Manba offered me to review its latest controller, the Manba One. This gamepad features interesting design choices and quite a lot of features while staying in the quite affordable price range, so here is my review attempting to figure out whether the controller is worth its $69.99 price tag.
Note: Manba provided the review unit without any editorial input or review pre-approval.
What is in the box:
- Controller
- Charging station
- USB Type-A wireless receiver
- USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable
- Two taller sticks
- An extra screen protector
- User manual
Such a generous set of accessories was a delightful surprise to me, considering the Manba One is just slightly more expensive than the bare-bones Xbox Wireless Controller. We are off to a good start from the very beginning.
First touches
The Manba One is fully plastic from top to bottom. Still, the build quality is fantastic—there is not a single trace of rattling or cracking, even when squeezing the gamepad hard. The build quality gets extra points, considering the front transparent panel is easily removable. It is secured by a bunch of magnets, and you can remove the cover by prying it up with your fingernails on each side.
You can remove the front panel to swap thumbsticks or put in a new faceplate for extra customization. As a fan of transparent devices, I also like how the vibration motors are visible under the faceplate. There is nothing useful about it, but it just looks cool.
Another thing worth noting is that the smooth surface of the faceplate eliminates the need for any anti-friction rings—rotating each stick feels buttery-smooth.
The back of the gamepad is made of good-quality plastic, and a part of the back has a slightly different texture. It is very subtle and barely noticeable. I wish the grip area had a different material that would allow a more comfortable grip, especially during long sessions. In this regard, the Manba One loses to my good-old Forza Horizon 5 LimitedEdition Xbox controller with a rubberized back.
I am also a bit concerned about the longevity of the front panel. Out of the box, the controller's transparent faceplate looks fantastic and is nice to touch, but with time, I expect it to start gathering not only fingerprints but also scratches. After testing the controller for two weeks, the surface is still scratch-free. Although I can see a slight discoloration from UV light at a certain angle, it is fully invisible unless I am deliberately looking for it.
The same goes for the display. It is covered with a screen protector out of the box, and removing it resulted in almost instant scratches—it is plastic, after all (you get an extra screen protector in the box).
The back of the controller is filled with additional controls. There are two trigger locks, four customizable macro buttons, the on/off switch, and pogo pins. Note that there is no battery door—the Manba One has a non-removable battery, which you can charge using pogo pins, the charging dock or a simple USB-C cable.
Display and RGB
The Manba One has a quite large 2-inch LED display for customizing the controller. Since it takes all the space between the left stick and the XYAB buttons, the menu, pause, and two more buttons sit below the D-pad and the right stick. Because of that, pausing the game or pressing the menu button requires extra finger dexterity since you have to reach out all the way to the bottom. After more than a week of testing the controller, I am still getting used to the button placement. Also, these four buttons feel the cheapest among all controls, but not too much.
The display is colorful but pretty low-res. I would say that is hardly a problem since I do not even look at it while gaming. It is there just to let me adjust a bunch of settings every now and then or check the battery level.
While you can adjust the brightness (six levels), the max level is still quite dim. Also, there is no way to turn it off when playing games, which is a bit disappointing, considering that the display only shows a Manba logo, connection mode, and a small battery indicator.
On the other hand, thanks to the built-in display, the controller does not require software to adjust its settings, and all your profiles and customization are stored on the device.
The grips on the Manba One have RGB strips and glowing Manba logos. These strips look nice and are not overly distracting. The controller lets you change the glowing effect and switch between a solid color and "RGB puke." If you do not like RGB, you can toggle the lights off in settings.
Inputs and controls
The controller features Hall Effect sticks and triggers, which offer several advantages over controllers with standard potentiometers. They are more precise and durable, plus they are less likely to develop drift over time. However, if you are coming from the standard Xbox Wireless Controller or any other gamepad with regular sticks, you will notice that sticks in the Manba One are less stiff with significantly less resistance. Getting used to it took a while, and at first, I suffered from a lot of unintentional stick movements, especially in games like Cuphead.
For those who want more precise controls, Manba offers two taller sticks with each gamepad. The swapping process is tool-less: just remove the transparent cover and pull the stick up.
With the taller sticks, the gamepad looks a bit cursed, but they are a must for games where precise input is required. Playing BeamNG.drive, Forza Horizon 5, and Microsoft Flight Simulator were so much better with a taller left stick.
However, I noticed that flicking the controller to the right or left leads to small stick movements. Also, the stick wiggles way too easily in its resting position, which leads to unintentional input. I fixed that by setting a small dead zone on rest. By the way, the controllers come with dead zones set to 10% on both sticks and triggers. Standard potentiometer sticks in the Xbox Wireless Controller do not have this problem, as they are notably stiffer. Also, the issue does not occur with the default short sticks.
Also, sticks started to discolor pretty quickly, turning from light gray to slightly yellowish.
Triggers have a slightly shorter travel range than I expected, but they are smooth and well-dampen. Flicking a switch (it makes a pleasant "clack" when activating) locks the trigger for a much shorter travel. You can easily switch trigger locks without adjusting the way you hold the controller, regardless of your grip.
