I was contacted by a rep from Pojifi to review their NS-2080, which looks to be a wannabe Xbox Elite Controller for the Switch. No idea why this person wanted me in particular to take a look at it, because I don’t really do this, but here goes.
TL;DR: Don’t buy it unless you just want a cheap Xbox Elite Controller for the Switch. #
Like most of you I bet, I’d never heard of Pojifi before they reached out to me and asked for this review. They sent me the product and I made no promises about skewing my bias in their favor for this, so despite me getting a free controller out of it, I’ll be brutally honest here.
The NS-2080 is an “original,” patented product by Pojifi. I put “original” in quotes because there’s something fishy going on in the firmware which I’ll get to later. It features all the standard things you might expect out of a third-party controller, plus a few more: turbo buttons, 2 *detachable* back paddles which can be bound to any other button on the controller or to programmable macros, 3 levels of vibration settings (low/med/high), interchangable thumbsticks (supposedly 3 sets but I’ll expound on this), adjustable thumbstick spring tightness (never seen this before, personally), and a carrying case.
The dealbreaker #
I’m gonna start with the very very bad news. The joysticks are complete trash. Just look at this circularity test result from gamepad-tester.com:
An average error score of 21.5% is really terrible. For comparison, here’s an Xbox Series Controller’s circularity test:
Only 7.2%. You can even see the difference in the website; look how much more smoothly the joysticks in the controller diagram in the Xbox video move compared to the NS-2080’s.
While the circularity test doesn’t really affect gameplay too much (in fact, something similar happens with the Gulikit King Kong Pro 2 and 8bitdo Ultimate Bluetooth controllers that use hall-effect joysticks), the eagle-eyed among you might’ve noticed something else weird about the gamepad test. There’s some kind of strange hitching going on in the joysticks as they cross the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). Almost as if the joysticks “stick” to those positions slightly. You’re not going crazy; it really does this.
This stickiness absolutely does affect gameplay. You will see your character, vehicle, camera, whatever it is you’re controlling, stick to the up/down/left/right directions as you attempt fine movements of either joystick. It’s maddening.
Original Product? Or just an original copy? #
I mentioned earlier how there was some weirdness going on with how the controller firmware or hardware ID is detected. That’s because when I connected the Pojifi NS-2080 to my PC with a cable, Steam picked it up as an 8bitdo Pro+ controller.
Yeah, you could rename controllers on Steam’s controller settings page very easily, and I very well could have done that, but 1.) why? and 2.) this isn’t the first time I’m seeing a third-party controller from some random Chinese company using firmware from other brands.
I don’t know how it would present itself to other users. The only reason this caught my attention at all, is because the name that popped up, 8bitdo SN30 Pro+ (X-Input), is my custom name I attributed to my own personal SN30 Pro+ which I sold over a year ago. So, this Pojifi controller for whatever reason was detected as similar enough to my old SN30 Pro+ that Steam thought they were actually the same controllers. Others who might not have ever used an SN30 Pro+ could very well just see a generic Xbox 360 Controller description in Steam when they plug this in.
+1 for included case, -1 for useless mesh netting #
The case is nice, but I feel like this is a design oversight. The mesh pocket should be placed on the other side of the inner top lid, because if you keep the USB cable where it currently sits, you can’t close the case.
Other random nitpicks #
- Only one paddle button can be pressed at a time. Pressing M2 while M1 is being held, or vice versa, ignores the 2nd input.
- The controller randomly disconnects from PC. I’ve not noticed it disconnecting during actual gameplay, but when I open up Steam Input to configure bindings, or go out to the desktop, for some reason despite remaining connected according to Windows Bluetooth manager, the inputs no longer register.
- The on/off switch on the back of the controller doesn’t actually turn on/off the controller, it enables/disables the back paddles.
- The picture on the box suggests there are three complete sets of interchangeable thumbsticks: a short set of 2 sticks, a medium length set of 2 sticks with convex caps as opposed to concave, and a tall set of 2 sticks. Mine only came with the default short sticks already attached on the controller, 2 more short sticks with a wider concave cap, one short stick with convex cap, and one long stick with concave cap.
