Wow, I honestly don't even know where to begin with this one. Let me start by saying that I'm a huge fan of Logitech and absolutely LOVE every other product that I've ever purchased (and I've purchased a lot over the years). My Harmony One remote is amazing, K400 wireless keyboard...slick, MX518 mouse...it's a champ, just to scratch the surface.That said, I'm a long-time keyboard and mouse PC gamer who also has a PS3, so most of my gamepad comparisons are with the Six Axis controller, which I've had no issues with. I recently built an HTPC system for use as a media player, DVR, and gaming system. It's been great, but it's a bit of a pain trying to use a keyboard and mouse on the couch for gaming, which lead me to look at gamepads. I knew I wanted it to be wireless and I wanted something reliable, so that narrowed my search down to the Microsoft 360 gamepad and the Logitech F710. Having no experience with an Xbox 360 controller, I decided I would go with Logitech since I know they've always treated me well and the technical specs and reviews looked solid.Upon opening it up, my immediate impression was that it looked rather cheap and was rather heavy. It does seem like it can take a beating, but it really looks like a crappy knockoff product that you can buy for half the money. I could care less what it looks like though, as long as it performs well. Unfortunately, that's not the case.The initial setup was very easy. Windows 7 x64 picked it up right away without needing to download any drivers. I immediately fired it up with with a simple game (Magic the Gathering 2013) to test it out. Right away, I noticed that it seemed to be experiencing some lag issues and was occasionally missing button presses entirely. I tend to sit on my couch half-reclined, with my knees up, as I know many other gamers do. In this position, I noticed that the response issues were only happening when my knees were blocking the controller's line of sight to the PC. Seriously? It's a signal strength issue? You've got to be kidding me. I do that all the time with my PS3 controller and have no issues at all. It sits just below the HTPC, both of which are approximately 8 feet away and 4 feet off the ground with direct line of sight. Now I know that Logitech included the extension cable, which did seem to resolve the issue (moved the transceiver around to the front of the PC), but that just seems like a poor design and now I have an ugly cable and transceiver stuck out in front of the otherwise clean entertainment console. So the Bluetooth reception isn't great, but at least there's a workaround. Strike 1.Moving on, I fired up a shooter (Spec Ops: The Line) which has full controller support. I immediately noticed that the dead zones for the analog sticks were horrible, making precise movements extremely difficult. This is partially due to the sticks being overly stiff (too strong of a spring) and the dead zone being too large (amount of movement required before registering it's no longer at rest). This is an absolute killer in an FPS. Strike 2.Strike 3 came when I tried to use triggers L2 and R2. Both are rather small and are not rounded or ergonomic in any way. Like the analog sticks, the trigger springs are also too strong. They are usable until you're 30 minutes in and realize that your fingers are getting sore (90 degree button edges, not rounded) and tired (from pulling so hard).Unfortunately for me, I'd already thrown out the box (tested over 2 days), since I was blindly expecting it to adhere to the same level of quality as the rest of their products. Were it not for this, I would have sent it back to Amazon for a refund.Note: Edited for grammar and minor tweaking.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONWhen I first plugged in the controller, it seemed sluggish to respond. I ran it through Super Meat Boy & Rayman Origins, and it just didn't "feel" right. For those of you that don't know, SMB and Rayman Origins are two recently released platformers known for tight controls (SMB especially). The controller was cutting out periodically as well, so I installed the range extender that came with it. That fixed everything - it no longer cut out, it was extremely responsive, and I was nailing Meat Boy times in the top 1%. So, use the range extender with this guy.The controller is very precise and should work with the most challenging games - except ones that require bumpers, triggers, or fast button presses. More on that below.ERGONOMICSI played some more Super Meat Boy. In that game, you have to hold down the trigger to make Meat Boy run faster. After a few minutes, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to hold down the trigger for long - it's very stiff, and my fingers were growing fatigued. I train my grip strength using the "Captains of Crush" grip strengtheners, so my grip is by no means weak. The 360 & PS3 triggers are very soft, but these are too stiff to hold down for an extended period of time. It just doesn't work. So I remapped "run" to the bumper buttons.I'll do my best to describe the problem with the bumpers. When you press the bumper, there's a nice "click" and the controller reports to the computer that the button is pressed. There's also an "unclick" that occurs when you let up the button. The issue is that you have to press the bumper hard enough while it's "clicked" for the controller to continue reporting that the button is being pressed. So the controller reports that the button isn't pressed if you're not holding it down hard enough, even if you haven't unclicked it yet. The bumpers are supposed to be digital, not analog. This makes it very frustrating to play a game where you have to hold down the bumpers to run - it keeps letting off, even though you're holding it down! This affected both the L/R bumpers, so I assume it's a design flaw of the controller, and not a problem with my particular model.Finally, the A/B/X/Y buttons are a little mushy. Not too bad, but you'd have a hard time nailing them rapidly. It's about on par with a 360 controller, but not quite as responsive, and it's nowhere near a PS3 controller.SUMMARYI think most users will enjoy this controller. However, be aware that the triggers are very stiff. This affects you if you want to play platformers or driving games with it. Additionally, the issue with the bumpers is a deal breaker for me. I'm sending mine back - this is the first Logitech product I've ever returned. It's still pretty darn good, but it needs to be tweaked. It doesn't work for my needs. I plan to get the 360 controller for Windows.Other than the issues mentioned above, it feels very similar to a 360 or PS3 controller and is of excellent quality. I had no problems with dead zones reported by other users; I ran several tests in the Windows config to be sure. If you breathe on the joysticks, it registers. Everything was very tight & responsive.