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[KiteGr]

Every time my dual sense analog sticks showed drifting issues I bought a new one.
Those things are expensive, so after the 3rd one I found some local repair man with the expertise I didn't trust my self with, of opening up and fixing it.
This is a short term solution, as the fixed controllers can and will drift again.

My point is,
This generation of Sony's official controllers apparently shows extremely high failure rate. For the first time ever, I lost faith in first party controllers of my main console, and I hear Nintendo had similar problems.

Here are some links for reference.




Possible solutions:

1. I could just keep fixing them, but that would just be treating the symptoms. Since I'm not fixing them my self, it might prove more expensive in the long run.
2. The Dual Edge stick replacement future looks like a scam in this aspect. As in: Selling you a very expensive solution to a problem they caused. The controller it self is prohibitly expensive, and given the issue being fixed, it feels morally wrong getting one.
3. The third option is getting a 3rd party controller with hall-effect sticks. A few years ago I wouldn't touch those, as everyone got experience of the "friend controller" as in "the crappy controller that you give to the guest player two". Things have gone a long way for 3rd party controllers, with many working even better than the official ones. I've had some amazing experience with 8bitdo's ultimate 2.4g and 2C, and I wouldn't second guess getting a PS5 controller from them. Sadly, the 3rd party controllers for PS5 are extremely limited, as most are made for Switch, Android and PC.

What's your opinion on this generation's drifting issues?
How many of your controllers drift?
What 3rd party controllers would you suggest?

 

[od-chan]

At what point do you consider drifting to be an issue? I had this DualSense for like 2 years or longer now, and I noticed a couple of weeks back when playing CoD BO6 that apparently I have like verrrrrry slight drift, which only starts becoming noticeable if you completely disable the deadzone thing.

So technically, this one is drifting.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

Yeah, I'm 2/2 with my Dualsense stickdrift. One is completely unusable. Both were drifting within a month. Never had this issue happen with a PS controller until many years after purchase, frustrating

 

[Mephisto40]

I've got three dual sense controllers, and one of them has pretty bad stick drift, especially when playing COD, my view just pulls to the left randomly

 

[Shtof]

I never had stick drift. Until I turned off the stick deadzones in-game in the Outer Worlds.
Turns out I have huge stick drift, on my extremely expensive DS Edge controller.

So I hit that reset button in the settings.

 

[GymWolf]

Mine has drift aswell, not super strong but the chick at gamestop checked and it wasn't good enough to permute for a ps5pro.

Gimmicky shitty controller with shit battery life.

With 40-50 euros you can get a much better product with hall effect sticks and triggers and 1000hz poll rate

 

[Kuranghi]

In the UK the retailer Curry's offers an "instant replacement" service, on a Dualsense you pay between £12 and £16 (depending what price the controller is at the time) and you get 3 years of unlimited replacements for non-accidental damage, eg stick drift or broken haptic triggers.

There's no repair attempted and no stringent examination to make sure it wasn't damaged just because you dropped it or the like, so really it does cover accidental as long as its not obviously been intentionally smashed.

I have that on one of my controllers and I've used it twice on the controller I have it on and the one I got with the PS5, they don't check serial numbers so you can essentially replace unlimited controllers unlimited times for 3 years.

 

[keefged4]

Every single dualsense I've had over the past few years has developed drift, until I put hall effect sticks in one. It's my daily driver for my PC/PS5 now.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

My Xbox Series controller just developed stick drift like a week ago. First time I've had that happen since my Vita about a decade ago. Just using an X1 controller now.

Seems like this is happening everywhere though to all 3 companies. Don't remember stick drift being a problem any other gen.

 

[Spukc]

My 5 controllers all drift like crazy.
But it helps me a lot in those hard drift challenges in GT7

 

[gooner4life_uk]

stop eating Cheetos while playing games you animals, wash your hands.

 

[KrisB]

My day 1 launch controller drifts but the second one I bought around a year and a half ago is holding up ok.

 

[yamaci17]

unlucky

my dualsense is still fine, I got it back in 2021
my dualshock from 2018 is also in somewhat decent condition. being on PC helps as I can adjust global deadzone with ds4windows. though it has stick drift for a few years now

it helps that I only use dualsense in games that support its special gimmicks. the rest I play with dualshock. helps reduce overall stress on both gamepads

dualsense in non gimmick games is horrible. it does not even have proper vibration motors. it just tries to emulate how an actual vibration motor would feel like. and it fails horribly. try shooting your revolver in red dead redemption 2 with a dualshock and a dualsense. its so horrible with dualsense

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Had it happen to two Dualsense controllers and it's really annoying. We know that the fix for this is to use different stick modules and I'd like to see this addressed by Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft moving forward. I have been tempted to buy third party controllers, they're just so bloody expensive a lot of the time.

