highly recommend the current gen XB One pads. As mentioned above they work very well on Bluetooth, though I've considered trying out the dongle too. I own a lot of different pads, but these are the only ones I'll use on the PC now aside from my dual Tank Stick setup. (but that's just for fighting and MAME)

Also, I've been using it for months (granted only relatively short sessions) and have only replaced the batteries once so far. My old 360 pads ate batteries all day.
 
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I beleive the new Xbox One controllers work through bluetooth on your PC, if you have it, so you don't even need the dongle.

Best PC controller is easily a wireless Xbox One controller with Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable batteries.

it will work with any bt4.0 i believe.
 
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it will work with any bt4.0 i believe.

I'm not sure if it's the reason mine works well where other BT devices don't always in my living room, but I got a BT 4.0+EDR dongle (extended range) and haven't had a single problem from couch distance. (10 feet in my case)
 
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are the XB1 controllers much of an upgrade over the standard 360 controllers?

Thanks for all the help
 
are the XB1 controllers much of an upgrade over the standard 360 controllers?

Thanks for all the help
They feel better but the functionality is about the same.

I've never had an issue but I can't speak for all.
 
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are the XB1 controllers much of an upgrade over the standard 360 controllers?

Thanks for all the help

The D-Pad on the XBox One controller is significantly better. In fighting games it makes a world of difference, also in regular games menuing is a lot quicker and more accurate.

When I'm not using my stick, I still feel comfortable using my XB1 controller for the most part in Tekken.
 
The size and feel of the Xbox One controller is roughly the same. To me the main differences are:

  • The Xbox One analogs are snappier and at least in my opinion, better. That's the biggest advantage to me. Going back to an old controller almost feels sloppy.
  • The Xbox One bumpers are fragile. They're being held in place by a tiny plastic nub that can break if you slam the buttons a lot. Dark Souls players know what I'm talking about.
  • The Xbox One controller is lighter overall and molded to be slightly more angular. Compared to the Xbox 360 controller, it feels somewhat hollow.
  • The Xbox One controller's d-pad is cleaner. It's still placed in such a way that I hate using it...but it's at least no longer floating on a weird imprecise disk.
 
Yea the bumpers are fragile, I actually have 2 XBOne Elite Controllers, since I bought an extra when my first ones bumpers broke while I was waiting for bumper replacements, Now I keep extra bumpers on hand once I learned how fragile they are. I play a lot of Dark Souls, but it was Mario Kart 64 that broke my bumpers.
 
My 360 controllers are getting tired and it's about time to replace them. I have the xbox wireless dongle hooked up to my PC. Are the newer XB1 controllers compatible with the dongle? Are the rechargeable batteries I have for my 360 controllers compatible with XB1 controllers?

give me some recommendations on what to do. Pretty much only use the controllers when playing lego games with the wife so I want to stay under $100 for a pair of controllers.

I'm in the same boat. My 360 for windows controller looks new but pulls left really bad, I've taken it apart and cleaned it no help. I bought a used one off ebay thinking I could harvest/transplant parts etc... and it was barely working, waste of $.

Amazon sells a wired "Xbox One" compatible wired controller for $20. It looks pretty much like the MS one and works fine... so if you want cheap and wired is OK (hey, no batteries at least) . Avail in black or white. I got one, but discovered that after using this wired one being wireless for years has spoiled me. check it out. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CZTVHY8

Amazon has a 360 wireless "certified refurbished" for $32. Reviews are mixed and some of the pics show torn up and abused ones. https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wireless-Controller-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B018UKLVXG

New "official" MS 360 controllers hit $50 real quick, so if that's the case you and I might as well buy that Xbox one controller for windows for $50. At $80 it's a tough sell, but I guess $50 is OK.
https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wireless-Controller-Adapter-Windows/dp/B078T3R8YS/

So after my brand new looking 360 black wireless decided to only go left (and it was an open box deal) I'm a little hesitant to try the refurbished route. Could be more of the same.

You really want to make sure you're buying an official MS controller too... there are tons of knockoffs that try to pass for the real thing, and they are all over Amazon.

TLDR - if wired is OK, get the $20 Amazon basics one. It's not bad. I'm going to either keep using it or throw it in my laptop bag for travel. I wish it was smaller for travel tho.
 
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While not necessarily related to the OP's original request - the Xbox One Elite controllers work fine on the PC, too. Those add some additional paddle functions on the back of the controller and hot-swappable stick and pad attachments.
The price is definitely steep, but it's probably the single best pad option out there IMO. The one down side (other than the price) is that the bumpers are still brittle cheap plastic.
 
you can also watch sales, i picked up both my xb1 controllers from walmart for 30 bucks each and just use the built in BT on my motherboard. like others have said the xb1 controller just feels way better to use than the 360 controller.
 
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I think the Elite XBox One is the best controller I’ve ever used on PC. Not sure if there is something newer but it is definately worth the scratch.
 
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The best cheap wired 360 controllers are made by Rock Candy, period.

If you go wireless again, I'd just get another 360 controller.

- The only real advantage to the Xbox One controller is the d-pad. Also, I prefer the analog sticks on the 360's controller.
 
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Just a quick note. I didn't feel like dragging out the tank stick setup the other night to try out DOA6, so I just went and picked up a second XBOne pad. I was worried that connecting two of them via Bluetooth rather than the dongle may be problematic as I don't usually have good luck with BT in the living room. (too many other signals in there) To my surprise they were flawless. Rock solid, no dropped inputs, or any significant lag. If there was, I'd probably notice it in this game. So, just a quick thumbs up on two of them working on Bluetooth. Never hurts to have extra data points.
 