I have almost zero complaints about the quality of buttons and inputs. XYAB buttons have micro switches with a mouse-like click, while the D-pad is softer but not mushy. The rear macro buttons require more effort to press, which is important to avoid accidental presses when playing or picking up the gamepad. I only wish they were a bit larger. Pressing them with the ring finger often feels a bit awkward, considering I hold the gamepad with index fingers on bumpers and middle fingers on triggers. If you keep your index fingers on triggers, pressing the back buttons with your middle fingers will be much easier.
Note that macro keys can only duplicate existing inputs. Sadly, they do not work as additional, standalone inputs.
Finally, the Manba One has a gyroscope for motion controls in Nintendo Switch. You can make it work with a PC by selecting the Switch mode on the controller and toggling on Switch Pro input in Steam. The gyroscope is accurate and precise, so it was a lot of fun to steer a car or fly a plane by moving the controller around without touching a stick. And since Steam has a lot of input settings, you can map the gyroscope to perform other tasks, such as moving the camera around or something else. The only downside is that you lose analog trigger input.
The controller is multi-platform; it has no dedicated Xbox button, but you can launch Game Bar with the Home button. By default, it also triggers Steam if it is running in the background, but you can toggle it off with the "Guide button focuses Steam" option in Steam settings. My biggest discontent is that there is no Share button, which means I cannot take quick screenshots or record videos using Windows' built-in tools.
Personalization
There is no dedicated software for the Manba One—everything happens on the built-in screen. The controller has three separate profiles, and each allows adjusting the following:
- Button mapping: remap a button or assign a series of inputs to the back macro keys. You can assign up to 20 inputs per click and set delays between each input.
- Sticks: you can adjust the stick linearity and set dead zones. By default, sticks and triggers have 10% dead zones on rest. The Manba One has four stick linearity presets: Default, Immediately, Latency, and High Performance. You can change these settings per stick, and it is a handy tool to have if your game does not have built-in linearity settings.
- Triggers: customization includes dead zone and "trigger strokes"—a travel distance required to detect input.
- Vibration: four vibration levels with the ability to turn vibration completely off.
Gallery: Manba One Customization:
While the vibration is nice and not rattly. Unfortunately, there are only two motors, which is a bummer. The standard Xbox Wireless Controller has two extra trigger motors, which allows for more realistic ABS in racing games or recoil feedback in shooters. On the Manba One, though, the vibration does not give you much information—the controller just shakes your hand, and that is all, not to mention any HD vibration for the Nintendo Switch.
Connectivity and performance
You can connect the controller with a bundled 2.4 GHz dongle, Bluetooth, or a USB-C cable. While Manba advertises an 800Hz+ polling rate, this can only be achieved in wired mode. A quick test shows that when connected using a USB-C cable, the controller operates at 1000Hz with a 0.1ms delay.
Interestingly, the PC mode does not allow connecting via Bluetooth, so do not lose the dongle and get ready to carry it wherever you go with your laptop. I managed to pair the gamepad with my computer using Bluetooth via Nintendo Switch mode, and a test showed a 125Hz polling rate. As for the dongle, it gives a 200Hz polling rate. For reference, the standard Xbox Wireless Controller has a 125Hz polling rate in wired and Bluetooth modes.
You can also connect the Manba One to an iPhone or iPad, and it shows up in Settings as Xbox Wireless Controller. A bit confusing, but it should not be a problem if you do not plan to connect a real Xbox controller to your iPad. What is great is that iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch are three different profiles, which means there is no need to pair the controller every time you switch from one device to another.
I did not experience any performance issues when playing with the Manba One connected wirelessly via the dongle or using a USB-C cable. Also, there were no issues with the dongle plugged to the back of my computer. My biggest problem was getting used to a slightly different layout and less resistant sticks, but that is not the gamepad's fault. If this is your first controller, you will probably pay less attention to that.
Charging and charging station
The bundled charging station is also plastic, but it is surprisingly hefty, and its rubber feet prevent any sliding. The station has a USB-C port and pogo pins for charging the controller. When you place the gamepad, it produces a rather annoying beep, which I wish was not that loud. There is an LED indicator, which shines orange when charging and green when the battery is full.
Another neat thing about the charging dock is a small compartment underneath it where you can store the wireless dongle.
The controller has a non-removable 1800 mAh battery. You can charge it by connecting a USB-C cable directly to the gamepad (playing in wired mode keeps the battery charged) or by placing the controller on the charging dock. It takes 5V 1A, so topping the battery takes some time.
Charging is pretty slow. My USB tester showed that the charging speed never exceeded 3.6-3.8W, which is lower than the expected 5V 1A (it actually takes ~4.9V 0.75A). Getting the gamepad from dead to 100% took over 4 hours. Considering you can play and charge at the same time, I would not consider it a problem. After all, slower charging will be better for the battery in the long term.
As for the battery life itself, I managed to squeeze out 12 hours of gameplay on a single charge, so I give it a thumbs up.
Conclusion
The Manba One is a beautiful, well-made controller with a lot of customization for its price tag. Yes, it is slightly more expensive than the standard Xbox Wireless Controller. Still, in return, you get significantly more capabilities, including a built-in battery, spare sticks, plenty of settings, and high-quality controls. It is a solid multi-platform gamepad that will perform well on any platform, except for the Nintendo Switch, if you care about HD vibrations. It is not flawless, but the overall value allows turning a blind eye to a bunch of small quirks.
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