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Nacon Revolution X Pro game pad review: Ergonomic and customizable
Nacon Revolution X Pro
pros and cons
- Adjustable weight
- Customizable L and R sticks
- Button remapping
- Dolby Atmos
- Onboard memory for player profiles
- Revolution X app is janky and obtuse
- Can't combine weights
- Switching out sticks can be a hassle
- Alternate trigger/shoulder buttons are awkwardly placed
Third-party gaming controllers used to have something of a bad rap, often considered to not be as good as "official" game pads from game console makers like Microsoft and Nintendo. But modern third-party controllers are offering much better-quality builds and more customization options than their predecessors.
Also: See alternatives to consider below
Nacon in particular seems set on presenting its Revolution X Pro controller as a top-quality option comparable to Microsoft's Xbox controllers. However, despite Nacon's best efforts, this controller still has a ways to go before it can begin to offer the same build quality, comfort, and ease of use as first-party offerings, particularly when it comes to creating custom configurations in the desktop app.
Specifications
| Connectivity | USB-C-to-USB-Type-A cable, 3.5mm AUX |
|---|---|
| Power source | USB cable |
| Compatibility | Windows 11/10, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One |
| RGB lighting | Around right thumbstick only |
| Programmable? | Yes |
| Weight | 11.9 ounces without additional weights |
| Headphone audio | Dolby Atmos |
| Accessories | Convex thumbstick covers, thumbstick collars, carrying case, 10g/14g/16g weights |
| Cord length | 9.8 feet |
Pricing
The Revolution X Pro controller sports a hefty $99.90 (£100, €99, AU$199.95) price tag. This is $40 more than the official Xbox wireless controller ($59.99), which also lets you remap the button layout and connect to your PC or console with a USB-C cable when you need a wired connection or want to play games while your controller is charging. However, it is similar in price to the Razer Wolverine V2 wired controller ($99.99, currently on sale for $69.99) and PowerA Fusion 2 Pro ($89.99), which offer more customization and accessibility options for both pro-level and hobbyist gamers.
While the Revolution X Pro does let you make a lot of customization choices with the thumbsticks, button layouts, and weight of the unit, almost $100 is still a high price for a slightly elevated version of a basic, wired controller.
The Microsoft Adaptive Controller retails for the same price ($99), and has much better potential for accessibility since that's exactly what it was designed for; although it could be argued that this isn't a fair comparison since Nacon markets the Revolution X Pro's alternative shoulder and trigger buttons in terms of ergonomics rather than accessibility. Still, when you produce a peripheral that does have the potential to make games easier to play for people with fine motor issues, accessibility shouldn't be an afterthought. For this price, I'd like to see the ability to swap the alternative trigger and shoulder buttons with paddles or connect other accessible controllers like joysticks or switches.
The high cost may be justified for some, especially if the alternative buttons would be useful, but could also be a turnoff for others who just want a dependable wired controller for their PC or console.
Customization and build quality
The Revolution X Pro is marketed as a pro-level controller, and as such, it allows you to make a ton of changes to suit your play style. It comes packaged with three sets of weights (10, 14, and 16 grams), a set of convex thumbstick caps, and two sets of thumbstick washers. I opted to use the 16-gram weights since they give the controller some heft that feels nice without making it a chore to hold up during long play sessions.
I do wish that you could either stack weights or that the controller had other slots for additional weights, since it can feel back-heavy at times. If there were even a single slot between the trigger and shoulder buttons where you could add a slug, it would make the balance of the game pad feel a bit better.
You can also swap out the controller's textured, concave thumbstick caps for a set of smooth, convex caps. The convex caps can make movement a bit twitchier since they make it slightly easier to make tiny movements with each stick, but the exceptionally smooth surface made it difficult for me to keep a solid grip on the controller. I tried several different cap combinations, from having both convex or concave to mixing them up. In the end, I chose to keep the textured, concave caps since they provided a decent amount of grip for character movement and camera control, even when my hands were clammy.
