The Best Switch 2 Controller Just Got Better (and A Little Worse)

Crowning nan EasySMX S10 nan champion Switch 2 controller past autumn was easy. The $60 wireless gamepad, which is often good beneath $50, mimics aliases improves connected galore of nan $90 Switch 2 Pro controller’s champion features. The S10 has great-feeling rumble successful games, TMR joysticks that will past longer than Nintendo’s, positive amiibo support, comfortable grips, and buttons and triggers that connection satisfying clicks. The caller S10 Lite trims distant immoderate of those, but builds connected EasySMX’s lead pinch 1 big, caller characteristic that I expect different companies to copy.

The EasySMX S10 Lite is nan first third-party controller to connection autochthonal support for nan Switch 2. It’s an betterment connected each non-Nintendo wireless controllers, which trust connected macros to execute system-level commands, for illustration GameChat, and require a strange, yet communal first-time setup process (EasySMX’s S10 included) to beryllium capable to aftermath nan Switch 2. The S10 Lite is alternatively treated for illustration a first-party controller by nan console (the strategy interface moreover thinks it’s a Switch 2 Pro). It tin quickly brace to your console and remotely aftermath it by tapping nan Home button, conscionable for illustration Nintendo’s pricey controller. It’s besides compatible pinch nan original Switch, despite EasySMX’s tract implying otherwise, though nan S10 Lite’s autochthonal OS-level integration and GameChat fastener don’t activity connected that platform.

This autochthonal support besides lets you configure nan S10 Lite’s GL and GR rear paddles done nan Switch 2’s operating strategy by holding nan controller’s Home fastener while in-game. It’s nan only controller not made by Nintendo that tin do this. This lets nan S10 Lite return advantage of nan truth that nan console tin retrieve civilization GL/GR mappings connected a per-game basis, which is easier than manually configuring fastener mapping each clip you alteration games connected different third-party controllers.

Native support is nan astir evident perk of nan S10 Lite versus nan S10 and different controllers. However, it has a fewer omissions that make deciding betwixt it and nan original S10 tougher than it needs to be. For instance, nan S10 Lite lacks amiibo support, and its rumble doesn’t consciousness arsenic precocious value arsenic nan S10 (although, nan Lite’s rumble is still amended than what 8BitDo’s Switch 2-compatible controllers offer). Lastly, it features Hall effect sticks, not nan much businesslike TMR sticks successful nan S10, though either instrumentality tech is superior to nan $90 Switch 2 Pro controller’s.

The $39.99 S10 Lite simplifies connectivity and customization — 2 beautiful large accomplishments — astatine nan disbursal of immoderate minor, yet nice-to-have features. If easy setup and seamless integration intends much to you than amiibo support and superior rumble effects, nan S10 Lite is nan better, cheaper prime complete nan S10. However, it’d beryllium perfect to person 1 EasySMX controller that was bully astatine everything — possibly that time will come.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge