Based on the description on their site, the controller includes a built-in battery: "8.39 Wh Li-ion battery, 35+ hours of gameplay… "
That was disappointing for me. Specially condidering the Steam Frame’s controllers make use of AA batteries: “One replaceable AA battery per controller, 40hr battery life”
AA Batteries might not be as convenient to use, but being able to replace them is a great advantage. All my Xbox360 controllers still work fine, but none of my PS3’ Dualshock 3s.
The official docking station could be used to recharge (rechargables) AA batteries so the functionality could remain the same.
I’m alright with this as long as the controller is easy to repair, which Valve has been pretty good about with the Steam Deck.
If swapping batteries is a flash 5-10 minute process I have to do every 5 or so years, and the batteries are widely available and reasonably priced, that’s a win in my book.
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I like the idea of AA because if the controller dies mid-session you can just swap them and keep playing, on the other this is easily solvable by having a dock like the 8BitDo Ultimate, which makes it so that the controller is always fully charged when you pick it up, so the only advantage that the AA had disappears, and it’s even more comfortable to have the controller always charged than having to get up in the middle of the play session to find new batteries. And the Steam controller has a charging puck, so it should never have the issue where AA are better. So my feeling that it would be better is not justified.
The other supposed advantage is longevity, since all batteries eventually die off, if it’s an external battery you just buy new ones and are done. Being internal makes it more of a hassle. But Valve has been very open with the repaiedness of their devices, so I expect this to not be a big issue, as long as the batteries are still being manufactured by the time the one in the controller dies off (which should take a lot more time to happen than regular AA).
Literally every wireless controller I have ever owned that used rechargable batteries could be plugged in while I was using it if it started to die. I would bet that 99% of wireless controller users have a power outlet at least somewhere near where they sit to game.
I’ve got the old one that takes AA and can be plugged in.
In a world where every household has rechargeable AA batteries, absolutely - but until and unless we successfully regulate away disposable batteries this solution (internal battery, easy to replace thanks to Right to Repair) will likely remain the most realistic, environmentally friendly one.
Before you start establishing a working group to assess the impact of creating a commitee to judge the effect of switching to replacable cells, what if…
What if the companies just packed a few universal rechargable cells with their product? I meam the charging circuit is already a part of the design.
I like how 8bitdo did it.
They gave you a rechargable battery pack that could optionally be replaced with AA batteries.
Best of both worlds.
that’s honestly the best move, even if it is more expensive it’s totally worth it.
Hell, these corporations could even make more money selling you additional packs you could swap if you didn’t want to use rechargeable AAs. It needs to be the standard, it would keep so many controllers out of landfills when their batteries go bad. Microsoft kind of does this with the standard Xbox controllers, but in typical Microsoft fashion they make your first rechargeable pack a separate purchase. I’d still way rather have that than the built in batteries though.
I have a headtorch like this. Keep it charged and most of the time everything is good. But that one time when I’m out skiing at night and shit goes wrong / I run out of charge it’s OK because I have a couple of AA’s in my bag as spares.
I think it is way more inconvenient when you pick up a dead controller and fiddle around with long cables then taking the minuit to swap out AAs. Recharchable AAs are so much more convenient and as you said ensure the controller’s longevity. I am still rocking the original steam controller.
I disagree so much. I never want another AA device.
The idea of using disposable AA batteries seems nice… Until the day you go to open the compartment and find they’ve leaked and corroded the contacts (or worse) in the controller. Regular lithium are ok, they do last a good long while, but not exactly the most eco-conscious choice either. Rechargeable AA take forever to recharge. Like seriously, we are talking all night for the higher capacity ones.
I’m not sure what kind of black magic they employ, but I can charge three sets of 4 enloop pros in a day with the official charger, more if they weren’t completely dead. I’d been using an older charger before and it would take 10+ hours for a single set with that thing.
Even cheap Ladda from IKEA recharge in mere hours now.
Same!
No, what we need are lithium batteries in the form factors and power outputs of traditional batteries.
Those exist, but they’re really expensive and not very good. Lithium needs circuitry to get down to the 1.5V of a nickel battery, but that circuitry takes up a good chunk of the available space in an AA.
Li-ion is fine but it should’ve been removable. The wireless Xbox controller was great how it let you swap the pack and keep going.
This is a strange argument to me. I just don’t get it.
So. You have the controller, advertised 35+h life on a single charge.
Unless you’re some sort of gaming machine, even a no-lifer sleeps.
We’ll do a crazy minimum, you sleep 4h a day. that’s 20h for gaming. You plug it in when you sleep, a time when no one will be using it and it can be “tethered”.
if it’s a straight line (it’s probably not) 20h/35h gets you down to 42% battery.
