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Kensington 42111 Gamepad Pro (USB)

Kensington 42111 Gamepad Pro (USB)

List Price: $24.99
Your Price: $19.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Decent controller except for the d-pad
Review: After getting tired of using the keyboard for playing games, I picked up this gamepad thinking that it may help. I was wrong. After a hour or so of playing and getting more and more frustrated, I finally tossed the controller to the back of my desk.

The Gravis Gamepad is roughly the same size and shape of the Sony Playstation controller, a design that sits well in your hands. It has four face buttons and another four shoulder buttons, plus the usual start and select buttons. The directional pad though is very different. The d-pad seems to misread where you are actually moving it, instead of moving straight up, it will read it as a diagonal direction.

Pros:

Similar in size and layout to the Sony Playstation controller.
USB interface

Cons:

The directional pad is possibly the worst that I have ever used.
Feels a bit flimsy

This gamepad is not too bad if you can overlook the directional pad's flaws. But you might be better off spending your money elsewhere.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: start to ?
Review: At first, this gamepad was pretty good. The USB connection was too easy. If your a hardcore gamer, skip it, because after some ware, it shows it's true colors. The buttons started malfunctioning within about 4 weeks of use.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Product
Review: Before I commend Gravis, I must thank sony for making such a great playstation controller. And thank you gravis for making the same controller for the pc. Although the controller is small, it fits perfectly in my hand. The is an 8 Axis control pad on the left, select and start buttons in the middle and 4 buttons on the right. At the top there are 4 more button. Another great thing about the controller is that the buttons are not mushy. You can press the easily not like the real playstation controller. The manual has instructions and troubleshooting techniques for installing in different languages. The keyset program, Xperience is bundled on the CD with documentation for that software on the CD. Although a little tricky to program, the keyset software works great. So if you have a playstation or you play alot of playstation games and you need a pad for the PC, this is definitaly for you. For everyone else, its a great cost effective pad. Also, some games like Fifa 2000 would us the same button setup like on the playstation if you use this pad.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: you get what you pay for...
Review: i bought this item at best buy ($12) for use with my NES emulator on my laptop. on the plus side, winXP recognizes this thing right away and you're good to go. however, like a lot of other users, i found the D pad to be a problem. i screwed in the "joystick" thingie and didn't find it made any difference. when i would hold it up or down, it would move in different (diagonal) directions. there were certain moves/functions i could not do in my NES games because of this. so yeah, it's usuable, if you don't need to hold it up or down for more than 1/2 a second. not bad for the price, but if you want full functionality, spend a few more bucks and get something better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Nice
Review: I got this find it very nice, it's easy to use and it was a breeze to install- just plugged it in. I play alot of action type game and sports games and find it perfect and the controller is smaller and fits great in the hand.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great, but the Sidewinder is better
Review: I just bought this gamepad today from Compusa because I got a new computer that had no game port, so I need a pad that had a USB hook up. This caused me to give up my microsoft sidewinder, which I use on all of my games except for those that I can't use it on. The gamepad works great, but there is only one flaw, and that is that the d-pad hits the corners sometimes when you don't want it to. All in all, the great amount of buttons and the good design make this pad great, especially for games like half life and Quake 2.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's response is better than earlier models, but not perfect
Review: I noticed that I didn't get as quick a response from this controller as I get from a Playstation controller. This often has to do with the type of connection you have with your disk drive, but I wish it could just be a little more sturdy with its response. I play NHL 2001 with this controller, and often I need to make a move in order to get around a defender, but with this controller I move a little too late and end up flat on my face taking an ice bath. It feels a little bit cheap in your hand, but it is very sturdy, and I would know because I am a tosser, a gamer with a short temper. Buy this if you want a no-nonsense controller that is easy to set up, just don't expect as perfect a response as a gaming console controller.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The diagonal D pad strikes again!
Review: I originally bought this gamepad because it's basically a clone of a playstation controller, and I had an old Gravis 4 button gamepad from 1995 that suited me well and I hope its quality would carry over to this product. Simply put the directional control on the gamepad pro is not very consistant and gamer friendly. This might be a great game pad if you must make lots of diagonal moves like if your playing Q*Bert, but if your game depends on many crisply executed non-diagonal moves, like the NES game the Legend of Zelda, forget about this pad! The pad has a hair trigger when it comes to diagonals.

This is the second crappy pc joystick a purchased. Come on PC Peripheral makers, start making better joysticks!! The console manufacturers do far better in quality, precision and durability when it comes to their controls. The reason being, if the controls that come with the system are lousy people will instantly hate that system.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: With the New Xperience Software this Controller Rocks!
Review: I own two of these now, and I must say that its a decent controller. The new software on gravis.com has support for Keyboard emulation so you can use these things for ANY game.

The USB set-up is very easy to use, and the controllers have lasted me long over a year.

As a laptop user I was thrilled with USB gamepads after having a 3 year drought, and trying the tepid Gravis Stinger.

Buy this one! Its one of Gravis' Finest!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Thumb Buster Pro!
Review: I really like the PlayStation style of the Gravis GamePad Pro controller...but damn, my thumb gets thrashed using this pad. That little screw hole in the middle of the direction pad is a killer. I can't use this controller very long without getting a blister from that little metal screw hole. I tried filling it in with wax or tape, but then it doesn't feel right. I'd never screw in the joystick controller, so that screw hole isn't necessary. I'm giving up on this cheap game pad, and getting a Logitech or Microsoft pad instead. Ouch!


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