Also, the stick caps can be difficult to swap out, needing a surprising amount of force to remove and replace. The Revolution X Pro doesn't come with any sort of tool for removing the stick caps, so you just have to yank on them and pray that you don't snap off any important bits or break your controller. This makes the whole ordeal nerve-wracking since, if you manage to remove the stick cap in one piece, chances are it's going to fly across the room because you had to pull on it so hard.
The included washers allow you to put limitations on the range of motion for each thumbstick, which is great for racing or flight sim enthusiasts and fighting game players. By limiting the range of motion, you reduce the risk of overcompensating or overcorrecting, which can lead to in-game crashes and failed move combos. While I can appreciate the option, I'm not a huge fan of those types of games, so it's not useful for me.
For something marketed as a pro-level controller, the build quality of the Revolution X Pro is surprisingly cheap-feeling. It's clear that Nacon made this game pad to be an almost direct competitor to the Xbox Elite Wireless controller, which is why the exceptionally lightweight, all-plastic body is disappointing.
As I mentioned before, even when I used the included weights, the controller itself felt off-balance in my hands, especially when using the 16-gram set. The face, trigger, and shoulder buttons have a slightly mushy feel to them rather than a nice, snappy click. I don't know if Nacon designed the buttons this way to make the controller less noisy, but it just adds to the overall "cheap" feeling of the Revolution X Pro.
Conversely, the alternative shoulder and trigger buttons that are located on the back of the controller do have a nice, snappy feeling when you press them as well as an audible click. While it took some getting used to, playing with the alternative layout in shooter games was much more satisfying.
One very minor gripe that I have is how much dirt and hand yuck the Revolution X Pro attracts and holds onto. The main grips have a crosshatch texture, the stick caps are textured, and the controller itself has a lot of seams where grime, sweat, and general nastiness can accumulate. Over the course of a normal week of gaming sessions for me, I had to take a toothpick to the seams (especially those around the weight compartment covers) and wipe down the entire unit with a Lysol wipe twice to remove gunk.
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It's a good idea to do this regularly for all controllers to keep things clean and sanitized, but all of the different textures and spaces in the Revolution X Pro are particularly prone to hiding dirt.
Ergonomics and accessibility
Nacon leans heavily into the ergonomic aspect of the Revolution X Pro. There are four buttons on the back of the controller that can be used as alternative shoulder and trigger buttons or remapped to face buttons to make it easier to pull off difficult combo moves. The controller itself fits nicely in my hands, though if you have smaller hands or aren't used to Xbox-style controllers, it may not be as easy for you to use.
The Revolution X Pro is slightly smaller than an official Xbox controller, measuring about 5.5 by 4.5 by 2.25 inches, but the way that the controller is designed makes it look and feel larger. Side by side with a Sony PlayStation 5 DualSense controller, it's easy to see that the PS5 controller influenced the Revolution X Pro's design as well.
The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 have become my main consoles for gaming at home, and I even use a PS4 controller with my PC, so going from the DualSense's parallel, dual-stick design to the asymmetric stick placement of the Nacon Revolution X Pro took some getting used to, as well as remembering the face button layout. But for longer gaming sessions, the Revolution X Pro's asymmetrical thumbstick layout was much more comfortable, placing everything within easy reach to reduce strain on your hands and wrists. And as someone who has chronic carpal tunnel issues, playing with a controller that doesn't make my hands ache after a few hours is a welcome change.
That being said, I didn't find myself compelled to take advantage of the alternative shoulder and trigger buttons. They're placed in a way that means you'll often make accidental button presses when adjusting your grip.
The alternative shoulder buttons also made precision aiming a bit more difficult, since the button faces have a very smooth finish and follow the inner contours of the controller. I found this made it harder to keep my fingers on the alternative buttons, especially if my hands were clammy; and if you're going to take this controller to any sort of tournament, not having a sure grip is going to be a problem.
