PBTails Metal Crush Defender Review: Stick Drift, Begone

I’ve utilized a lot of gaming controllers implicit the years. From the archetypal PlayStation to the latest Xbox, I’ve apt utilized each mainstream console's controller astatine slightest once. What has been true, until recently, was that the authoritative controller was going to beryllium the best. They would bushed retired the third-party options successful ergonomics, responsiveness, connectivity, and artillery beingness astir of the time.

However, this has dilatory shifted implicit the years: First-party controllers person started to person much issues, portion the manufacturing prime of third-party controllers has improved to beryllium astir connected par with the likes of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

Taking this into consideration, the PB Tails Metal Crush Defender gaming controller is simply a truly absorbing concept. It's a singular, high-quality controller that works crossed aggregate devices and avoids the problems that plague first-party controllers today. But portion the conception is great, it needs a spot much polish to beryllium a genuine competitor.

The Stick-Drift Problem

The largest contented astir radical conflict with connected their controllers (including me) is instrumentality drift. Seemingly ubiquitous crossed Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo controllers, this contented comes from analog joysticks dilatory becoming little close implicit time, to the constituent wherever they yet commencement to perpetually observe flimsy directional inputs adjacent erstwhile sitting untouched.

There are rather a fewer theories arsenic to what causes this, with the astir fashionable attributing the drift to smaller (and frankincense much fragile) joysticks, cheaper components, and chopped corners, oregon tighter manufacturing tolerances to trim the “dead zone” astatine the halfway of the controller.

Regardless, the contented became ample capable for Nintendo to face a class-action suit implicit it. The occupation seemingly isn’t prevalent (or much realistically, profitable) capable for immoderate first-party manufacturers to commencement utilizing joysticks that don’t drift. Instead, astir gamers judge they’ll person to bargain a caller controller erstwhile theirs starts to drift, look for DIY repairs, oregon crook toward the aftermarket for controllers that don’t person this issue.

The Hall Effect Solution

A reasonably communal solution is to acceptable your Switch’s Joy-Con controllers with Hall Effect joysticks that tin destruct instrumentality drift. But installing thing similar this is reasonably method and analyzable for the mean person, and it voids the warranty, truthful it’s not a large solution.

Enter PB Tails. The company's controllers usage Hall Effect switches (you tin work much astir the exertion successful this explainer), which it claims are resistant to processing drift implicit time. Its newest model, the Metal Crush Defender, takes it a measurement further. This controller uses Tunneling Magneto-Resistance (TMR) joysticks, which are theoretically much responsive, accurate, and durable than emblematic Hall Effect joysticks. Adding to this, the controller has multidevice support. It's compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Raspberry Pi, and the Switch natively and wirelessly. The lone missing platforms are Xbox and PlayStation.