With the spectre of stick drift ever haunting my original DualSense controller, I finally opted to purchase a replacement. As I do live in a third world country this either meant waiting to purchase one via an American relative and have it shipped over or find a specialist company which ships in such units and purchase one locally. The problem with the latter option is that the import duties are astronomical and the inherent poverty tax could easily balloon the price to twice its market value in the U.S. Fortunately, my contact had one in stock from an earlier shipment from when the controller was orignally launched. This translated to pricing that was approximately $200. For comparison, I purchased my Elite Series 2 Controller on sale from the Xbox store on sale, via a relative, for $159 just over a year ago. Standard pricing is at $200.
First impressions are thus far bleak. I am finding that the controller is somewhat awkward to hold even more so than the standard controller. This is mainly due to the two back paddles. While they do come in two different shapes and sizes I have struggled to come to grips with either. Perhaps this is mainly due to the fact that there are only two back paddles compared to the standard four in other pro controllers. My middle and ring fingers are constantly hunting for something to press. I haven't yet tried adjusting the adaptive triggers as doing so disables the mechanism inside and turns them into regular triggers. This being said, I do like them having the standard long travel as I am a casual gamer. I do not engage in hyper competitive shooters which often need hair triggers to replicate the sense and response of a mouse click.
While the DualSense Edge offers some additional functionality to the standard controller it doesn't offer as much freedom as its contemporary. It is hampered by having only two back paddles. On my Elite Series 2 controller, I have mapped all my standard buttons to the four back paddles leaving the buttons to serve other functions such as being the menu button, screenshot button and screen recording button. Having only the two back paddles on the PlayStation controller limit how and what I can remap. They can either be bumpers, triggers or two of either the face buttons or d-pad buttons. Additionally, while its Xbox counterpart allows one to literally remap any button on the controller, the PlayStation unit does not have an allowance to remap the screen-recording/screen-capture and menu buttons. This defeats the purpose of having a pro controller as you only have the illusion of choice. This software could easily be adapted to work with the standard controller and save for the option of the two back paddles they would not be much of a difference between the two. It is worth noting that the battery life is worse than the standard controller. I can go through a gaming session or two with the Edge controller while the standard controller will last me at least twice as long before I reach for the charging cable. In contrast, it takes me weeks before I charge the Elite Series 2 controller and I predominantly game on the Xbox Series X.
The charging case that both controllers come in are well put together with the plastic case of the PlayStation unit giving it a premium feel over the Elite Series 2 case. This being said, perhaps due to the mix of materials the Edge controller feels much cheaper in hand than the Elite. Its mainly plastic with partially rubberised grips. The Elite on the other hand is mainly rubberised with paddles made out of metal with the swappable sticks having stems coated in a metal like material. Additionally, as the Elite is heavier its heft adds to the sense of it being a premium item. The main reason to purchase the Edge controller is its party piece: The full housing for the thumbsticks can be swapped out in the event of stick drift.