Small design flaws aside, the alternative buttons, the ability to remap inputs, and the options to customize weight, stick caps, and stick washers have great potential to make video games more accessible to players with fine motor skill issues. While Nacon doesn't market the Revolution X Pro as an accessibility option for disabled gamers, it'll work well if you don't require something like the Microsoft Adaptive Controller, which integrates with a wide variety of accessibility accessories like foot pedals, specialty joysticks, and switches.
But as much as I'd love to sing the Revolution X Pro's praises for making gaming a bit easier for disabled people, it still falls short on accessibility. Especially when it comes to the desktop app, which I'll discuss below.
Connectivity and audio
The Revolution X Pro connects to your computer or console via a USB-C-to-USB cable. The connector cable is 3 meters (9.8 feet) long, which gives you plenty of room to move around if you need to. While it's nice to have a near-infinite power supply for my game pad, for this price I'd like to have the option of wireless use. Especially when I'm gaming on my PC, I don't want to deal with a lot of cords for my cats to chew on or to get tangled up as I plug and unplug my work peripherals, and often need to sit farther away to be comfortable,
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Nacon insists that the Revolution X Pro is wired, not wireless, to reduce input latency and lag for better response times and performance in pro gaming situations. But after several weeks of testing, I couldn't see a difference between the wired Revolution X Pro and my wireless PS4 DualShock when playing games on my PC.
The controllers had similar input response times across different genres of games, and even when put through more thorough testing software, the difference was only 2 or 3 milliseconds; which is hardly noticeable to most gamers, and even professionals would have a difficult time seeing the difference.
Since it's unlikely that most people who buy this controller are pro-level gamers, and since input lag can be affected by everything from your controller's connection type and your monitor's refresh rate to your GPU's VRAM capacity and CPU workload, it almost seems silly to tout a wired connection as superior. Maybe Nacon stuck with a wired controller design to help keep the already high cost under control, but I would be willing to pay a bit more to have the option to use the controller wirelessly.
One very big mark in the Revolution X Pro's favor, however, is that it's capable of working with Dolby Atmos to create more immersive, virtual surround-sound audio in your headset so you can hear every note of your game's backing score, audio cues like gunfire and footsteps, and cleaner dialogue between characters. Even the Xbox Elite controller doesn't have Dolby Atmos support for headphone audio, which helps justify that almost $100 price tag for Nacon's controller somewhat.
The rub is that you have to have headphones that support Dolby Atmos audio in order to take full advantage of the feature. You'll still get great sound no matter what, but without full Dolby Atmos support, you won't get the virtual surround sound and bass boost that comes with it.
Nacon Revolution X app
It's pretty much a given that any gaming peripheral you buy is going to use a companion desktop or mobile app for things like remapping inputs, changing RGB lighting patterns and colors, and monitoring battery levels and connection stability. And while it's annoying to have to download proprietary software for every brand, these apps are useful for creating separate player profiles for shared peripherals or different input layouts for a variety of games. The Revolution X app is neither very useful nor easy to use.
The controller itself comes preloaded with five different input profiles: a generic Xbox input scheme that disables the alternative trigger and shoulder buttons, a profile for first-person shooters, one for sports games and racing sims, one for fighting games, and one for stealth games.
Every profile except the generic input scheme has the same input layout, but they differ in left and right thumbstick sensitivity and the stick and trigger button tension. The FPS profile has more tension on the trigger buttons for faster aiming and firing with shallower presses, while the stealth game profile puts a slight delay on your trigger button inputs so you can walk back your actions in order to avoid setting off alarms or alerting enemies.
Personally, I found the stick and trigger tension and delays to be a detriment in a lot of scenarios, throwing off my sense of timing for making jumps, avoiding damage, and pulling off combos. While I appreciate the attempt to cater to players of different genres and provide pro-level players with ready-made profiles, the execution left a lot to be desired. And again, this all seems like overkill when the vast majority of Revolution X Pro users are not going to be pro-level gamers who need total control over input timing.
The rest of the app is standard fare: allowing you to remap button inputs for each profile and change the RGB lighting color of the ring around the right stick. The app also acts as a download hub for the Revolution X Pro's firmware updates, and it offers to check for updates and download new versions of the firmware when it loads up.
