This product was provided to me from Thrustmaster to see how well it performs at high level grind for a good run whether its speedrunning or long sessions.
After reviewing the eSwap S Pro, I was provided the premium edition called the eSwap X Pro. Aimed towards the elite crowd of players with 4 rear buttons, 3 swappable "movement" slots and even swappable triggers & rear pads for colour customisation, in theory this should be outright superior. What surprised me is that how much quality of life improvement the cheaper S model has and there is a simple reason for that, the X model came out first sometime around late 2020 and then the S model in late April 2022.
So this "review" is more of a brief comparison between the two controllers and what I am hoping in the future revisions of the eSwap series, the reason for this is that most of the features I've mentioned from the eSwap S review such as hair trigger & control stick deadzone adjustments applies to the eSwap X as well.
Comparison 1
The control sticks (mainly the ones that were provided with the controller itself).
The eSwap X sticks provided with the controller have swappable thumb pads to make it either resemble an Xbox controlller by default or a retro PS1/PS2/PS3 controller, the height of a stick (pole part) from the lowest part to the thumb pad stick is notably higher than a default Xbox One/Series controller, this does make a difference for my thumbs as they need to put an extra effort to reach/stretch and rest on the pad. These sticks provided with the controller are less comfortable than the shorter sticks that are the default for the eSwap S model, the downside with the shorter stick piece is that the thumb pad cannot be changed into the Playstation 1/2/3 style pad.
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| Left = Default stick Right = PS1/PS2/PS3 style stick |
Pay attention to how my thumb is resting.
Comparison 2
USB Connection:
The eSwap X uses Mini A connection and eSwap S uses the newer type C, not only that but the X model has a small hole around the top of the controller designed for a specific cable to perfectly fit into, this makes generic USB mini A cables look a bit out of place. The newer S controller doesn't have this design and so any USB type C cable can be used without worrying whether or not it looks out of place.
Comparison 3
L/R buttons.
So the S controller seems promising so far but I noticed that the X model has better shoulder buttons. My guess is that the physical clicks felt more noticeable as at one point the S controller's shoulder buttons were not clicking as consistently as it used to that I had to press them on the edge closer to the USB port just to make sure they were working. So I say the shoulder buttons from eSwap X are indeed better.
Comparison 4
The D-pad
So the style of the D-pad closely resembles the Playstation series D-pad with 4 arrows facing at the very centre, there is a small rectangular hole at the very middle which requires using a tool to insert, twist and pull to take out the D-pad.
Left = Default layout
1) The edges of the directional buttons feels a bit rough and not smooth meaning frequent quarter circle forward inputs can hurt your thumb.
2) Whenever I was pulling off a quarter circle forward (QCF) input, I had to move my thumb slightly higher up during the motion than usual or else it would never register a single direction input (purely left/right) before hitting my punch/kick button which causes my character to execute a crouching normal attack instead.
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| A tool provided with the eSwap X controller is the intended way to take out the D-pad piece from the unit. |
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| Left = eSwap X Right = eSwap S The S version feels a lot more comfy to use and more reliable at pulling off QCF motions but this D-pad is locked in place. |
Comparison 5
The mappable rear buttons
In my earlier review on the model S, I was concerned with certain FPSes requiring extra commands from the D-pad such as Halo Infinite but after posting that review, my friends told me they mapped the rear buttons to both crouch and jump which makes sense in a close quarters assault rifle combat where mixing up your movement can make a huge difference. Two buttons are usually good enough for most action/platforming games. Having four buttons really depends on the genre you are mainly playing, the most efficient use are games that rely on twin sticks and has 4 action buttons that were initially mapped to the four face buttons and/or 4 direction buttons from the D-pad. This usually applies to first person/third person shooters and top-down twin stick shooters where the players can still use action buttons that were mapped to the rear buttons whilst having both thumbs on both sticks at all times.
Left = eSwap X Right = eSwap S
The S model is still usable for many games despite only having 2 buttons and the text on those buttons stands out a lot more than the X model.
Possible improvements/suggestions for a future series 2 model.
The eSwap's biggest strengths are ease of swap ability and in some cases future proofing by using revised parts. For example, using the shorter sticks that can be bought online or the pair that were included from the eSwap S. I would like to see a way for the swappable D-pad piece to be release friendly without a tool which at the moment is surprisingly doable by holding underneath both sides of the D-pad, though I would be weary if it could damage the edges in the long run.
The mappable buttons should have the ability to program multiple of inputs on a single button through ThrustmapperX's app, they'll be ideal for action genres, especially fighting games, having a single rear button to map both Medium Punch and Medium Kick for example to enable a single button press to execute Focus Attack (SFIV) and V-Skill (SFV). This is going to be very vital for the upcoming game in 2023: Street Fighter 6 thanks to the new Drive Parry and Drive Impact mechanics.
In my previous review, there was a game called Azure Striker Gunvolt which has special skills mapped to either the keyboard (F1, F2, F3 & F4) or the right analouge stick, if the controller had advanced mapping settings to map a rear button to a key from the keyboard, it should be possible to have each skill slot mapped to a button with the eSwap X.
Lastly, the main reason why there should be series 2 revamp for the eSwap X in the future is to simply support USB type C otherwise it doesn't feel absolutely superior over the eSwap S.
The boxart between the two are very identical as well. A simple background colour change like the Playstation 5's Regular edition vs Playstation 5's Digital edition and Xbox Series S vs Xbox Series X are night and day difference.
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| The boxart between the two are way too identical as they both share the same use of colour. Yes the controllers are indeed different. |
D-pad (overall comfort): eSwap S
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