Jedi Hunter Mini Wireless Controller for Xbox by Intec: Another failure in the wireless world.
Written: May 14 '05 (Updated Jan 07 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wireless, cool program features, automatic button repeat feature.
Cons: Small, wireless communication can be temperamental, buttons are either too rigid or too loose.
The Bottom Line: A great idea but the wireless aspect does not work well.
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| yakkowarner's Full Review: Jedi Hunter Mini Wireless Controller for Xbox |
My problems with my first Intec wireless controller
There was a huge signal loss. With my first controller that I bought. It would not communicate properly and I actually died a few times playing KOTOR2 because I was unable to pause quickly enough in the game. The signal was so bad at times that the runner would fluctuate from running to stopping. Now this did not occur 100% of the time, I would say about 20% of the time. This made for a very frustrating gaming experience. My wonderful wife beat me to the punch and exchanged the object for me before I got home on Friday (I had owned it a week at that point.)
My problems and experiences with my second Intec Wireless controller
The first problem I experienced with the controller was the cross-key was not working. I eventually pressed it hard enough that it worked but it was frustrating. I was about to return to the store that night but I decided to stay home and deal with the frustration for a short bit. The communication between the receiver was a little better but not perfect at first. The next day (Saturday night) I was able to use the controller more and I found that the cross-key button was loosening up and started to become usable. The R and L buttons were not as soft as the first controller and worked better which was a good thing. All the other buttons worked normally.
After a week of usage, the buttons have loosened up and work well but the communication issue is still, well an issue. And it is sporadic. There have been a couple of times that it works perfectly for an hour, then it will start having problems here and there for a couple of hours. Not please with this product.
My problems with EB
I bought this product at Electronic Boutique and I failed to check the return policy before buying this product. I assumed they would be customer friendly and have a return policy that would equal other major retailers. This is not the case. Electronic boutique return policy states that opened hardware will not be returned and it will only be exchanged if the product is defective. I have sent several e-mails with very specific statements but they just send me back prescripted responses. This happened twice and so far they have not returned my third e-mail. As of right now I would be very careful when buying equipment from this store because of their limited return policy. I have checked the return policy of other major stores and they do not have as restrictive of a return policy. So I will never buy another product from EB again.
Why I got another wireless controller and a summary of my problems with wireless controllers.
I have a big screen TV so I am forced to sit at the other side of the room to play games. I either use a cable extension, move the Xbox to the middle of the room, or use a wireless controller. I have two young children the love to pull on cables and press buttons, so you can see part of my dilemma.
I first bought a Logitech controller and it died on me because the analog stick started to go off center. So my stationary characters were no longer stationary, they moved when I did not want them to. This happened twice and you can find a link to that review at the bottom of this review.
I next bought a Pelican wireless controller. I had occasional communication issues with it and I should have returned it. But the return policy expired before I got around to returning it. You will also find a link to that review at the bottom of this review.
I later bought two extension cables (the cables are not listed on epinions and when they are added I’ll review them). Well one cable got lost and the other died on me. So there is another option that is useless to me and I do not feel like spending another 10 bucks on another cable extension that will give me 6 months of life.
So right now I am forced to put the console in the middle of the room. This is not a good idea when you have kids crawling/running around. Kids generally grab cables, bite into cables (during the oral stage), or hit the reset button when you least expect it (this has happened quite a bit between the ages of 10 months to 14 months).
My first experience with a wireless controller is with the Nintendo Wavebird and it is a great wireless controller. I highly recommend it. It just is the only wireless controller I recommend.
Setup and how the two units connect.
Setup was a breeze. Just plug in the receiver, put the batteries that came with the unit in the controller (2AA). Then you press a button on both the controller and on the receiver for it to sync. The problem with this controller is that that controller must be close to the receiver for them to sync. There is no way to set channels, it just sets the frequency for you on its own (the auto detect feature.)
What is the maximum number of these controllers you can use at one time
They use the 2.4 GHz band and they claim 16 controllers can be used at the same time.
The feel
It is a small controller, especially for someone with large hands. But I was amazed at how easy it was for me to get adjusted to it. It only took 2 hours to get used to the different spacing and during that time my hands did not cramp up. I have used this controller for about 20 hours now and my hands are not sore or cramped. So I am please with the overall ergonomic design, but I do prefer the feel of the Microsoft controller and the Logitech controller design better.
The rubberized grips are nothing special but they do not detract from the gaming experience either.
The Look
For a Star Wars fanatic, the look is awesome. It has the Darth Vader helmet on the sides and on the front. The connect button, program button, and the light saber button all light up with a red color that adds to the coolness. The rest of you non-Star Wars geeks could care less.
The button setup
The controller set up is almost exactly like the real Microsoft controller set up with minor differences in size and slight placement of the buttons. None of these changes have affected me greatly but it did take me about 2 hours to get used to the design. I liked the design a lot better than the pelican.
This controller has…
two analog sticks,
one cross key,
4 main buttons (Y,X,A,B),
2 secondary buttons below the primary ones (black and white),
the ambiguous start button,
the back button (lets just call it what it is, the select button)
A sliding on/off button
A signal-on button
A macro button (called the program button)
A light-saber/turbo button
The light saber button
For the new game called Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ,you can hit this button to win the light saber contest every time. From my understanding the button creates a series of macros and hits the buttons for you instead of you hitting the button to win light saber battles.
You also use this button to set up a repeating feature. This allows you to press and hold down a button to cause it to repeat automatically. You can set it to four different speeds by hitting start and the light saber button at the same time.
