GameSir G7 Pro Review: The Xbox-Licensed Pad That Out-Specs Microsoft's

Microsoft's own controller costs less and does less. That is the whole story of the G7 Pro, and it comes with one condition that decides whether the story is yours.

What $79.99 buys that Microsoft's pad does not

Start with the sticks. GameSir uses TMR, tunneling magnetoresistance, which reads stick position with a magnetic sensor instead of a scraping contact. PC Gamer explains it well: TMR sticks have smaller dead zones, draw less power, and should never drift, because nothing rubs. For most players, it adds, the difference from Hall effect is small. The difference from the potentiometer sticks in a standard Xbox pad is not.

The triggers use Hall effect sensing and have a lockout switch. Flip it and the pull shortens to a click, which is the setting you want in a shooter. The Sixth Axis called it the best version of that trick it has used. The face buttons and D-pad are mechanical, so every press clicks.

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Then the extras: two rear paddles, two extra top buttons, four rumble motors (one in each grip and each trigger), and a 1000Hz polling rate on PC over a cable or 2.4G. In the box you get a colour-matched charging stand, a USB-C cable, and a choice of D-pads. Microsoft sells none of that for $79.99. Its Elite Series 2 does it for far more.

The catch is wireless on Xbox

Here is the part buyers miss. The G7 Pro is Xbox licensed, but on an Xbox console it connects by cable. Wireless is for PC and mobile, over 2.4G or Bluetooth. The Sixth Axis put the problem bluntly: Xbox gamers may miss wireless in a controller this good, while on PC and mobile there is little that can touch it.

If your Series X sits across the room from your sofa, the G7 Pro is a poor fit. If you play on a PC, at a desk, or with a phone clip, it is almost perfect.

Why PC players get the better deal

On a PC the G7 Pro has three ways in: a cable, a 2.4G link and Bluetooth. The cable and the 2.4G link both run at 1000Hz polling, which means the controller reports its state a thousand times a second. For most games you will never feel the gap against a standard pad. In a fast shooter or a rhythm game, the 2.4G link gives you the speed of a cable without the cord across your desk.

The stand matters more than it sounds. Dropping the pad back on it every evening means the battery is usually full, and it keeps a controller you paid real money for off the floor. Microsoft's standard pad ships with neither a stand nor a charging cradle.

Does it feel like the real thing?

It weighs 272 g by the Sixth Axis's count, against 345 g for a fully loaded Elite Series 2. That is easy on wrists. The grips are rubberised and held up through sweaty summer sessions, and the reviewer called it as comfortable and official-feeling as anything from Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo.