Saitek P3200 Rumble Pad - game pad

Advantages: Good design, not too expensive, simple installation.
Disadvantages: Force feedback doesn't work properly, only average battery life.

...So, my old joypad was starting to get unreliable, i just couldn't kickflip on Tony Hawks like i wanted to. My Skyline GTR in Need For Speed Underground would suddenly drive into a wall. Time for a new joypad methinks! Walking round PC world, I was simply looking to replace my old Thrustmaster with a similar pad, but it wasn't in stock at the time, and most pads on the shelf had about two buttons like an old NES controller, or cost far too much money. Then my eyes wondered over to this controller. Similar features to my old pad, slightly different button configuration but hey, you can't have everything. The Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 ( I never saw the first but never mind) is a robust little pad. I have pretty large hands, and all the controls just sit in the right place. It has an 8 way directional pad/pov hat, two analogut... Read review

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Advantages: inexpensive, comfortable, decent rumble effect, plenty of buttons.
Disadvantages: basic driver, lack of rumble on/off switch

...buttons to keyboard keys, or to set up macros or anything like that. From the "Game Controllers" control panel applet, you can click on properties, which brings up the testing screen. From here you can test all the buttons and check the analog sticks and the d-pad. There's another "Effects" tab, on which there are 5 buttons for testing out the different rumble effects: one general button labelled "vibration" which just seems to activate both motors on full, and 4 others labelled , "bump", "earthquake", "engine" and "gravel". You must activate each of these effects by clicking the button, and I can't help but feel that a small improvement in this driver would be to allow the user to activate the effects by pressing buttons on the gamepad itself. There is also a slider that allows you to adjust the force/power of the rumble effects from 0 to 100... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap rumble gamepad that feels nice looks cool!
Disadvantages: Installation complicated

...After owning various old gamepads with the midi/gameport connection and having different problems with each, namely a constantly moving cursor (VERY annoying) and breaking the dpad I decided the time had come to get a USB pad with rumble as they tend to be more robust than the much older pads and are supposdely much easier to install and setup. I searched around the net looking for a reasonabley priced rumble USB game pad with analog sticks. I found the Saitek P2500 Rumble Force pad including many features for a great price of around £15-20. I also came accross the Saitek P3000 a similiar pad which uses a wireless connection and ships with a docking bay but at double the price (around £30) and lacking rumble technology I wasn't interested. Now back to the Saitek P2500 rumble force pad. It's features include: Rumble Technology 6... Read review

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