Customer Reviews

Microsoft SideWinder Game Pad USB

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Many people don't like Microsoft, and there are many reasons why, but sometimes they put out a good product that makes people feel more positive about them. The Sidewinder is one of them. I needed a good controller for Grand Theft Auto 3 because playing on the keyboard was taking all the fun out of it.

After comparison shopping at local electronics stores, I found that the Sidewinder was one of the best controllers around for these reasons:
- Sturdy and solid. Won't break when you twist it and turn it.
- Very comfortable to hold because of its rounded design and light weight.
- Easy to setup. As soon as I plugged the USB into my computer, Windows automatically recognized it without any problems or need to install any drivers.
- Many games support it right off the bat. The "joystick" option appeared in all of the games that I have on the PC - GTA3, Wolfenstein, IL-2 Shturmovik, etc.
- The buttons are well placed and easy to differentiate, you won't confuse "shoot" with "jump" while playing.

I've been using it for over 6 months now, it hasn't broken, cracked or malfunctioned yet, despite all the abuse and spilled drinks I've put it trough. For the price, I think it can't be beaten.

The Sidewinder USB is comfortable, programmable, and, most importantly, it has the feel and control you need to make gaming fun. I returned the Gravis Gamepad Pro USB because of its shoddy control and calibration and exchanged it for the Microsoft Sidewinder, which has been nothing but smooth.
Its plug-and-play USB connection makes installation a no-brainer. Plug in and you're ready, which most controllers can't do nearly as well. The buttons are solid, construction is thorough, and the D-pad is accurate.

Skip the bull, and go with what works....the Sidewinder.

This pad has a nice feel and molds to your hands. However, the button action is a bit stiff for my taste, and the D-pad is circular instead of cross-shaped. This design causes a lot of unwanted ducking and jumping because it is hard to press the D-pad in such a way that it only registers one direction at a time.

So overall, play control suffers a bit because you have to be more vigilant about which direction you are pressing (as opposed to cross-shaped D-pad designs), but the comfort is very good.

I've noticed that other 2D-fighter fans have already complained that this controller provides very poor control, but they may have misdiagnosed the cause.

The buttons on the right side are not placed straight, they are on a 45 degree or so angle because your thumb also point in a similar angle when holding the controller. This makes your thumb relatively perpendicular with the buttons. Good design. The problem is that they forgot to do that on the other side with the D-pad. The D-pad is positioned straight up, not slanted like the face buttons. This renders the D-pad utterly useless in game which require you to use the D-pad quickly in a specific sequence, such as in fighting games. The result is that the Up-right groove feels like it should be the Up button, and the Left-Down groove feels like it should be the Down button. The thing that baffles me even more is that the cheaper Sidewinder with fewer buttons has the D-pad aligned correctly and works great. Go figure.

No matter how I try I cannot get my thumb to align properly and confortably with the D-pad.

one of the easiest controller to configure. the direction pad is a little stiff if ya like to play sports games.but for the avg user this controller is just right.lightweight and the trigger buttons in a place where you can get your fingers too without a hassle.i would rate this 5 stars but it only has two trigger buttons (i would sooner have 4 triggers and four regular buttons).

This is a really great gamepad, for all the reasons mentioned in the other reviews. What I like best about it is how comfortable it is to hold. No other PC gamepad that I've tried has compared. It's a joy to play with.

What I'd like to comment on is its strange history. It was originally released with a gameport plug (which is what I have)and with the ability to daisy chain them together. Then they were taken off the market, much to the chagrin of many. Then the USB version was released (exactly the same only USB and no daisy-chain possibility), but now once again it seems to have been taken off the market, as it is extremely difficult to find it anywhere (for some help with this, go directly to Microsoft). It was available the end of November '03, but it disappeared sometime in December. It confuses me as to why Microsoft would take a great (and seemingly well-liked) controller off the market... again.

The major selling points:

1. There are lots of buttons, but they are all well-placed, so I rarely hit the wrong one.

2. Even if you have small hands, you can still comfortably use it, meaning it's fine for young adults, women and men. It's also easy to hold and not heavy, yet sturdy.

3. It truly is plug and play: no drivers needed when I loaded it onto a Win98SE, so I assume anything after that will be the same.

4. The price is definitely reasonable.

Don't be scared away just because it's Microsoft. It works and it works well. However, I don't suggest you try to use it with a USB hub. I've heard of it having some problems with those. If you stick with a traditional USB slot that plugs right into the board, you'll be fine.

This is a safe buy.

I will admit I have a penchant for the games of the 80's and 90's. When I don't feel like pulling the system out, this is what i use to play on my computer. The upsides
1) Shoulder buttons so SNES friendly
2) "abc" buttons for easy Sega systems
3) instantly recognized in every windows I have used from 98, Me, xp, 2000, vista, 7
4) At least in their heyday, not expensive
5) durable as can be, no sticking or broken buttons ever in over 10 years of ownership

Downsides

1) Simple, not enough buttons for modern systems with double shoulders, etc
2) not evenly sized abc / xyz buttons (abc are bigger)
3) not for me, but you probably need a decent hand / thumb size to operate.

This controller works perfectly to my experience. The drivers for it are already on most computers going back to windows 98, so you literally can just plug-in and play! This conroller is shaped-well with very well-placed triggers. The button layout is a bit large but one can get used to it; for 2-D games I cannot imagine a better controller.

This is about the most perfect pad out there in my book. Reason being is that it is the most simplistic in it's layout. Most SNES, N64, and Genesis emulators, or any advanced game for that matter uses more than four buttons and on this pad, they are so easy to remember and configure for game play. Just watch out when Using Windows XP with any USB supported game pads(usually depends on the motherboard)because the OS sometimes looses the drivers for them and good luck getting them back.