The ability to delay firmware updates in favor of older software has a lot of merits but as someone who has trouble remembering to check for things like that, I'd rather have automatic updates as soon as I plug in the controller.
The app seems simple enough at first glance, with pages dedicated to stick and trigger tension, input remapping, RGB lighting, and audio equalizer settings. But the program feels clunky and unintuitive when you're trying to figure out how to customize the controller for your personal playstyle. Nothing is explained, and there are no tutorials to follow for adjusting the more advanced settings like the stick and trigger tension and stick sensitivity, which means you have to do a lot of trial and error to figure out exactly what you changed and how it affects gameplay and controls.
The app also won't let you access pages past the main screen unless the controller is connected to your computer or console, which makes it impossible to do a quick settings check between matches or before your gaming session.
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With customization, ergonomics, and (to a lesser degree) accessibility being the strongest selling points of the Revolution X Pro, the obtuse nature of the app is frustrating at best and downright incomprehensible at worst.
And the app doesn't have any way to access technical or customer support. Which means that you'll need to go to Nacon's website, scroll all the way to the bottom of the main page, and click the link for the support page, only to be met with a 404 error because (at the time of this writing) Nacon hasn't set up a web support page yet. So you'll then have to go to the contact page and leave a generic form message, or call the company between 9 am and 6 pm when you're likely to be at work and don't have time to call Nacon about an issue with your controller.
Bottom line
The Nacon Revolution X Pro is a decent third-party controller that works well with gaming PCs as well as Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. It offers a ton of customization options as well as more ergonomic input options with its alternative shoulder and trigger buttons. The alternative buttons also may make gaming a bit more accessible to disabled gamers who have issues with fine motor skills, though the controller isn't specifically designed for accessibility.
But for all of the great things the controller has to offer, it's held back by a clunky, difficult-to-navigate desktop app and almost nonexistent technical support and customer service. The high cost of the Revolution X Pro is also a turnoff, since an official Xbox wireless controller retails for almost half the price while giving you similar customization options and flexible connectivity.
Nacon designed the Revolution X Pro as a professional-level controller, but seems to have done so at the cost of making it appealing to everyday gamers. If you don't mind using stock input profiles and don't anticipate needing a lot of technical or customer support, this controller is a decent option. But if you want to take full advantage of the controller's features or have any issues that need troubleshooting, there are similar, if not better, options available.
Alternatives to consider
Razer is a well-known, established brand with a reputation for making dependable third-party peripherals. The Wolverine V2 is a wired controller that allows you to remap inputs and even set up hair triggers and trigger locks for competitive FPS matches. It also has a more ergonomic design that's more comfortable to hold and use during long gaming sessions, and the face buttons are rated for up to 3 million presses for long-lasting reliability and durability. While it doesn't let you add weight or swap out thumbstick caps, it does offer a solid, comfortable design that will suit gamers across different genres.
The Turtle Beach Recon wired controller is a more affordable option, retailing at about $50 while offering many of the same features as the Revolution X Pro. It allows you to monitor your mic input, game and chat volumes, and equalizer settings, and it has two remappable buttons to make difficult combos easier to pull off in fighting games or precision aiming faster and more comfortable in competitive shooters. You can create and save up to four layout profiles to the controller and switch between them as you change games, and the onboard audio controls let you quick-mute your mic when you need to have conversations outside of your game or Discord server or cycle through equalizer presets.
The PowerA Fusion Pro 2 is another more affordable wired controller option, retailing for about $60 on Amazon while still offering custom input layouts, trigger locks for precision aiming and quick-shooting, and different options for thumbstick caps and how tall your thumbsticks are. You can even swap out the faceplate of the controller to show off your personal style, complement your battlestation's aesthetics, or show off your eSports team loyalty. It also has a one-touch dial that helps to control your headset's volume when plugged into the controller and mute your mic quickly when you don't want to chat or need to have conversations outside of your game.