If you want a 360 pad that won't ghost....

[DaytonaUSA]

360 pads have a serious problem. Whether they're licensed or third party (and sadly it's MUCH worse with third party controllers), 360 pads have a horrible tendency to ghost joysticks. Meaning, the joysticks will start to list lazily in one direction on their own without being pressed. If it hasn't happened to you, consider yourself lucky. Xbox controllers since the S pad have had this issue, and it seems 3rd party pads are no better. Especially Mad Catz ones..... ugh... even worse.

 

It varies for users. Some need 3 years for it to start occurring, some a week (no kidding). If you don't believe me, do a search on google. It's an issue, to put it mildly.

 

I recently got an import (Japanese) Xbox 360 without a controller, and was looking for a pad to play the games with. Let me tell you, it took forever to find one without joystick issues. And after looking for several days, I've only seemed to find one that doesn't have this problem, and it's rather hard to find.

 

 

Meet the Horipad EX 2 Turbo. If that name doesn't sound like it came straight out of the 90s, I don't know what does....

 

So it seems like this awesome pad is your new controller. But be warned, it's not all fun in the sun. Released in early 2009, this controller had issues with ghosting joysticks as well... super! -_- You see, when Hori got complaints of this problem, unlike Microsoft and every third party company under the sun, Hori actually FIXED the issue! WOW, it's like someone cares about their reputation...

 

If you buy one, try to find a new one so you can look at the box. On the back where the barcode is, look for a batch number 110601 or above. If it's past that, it was made in Sept 2009 or later. Any pad made then was fixed, and not a one has had issues with ghosting joysticks since. Awesome.

 

Amazon demands over 200 bucks for a used pad. That's just how desperate people like me are to get a controller that doesn't glitch out every 10 seconds. But rest assured, you can (if you're lucky) find ones much cheaper on eBay. They're rare though, so look out. There's one on eBay right now, but after talking to the owner, it's an early 2009 build. YUCK. I'll pass.

 

I got the only other one on eBay as of the time of this writing. It was brand new, from Japan, and was made in 2011. The last year they made the controller.

 

Oh I didn't say it's out of production? Yeah.. it is. Good luck though AA readers, I hope I helped. Seriously, it's kinda sad that only one pad out there exists that I'll never have to worry about ghosting joysticks on my 360. But hey, I only need one that works. Happy gaming everyone.

Edited January 10, 2014 by DaytonaUSA

[Bilnick]

I have not had this issue with any of my controllers for any system. I have many controllers for the 360 especially. I guess I am lucky.

[DaytonaUSA]

You are, for the 360. Pretty serious design flaw.

[Atariboy]

Never had this happen to any of mine. I do notice it ever so slightly once in a great while on a game or two on my Controller S for the original. But I spin it in a circular motion and it always has seemed to instantly cure it.

 

I think most games have a large enough of a dead zone where this never enters the equation.

[DaytonaUSA]

Never had this happen to any of mine. I do notice it ever so slightly once in a great while on a game or two on my Controller S for the original. But I spin it in a circular motion and it always has seemed to instantly cure it.

 

I think most games have a large enough of a dead zone where this never enters the equation.

 

Depends what games you play. It won't happen in fighting games, but you'll definitely see it in games like Batman, CoD, or Gears of War. Had an original white pad creep with the left stick. I could play games like Beautiful Katamari no problem, but most other games it would creep all the time. My C-3PO controller did this in the first week (which ticked me off majorly) and the right stick was flawed badly. I could play racing games, anything that didn't require a right stick. And every S controller I've owned either did this eventually, or did it as soon as I brought it home (meaning it was already broken). The ONLY , and I mean the ONLY Xbox controller I've ever seen that didn't do this (other than the above mentioned Horipad) is the original Duke Xbox controller. In fact, back in the original Xbox days, all me and my roomates would play was SW BF II. We could never figure out what was wrong with our S style controllers, but as soon as we tried out Duke ones, we never saw an issue. I have my Duke style pad still to this day without problems.

 

It's why I've tried so desperately in the past to find a converter that would allow me to use it on a 360. It's ok, the Horipad will do.

 

Seriously though, check out "ghosting joysticks" or "creeping joysticks" for 360 on google. People's pads are really starting to fail at this point. Worst ones I've had are Mad Catz 360 pads. Not only do they generally die VERY quickly, but unlike Microsoft pads which barely every so noticeably creep, they move the joystick like it's half pressed to the side, literally making any game unplayable.

[moycon]

I've had and used 360 sticks since 2006. Probably about 6 pads for any one of 8 units over the years. Haven't had much of an issue with them. Although of the issues I had the lazy joystick was one.

It's a Wired Tron joystick and I bought it used a couple years ago. It pretty much showed signs of a "lazy joystick" right away.

I assumed the a-hole that sold it to me probably knew the flaw and wanted to get rid of it. I've always planned on taking it apart and seeing if I could fix it.

Other than that, no real problems, (one time I did need to take a pad apart and clean it due to sticking trigger, I think I decided to stop eating while playing after that!) and I've used a couple of the sticks till I completely wore the raised dots off the thumb pads, they are well used, obviously some more than others.

Maybe it depends on how the user plays with his stick as to whether or not it gets "lazy".

[PFL]

This issue is the very reason I gave up using 360 controllers on my PC. It happened with both of my white controllers, my black one and finally with my limited silver one with the adjustable d pad (I foolishly bought the last one thinking they must've fixed the issue after addressing their shocking d pad). Perhaps the issue is more noticeable on PC? Regardles, I now use a Logitech controller and never had the issue once.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Hori pad. I'll keep an eye open on eBay.

