Review on USB Wireless Gaming Controller Gamepad - PC/Laptop (Windows XP/7/8/10), PS3, Android, Steam - [Black] (Black) by Joseph Mathis

Let me first say that this is NOT a seller rating, it is a rating of a product that I have purchased. The seller did a great job and I received my controller on time. This is how I received my new wireless gamepad on time. And it's just as crowded with Chinese people as I expected. The controller looks great. The buttons and knobs are easy to hold and like any other budget Chinese game controller, it weighs next to nothing. Given my recent purchase (and subsequent review) of retro super Nintendo controllers that work surprisingly well for around the same price as this controller, that didn't bother me at all at first. have an internal battery like the SNES I had before. I was a bit surprised to see that not only does it use 2 AA batteries, but it also has a tiny sliding micro switch on the bottom to turn the unit on and off, rather than some sort of auto idle shutdown feature. So I charge it up with a pair of brand new Energizer Max AA batteries and plug in a wireless USB nano dongle. When you turn on the controller, the indicators will blink a few times and the device will quickly connect to the wireless receiver. So far, so good. I start my RetroPie setup and proceed to set up the controller. It seems to be working great. All controls feel good, they are responsive and the controller seems to be doing what it should. BYE BYE. I stepped back about four feet, sat in a chair in the living room, and tried to play the game. My experience was completely different. It was a complete failure. Even when trying to navigate the RetroPie menus, the controller kept disconnecting from me. My living room chair is about 8-9 feet from my RetroPie console, which sits on my entertainment stand at almost the same height as my living room chair. The wireless receiver plugs right into the front of the unit, and I'm still dropping connections left and right when sitting in my comfy chair to play a game. a basically stable, playable connection up to 5 feet away from a wireless receiver, and that's just not acceptable. I can't imagine how this thing could pass quality control with such a limited playable range. Due to the low price of this thing I may be keeping it to see if I can modify and tune the radio for some extra range but other than that I really can't recommend this product to anyone in good faith.