this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
47 points (92.7% liked)

Buy it for Life

4253 readers
4 users here now

A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

Guidelines:

Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.

A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:

  1. The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
  2. If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
  3. The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
  4. You cannot be a large corporation.
  5. The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Since it's so quiet here, let me start :)

The Steam Controller, albeit being discontinued in 2019 is still going strong here.

I like that you can easily replace the two AA batteries and even though the original wifi dongle broke somehow, it is possible to just link it with Bluetooth as well.

all 20 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Trafficone 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I have one of these, and the analog stick started to get some drift. NBD, I thought, I'll just pick up a new stick and swap it out.

Turns out, I'm rubbish at desoldering. So now I have a pile of parts until I get up the courage to try again.

[–] Grass@geddit.social 4 points 1 year ago

For me the secret ingredient was the goopy flux. That plus the copper wick and swish the wick around with the soldering iron and it all just reverse splooges away.

[–] theragu40@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you tried a manual solder sucker? I'm trash at desoldering too, but a solder sucker has allowed me to complete a couple repairs I otherwise would not have.

[–] Trafficone 2 points 1 year ago

I have, and I actually got this fancy Japanese manual solder sucker with a silicone nib. It's pretty fantastic for most things, but the analog stick is still stuck. I may try again some day, but I learned long ago that frustration and electronics projects don't mix.

[–] Venus 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm disappointed I missed the chance to get one of these. It seems like such a cool thing. I'm holding out hope that they'll revisit the idea someday.

[–] Mint@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago

There seems to be murmurs of them doing steam controller 2 - just basically a controller based on what they already have on the steamdeck but as an external controller.

[–] FuyuhikoDate@silkky.pub 2 points 1 year ago

Actually i really really hope they make a "Updated Version"

I love the Controller, But most of my friends have tiny Hands and its waaaay to big for them.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

I have one I use all the time, and two that I bought when Valve was offloading them for $5. Just in case.

There is still no other controller on the market that allows you to play strategy games from the couch.

[–] jimmy@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use mine with my docked deck sometimes and it's great, but I'm left wishing for an updated model with better build quality.

[–] notfromhere@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

The buttons are just too noisy and so is the rumble if you turn it on. Overall I love mine to death and will mourn their loss when they all finally break, but I’ve gotten so much use out of them it’s crazy. I’ve done raids in WoW as MT using Steam Controller as primary input. Did that for years, got fairly decent at CS:S, racing games, even done factory building and that kerbal space launch one. Damn things are so versatile, but definitely showing their age compared to my Steam Deck. It would be nice to have a refreshed Steam Controller.

[–] notfromhere@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago

I have a few of these. They pair well with my Steam Links and Steam Deck + Deck Dock

[–] Whimseymimple@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Mine is as well, although I have to admit that I don't use it as much as I once did.

[–] BlinkerFluid@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I proudly own a steam controller that I never use.

Gulikit, bro

[–] Zoot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Can I buy it off you? I have one that I’ve been using for years and it’s slowly falling apart.

[–] FuyuhikoDate@silkky.pub 2 points 1 year ago

Got one and missed the opportunity to buy 3 more of those.

Only Thing (which made it even more a BIFL Was swappijg the Analog Cap with a Metal Cap for the Xbox.

Looks charming with the silver Analog and is still going strong as my every day gamepad :)

[–] sic_1 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Meh,I tried it playing dead space and it wasn't working well. If course, it has less moving parts and the quality is great but the touch pads were a lot less responsive than regular analog sticks imho. But that may just be my personal taste.

[–] notfromhere@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

That’s the biggest weakness of the controller IMO, you have to tweak in the input settings on the game, build a controller config on Steam and learn to use it. Muscle memory is a helluva thing.

[–] poVoq 2 points 1 year ago

No, it is true that console ports that are highly optimized for the standard controllers do not work as well with the Steam Controller. Same is true for old emulators that need a real dpad. But for pretty much everything else the Steam Controller is great.