▲ 28 r/fightsticks
Qanba Q4 Pro 8K Review
Hello,
Just got my Qanba Q4 Pro 8K in the mail and I have some thoughts.
Pros:
- Having a screen is nice
- Being able to adjust button assignments natively on the controller rather than have to go into a web editor or go into the guts and rewire is very convenient. Furthermore, being able to adjust other parameters natively on the controller (Polling rate/LED/etc.) is also very nice.
- The grip on the bottom of the controller is pretty good for lap play (although, on my desk it did shift around a little bit)
- The extra L3/R3 buttons are placed ergonomically and the overall button layout itself is good; when the magnetic panel is removed, it reveals 2 extra 24mm buttons next to the m1 button, which probably implies that Qanba might offer a cross up layout replacement panel in the future? Unclear.
- Inputs are responsive.
Cons:
- Overall construction feels like it's lacking. The controller itself feels hollow -and it is, which isn't a bad thing I guess- I'm going to be adding some dampening material inside mine to make it feel more satisfying to use.
- On the topic of construction, Qanba have bizarrely chosen to use the same side door design as they have on their other controllers, which has been historically one of the weakest elements design-wise on their other controllers; it even has the little hole on the side for what would have been a hard wired cable to run through. Get ready for this thing to break, and have to 3D print a replacement. Truly a shame, because the door itself is where the wireless dongle's hole lives, and i imagine that other things could have been stored inside this compartment (spare buttons/if the joystick is detachable/etc.) However, given how weak the design and construction is, this is a big issue IMHO.
- Speaking of cables, the controller does not come stock with a USB cable hardwired into the board itself, which I'm actually all for, however there is no USB cable locking function (such as on controllers from Haute42/ASI/ISTMall/Razer/etc.) So the cable is liable to be pulled out mid set.
- The detachable front plate has a frosted finish which makes reading the screen, one of the coolest parts of this controller, pretty difficult given how small the text is.
Minor Gripes:
- The controller does not feature an easy-open solution to get inside it (IE clamshell/magnetic mechanism)
- No toggle for the right switch on the front panel, only D Pad and Left Stick (I find myself using this a lot in games like Tekken where the right stick controls the camera in customization modes and fighting lounge)
- The joystick/button spacing a bit tight for my personal liking.
- The joystick's mounting system is a bit strange given the LED ring around it, and i'm unsure whether or not low collar Korean Levers would fit in the controller; will report back to test this; for now I'm assuming only flat collar levers will fit, but don't take my word for this just yet.
- No native PS5 support (doesn't really matter much to me, and if I needed that, I would just bring a brooks convertor; that being said, and again, I wouldn't throw it in the conveniently located side cavity because the door is so poorly constructed).
- Front plate is a fingerprint magnet
- Does not have similar features to Obsidian 2 / Titan (IE porthole to access the lever to make switching tops easy/storage solution for other lever tops)
TL:DR It feels like Qanba had some really cool ideas, but ran out of time or money to make this thing something really special. So many awesome features and design choices feel nerfed by other design choices:
- there's a screen with a pretty intuitive and easy to use GUI and a detachable front faceplate -> The front faceplate is frosted making the screen hard to read
- Has a nice carrying handle and is light weight -> The side door for storing the USB cable/wireless dongle (or whatever else you want because it's a large cavity) has the same poor construction as their other controllers, and is probably going to break.
This isn't to say the controller is awful or anything, but I think a few design revisions could have made this thing really great.
u/DaiquiriJack — 1 day ago