We often scour the internet for surprising gadgets and then share them with you guys. Some of them have been so successful that they are always on the list of top sales in the big market; A few others, well, especially focused on niche markets, their excellent design and rigorous industrial production have resulted in a limited supply. That’s why you always see people whispering about these brands and their products in some discussion forums.

And, this is the new Crush gamepad from PB Tails. There’s no doubt that the gamepad and its brand fall into the latter.

Amazingly, it has gained a good reputation in the gamepad world through limited product lineups. The Crush is probably the most well-specced and best-made gamepad I’ve ever used.

Probably some of you have heard of another star gamepad from PB Tails, the Choc Series. It’s really surprising that it allows custom elements to appear in such a small niche.

Features

The feature that appeals to me the most is that it gives a very customizable design while making sure you get Pro-level features. Some are common on grips like RGB, the most widely adopted button layouts, extra custom buttons, etc.; others add so much to the design and manufacturing costs that few makers are willing to accept these options, like this amazing magnetic replaceable front cover. This means you can hide all screw holes and unevenness with this clever personalization, which also makes it look like a work of art.

In addition to various color plastic covers, you can also have premium covers like the metal one with a matt finish. It’s absolutely gonna be the favorite one for most gamers, though you might find it a bit heavy when playing with it for the first time. It’s so delicate and the brand even specially made two metal joystick caps for options to well fit with the metal design and make it look and feel as one. But to be honesty, I still prefer the rubber-covered joystick caps.

According to the brand’s designer, the Porsche 550 Spyder inspires the design of the Crush Controller, and from the outside, it looks very nice indeed. Looking at the controller from the side, you can see Porsche’s classic curve, smooth and sporty.

We can also find some surprise inside, not just the good looks. For example, the trigger and joystick are both using Hall sensors, which not just have better endurability but also much higher accuracy. So if you’re a switch user confused by stick drift, you should know what I’m talking about.

In testing, the hall sensors did a very good job, the Crush Controller’s triggers feel so linear and the average error of the joystick was only 0.1%.

The ABXY buttons use conductive rubber, which I think is a smart detail, as it provides fast response and crisp feedback. In some action games that require complicated and fast operations, it just helped a lot.

Device Support

Now let’s talk about the supported platforms. The Crush of course supports Windows PC, and MacOS platforms as well. For mobile platforms like Switch, Android, and iOS, it is also able to perfectly map with the right layout. You can either connect it via Bluetooth, 2.4G or cables. But since the models we have are from an early version. There’s no 2.4G receiver in the package. But I play a lot under Bluetooth connection, and the Crush could easily be found and established the connection, and kept amazingly stable during the hours of gaming.

the Crush Controller has two different layouts for PC and Nintendo Switch respectively and has subtle differences in appearance, you can click on this link to learn more.

Game Test

It’s really impressive for gaming. For example, in some action games, the Crush Controller performed very well. With very quick responses to actions like jumps and attack combos. The Controller can definitely compare with those gamepads with big names.

In Cyberpunk 2077, thanks to the Hall Trigger and Joysticks, I pretty enjoyed the smooth driving across Night City. In fps games, it’s also good, but of course, not as good as some grips designed specifically for fps. If you play some competitive FPS games, the Crush may not be the best companion, but for most shooting games, it already kills quite a lot of competitors.

Experience

During all the gaming, the grip is much better than it looks. My middle finger fits the controller almost perfectly, and the support in the center of the palm releases a lot when using it for long hours, and helps the index finger achieve quicker presses. For the size of my hands, this is a much better fit for me than the Xbox controller.

The other thing that made me fall in love with it is that I really like the design of the switchable covers. I can even imagine myself tirelessly collecting the new custom covers that were released by the brand in the future.

Battery

The Crush Controller comes with an 860mAh battery that lasts about 10 hours, which is not bad. And for a normal charge, it took us about 2 hours to collect back the full power.

Verdict

I know the Crush is still on the Kickstarter campaign. And I hope they keep developing it with more interesting custom variants. If you guys need a gamepad for a new experience, I highly recommend you try the Crush out, especially the China white variant and the Premium Ghost variant. Its designers put a lot of thought into it. Shout out to the designers. Thank you for watching.

Check out the Crush Controller on the Kickstarter Page here.