I"m not sure how it happened, but in recent months I"ve found myself on the doorstep of a rabbit hole I never thought even existed, and thanks to various comments on the controller subreddit, my eyes have been opened to the pros and cons that seem to plague even the most popular brands that have controllers with rave reviews, but fall short after some time in the hands of actual buyers, myself included.
Some of these controllers I"ve bought myself, whilst others have been offered up for an honest review with no criteria to meet. So here we are, then, a new day, a new controller to unbox and check out.
Today, it"s the X10 Mechanic Master, the current flagship by EasySMX. On paper, the specs match up to controllers I"d recently bought such as the GamSir T4 Cyclone Pro and the Gulikit KK3 Max, a controller that I reviewed last week, which ultimately ended up being a letdown due to quality control issues that I experienced a few days after my review.
The difference here with the X10 is that it only costs £41 ($49) on Amazon, which undercuts the Cyclone Pro by £7, and a rather massive £31 cheaper than the KK3 Max
I thought the Cyclone Pro was competitively priced for the quality and performance on offer, but ultimately returned it for a few quirks I was not a fan of, GameSir"s 2.4GHz dongle was not as reliable as I"d liked, and the Bluetooth connection didn"t improve matters. A good controller with excellent feel and specs otherwise, so how could a cheaper controller with similar specs be better?
Well, that"s an easy answer, an EasySMX answer... (sorry).
This is a retail unit sent by EasySMX for an honest review. As always, no part of any of my reviews contain words provided by the maker or its partners, so if it"s rubbish, I"ll tell it like it is.
Specifications
| Joysticks | Hall effect |
| Triggers | Hall effect |
| Buttons | Mechanical micro-switches (ABXY, D-Pad with Metal-dome, shoulder), tactile switches (+, -, HOME, config, M1, M2) |
| Battery | 1000mAh with 15-21 hours playtime |
| Connection | USB-C (1000Hz wired mode/charging) |
| Wireless | Bluetooth (250Hz), 2.4GHz (250Hz) |
| Platforms | Windows 7 or above, iOS, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Android |
| Customisation | Onboard button combos + Android app |
| Vibration | Dual motors with 4 intensity levels |
| Turbo | 3 modes per button including joystick macro recording |
| Gyro | 6-axis motion control |
| Calibration | Via the Android app for sticks, gyros & triggers |
| Construction | Plastic |
| In the box | Braided USB cable, spare faceplate & grip plates, 2.4GHz USB Dongle |
| Features | Swappable magnetic faceplates & grip plates, smartphone mount (sold separately) |
| Weight | 355g |
| Price | £41 / $49 |
In the hands
I"ve yet to handle a controller that doesn"t feel snug in my hands and am happy to report that the X10 is no different here. What sets it even closer to the GameSir Cyclone Pro, and unlike most other controllers, is the knurled texturing on the top face of the grips which aids in both comfort and reducing slippage.
Just like the vast majority of controllers, the size and shape is similar to an XBOX Series controller, and with that comes the same sort of comfort, differing only in finer details like extra grip texturing or material finishing.
Construction
The X10 has an all plastic construction, even the magnetic faceplate is plastic whereas we"ve seen metal faceplates in other controllers such as the PB Tails Crush.
There are no visible screws on the underside either, they are hidden underneath the removable top plates further adding to a more unibody feel. The magnetic plates themselves attach securely with multiple magnets for each plate. They simply pop into place rather than being hinged or clipped in any way. This does mean that when you unnaturally press down on a specific area of the grip plates, there is a clicking noise that can be heard:
This may bother some, but honestly unless you go out of your way to do this, then it will never be experienced in normal use, it"s just something to be subconsciously aware of if anything, I just wanted to share my findings as I went about poking and prodding outside of the scope of normal use.
The buttons and controls themselves are laid out and implemented quite nicely. All the central buttons are flush with the faceplate, which means accidental presses are reduced with a cleaner aesthetic.
The ABXY, D-Pad and shoulder buttons are damped micro-switches which sound and feel excellent. The tactile feedback and button travel are nicely judged making quickfire presses very easy. There is no uncertainty if a button has been pressed unlike on a purely membrane layout. If you hear the click, it"s pressed.
The D-Pad doesn"t have a central rocker like on a Nintendo or 8BitDo D-Pad, although I found no problems because of this. Typically, on D-Pads without a rocker you can accidentally activate surrounding directions when pressing and wiggling just one primary direction, not so with the X10. This may be due to what EasySMX call a Metal-dome forming part of the D-Pad construction.
Take a listen to how the buttons sound compared to both the Gulikit KK3 Max and the all-membrane GameSir Nova Lite:
I also really like the shoulder button actuation, no matter what part of the shoulder button you press, the actuation pressure and feedback remain the same. On the KK3 Max, there is a distinct difference in how much pressure is needed depending on where you happen to press which can be annoying for some gamers who often use different areas of the shoulder buttons throughout gaming sessions.
Membrane shoulder buttons on the other hand are often quite poorly implemented, you can quite literally see how mushy the Nova Lite ones are in the above clip. They do the job because they are small in surface area, but the mushiness can"t be ignored, although can be allowed given the low price of that controller.
The underside paddles, M1 and M2, are using membrane tactile switches. These are damped but in a slightly spongy way than the buttons on the front of the controller. They are easy to press with minimal pressure needed and are not prone to accidental presses thanks to where they are positioned on the grips, just within reach of the tips of my middle fingers, but not directly where they naturally rest.
These paddle buttons are really the only area that I think feel the weakest on the X10 due to that spongy feel, although the buttons do not creak or feel like they will break, they are just a bit spongy giving the perception of weakness, even though I have pressed them in much harder than I normally would just to check, and nothing has broken yet.
The X10 features anti-friction rings around each joystick for smooth movement, something the more expensive GameSir T4 Cyclone Pro lacks.
The 2.4GHz dongle is worth a mention as well, since the quality of the plastic on that is good compared to all the other dongles I have handled recently. This one is longer than the others too and feels slightly more sturdy in construction.
The construction quality doesn"t end there either, the braided USB cable is also of good quality, solid terminations and the length is decent too. It is not a lightweight cable though, so I opted to just use the cable that came with the Endgame XM2we gaming mouse which is so light that it feels invisible.
Performance
This is where I was very impressed. The overall observed latency is very good, I recorded a quick clip at 240fps playing Breath of the Wild on an OLED display for the quickest pixel response times and found that the overall click to action delay was minimal using the 2.4GHz dongle which delivers a 250Hz polling rate.
Bluetooth was equally impressive, also at 250Hz and only slightly increasing in synthetic latency when connected to a PC. Plugging in a USB cable results in a 1000Hz polling rate and offers the best latency as one would expect.
The synthetic tests below are to be taken as a baseline measure only and not at technical value, the test calculates the measured latency and compared to other controllers I have tested, gives a point to compare against under the same tool and connection medium:
| USB | 2.4GHz dongle | Bluetooth |
The circularity test was similarly very good, these hall effect sticks being factory calibrated by most brands now is great to see:
EasySMX state that the motion controls are for Switch mode only, and this is correct, though you can still use it on PC games very easily. When the physical switch is toggled to the NS (Nintendo Switch) mode, a USB cable connected to a PC will allow the controller to be seen by Windows and Steam as a Switch Pro controller which then opens gyro calibration in Steam, and motion controls in supported games.
Steam Input support in Switch Pro mode unlocks the Steam settings tab for gyro calibration, out of the box I could see that the default calibration of the 6-axis gyros was very accurate with all three zones perfectly centred:
I then tested out motion control in Horizon Forbidden West and the overall experience was excellent. Smooth and accurate motion tracking from the 6-axis gyros:
Keep in mind that as always, using motion controls in NS mode will replicate the behaviour of an official Switch Pro controller, which means the analogue triggers now become hair triggers, plus, the layout change of the ABXY face buttons to reflect Nintendo"s layout. The mapping can be adjusted in all games and in Steam of course, but you are stuck with the hair triggers since the Switch does not support analogue triggers.