Even 2-3 years later, battery should be between 70-80% capacity. If the minimum after a full day of usage, from charged, is 42% from the 35h estimate, in your worn 70% capacity battery you’ve still got more than 15% spare between days, after accounting for years of degradation.
And then, after using it for 3 years, you might have to contemplate using the hated screwdriver and replacing the battery. And this is only if you’ve been no-life wrecking this controller for that long. It’ll be much better from “regular” gaming usage.
I think this just comes down to undisciplined people, who can’t manage to plug their stuff in routinely. I really can’t see any other logical reason to feel this way.
And even then, for the people who can’t do charging regularly, and don’t want to worry about being tethered to a charger/their machines, a $10 power bank from a gas station fixes this issue. I charge my controller from a phone charger, already next to me, whenever it needs it. No one says that you have to explicitly plug it in to whatever you’re playing on.
Personally, I think even giving the option of using disposable batteries is irresponsible on the designer’s end. Everyone talks about rechargeables, but there’s still going to be a percentage of people who just use disposables.
This does make more sense for the frame controllers, as when they die, there’s no good/safe way you can still use them, and have them plugged in. even with a power bank the cables are, at best, ungainly, and at worst, an active safety hazard, as you swing them around you while not being able to see them. I’ve tried using index controllers wired to a power bank I was carrying, and it wasn’t good.
This is a strange argument to me. I just don’t get it.
We have a universal, standardized, cheap power cell. To this day you can use the same type of power cell in any low power device since it was standardized, going all the way back to things made in 1947. We then made it reusable for hundreds or even thousands of uses a piece, and they still only cost a few bucks.
We then replaced it with millions of different single-purpose batteries that are only compatible with one thing each.
People keep trying to gaslight me into thinking this is somehow better.
but there’s still going to be a percentage of people who just use disposables.
Make them illegal, and I’m not kidding.
No one says that you have to explicitly plug it in to whatever you’re playing on.
You do if you want it to connect to the thing you’re playing on.
Unless you’re ok with a shitty Bluetooth connection. But I’m guessing few people comparatively are using that, at least as their primary use case.
You can’t tell me playing with a Bluetooth controller doesn’t actually hurt you. The constant latency is excruciating.
Then again, I use it for mostly real time- based games.
If you’re playing something like Balatro it probably doesn’t matter. But for almost everything else it sure does.
I use Bluetooth on TrackMania with no issues, and that’s a pretty fast game. Top 500 in the country for this week’s shorts as well so it’s clearly not my limiting factor.
Maybe for a twitch shooter it’d be an issue but that’s kbm anyway
So… is it an obsession to want to be at least <100? Asking for myself. Send help :D
I get consistently better results on steamdeck vs PC due to lower controller latency.
I haven’t tested my controller but I’m pretty sure it’s under 100.
If you want to remove most latency I think the best option is still wired, just get a long cord that reaches easily.
For one, as far as I know that’s a single player game. Anyone with other players around means constant slight readjustments, and having everything you do held back (even if only a tenth of a second- I don’t know the actual number, that’s a ballpark guesstimate) really adds up.
For almost every game it doesn’t matter a whole lot. But when it does, it really matters. Bluetooth headphones pad the audio a smidge too, to the point of rather play without sound instead of late audio. It causes constant sending guessing, and if you’re using both your leaky playing in a game state that’s already past (although when online you always are anyway but cutting as much out as possible is miles better).
Trackmania requires the same precision as other racing games (I also used controller for Forza horizon and motorsport).
Bluetooth audio is a different issue, where my bt speaker adds like 400ms which… is not suitable for anything where accurate sound matters. Even my bt headset that is meant to be good is uhh… flawed. But noise is far more obvious than a controller being a tiny bit out.
My controller I can’t tell the difference.
A couple of things, first no, I don’t feel the latency of a Bluetooth controller. But also the steam controller will be able to pair to multiple devices, in one of the interviews one of the engineers said “The steam Machine has its own antena, but each controller comes with its own puck, we expect the common use case to be to plug that to your PC and use the steam controller in both devices”
I have to say, this situation has improved enough that I’ve had no problem using BT controller connection.
We’re talking about games like Elden Ring, Enter the Gungeon, MGS:Snake Eater Delta… and reaction time definitely matters for those games. One controller even came with a 2.4ghz 1000hz dongle, and it seems the new controller will probably have an option like that if the GabeGear has the hardware built into it: “Steam Controller’s wireless adapter is built right into Steam Machine for direct pairing.”
I realize that. But that’s just for that machine, but I’m speaking for arbitrary devices.
