Steam Controller: The Ars Technica review

The touchpads can even be set up to control the mouse on the Windows desktop, using one touchpad to move the pointer, the other for a scroll-wheel effect, and the shoulder buttons to click. It’s not the ideal Windows experience, but it can be handy for switching quickly to non-gaming apps without needing to take your hand off the controller. Valve claims 8 ms of latency when the Steam Controller is connected wirelessly via the Puck, a practically unnoticeable difference from the 6 ms of latency you can get with a wired connection. You can also hook up two Steam Controllers to a single Puck for convenience, or get a single controller to sync quickly with multiple Pucks on different devices (you switch by holding down a trigger during controller startup). Finally, the Puck serves as the Steam Controller’s own convenient charging dock. Simply put the back of the controller near the top of the Puck, and it jumps up to connect magnetically with a satisfying click. While it’s nice to save the hassle of fiddling with a power cord, the Steam Controller’s advertised 35 hours of battery life means you don’t urgently need to plug it in after every session in any case. All told, we’ve really enjoyed our time so far with the Steam Controller. It’s a solidly built device with some nice extra features that make it stand out from a sea of very similar controllers on the market. For many players, though, those features won’t be enough to justify the $99 price. It’s hard to necessarily justify spending that much in a market where a first-party Xbox controller or high-quality third-party Bluetooth device can be easily found for half the price or less. We’d only really recommend splurging on the Steam Controller if you’re planning to play a lot of mouse-based games from a more couch-friendly distance or if you find standard Bluetooth options don’t provide a good enough connection. In most other cases, buying two cheaper controllers for the same price is probably the better bet.