 

[alienator]

4 dual sense here, 2 of them are launch date controllers, only got stick drift on my nintendo switch joycons.

 

[Insanemaelstrom]

Out of 3, 1 has drift and another had drift for one play session but somehow fixed itself. So far it seems to have the same failure rate as dualshock 4, for me personally. Not ideal and honestly it is something I wish more people would criticise and make noise over. All 3 companies are guilty of using substandard products that are known to cause stick drift. We already have a solution and it is a shame that none are using it due to greed.

 

[kikii]

What's your opinion on this generation's drifting issues?
How many of your controllers drift?

1. stop playing CoD or similar online games, cause its not controllers fault when u are furious and smash those sticks like mofo
2. never had drifting problem on any controller

 

[Lokaum D+]

2 out 2 PS5 controllers got drift problems, i m tired of fixing them and that's why i m playing PC only nowadays with HE controller,

 

[Mr Hyde]

Dualsense is trash quality. Everything Sony is producing is trash quality. They do it on purpose so they can sell you their overpriced accessories. It's a trash company so what do you expect.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Pro-tip :
If you don't want to open up your joypad, you can try applying a SMALL dose of contact cleaner on the base of the analogue stick, press it in and start doing circle motions for about 30 seconds.

Now, this method helps with stick drift caused by gunk/debris/dust that seeps through and accumulates inside the potentiometers, it's not a miracle solution for worn out potentiometers, just for dirty ones.
Worked for me on both a Xbox joypad and on Dualsense one.

Do it obviously with the joypad turned off.
You should also let your joypad sit for some minutes after doing it as to have the liquid/cleaner evaporate completely.

 

[M1chl]

Stick for both Xbox and PS5 controller comes from single source and until we don't get HALL effect sticks this is going to occur. Hopefully next-gen. HALL effect sensors are dirt cheap and they are already in 3rd party controllers as well as rumored for N*ntendos new console.

 

[b0uncyfr0]

crazy idea : maybe dont buy them

 

[xrnzaaas]

Not offering controllers with hall-effect sticks just shows how greedy Sony is (same with Nintendo). The technology is there, but they're counting on the fact that some people instead of sending back their broken controller will just buy another one, especially if it's some themed version with a different faceplate.

crazy idea : maybe dont buy them

That won't work for PS5 players. Dualsense is the only officially supported controller (not counting crazy priced elite controllers).

 

[Pejo]

I have 3 Dualsense that all drifted, one with the launch PS5, 2 purchased after.

Latest one is a 30th anniversary grey, and so far, so good.

But yea Sony should be ashamed of this shit.

 

[Robins]

How are people finding the Portal?

I am hoping to buy one soon but this know stick drift issue is putting me off. As I assume they are the same sticks.

 

[mdkirby]

Yeah, all of em, including my edge, tho I bought that precisely because I had this issue with 3 regular ones, and it’s easy to swap out the stick.

Xbox has been no better, I’ve had it on that and I barely play it, and even on the elite, the A button has had only a 60% response rate since I got it. None of these controllers are built all that well. Tho they do take a lot of punishment/use, particularly my ps5 controllers which are used daily.

 

[Labadal]

I have two of them. Both had this, and I have to keep fixing the issue.

 

[missiles]

Buy new controller from Amazon, put old controller in the box, return for refund. No one ever checks. Been doing this with Xbox pads for years which eventually develop a problem with the triggers. Like fuck am I paying for that.

 

[HRK69]

So strange. I've had multiple Dualsense controllers in the past couple of years and I've had ZERO issues

But it sucks big time obv

 

[The Shepard]

Try holding down the left and right analog sticks in and turning them clockwise 20 times, keep the pressure on so l2 and r3 are constantly pressed in as you turn, then do the same but anticlockwise. Honestly works for me everytime. My og launch dualsense which got stick drift years ago is still perfect today from doing this every 6 months.

 

[Larxia]

At what point do you consider drifting to be an issue? I had this DualSense for like 2 years or longer now, and I noticed a couple of weeks back when playing CoD BO6 that apparently I have like verrrrrry slight drift, which only starts becoming noticeable if you completely disable the deadzone thing.

So technically, this one is drifting.

What you describe is not the same type of "drift" as OP is talking about. There is often a confusion between the two, but only one of them is very problematic and started on recent generations.

What you describe is when the spring doesn't always put the stick back to the center perfectly when you let it go, making the stick return to a slightly off center point, so if a game has a low dead zone, it can be noticeable, but usually it's not.

The new, real "stick drift" is much worse, as you can see in the gif on op's post. It's not tied to the spring, it's a technical defect which will registers completely random inputs, as for example letting go of the stick, and it still being registered as fully pushed, and with the orientation or amount of press changing randomly too. It renders games completely unplayable because it's not just a tiny amount that can be fixed with dead zone, the stick can think it's pushed to the max, even if it's not.

 

[T-0800]

I've had mine for two years with no problems. I also never click in the left stick. For any game that requires constant use of L3 like COD for example I map sprint to a different button (L1 works nicely). I'm convinced this is why I haven't had any issues.

 

[BigLee74]

From Xbox One era, 50% of my controllers have developed stick drift - and a few of them within 6 months.

Its not all bad though - I had a 360 controller that I smashed into pieces against a floor, and it still worked fine for months when duck taped together again!

 

[LegendOfKage]

What 3rd party controllers would you suggest?

If you are willing to spend about 50 dollars more than the official Dual Sense Edge controller, you can get a Hexgaming Phantom controller from amazon that has hall effect sticks and four back buttons, along with trigger stops, selectable thumbstick options, and a rubber grip. Since it's a custom controller, you'll also still have rumble, adaptive triggers, and a normal battery life.

The main thing you'll be missing are the function buttons to adjust the party audio and game volume, along with the in-game menus for selecting custom profiles. You could also probably order a custom build from the company website itself, and save some money if you don't want or need all of those features.

There are some other good custom controller companies as well. Battle Beaver is another big one. I'd do some research on you tube and see what your options are.

 

[UnrealEck]

I had it and opened it up and cleaned inside. But I just went and bought the Scuf Envision Pro. It's the best controller I've ever used.

 

[bitbydeath]

2 launch consoles, 4 controllers and 0 stick drift.
I know I don’t play as much as a lot of you guys though. Lucky to do 8 hours most weeks.

 

[cireza]

 

[Jakk]

All of them are probably going to start drifting if you use them enough. Those controllers are produced as cheaply as possible.

It also depends on the type of games you play. Competetive shooters or sports games usually put the most strain on the sticks.

 

[Generic]

This thread scares me.

 

[HRK69]

Buy new controller from Amazon, put old controller in the box, return for refund. No one ever checks. Been doing this with Xbox pads for years which eventually develop a problem with the triggers. Like fuck am I paying for that.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Buy new controller from Amazon, put old controller in the box, return for refund. No one ever checks. Been doing this with Xbox pads for years which eventually develop a problem with the triggers. Like fuck am I paying for that.

Until a poor soul buys a used one from " Amazon 2nd hand".

Fuck this shit, it's inconsiderable towards other people's time (and money).

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Have very small amount of drift in the left stick of my OG DualSense. The other 3 DS controllers I have are fine though.

 

[Luipadre]

Yeah im on my 3rd dualsense aswell since ps5 release. Its awful. One controller only lasts about 1.5 years

 

[Hudo]

Arrow keys never drift, baby! Woooooooooooooo

 

[Exede]

Both of my release PS5 Controllers have Stick-Drift, like super Drift. Had to buy new ones

 

[Lunarorbit]

Can you not send them back to Sony for repairs? Nintendo fixes joy cons for free

 

[BlackTron]

Call me up when stock controller has hall stick.

 

[jufonuk]

My 2 sets of joy cons one set drifted the other just one of the bumper buttons didn’t work

Thank goodness for cheaper alternatives for pro controllers

 

[Jormatar]

I have had 4 DualSenses and the first one lasted longest, probably 18 months before it started drifting. Then the next two barely lasted 6 months. I'm kinda fearing now how long my 3 months old controller lasts.

I admit I have dropped controllers accidentally on the floor, so I wonder if that has something to do with them starting to drift so fast. I have been extra careful with my 4th controller now though.

But I personally have noticed how much easier they drift than DS4.

 

[Holdfing]

How long is that in hours until it started to drift? I used my DualSense for 500+, 2 DualShock4s for way more than that and never had any drift. My DualShock3's left stick lost its elasticity (is that considered drift?), but I learned how to solder, so it was cheap to fix.