Logitech F310 - The Diet Coke of controllers.

[killcomic]

Logitech F310 - The Diet Coke of controllers.

 

First Impressions

 

After stabbing myself a couple of times and cursing like a sailor for a minute or so, I managed to open the blister pack in which the controller came.

The controller itself looks like a tessellated DualShock 3 controller with Xbox buttons. Fat and rounded. Strange but functional and not overly offensive.

When you actually hold it, the F310 feels cheap. It's light and the plastic lacks texture giving the impression that it would easily slip off your hands during a particularly tense battle in Dark Souls or some steamy hentai game. Despite this, the actual build quality inspires confidence with a robust, solid feel. The buttons have a satisfying click to them and the D-pad does not have the mushiness of the Xbox controller.

The controller also has an option to switch from XInput to DirectInput which helps with compatibility with older titles.

 

Intallation

 

Windows 8.1 picked up the controller immediately and drivers were not necessary. Should you require the functionality of a game profiler, you can download it from the Logitech website. This was not included in the package.

 

Gaming

 

This is where thing don't go so well.

Although the layout is like a PS3 controller, there is something terribly wrong with the placement of the shoulder triggers. The fatness of this controller makes reaching for the shoulder trigger buttons a chore. While playing Dark Souls and Tomb Raider, my hand cramped from having to contort my fingers to reach the triggers. The slippery nature of the controller didn't help either.

Hand cramps could have been forgiven had the analogue sticks rained mana from heaven and satisfied my craving for total gaming control. But no.

Although the analogue sticks felt OK to start with, it all fell apart when trying to pull off some precision manoeuvres. The dead zone on the controller is the size of Jupiter! I would say about 20% of the control area or so. So if you're trying to snipe someone, you'll have that crosshair flying all over the screen with about as much control as a greased watermelon tumbling down a cliff at 100 km/h.

 

The D-pad works great though. Precise and clicky. Good for playing old Megadrive and SNES games.

 

The switch to change from XInput to DirectInput worked surprisingly well. This was the first time I managed to get Devil May Cry 3 to work with a controller on my PC without sacrificing a small animal to the lord of shadows.

But just like the tax office, they give with one hand and take with the other. This controller has no rumble feature. I never paid much noticed to it till it was gone.

Considering the size of this thing, I would have thought that there would be more than enough room for a rumble motor in there somewhere.

 

Conclusion

 

Honestly, I find it hard to recommend this controller considering that in Australia it costs the same as the Xbox controller. You do get the added advantage of optional DirectInput and Xinput, but the ergonomics and simply ludicrous analogue dead zone can be deal breakers. This could make a decent second controller for games needing DirectInput, but It would have a hard battle replacing my Xbox 360 controller.

[DrunkAssassin]

I have this controller and I bought it years ago and I cannot agree with any of your statements, I find the controller to have a nice grip to it, the analog sticks are very responsive on mine and I quite like the layout of the triggers.  I would recommend it and I think you may have gotten a bad controller, because my 2-3 year old f310 is still going strong and I find it a nice mix between the  PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers.

[killcomic]

I have this controller and I bought it years ago and I cannot agree with any of your statements, I find the controller to have a nice grip to it, the analog sticks are very responsive on mine and I quite like the layout of the triggers.  I would recommend it and I think you may have gotten a bad controller, because my 2-3 year old f310 is still going strong and I find it a nice mix between the  PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers.

I doubt that I got a 'bad' controller that has a completely different design from the intended one. I dunno, maybe is because I don't have hands like Andre the giant but I cramp up when going for those triggers.

The issue with the dead zones are well documented. Just do a Google search.

Don't get me wrong, this would be an OK controller but it is sold at the same price as the Xbox 360's, thus it's value drops in the face of competition.

[Giddyguy]

I have the same controller and I half regret it. I bought this because I thought Microsoft stopped selling wireless adapters for wireless xbox controllers (which I had) but turns out they can be bought on amazon (i was also kinda young then, not the smartest).

At first the controller felt weird but eventually it was comfortable (and now is). Its a decent controller for adventure games like Assassin's Creed but for Tomb Raider i find aiming difficult to use. It is also fun to use for emulators with the D-pad.