![ZD-V+ USB Wired Gaming Controller Gamepad For PC/Laptop Computer(Windows XP/7/8/10/11) & PS3 & Android & Steam - [Black]](https://image.staticox.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F41Ddk2Xp33L._AC_.jpg)
I bought this controller primarily to use with Steam Big Picture and games. Both the internet at large, and Valve reccommend this or the 360 controller. I've used the 360 controller fairly extensively, and from reading reviews this had some additional features, to I decided to give it to try. I'm very glad I did. This is an excellent controller. I'll give a quick highlights, then if you want to know more read on!
Pros-
Beautiful well designed hardware
High build quality
Plug and play (for the most part)
DirectInput and Xinput makes it very compatible
Sport mode is handy to easily use the D-PAD in place of the Analog stick or vice versa in any game.
Potentially battery saving feature to toggle vibration
DPad is much nicer than 360
Great for Steam Big Picture
Nice small receiver
Neutral-
Heavier than Xbox 360 controller. I like the heft, others may not.
Triggers are stiffer than 360 controller. Nice for shooting, may be not as nice for racing.
Cons-
Home/Center button doesn't do anything in directinput mode
It's not perfect, but it is the best, so 5/5. IMO the only reason to get the 360 controller instead is if you want to use it with a 360 as well.
Hardware/Build Quality
The first thing I noticed when I got this out of the box is it's beautiful. The silver/black looks really nice, and the button colors are vibrant. The matte black back and non glossy (don't know if it qualifies as matte) silver front don't attract fingerprints like some controllers. Next I noticed it's weight. It's got a good weight to it. It's heavier than the 360 or PS3. I like the heft, gives it a bit more of a high quality feel. It's also well designed. The matte back, and rubberized gribs make it comfortable to hold. The shape is perfect, your hands wrap around it just right. The triggers are stiffer than the 360 controllers or ps3s. Makes it feel a little more snappy and responsive, it's super nice for shooting. Some people report it tiring them out for games you have to hold it for a long time (like racing games). The rubberized tops of the sticks are rounded and textured for grip and feel much nicer than the 360's controller. I didn't notice any deadzones.
Drivers/Software
Overall the is great. For most features it's pretty much just plug and play. It works flawlessly as a replacement for the 360 controller and has additional features. The sport mode is handy for anytime you want to use the dpad instead of the stick (or vice versa) in any game, in either mode. Being able to turn off vibration is a feature many might find useful. Also being able to use directinput or xinput with the flip of a hardware switch makes it compatible with nearly any game easily. The provided software makes it easy to use as a remote to control any program on windows.
For linux it's as simple as plugging it in. LSUSB and games call it "Logitech, Inc. Cordless RumblePad 2" in direct input mode. LSUSB reports it as "Logitech, Inc. F710 Wireless Gamepad [XInput Mode]" and games normally call it generic xbox pad in xinput mode. Both work without a hitch. If you want to test or calibrate it there are various tools. jstest-gtk for one.
Windows is just as simple for many. Others, myself included have had to manually tell windows to use the xbox 360 controller drivers for xinput mode. If it doesn't seem to work out of the box, you may have to as well. Go to device manager find it and right click to "update drivers" choose to find your own, select from drivers on the PC and find the 360 driver to install. Once you do that it works great. Logitech provides a profiler for direct input mode to program the buttons to any shortcut for each program individually. It's a handy tool.
Steam big picture works flawlessly in xinput mode. It's almost the same story in directinput once you set the buttons. The only problem with it in directinput is the home/center button doesn't do anything. Steam uses this for it's overlay or to take screenshots by default, so if you plan on using this for steam games that don't xinput you might need to find a new shortcut. It's a little frustrating. I imagine they did it because the Rumblepad 2 (which it basically is in directinput) didn't have the button, but I can't imagine it would be hard to add a button to the drivers. At the very least it seems like it should report the button, and let the drivers handle it or not, which would make it work on Linux at least. But that's a relatively minor complaint since most games will use xinput, and it's so easy to switch.
