A lot of high-end features are trickling down to more affordable game controllers these days, and that culminates in promising pieces of hardware like the GameSir G7 Pro controller, which combines tri-mode connectivity, TMR joysticks, fast poling rates and a whole lot more to become a serious threat for expensive controllers. The GameSir G7 Pro costs just $79, but is ready to rival the $179 Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2 controller and even the $199 Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra in many respects.
GameSir G7 Pro – Design and Features
The GameSir G7 Pro looks a bit like a typical Xbox controller but with some unique aesthetic choices. It still has modest looks, but it’s also hiding some very interesting aspects. Behind its plain white faceplate and bland gray grips, it’s hiding a fully transparent panel that shows through to the circuit board and two of the four vibration motors. If you want the transparent style, you can readily remove each grip and/or the faceplate in any combination.
That’s just a small bit of the customization and flexibility that the G7 Pro brings to the table, too. The controller offers three D-Pad options. It has trigger locks. It has extra paddle buttons on the underside that also include physical lock switches. It can run wirelessly with a dedicated dongle or use a hardwired connection, and both support a 1,000Hz refresh rate. It can connect to mobile devices and more over Bluetooth. A special (removable) cable retainer can help brace the cable connection so it’s less likely to get damaged or come unplugged during play. And that’s all before getting into the software customizations.
You can slot GameSir’s USB-A transmitter dongle directly into a PC for wireless gaming. A charging dock is also included in the package, and it has a compartment for the transmitter dongle, so you can combine them at your desk for simple connectivity and charging in one. The charging dock is nothing special, offering a basic stand for the controller with pogo pins akin to what we’ve seen from similar 8BitDo controllers. There’s a helpful light on the dock to confirm when the controller is charging so you won’t come back to find it dead.
The hardware of the controller itself is very respectable. GameSir chucked mushy membrane switches and went all out. The ABXY and D-Pad get clicky micro switches like you’d find in a gaming mouse or high-end controller like the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra. The triggers get nuanced Hall Effect sensors with short-throw trigger locks that convert them to micro switches as well. The shoulder buttons feel basic, but GameSir fit an extra set of custom shoulder buttons next to them, and those get the clicky micro switches as well. The two custom underside buttons don’t feel like micro switches, but even they are satisfyingly clicky. And the joysticks use TMR tech for accuracy and consistency that shouldn’t lead to stick drift in the long term.
For responsiveness, the controller also supports a 1,000Hz polling rate on PC whether using a wired or wireless connection (not Bluetooth though).
While most of the controller is hard plastic, the handles and joysticks get rubberized material with a diamond-pattern texture. This proves good for grip, though can get a bit grimy over time.
GameSir G7 Pro – Software
The GameSir G7 Pro has multiple apps. There’s one for mobile that doesn’t do anything beyond letting you test that each input is functioning. The GameSir Nexus app for PC is what you need to really get into the nitty gritty customization. In the app, you can swap out button assignments, adjust response curves and behavior for the triggers and joysticks, set up and tune gyro controls, and customize the four vibration motors. You can also set up four different profiles.
As powerful as the app is, it’s not without its faults. It frequently likes to disconnect from the controller, kicking you back to the landing page and taking a few seconds to get back into customization. This back-and-forth hand-off also makes it that much slower to make adjustments, test them in a game, and then switch back to tweak them. A lot of things aren’t well explained in the app either, so figuring out what you’ve changed can sometimes be a matter of guess-and-check.
Even without the app, there is some customization available. The controller supports on-the-fly button mapping for its four extra buttons. This entails simply long-pressing the M button and a desired extra button simultaneously then pressing the button you want mapped to it.
While it’s a shame GameSir doesn’t offer all this customization for the mobile app as well, settings adjusted on PC can carry over to mobile as well. For instance, I set up the gyroscope for aiming behavior in the PC app, and then connected to mobile over Bluetooth and saw the gyro continue to operate in this manner.
GameSir G7 Pro – Gaming and Performance
The GameSir G7 Pro provides an excellent gaming experience. Throughout my testing, it has left little to be desired. Through my sweatiest boss fights in Hollow Knight, the grips helped me keep a good hold on the controller. The microswitches for most of the buttons are wonderful for fast, responsive gaming, and every input registers with a snap. The ability to turn the analog triggers into short-throw microswitches also helps out big time for responsiveness, letting me dash in an instant in Hollow Knight while avoiding the extra strain of repeatedly pulling the trigger all the way.
The controller handles nuanced input well, too. The joysticks register subtle movements accurately, and the triggers can swap from snappy to standard analog triggers and enable more precise control. Running about in Battlefield 6, the controller was an accurate input tool, albeit not quite at mouse levels. The option to enable the gyroscope helped in some circumstances, though I could never get it to work perfectly. It tended to be a little jerky when emulating a controller input. When it emulated a mouse input, it was far more responsive and accurate, but it was also prone to very sudden, unpredictable camera movements if I touched the right joystick at all while aiming. This made it generally unreliable. Fortunately, for anyone who’s already great at joystick aim, the controller holds up well. The joysticks have grippy tops that can get a little grimey after a bit of use, but it’s not hard to clean
The G7 Pro’s combination of four rumble motors provide both powerful and subtle vibration that adds some extra dimension to games. The headset jack also provides convenient wireless connectivity for headphones and quick methods for adjusting chat and game volume balance (on Xbox) and muting your microphone.
Throughout testing, the wireless connection has been rock solid. While gaming, I’ve never experienced a drop-out even in environments with lots of radio interference. The 1,200mAh battery has also proven long-lasting. It likely helps that there’s no display or RGB lighting on the controller. Regardless, I was readily getting GameSir’s estimated 10-hour battery life. Though unless you’re playing marathon sessions, that battery life can be almost irrelevant, as the charging dock makes it easy to always have the controller topped up after gaming sessions.
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