Gadgetory

- If you've wanted a traditional controller experience one the Nintendo Switch, the only official way to do it since launch has been to use the Nintendo pro controller, that is at least, until now with the release of the Hori pad. This is an officially licensed controller for the Switch, from Hori, which is meant to be a cheaper alternative to the pro controller, costing only $30, versus the pro controller's 70. The obvious drawbacks being that it's a wired controller, and is stripped of a few of the major functions such as, having a built in NFC reader, motion controls, or even having HD rumble. Now these are not the only significant differences between the Hori pad and the Switch pro controller. One of the most noticeable things, is what exactly is going on with this D pad right here? I mean, at the least, it's very odd, at the most, maybe uncomfortable. But, it actually makes a lot of sense when you realize... That it's detachable, so this actually gives you two different ways to use the D pad, you can either have a button set up like this, similar to what's on the Switch Joy Cons, which is a little odd to use at first, I mean, it's weird that it's recessed, but it's not deep enough to actually be uncomfortable, it just takes a little getting used to, or... you can have a traditional D pad set up, which I actually like this D pad a lot more than the one on the pro controller. It's larger, it's easier to roll, and easier to hit one specific direction, where as the pro controller's is a little too small, so you can accidentally do diagonals, and mess up your game play. Plus, when you're not using the D pad, you might be wondering where you can store it. It's actually right on the back. So, really easy not to lose, really easy switch back and forth, awesome little design. Aside from that, there really aren't that many other huge differences between this and the pro controller. Just a few little subtle things. For instance, when you have them side by side, you'll see that the button layout is pretty much the same, the only major difference is that on the Hori pad, the plus and minus buttons are a little more further in, so you have to reach a little bit more for them, tiny bit annoying, but considering these buttons are normally just for things like pausing, or using menus, not a very big deal. The Hori pad is also a slightly larger controller, so if you're someone with bigger hands, you might find it a little more comfortable. It's not huge, it's not drastic, but, little bigger. Aside from that though, everything else is really, really minor, the button quality is basically the same, the pro controller might be slightly better, but it's not very noticeable. And the Hori pad is also a lighter controller, since it's missing so many of those additional functions, which is a little bothersome to me, I like having a little heft to my controller, but it's not a deal breaker. Now as I've said there are a lot of functions and features that the pro controller has that are stripped from the Hori pad, but the Hori pad does have one feature that the original pro controller does not have. And that's a good old fashioned turbo button. - [Announcer] Turbo A. - That's a go. - [Announcer] Turbo B - Yeah! - Admittedly, the number of games that benefit from feature like this, are a lot lower than they used to be back with say, the SNES, but you're certainly gonna find some situations where being able to just rapidly tap a button as fast as possible is gonna be really useful, and possibly borderline cheating, depending on the game, and it's really simple to use, all you gotta do is hit the turbo button at the same time as whatever button you wanna use repeatedly, and bam, now it's just being mashed like crazy, to turn it off, just do the same thing again. Now I also wanna take a moment to talk a little more about the fact that this is a wired controller. Now, for some of you out there, the fact that this is wired means that it is an immediate no buy, but for those of you that are a little more on the fence about it, I can say that this does come with a 10 foot long cable, which is more than enough reach for a lot of different set ups. For some it might be testing the limits a little bit too much, or it might not be enough, but for most modern setups, 10 feet is plenty of reach. There's also the fact that this uses a USB A connector, which, obviously the switch itself does not have, it only has a USB C. So, you could actually only use this with the dock set up, and if you wanna use it in portable mode, you're out of luck, expect for the fact that we actually tested this with a USB A to USB C adapter, and it worked. You just have to also deal with the fact that to access that port, you're gonna need a stand, or something for the switch to be sitting on, so all of a sudden, this purchase went from being a $30 controller, to costing a lot more, 'cause you had to buy a stand and adapter separately, but if you have those as well, gives you a lot more use out of it. So, is the Hori pad worth grabbing compared to the original pro controller, maybe. I mean, it is cheaper, but it does have its obvious drawbacks, some of you are just not gonna wanna deal with the wired connection, it is a lot harder to use with a portable set up, I mean, you can do it, but a wireless controller is just much better suited to that. And it is missing some of the functions of the pro controller, but a lot of those can also be ignored, I mean, NFC reader, just use a Joy Con, not a big deal. Motion controls, I never use motion controls with a classic controller, some of you might, and if you do, that's a reason not to get it, but for me, not a big deal. No rumble feature, that's actually a problem, I do wish this thing had rumble, so that is something that I miss, but it's still not a big deal breaker. I mean, to be honest, if you're the kind of person that just plays things in docked mode, and you don't mind having a cable, for 30 bucks, this thing is amazing, and an absolute no brainer.