The protocol hasn’t gotten faster in the last few years that I know of.
I’ve used several with different devices, but most of my direct comparison experience is with an Xbox series X controller paired to the Deck via BT and by dongle, and it’s very noticeably more laggy with Bluetooth. I’ve only occasionally tried others, but every Bluetooth-connected controller I’ve ever used definitely has a noticeable delay.
But the controller comes with the high speed wireless puck. That puck works on anything. I don’t see the problem.
My point (the part I quoted in my original reply) was that you would need the puck plugged into the device you’re playing on, assuming you don’t want to deal with the delay.
So if that’s not a problem for you, then that doesn’t apply, but I assume most people will want the fast connection.
The overwhelming shortsightedness of thinking highly polluting AA or AAA batteries are a better choice over a LiON solution pack because one needs to unscrew a couple of screws to replace it is completely unreasonable. AA or AAA are a stupid ask for a controller, it’s unnecessary waste.
The overwhelming ignorance of rechargeable NiMH AA batteries is completely unreasonable. It’s so nice when my Xbox One controllers die to just simply swap batteries, and throw the existing batteries on the charger. That said, you’re not alone with that ignorance, those massive packs of single use AAs at Costco must sell to someone.
Heck, the Xbox One and newer controllers have replaceable battery packs that charge using the controller’s USB port. You don’t even have to swap them. All the advantages of a built-in battery, but when they crap out, it’s like $15 and 30 seconds of work to replace them.
Or they could have included them with the controller at-cost instead of making us pay $15 to $30 (the official battery packs are $30) PER CONTROLLER - many of us have more than one.
Considering the price difference between an Xbox Series controller ($40 on frequent sales) and a DualSense (rarely below $70), maybe they did.
Classy, tfw when people who don’t understand energy density and recharge cycle count, pitch in. Moar stuff, moar polution. Don’t know how to lower the bar further on the point.
edit: love the US defaultism, I guess I shouldn’t expect much…
We’re talking about a controller here, not a smartphone. Rechargeable AAs are more than capable enough for these kind of devices. Not everything needs to have the energy density that Li-ion batteries provide.
Huh? Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries and chargers are highly affordable and work great. I only have a few items where I don’t use them like smoke alarms. For everything else I use rechargable and absolutely love having devices with easily swappable batteries.
Yeah but most people don’t buy them. If you release a product that uses aa batteries most people are going to buy disposable ones and most of them will not dispose of them properly and just throw them in the trash. Some people using rechargeable AA batteries is nice but it’s better to just remove the option for disposable batteries and make it with a builtin rechargeable battery.
Also, if they made it so you could swap lithium packs that would be a better option than AA batteries.
Agree wholeheartedly.
The new Steam controler reminds me of this!
Ah yes, the Microsoft Dreamcast controller.
😂😂😂
I was disappointed too. I have a handful of eneloops I use with my Steam Controllers, that last me a few months each charge.
For my partners Switch, we have 3 wireless controllers with rechargeable AAs as well. Meanwhile the Switch Pro Controller is dead as shit.
I get it, people want blocks of lithium around their house. But if you’re used to how good eneloops are this is a huge disappointment.
Ikea Laddas are made in the same factory I think, btw
That’s what I heard, but it’s a 2 hour trip for me to get to IKEA.
Disagree. I bought the rechargeable replacement for all my xbox controllers. When those wore out, after years, I just replaced them with another rechargeable. Too Easy. I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Yes but you could easily replace the battery. Going by the description, it sounds like the battery is going to be internal. Now of course video game controllers have been historically easy to open, but it’s not going to be as easy as simply popping out the battery and popping in a new one like the XBOX.
I hear you. I agree requiring the whole back shell being removed to swap the battery is an oversight. Maybe they have a good reason for it, but doubt it. I’m not too worried about it considering, how often I’d have to swap in a new battery. I mean, even my used PS5 controller I bought 3 years ago, the battery works just as well as it did when I bought it. Still sucks compared to a PS4 controller, but that’s a whole other issue. If I’m removing the backshell once every 3-5 years, I’m really not bothered in the least. It’s just not an issue I care about.
ive preferred rechargeable batteries on all my controllers as they last quite a while.
only absolute shit one is the ps5 controller which last a couple hours and has atrocious standby time. i don’t know how it can be so bad.
I absolutely would have preferred to use my existing rechargeable AA collection. I have them in a tray next to a charger on my desk, the charger shows the condition of the battery and swaps are fast, no need for disassembly and risking breaking plastic clips on the shell like happens every time I have opened a ps4 controller to replace not the battery but the charging board.