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  • The Xbox One bumpers are fragile. They're being held in place by a tiny plastic nub that can break if you slam the buttons a lot. Dark Souls players know what I'm talking about.
Damn you Dark Souls 3 for making me L1/L2 spam until snap!

For $120 (yes, even the Elite has the same flimsy bumper design), you'd think MS would have come up with a more robust design than just using plastic's tendency to bend back instead of a simple spring. Even aluminum would last longer. They even painted the plastic to look like brushed aluminum.

Fortunately, replacing the bumpers is relatively painless. But it's still a gotcha as far as I'm concerned.
 
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Next time your at the big box store, check out the console section at the licensed 3rd party ones. Wired controllers now days are USB and should be PC compatible. But double check online.
 
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There are many avenues open but it all comes down to your budget, controller style preferences, and your needs / willingness to configure things. As others have said the XB360 ecosystem (batteries, wireless etc..) are totally separate to the Xbox One, so you'll need to likely make a full change but this doesn't necessarily need to be expensive. I personally never buy budget-style 3rd party peripherals since the difference in quality and price between them and the official controllers are rarely large enough to justify the lower quality.

The simplest replacement is to pick up something from the Xbox One family. The cheapest option from this family is to grab a standard Xbox One controller from the latest (ie 3rd last I checked) generation. These are XBOne controllers that support Bluetooth as opposed to older versions that don't. All XBOne controllers can (unlike the wireless X360 controllers, which only charged) be connected via USB for both charging and data, allowing wired play. 3rd generation controllers (most sold today) with Bluetooth support can connect via BT for wireless if your PC or device has BT controller support. However, to connect to a PC using the proprietary wireless standard with longest range etc... you'll need a dongle. There are 2 models of XBOne PC dongle, the Gen1 which is wide and flat and the Gen2 which is smaller more like a USB memory stick. The Gen2 is often noted as the "For Windows 10" version of the adapter. Lastly, as with all Microsoft controllers you will need "play and charge kits" to add rechargeable battery packs, but you can always pick them up later when your finances are sufficient; all XBOne Gen3 controllers take AA batteries.

Thus, from what searching I've done it seems that for under your $100 cap, you'll be able to get 2 controllers + a USB dongle Gen2. Not counting crazy sales locally or online, you can go on Amazon or elsewhere and pick up one bundle that includes the Xbox One Wireless Controller + Windows 10 dongle ( https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wi...roller+dongle&qid=1551817248&s=gateway&sr=8-3 ) plus another XBOne controller, your choice of color. You can save even more if you use Amazon Warehouse Deals (ie for instance, I see a $38 Very Good condition XBOne White controller currently). Either way it will come in at or below what you wanted to spend, will provide 2 gen3 controllers + gen2 dongle for them.

Alternatives - Dual Shock 4 (playstation style), The Steam Controller, and possibly even Nintendo Switch Pro Controller are all alternatives, depending on preferences, price and more. . Just let me know if you're interested.
 
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The Dualshock controllers are great for fighting games or anything that uses a d-pad as long as you use the Sony wireless dongle. Even games that require a crazy amount of inputs (Tekken 7) still work flawlessly. They'll work with any 'ol Bluetooth adapter, but they drop inputs.
 
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The Dualshock controllers are great for fighting games or anything that uses a d-pad as long as you use the Sony wireless dongle. Even games that require a crazy amount of inputs (Tekken 7) still work flawlessly. They'll work with any 'ol Bluetooth adapter, but they drop inputs.

I use PS4 button prompts for games since I grew up playing a lot of PlayStation in my teen years and was a full PC gamer by the time Xbox came out, so never got familiar with the XYAB buttons. I have a DS4 controller but the DS4 is so uncomfortable compared to the Xbox One controller. I wish there was a controller with Xbox layout but PS4 D-pad and polling rate.
 
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I use PS4 button prompts for games since I grew up playing a lot of PlayStation in my teen years and was a full PC gamer by the time Xbox came out, so never got familiar with the XYAB buttons. I have a DS4 controller but the DS4 is so uncomfortable compared to the Xbox One controller. I wish there was a controller with Xbox layout but PS4 D-pad and polling rate.

I've seen a handful of these in the budget/knock off category but they all had problems and low general quality . However, I am aware of one on the very high end - the SCUF Vantage. https://scufgaming.com/ and https://scufgaming.com/vantage . These guys have apparently made custom controllers for a long, long time and both aesthetically and in terms of hardware mod them. Prior to the arrival of the Xbox One Elite controller, they and a few others were part of the small community where people could get controller mods like extra paddles/triggers.

Most of their controllers are actually built on OEM hardware (ie they take a DS4 or XBOne wireless controller apart and mod in the features), but the Vantage is a full custom design being a PS4 controller but with the Xbox style form and thumbstick layout, replaceable thumbsticks/dpad, extra buttons/paddles, and more. It seems to have some other neat features as well and I've been keeping my eye on it for awhile as a possible alternative to my Xbox One Elite controller. The only major issue of concern is that at the moment there's no official PC support (last I checked). It seems to be on the way in a later firmware update given the FAQ's "When will PC be ready? We don't know keep watching our social media for announcements" thing. Perhaps this has something to do with it being a fully custom from the ground up unit, and/or the fact it is officially Sony licensed... but I am wondering why it would be so difficult to support XInput by default. Now, it seems possible to use on PC somehow given Scuf recently tweeted about someone playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (likely on the Cemu or Yuzu emulators), so perhaps it works using standard DS4 Windows or similar drivers. However, especially given the high price of an Elite-tier controller like this, I'd like to see official PC support for all controller features. I'll take another look into this given its been awhile since I've done so.

So if you wanted a PS4 style controller with XboxOne layout and a whole lot more, the Vantage is certainly one option.
 
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