- The adjustable thumbstick tension spring (again, will touch on this later), while cool, is done in a way that makes it too easy to accidentally unscrew the thumbstick shafts which leaves the caps free-spinning.
- I couldn’t get the included 3.5mm audio jack to output any audio on PC, whether wired or wirelessly.
- No NFC/Amiibo support.
- Updating the firmware was kind of scary. It hung at 95%, for over 10 minutes, so I decided to just turn off the controller and reconnect which is usually a huge no-no in firmware updates. This seemed to fix it though.
The actually good things #
I’m a big supporter of gyro-enabled gaming, so it’s an important feature for me to test and discuss. While one might be quick to assume that the controller will have a gyroscope just because it’s built for the Switch, that’s not always the case. Some third-party Switch controllers, like the PowerA Zelda-themed Switch controller, lack it completely.
What’s more, it seems like perhaps the gyroscope outputs at a higher polling rate than the first-party Nintendo Switch Pro controller: The NS-2080’s gyroscope polls at an average of 350+hz and a max of 525hz.
An average of 350+ hz on devicetests.com/mouse-rate-test is interesting, because my official Switch Pro Controller only manages 120hz max. A higher polling rate means smoother motion controls.
Adjustable thumbstick tension #
This one was legitimately surprising. I’ve never seen this done in a controller before. Screwing the thumbsticks clockwise/counterclockwise will loosen/tighten the tension spring, allowing you to adjust how hard the recentering snapback force is, even disabling it completely.
While I don’t see this being useful in many situations, I think it’ll be an awesome feature for space/flight sims as a throttle axis. Preventing the thumbstick from recentering will allow such games to set an analog stick as a throttle/thruster with absolute as opposed to relative positioning. This lets it function more as a real throttle (as in, the T in HOTAS) with more fine control.
However, there is a caveat: it’s best used fully tightened either way. Unless the thumbstick spring tension is adjusted to be extremely loose or extremely tight, the thumstick shaft/cap (which must be screwed clockwise/anticlockwise) will spin freely while in use. This can be super distracting.
Other random hit-picks #
- I like how the back paddles are removable.
- The macro system is decent, and you can even change the delays between button presses in 5ms steps in the app.
- The build quality is top-tier. There is absolutely no creaking as you handle/twist/molest the plastic shell.
- The dpad, despite looking like the Xbox Series Controller’s, doesn’t feel as bad. It’s less clicky, more mushy, which I prefer.
- Xbox-like shoulder buttons. They aren’t prone to sticking unlike the 8bitdo Ultimate Controller’s.
- Turbo feature has 2 modes, rapid-fire (rapidly presses the button while you hold it down) and constant (which just leaves the button continuously rapid-firing all the time even when you’re not pressing it). The interval is changeable in the app.
- It’s nowhere near the cost of an Elite controller.
Closing Remarks #
I really wish this controller’s thumbstick issues were addressed. That’s the biggest reason I’m not recommending it. They are, after all, the most important feature of a controller meant for modern 3D games. The weird sticky deadzone is too distracting to get over, and despite fiddling with the app settings and even updating the controller’s firmware, it persists.
I don’t really care much for the replacable thumbsticks but it is a cool feature and one of the defining ones that set the Xbox Elite Controller, which Pojifi so obviously modeled the NS-2080 after, apart. Shame that the 3.5mm headphone jack doesn’t seem to work on PC, that would’ve been nice to use, maybe on an actual Xbox it does work but I have no way to test that.
Big plus points for the gyro feature that seems and feels improved over the first-party Switch Pro controller’s. Gyro gaming is a big thing for me and people at r/GyroGaming and we’re always lamenting how the Switch Pro Controller (and all third-party derivatives of it) has a lame gyro polling rate compared to the DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers, which also have analog triggers and a touchpad, making them the standard for gyro gaming on PC despite the Switch pioneering it.
Pojifi, if you want your sample controller back, send me a shipping label and I’ll have it in the mail ASAP. Thanks for the opportunity to review this, and sorry it’s probably not the result you wanted to hear out of me.