[JamesD]

I know exactly what the original poster is talking about. Out of the blue it's as if you are pushing the stick even if you aren't even touching it.

Having it happen while you are hiding behind something in a death match... SON OF A *#@^@!

A twitch of the stick usually fixes the issue but that's kinda tough to do when you are working Laura Croft through a gnarly puzzle.

 

In my experience it happens maybe once a gaming session. While it would be nice to have a controller that doesn't do it, it's definitely not worth paying a premium for to me.

[cimerians]

I had this problem too on my PC with an older white wireless 360 controller but I got another newer one after a while. Sometimes it would move my guy without me doing anything. It happened in more than one game so I knew it wasnt a bug in a game.

 

I didnt really have a problem with any of the other controllers.

[DaytonaUSA]

This issue is the very reason I gave up using 360 controllers on my PC. It happened with both of my white controllers, my black one and finally with my limited silver one with the adjustable d pad (I foolishly bought the last one thinking they must've fixed the issue after addressing their shocking d pad). Perhaps the issue is more noticeable on PC? Regardles, I now use a Logitech controller and never had the issue once.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Hori pad. I'll keep an eye open on eBay.

 

Yeah, it's weird. It's the reason why I went back to Xbox with the Slim, because the R2D2 unit came with the new metallic painted raised dpad controller. And that one failed on me after only a couple weeks! Was seriously angry with that one. But yeah, both my S controllers and my original white 360 pad... all did it eventually. Although, to be fair, those joysticks started drifting after many, many, many months of use. Typically, third party joysticks are even worse than Microsoft ones. Like I said, I had a Mad Catz one that started to drift as if I was pushing on the joystick all the way (ie: completely unplayable) on the first day of ownership!

 

At least one company bothered to fix the damned thing. I am curious though if Microsoft fixed the issue at the very least with the Xbox One controller. I WONT buy one until I know that issue has been addressed, and with the billions they blew on designing the damned thing, you'd think they would have.

[moycon]

I am curious though if Microsoft fixed the issue at the very least with the Xbox One controller. I WONT buy one until I know that issue has been addressed, and with the billions they blew on designing the damned thing, you'd think they would have.

I have an Xbox One controller, but as I mentioned, never had an issue with the many 360 controllers I have that you described. If the issue is caused by the player, it's possible I could never have an issue, where as you would have one in a few months. I seriously don't think it's a design flaw. There has to be like 50 million+ Xbox 360 controllers out there. The hand full of threads about the issue just don't support a design flaw. I did do a Google search, some of the threads were a couple years old and never had any responses, I'm thinking it's not as wide spread as you're thinking. It's possible some players are just harder on sticks than others. Might also depend on the types of games a person plays. Some games are a lot more stressful than others. I think gamers tend to push harder, while say trying to avoid something they know will kill them as opposed to other games where they can get hit a dozen times and still be alive. Just a thought.

[+wood_jl]

I have had this problem already, and I haven't even been Xbox 360-ing for very long. Of course I hadn't heard of this problem until now, and just assumed I had a bad controller. Darn; likely to re-occur then.

[DaytonaUSA]

Yeah I think it's just luck of the draw. Although I've noticed my controllers went bad soon after having to play games where I click down on them a lot to run, like in fps titles.

[Video]

I've never had the issue with any of my consoles, and to be honest, this is the first time I've ever even heard of it for xbox. It used to be an issue with old analog joystics for computer back in the day (something to do with the controller board heating up or some crap) but i've never run into it on anything modern....

 

...Unless your counting how your crosshair will shift when an enemy walks in front of you, that's an auto aim issue, not a controller issue, and I turn auto aim off in any game that allows me, because it bugs me to no end. Sadly, a lot of games don't offer the option to turn auto aim off, the few that do I am SO much better at than the ones that don't.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Video

[DaytonaUSA]

No. It's not auto aim issue trust me. It's like someone moves the joystick or you. You can not even be touching it and it'll either move your character or camera, depending on which joystick is acting up.

[Hydro Thunder]

I have only ever had 2 Xbox 360 controllers, my first one never had that problem but after many years the triggers started to fail.

So I bought a brand new Microsoft controller, have had it a few months, and it just started to ghost. It's really, really annoying. I'm glad I read this thread to know it's not an isolated problem... but otoh I don't want to spend $200 on the Horipad. :S

Grrrrr.

[JamesD]

I have only ever had 2 Xbox 360 controllers, my first one never had that problem but after many years the triggers started to fail.

So I bought a brand new Microsoft controller, have had it a few months, and it just started to ghost. It's really, really annoying. I'm glad I read this thread to know it's not an isolated problem... but otoh I don't want to spend $200 on the Horipad. :S

Grrrrr.

There's no guarantee a Horipad won't develop the same issue in time either.

[DaytonaUSA]

There's no guarantee a Horipad won't develop the same issue in time either.

 

To be fair, I never suggested anyone to pay $200 for the Hori pad. You can find them on ebay in the 50 dollar range every once in a while, you just have to patient.

 

As for no guarantee the Hori pad won't, while "technically" true, not one person has complained of the issue after they updated the design in Sept 2009. And Hori has sworn up and down that the issue has been perminately fixed. In comparison, like most other 360 controllers, prior to Sept 2009 there were tons of negative reviews about ghosting sticks.

 

There are even a few people who have updated their review every few months since 2009 to let people know they've still held up.

 

Like I said before, don't be nuts and pay full "worth" price. But if you see one on eBay, snatch it up instead of a standard or typical 3rd party pad.