NACON Pro Compact Controller Review (PC & XBOX) 🎮 @Nacon

We’ve covered a few NACON products here at GF over the last few years, and they’ve all stood out as high-quality, robust peripherals that last a lifetime and look cool as they do so, but does the NACON Pro Compact Controller continue this trend?

The NACON Pro Compact Controller is designed for Windows and the Xbox family of consoles (XBOX ONE & Series X/S), features a wired connection and is available in five separate colours (grey, red, blue, white & black) to match your home colour scheme.

The NACON Pro Compact Controller has several great features that are usually seen on controllers in a higher price bracket than featured here, and aside from these customisable features, such as button mapping, adjustable sticks, trigger sensitivity, and vibration motors, the controller is also 15% smaller than other standard controllers, for a different fit in your hand.

I was also a big fan of the textured grips, which meant that my hands never slipped or felt sweaty during gaming sessions – including a marathon 7 Days to Die session (what a wonderfully flawed game).

The appearance, design and features are all fantastic -as we’ve come to expect from NACON – but The NACON Pro Compact Controller did have a couple of slight drawbacks for me. 

Whilst the triggers, buttons and D-pad are all snappy and responsive, each time I picked up the controller, for the first few minutes of gaming I felt aware of the shape in my hands, the design is comfortable, but the way the handles sat in my palms did take a little while to get used to, it certainly feels a little different to the standard-sized controllers, and whilst it would be a great fit for someone with smaller hands than myself – it’s not something that felt instantly natural.

The second thing that bothered me was the braided cable, it’s a pretty stiff cable, and I found that it was prone to kinks, there is certainly a place for wired controllers, but it really does need to be a softer braid to be practical. It is a generous length (3-metres) and features a segment that disconnects towards the USB end so that it won’t yank your console off the shelf if something tugs at the cable – like a child or pet – but it would have been a real boon to have a weightier, softer braid to reduce the aforementioned kinks and twists.

SUMMARY

With the cable being the thing that stood out the most in terms of negatives, everything else about the controller is solid and feature-heavy, with the ability to tinker with the settings to your personal preference.

This may not replace your main Xbox controller - but as a secondary controller, a smaller pad for those with dinky hands or as a wired controller for your PC, it’s a solid recommendation from us here at GF and again cements NACON as a purveyor of high-quality accessories.

PURCHASE LINK:

https://www.nacongaming.com/en-GB/pro-compact-controller