The D-pad seems quite good to me and I play things like Silksong at times. Unless you’re a fighting game diehard I doubt it would be an issue.

The joysticks are pretty comparable. The Elite 2’s are a bit thicker in the stem and cap but otherwise they feel very similar. So yeah, very good.

These sound like operating system problems TBH. Especially failure to mount drives.

Just checked and no, they feel about the same. The Steam triggers are just wider, similar to the Deck.

No, the controller is angled a bit so it’s not as square feeling as the Deck. It’s fairly similar to e.g. an Xbox controller in terms of overall shape in the hand.

I wonder if there are quirks using SISR, that makes it behave differently in Steam when it is active.

I’m curious too.

Even more notes:

• I often hate wireless gaming devices (e.g. mice) but this feels flawless. Inputs are very responsive, I’m not noticing any latency with the puck like I always seem to on bluetooth controllers. Yes I use my other controllers wired even if they have wireless.

• I fired up Forza Horizon 4. Driving feels quite good overall. However I don’t enjoy the rumble. Tried it on default (7 db), max (12 db), and low (4 db) so far. [CORRECTION: That’s haptics intensity. I don’t see an adjustment for rumble anywhere]. It feels very pulsey, like the little motors fire in 0.5 second butsts as I drift and powerslide, rather than rumbling continuously. It feels very similar when driving off-road, when those feel distinct on other controllers. It’s honestly kinda distracting. I strongly prefer the Elite 2 rumble (or hell regular Xbox 360) and never once thought those needed any adjustment.

Other notes:

1. I played some Elden Ring. I love that I can map the “target” function to one of the grip buttons instead of pressing in on the joystick (same as I do on deck). I map crouch, jump, and roll to the others so I don’t have to take my thumb off the right stick most of the time.

2. I was worried about the seams on the edges but they’re plenty smooth for me. The screw holes are a little rough but not a problem so far. However I don’t love the overall texture (gets a little slick with sweat) and will likely add a rubberized grip/case just like I did on the Deck.

3. It smells like a new Deck lol

There’s an app called SISR I think that will let you use the controller without Steam (converts to X-input commands I think).

Lizard mode also maps the right trackpad to mouse input, doesn’t it?

Oh, got it. Somebody gave me the tip to preload my Steam wallet, so that made it smooth sailing for me.

Yep Valve opened the sales a couple mins early so I had my order complete already when 10 AM PST rolled over. They seemed pretty reliably available for at least 30 mins after that, at least whenever I refreshed.

I’m not sure what steps are necessary but I have my payment info saved in Steam. It’s not one-click (I still have to review and confirm) but it’s a pretty fast process Edit: I’m in the US if that matters.

Perhaps more importantly I heard someone claim that payment processors (Visa, Mastercard, etc) can slow things down or even bottleneck the checkout as they verify. Supposedly you can get around that by putting funds into your Steam wallet in advance. I really want a controller ASAP and there’s kinda no downside for me (I’ll probably spend the money this year regardless) so I did that.

Maybe this is a good time to finally sell my OG 256 GB LCD Deck.

(I upgraded to 1 TB OLED of course)