I love the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con, but they develop stick drift way too easily, and people with ham-sized hands like mine can’t play for long before cramps set in. They’re also pretty expensive to replace. I’ve personally settled on Hori’s Split Pad Pro Joy-Con replacements to remedy all of that, but it makes my Switch too bulky to fit comfortably in my smaller everyday carry. The Hori Split Pad Compact offer a nice balance between size, affordability, and added grip, and you can get a pair in white / yellow for only $32.49 (about $18 off) at Target.
The Split Pad Compact suffers from the same deficiencies as most third-party Joy-Con replacements: you’ll forsake rumble, NFC, and motion control, and you can’t use them individually as mini controllers. While those features are all nice, there’s no game in the Switch’s library of thousands that require them. The Split Pad Compact does have some tricks of its own, however, like programmable rear buttons and a turbo function.
Most of my friends swear by gaming headset brands like Turtle Beach and Astro, so much so they refuse to try anything else. That’s their loss — SteelSeries makes some of the most comfortable gaming headsets you can buy with their unique ski band comfort strap and thick ear padding. Plus, I think their 40mm drivers produce better sound than anything I’ve tried. That’s why I’m considering buying a second pair of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless for Xbox and PC, now down to $279.99 ($70 off) at SteelSeries when you use code GET20. You can also buy a set designed for PlayStation and PC for the same price using the same code.
The headset is pricey even after the discount, sure, but it may be the last pair you’ll need to buy for a long while. The base station has an OLED display with a dial that makes it easy to manage audio levels, chat mix, and customize the 10-band equalizer (you can also make adjustments directly from the headset). Perhaps my favorite feature is the integrated charging bay for the spare battery it ships with to swap batteries midgame. I find it much more convenient than any wired charging model.
If you buy the version designed for Xbox and PC, the base station allows it to work with nearly everything. You can connect it via USB to Xbox consoles for 2.4GHz wireless, and there’s a second USB port that lets you connect other systems like a PC or Nintendo Switch. With Bluetooth, you can add PlayStation and mobile devices into the mix. There are also line-in and line-out ports for mixing in other audio sources or streaming. The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless is even suitable for daily outdoor wear thanks to a sleek and unassuming design, a retractable noise-canceling microphone, and active noise cancellation with transparency mode.
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