Programming the macro/program button.
Unlike most other controllers, you can set up macros for your controller (they call it a program feature.) Basically you press a button and a series of, up to 15, buttons/movements will occur. There are no special auxiliary buttons (like in other controllers I have owned in the past).
In order to program it you need to do is…
-hit the program button
-Hit the black button, white button, start button, or back button (these are the only buttons you can use to set custom macros on.)
-program in your button order, up to 15 commands.
-hit the program button again and it is set
Now every time you hit the selected button your programmed macro will automatically work.
To cancel it you just hit the program button twice.
The buttons are a bit of a nuisance at first
This company’s quality control is questionable in my opinion. The buttons on the controller that ign.com tested had issues with how they responded. I suggest checking out their review also. On my first controller the R and L button were very soft and dough like. The other buttons needed to be hit harder than normal.
The second controller that I got from the same store only a week later did not have the same issues. The R and L buttons were a little more rigid and responsive (but not as good as Microsoft’s controller.) The other buttons did not require as much force. But the cross key button got stuck and would not work. After about 1 day of using the cross key, it loosened up and worked normally.
The automatic shutdown feature
The controller shuts down in 1 minute 59 seconds to conserve battery power (yes I used a stop watch, I have not been able to develop the internal clock force power yet.) This is actually a good feature to conserve battery power but 2 minutes is just too short. The manual states that it is 5 minutes which is WRONG (there are a lot of errors in the instructional manual which gives me even less confidence in the company). During a normal length cut scene the controller shuts off. Usually what I have to do is get up and press the button on the receiver and hit the connect button to turn the controller back on. This problem does not just occur with cut scenes but every time you get up to do something, like getting a nice cold beverage.
Just to clarify, pressing the connect button by itself on the controller does not connect the system, you have to get up the press the connect button on the receiver and on the controller.
YAAAAAA, you can turn off rumble….but wait, rumble does not work.
There are sliders on the bottom of the controller that set rumble to off, medium, or normal. The problem is the rumble feature did not work on my first controller and it has triggered only once on my second controller. Guess I get my 70 hours of battery life.
The expansion port (for microphone)
The expansions ports are on the receiver. So if you use Xbox live then this is not the controller for you. This is because you can have a wireless controller but the microphone would be attached to the Xbox unit itself. Not a good thing if Xbox live is your thing.
There is a wireless headphone set out there but I know nothing about it.
Battery life
The battery life is advertised at 70 hours. I have used it for approximately 20 hours (between both controllers) and had no issues with battery life yet. The rumble feature did not work with the first controller so that feature is not draining power. I felt the rumble feature once on my second controller and the rumble power is pretty low compared to Microsoft’s controller (as well as Pelican and Logitech’s.) I assume the 70 hour life is based on not using rumble in the controller. From prior experience, I would estimate that battery life of the controller with rumble on at 40-50 hours, that is if the rumble feature actually worked.
My opinions on Intec
I have never owned one of their products before but after this experience I will probably never own another product of theirs again. I think their quality control sucks on their products and I just recommend you make sure you know the return policy of the store you buy the product from.
I, like many hardcore gamers, are leery of 3rd party controllers. The only companies I can recommend are the 1st party players (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.) Everything else is a risk so just make sure your store has a good return policy.
Wireless range
It is advertised at 30 feet. But I have had fluctuations at just 9 feet. My tests in my house do not support their claim of 30 feet, 20 feet is more like it.
Durability
Not having owned the object for long enough I cannot properly give you a proper assessment of its durability. I’m sure I’ll have more to write on this as the year progresses.
The communication problems
The communication issue with my first controller was awful. Thankfully I was only playing KotOR 2, so speed was not a big issue and fight scenes were automatic. But I continued to play with the controller because the controller needed to be properly evaluated. I was going to see if I could return/exchange the controller but my wife beat me to the punch (I have a wonder wife) and she exchanged the controller for me.
The second controller had different issues in communication. At first it started to fluctuate a lot in communication when I first started to use it. After about an hour (I was interrupted a lot in that first hour so it was not a complete 60 minutes of usage), the controller communication issues started to subside. It was actually working. But I still had the button problems that I have mentioned previously. Over the next week (last week actually) there are occasional communication outages, I estimate one every 5 minutes. Sometimes more, other times less.
In summary, I have occasional gaps in communication between the controller and receiver. If I had known of these minor communication problems I would not have bought this controller.
How it compares to the Logitech and pelican.
No comparison. It is a smaller controller, and the communication sucks. I do not recommend it, even for Star Wars fans. Even thought I did not like the pelican I still feel the pelican did a better job.
Reason for my rating
I am going to leave this at a one because of my experience with my first controller and the communication issues with both controllers. I would never use this controller if I was playing Halo 2 or a similar action game. I am not please with the second controller and would return it for a full refund if I could (EB’s return policy sucks). I do not recommend it because of the communication issues with both controllers. Had the object been able to communicate perfectly then I would have given it a 4.5
EB’s rating
I’d give them a 0.31
Dimensions and weight
Weight (with batteries): 9 ounces
Length: 4 inches
Width: 5.25 inches
Height: 2.25 inches
(all dimensions taken at the greatest distances.)
Summary
It is a cool controller for Star Wars fans, but because of the inability to sync perfectly at a distance of just 9 feet I suggest you avoid this product.
Other reviews you might be interested in.
Nintendo Wii Gaming Console
Logitech wireless controller.
Pelican wireless controller.
Nintendo Wavebird wireless controller.
Recommended:
No
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