I"m sure that EasySMX and other brands could change this via a firmware so when connected to a PC, the analogue triggers are retained. I have read all too many times in comment sections on how it would be amazing to have analogue triggers as well as motion controls when connected to a PC, yet no controller maker has done this yet with a firmware update.
A feature update like that could attract the attention of a lot more potential buyers I feel.
Customisation
Changing various settings on the X10 is rather easy and very much like other controllers on the market but with a few notable differences.
On the lower side of the X10 are two buttons, the left controls the turbo mode for any button, holding it down along with any other button activates one of two turbo modes with each re-press of that button whilst turbo is being held.
The first mode is regular turbo whenever you then press that button, the second mode activates turbo toggle for that button. Holding the turbo activation button and the same button again will disable turbo for that button. If you ever forget what buttons have turbo enabled, then holding the turbo set button for five seconds clears all turbo mappings.
The second button toggles the vibration intensity between four modes and off.
There is also an app that lets you customise additional settings, calibrate the controller and update the firmware or check battery level.
Installation of the app initially feels quite awkward. I would never advise people to install apps from unknown sources and only from an official app store, but in this instance, I had to make an exception and go against my usual better judgment. EasySMX"s app is only available through a link on their website which allows you to side-load the app onto an Android device, and this is only possible once you oblige to the security warnings on your phone or tablet stating that installation from unknown sources could pose a security risk.
Not that I don"t trust EasySMX, but you can never be too sure if a web link has been compromised, so I ran the APK file through Jotti and Virustotal for added peace of mind:
The app does the job, it"s just strange how it"s not on the app store like competing controller brand apps are.
Conclusion
There"s a lot to like about the X10 Mechanic Master, and the things not to like I feel can easily be fixed by EasySMX. The price is just right, the specs are just right, the performance is just right, so I can"t really fault it as a controller that does everything it needs to without any of the usual bugs or quirks found on other controllers, especially ones costing a lot more...
I like the fact that the 2.4GHz dongle has been the most reliable out of all the controllers I have used the last two months. Turn the X10 on and within 1-2 seconds the dongle is connected and you"re ready to go.
There is no waiting for a light to go steady (GameSir T4 Cyclone Pro) or having to re-pair the connection sometimes (Gulikit KK3 Max). I was unable to brute force the dongle to fail on me after mashing the power button on the controller endlessly for what must have been ten minutes straight (I had too much time on my hands).
I also like that there"s a physical switch to go between input modes, unlike other controllers where you must hold a combination of buttons and wait for the LED to change colour.
The app installation via side-loading is a nuisance, but it is labelled as beta, so I"ll give them some breathing room here if it is still work in progress and will eventually be on the app store.
I"ve played several hours of Breath of the Wild and Horizon Forbidden West on PC without a single hitch or issue with the X10. And whilst I did briefly test out Bluetooth on PC, most of my playtime was over 2.4GHz which worked flawlessly as well.
The styling too deserves a mention, it is understated with no RGB slighting effects, just one LED that changes colour dynamically depending on the mode or battery state. Sometimes keeping things simple whilst still focusing on performance and stability is the best way forward.
It would have bene nice if a storage case was included given that even cheaper controllers come with them these days, but it"s not a deal breaker, there"s no real worry of dust clogging up a hall effect sensor.
Only time will tell if all of the positives hold up with regular use. The 8BitDo Ultimate I had ended up being a letdown after three weeks, the Gulikit KK3 Max lasted one week, the Game Sir T4 Cyclone Pro got slightly annoying after a week too although that was more due to preferential reasons.
I am happy to take any questions or requests in relation to the X10 from our readers. I know form talking to some out there that the X10 has been reviewed generally since November online, but most reviews don"t cover various aspects that people want to know more about, motion controls on PC for example.
I will also post any updates below if my experience with the controller changes as time goes on, in the meantime, anyone interested in picking one up can check out the EasySMX website.