Xbox Core Wireless Controller (Robot White) Expired

Lots of complaints about bad BT on these. But mine works great. I use IKEA AA NIMHs, a $10 BT dongle and any old usb c cable. it charges the batteries and the bt hooks up just fine to my w11 pc.

I picked up two of these last year from Sam's Club and also had problems getting them to pair over bluetooth. I tried everything I could think of and ultimately what fixed it was downloading the Xbox Accessories app through the Microsoft Store, plugging them in to the PC w. a USB-C cable and doing a firmware update on both. After that, they would pair to my PC easily and stay connected.

I just went through 4 of these with Amazon using that discover promo of $20 off $100 purchase.

First off the blue, black, and white have been $50 forever, so that's the regular price. Red and that weird yellow/green volt is $60 constantly.

I brought two of the blue controllers. Luckily one was good, but the other was literally not put together completely. The seam at the top back of the controller is popping out. Like they put it together and that part popped out of place, but they tightened everything and sent it out. Also inside the boxes is a massive about of pilling fibers from the packaging. One of them had 4 inch hair on the controller. Yes these were brand new in the box otherwise, I could not find any issue that indicated they were used and returned.

So for the cosmetic issue I made a replacement request. Received the replacement, same pilling fibers, no hair, looks brand new. Test it and the A button gets stuck hard sometimes and won't pop up unless you wiggle it. The X button jams up unless you press it perfectly center. Pressing off center, like you might do while holding the another button (to jump or run) results in a very unsatisfying crunchy feeling before the button presses.

So I tried to exchange that one and it directed me to an Amazon rep who said I should just return everything because they it sounds like they got a bad batch and need to stop sending them out. They suggested I buy from a retailer I can make easy in person returns at, and test in person before leaving the store. I read this is a common complaint with the controllers, even the elites unfortunately. In hindsight it sounded like the Amazon rep was trying to really help me avoid the high amounts of returns I would need to do through them just to get a good working one. Oh yeah I would lose the discover discount promo too.

Well I did more reading and there were very vocal responses that only disappointed people like me complain, and they never got a bad controller (I am positive I will see them here responding to me too). So I decided to claim a return on the one good working controller I received and return the two problem ones. I mean the people who are satisfied must not be posting it as vocally as these people reporting huge failure rates and going through multiple elite controllers until they find all the buttons are as they should be without sticking as I described.... I got the replacement. Crunchy X button and Y button. Otherwise same condition as before (no hair). I am just returning the crunchy controllers now and keeping the cosmetically messed up one because it actual performs like it's supposed to.

Bluetooth worked fine on all of them. I did notice the sticker 'seal' can easily be peeled off, package opened, and put back to look like brand new. I'm wondering if I got returns that Amazon thought was brand new and sold as such. The Serial Numbers matched as expected and I found no tampering. I really think they don't make these like they used to when comparing to the 360 controllers imo. I won't buy these from an online retailer anymore, if I do decide to buy another it's going to be in store and testing. Microsoft should be ashamed because all this makes me want to look to an alternate controller. Been there, done that, that's why I stuck with the Xbox controllers. It might be time to give playstation another chance or else I am buying parts and a darn good soldering iron for my old 360 controllers to fix the stick drift they got after 10 years.