PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series X|S- Black, Officially Licensed for Xbox

I bought this controller on June 1st of 2022. 3 years later and the ONLY issues I've encountered is the joysticks falling apart(still usable) and RB is starting to stop working. Otherwise? 10/10 controller. Unfortunately having to buy a new one, but if you want a controller? DEFINITELY buy this one. I absolutely love it, and it's lasted me 3 years alone

This controller is amazing! I got it on sale, and was skeptical about how long the battery would hold its charge for before I needed to recharge it. Well, I am able to game on my XBS for several days of active gaming and even after a month, it will remain charged. I like being able to take it apart and when I want to take it with me because it fits better in my backpack when I make make it smaller. At home I use it as a full size controller and benefit from the back buttons. I am happy to say that the huge amount of play time between charges is accurate and powerA impressed me yet again with their well made controller.

So I've been using this controller for a very, very long time from 2019 and now it's 2025 and it's been working great. I've used it continuously. It's my go-to controller.The only thing that I don't like about it is because it's USB. It's connected and It has to be plugged in. But other than that, this is an amazing product and I definitely recommend it if you're getting a controller that's going to last and going to serve you as a controller should.

TL;DR - It's a nice controller, but a thin piece of plastic that the L/R bumpers depend on isn't as strong as it should be and is prone to breakage and bending.To start off, it's a wonderful controller. The power over the LED lights is nice, it feels good to hold, controls feel smooth, and it just feels generally good to USE.HOWEVER, there is a fundamental issue with the controller, specifically in regard to the left and right bumpers. This appears to be consistent with some other buyers, and I personally encountered this issue after around 8 months of use.While playing, I noticed that the right bumper only seemed to work around half of the time, but I could change that by pressing it in a different location. Then, it started to make a particularly loud clicking sound. Moments later, it stopped working entirely.I looked through PowerA's limited warranty, and they unfortunately do not cover basic wear and tear. I eventually gave up trying to have them repair it (after more research), and decided to try and fix it myself. Upon disassembling the controller, I discovered that the left and right bumpers are ultimately a simple mechanism designed to press a small button. The part that actually interacts with the button is a thin piece of plastic, covered with a small pad. In my case, the pad had fallen off, and the plastic piece's end could not properly reach the button.While trying to create an avant-garde replacement, I discovered another thing: the thin piece of plastic of which the pad was on had bent backwards, and was on the verge of snapping completely. I hadn't noticed this until I had accidentally broken it by just touching it wrong, unfortunately. I fixed it up with some glue and using some duct tape as the "pad", and it works fine again now.Ultimately, the piece of plastic of which interacts with the L/R bumper buttons is far too flimsy, and will probably bend for most users after enough time if used enough. Besides this one issue, I have almost zero problems with the rest of the controller.

I’d like to share my journey on how I have decided that this controller will be my go to moving forward. It’s in the perfect spot of being affordable ( It’s usually 90.00 but I got mine on sale for 70.00) while still giving you enough quality to compete with a SCUF for less than half the price.I know some people maybe looking into a SCUF or other high end controller company but are also considering this so I hope to helps in your decision.I play a lot of shooters like COD, Overwatch, ect and Im not trying to learn how to play Claw so I need remappable buttons to be able to Jump with a paddle so that is essential for me.I also play alot of NBA2k23 and this controller feels great for that.Starting off with my SCUF experience I got a fully customized SCUF Prestige (their Xbox one controller) for my birthday about 3 - 4 years ago for about 225.00 Dollars.I went all in with all the features on the website so I was hoping it would last a really long time.I had heard the Instinct was coming out (Their Xbox series X/S controller) but it was my birthday and I didn’t want to wait that long.The SCUF felt AMAZING out of the box and SUPER LIGHT since I had them take the rumble out.I got extra thumb-sticks too so I ran a short concave on the left and a tall Domed on the right.I was playing Warzone at the time and I realized how playing on a SCUF made me feel like I could really get better from learning to B Hop with the paddles, to the quality of the Thumb-sticks for aiming.I was ruined at the idea of Going back to a standard XBOX controller and I saw alot of improvement.The first issue that came was I started getting stick drift on my right thumb stick from all of the slide cancelling I was doing.In COD I always play tactical so I crouch with the right thumb stick so playing that game a lot and slide cancelling / right clicking everywhere is what did it.I believe if it wasn’t for me playing that game alot it would have held up better.From that point on I had to run my dead zone settings really high for every game which wasn’t feeling good at all.Also I would leave it out plugged in but then the small USB inside the controller became bent in a way that It would fall out during gameplay which was horrible.The controller wouldn’t hold a charge so I had to have it plugged in and it falling out constantly was really frustrating. My SCUF felt chalked.That process happened over 6-8 months which bummed me out since I wasn’t gonna buy 2 SCUFS every year.There are some pre set ones that are under 200.00 but that’s a still a lot.2 things I learned from that experience are1. Always put your controller away(if it comes with a case use that or anything really to prevent dust from settling.)2. Stick drift is unavoidable no matter how expensive the controller but you can try to manage it.Warzone 2.0 just came out and slide canceling is gone so I won’t be right clicking everywhere so that will help a ton.If you click the left stick to sprint In games that will speed up the process of frying your left sticks deadzone.Use auto sprint features in games that have it to avoid clicking alot and extend the life span of your controllers.I have even heard COD pros share on that.Then the RB button stopped working and I remapped it to the 4th paddle on the right side but it felt too weird so I stopped using the SCUF.The thought of stick drift being inevitable made me go for the power A wired controllers that are 30.00 - 40.00 dollars.I thought hey if I’m going to have to buy 2 controllers a year let’s go cheap and these have buttons on the back you can re-map so why not.I Ended up using one for 6 months and stick drift got the best of it and I bought another one but I was happy with them. The quality felt justified by the price.My wife now has one and digs it.I recommend it to all of my more causal friendsAnd it’s great for them as well as a solid backup controller for more serious gamers.Then I got this PowerA FUSION Pro controller on sale for around 60 - 70 dollars and it ended up being a steal!It felt really heavy for a controller which I don’t really care for but I don’t mind it.I know some people may like that heavy feel.I heard a rumor that somebody on YouTube took the controller apart and found that they put weights in the controller to make it feel heavier but I’m not sure if that’s true.I like the grips on it a lot.The swappable thumb-sticks are a Win for sure.I did the short concave on the left and the tall concave on the right.You can use Kontrol freeks with these as well which I was doing.The black and white face plates are pretty basic but they are easy to swap so that’s nice.The paddles were interesting to get used to but I really like them now.They are easy to take off but hard to put on.I used only the bottom two paddles ( left is A and right is B) for the longest but recently I added a 3rd paddle on the right side and set it to X for reloading and looting in games and I Dig it now.Using all 4 would feel funny to me.The thumb sticks feel really solid and good for aiming and the stick drift is holding up really good and is at a normal level for the amount of time I’ve had it. I feel like I can compete and get better on this controller.The Case it comes with is really nice and I put the controller away every time and it’s nice and easy and is holding up really well over these last 8 months.I actually figured out that my extra SCUF prestige thumb-sticks fit on this controller so I started using those and it feels REALLY good.When I play NBA2k23 I put the regular Concave longer stick back on the right stick since it feels great for timing step back jumpers but I use the SCUF one for all shooters.My SCUF Prestige has been in its box for a year and a half now but I recently did played a few shooters on it again just to compare a bit.My Power A cheaper controller is the same micro USB as the SCUF so I used that and that doesn’t fall out so that fixed that issue but The RB Button not working is too much for me to get over.In it’s prime for aiming and feel the SCUF is S Tier and even now is is still A tier but the Fusion Pro is the A tier for 70.00 - 90.00 dollars compared to 225.00 so moving forward I’m rolling with the PowerA Fusion PRO.Iv used both of the power A enhanced and those are B tier for aiming and feel but the back buttons on those feel pretty good and I would use those over a standard XBOX controller any day for that alone. You put some Kontrol Freeks on those which are cheap and you are gonna be good to go.If you have a more causal need I would go with that for sure and you can’t beat 30.00 - 40.00 dollars.If you want something that will get you close that SCUF level of quality and feel really good while still being affordable roll with the PowerA FUSION Pro.If you want to ball out and go all in on something like a SCUF then go for it but just know that it will feel amazing but do your best to extend its life span with some of the tips I shared above.As for me I’m going to order some more SCUF prestige Thumb-sticks and When this controller goes out I will take a look at what may be new on the market, but will maybe likely get another FUSION pro.I hope this was helpful and happy shopping to you all!